the trip is not long away so I decided to check out a country that drives on the wrong side of the road. I felt that I needed to know which way to look turning right and left etc. We were staying at a friend's apartment in Cannes and were arriving at the end of the film festival. The trip started badly as the flight was delayed for over two hours and the plane provided was a very old 757 that looked as if it had come out of the californian desert where old planes get sent to die! I kid you not there was mould on the wings, picture to be posted later. For fear of litigation I will not mention the airline but they fly from leeds. As we were late into Nice we had to get a taxi as the last bus had gone......this was not going to be cheap.

How does alll this relate to the motorcycle trip.....good question. The trip has involved detailed planning by a number of dedicated individuals who have meticulously checked all the arrangements. I was just going to France for three days what could go wrong.

I had been given the keys to the apartment which was above a chemists shop on a main street. We arrived struggling with luggage up the busy shopping road, in the rain, found the door and put in the red key as requested....it did not open. I tried all the keys with no luck, it looked like a new lock had recently been fitted. So there we were stranded in the rain. I phoned my friend and asked what had happened to the key and lock, no changes had been made he replied.

Then there was a tap on my shoulder from a surprised looking local asking why I was trying to get into his apartment and pointing to the door to the left clearly marked as 110 which is the one the key really fitted. You could see in his eyes the pity for the sad stupid Englishman!

Any way I am glad the bike trip has been organised for us. The bikes in Cannes were largely Harley Davidsons and other big cruisers with cool looking dudes with all the catalogue kit to go with their bike including a little blond in leather.