Back in Perth now and the trip is but a distant dream, I just looked at my last post haha fat thumbs on the iphone after a few pints....
The ferry trip was interesting, the Bay of Biscay was pretty rough with a lot of sick looking people during the day part of the crossing, not sure I would want to spend another 24 hours doing that again, surprisingly all the bikes we still upright the next morning.
At the moment we have decided to do another trip next year so the bike is staying in the UK for the time being, the downshift issue seemed to just be a sticky linkage issue which cleared itself with a spray of WD40, I will probably arrange for it to be dismantled and greased up before our next trip as I will have to arrange for an MOT anyway.
We also learnt a few good lessons overall,
When gear says its waterproof its a lie, Rjays trousers leaked like a sieve around the crutch and the wifes Ixon jacket was totally useless, textile jackets are great when its not raining but they really need an outer jacket to be effective when it is, Julie ended up putting her walking jacket over the top of hers which seemed to work.
Gloves were another issue, I found I could not get mine back on with damp hands as the lining bunched at the fingers which was an absolute pain at toll booths (of which there were many), in the end I bought a different pair which were larger and easier to get off and on but still were not waterproof and the dye leached out turning my hands black for days.
Next time I think we will take longer stops and have more day trips, 1 and 2 night stops didn't really give us enough time to see much before we were traveling on to our next destination, we will maybe cut down on the overall distance a bit.
I will definitely buy a decent satnav for next time(see earlier post).

Happy bunny!

 

Good Stuff Mike,

And all sound decisions for the next ride. Waterproof clothing for motorcycle rides that is truly waterproof is a rarity. The jacket I wore earlier this year through the Himalayas turned non-waterproof in the Himalayan foothills monsoonal downpour.

Cheers, SB

 

Well here we are back home 2 months now and missing the old girl, so much so we have ended up buying an 07 Blackbird as well, a very nice bike in beautiful condition with only 14000kms from new, a real credit to the PO.
Only downside is its as boring as bat**** riding anywhere near the city here, more cameras than you can poke a stick at and a totally **** attitude to enforcing the speed limits rather than actually policing the *tard standard of driving (don't get me started on lane discipline), riding in Europe was just so different.
Sorry for the rant....
It also looks like there are some changes coming regarding importing older vehicles so it should be easier to bring the bike back next year