I emerged from the Service Centre with the intention of continuing my 688km ride for the day from the beaches of Southern France to Orleans some 180kms South of Paris. No where is the bike there are masses of people all swarming around the carpark and most are looking at my bike and they are in dark blue Police riot uniforms. I approached them and immediately put my arms up saying ïts was me officer". That situation was far removed from my previous nights out...

Covering some 1500kms in the past week has been a dream ride as for a change I used virtually all Autostrada roadways. While they are not as tourist friendly inthat stopping for photo's is virtually impossible and will only occur at service centres or at toll boths, they offer the opportunity to quickly cover vast distances and still only ride for 2 to 3hrs. This can make for a very holiday orientated late departure and often using my genius status checkout is ...