I crossed France with three other GS bike riders I had met on the ferry - also members of the UK GS Club, I relaxed and sat back as their GPS systems guided us down avoiding motorways, a luxury for me to just follow another bike and not be doing all the navigating myself. I was really lucky with the weather and had sunny days every day while travelling through France and Spain.

Barcelona was fantastic as everyone seemed to be convinced I was a competitor in the Paris -Dakar Rally. The atmosphere was electric in town as hundreds of vehicles rolled in.
I watched the special stages on the sandy beach - visualising myself on the desert sand in a week's time....

New Year's Eve and a send-off party for the competitors who are setting off on this 10.000 kms course- I said goodbye to Nick and Simon (friends who are competing) and promised to buy them beers in Dakar in two weeks time.

Maggie had flown out to Barcelona and we rode down the coast to Malaga where we managed to track down Kieran with his KTM.

Maggie then flew home and Kieran and I took the ferry to Tangier where Tobi was waiting with his BMW R100GS, yes this is the intrepid trio that is about to undertake the desert crossing ahead- an Englishwoman, an Irishman and a German. Lets hope we can put up with the smelly feet and bad jokes.