Day 51 - Made an 8am start from my hotel to the east of Szeszow and headed west. Before leaving I checked the nuts and bolts on the rear subframe and all had loosened requiring tightening up.

Now I just want to get home and have decided not to stop en route. I chose motorways as even though they are a bit longer they provide speedy progress. I passed round Krakow and headed in the direction of Brno in the Czech Republic. The signs said Brno until I crossed the border from Poland into the Czech Republic when they suddenly petered out and up came a bunch of new names. I soon realised I was heading south towards the Slovak Republic and not west towards Brno and Prague. I recall this happening 4 years ago when I was last in the area and getting lost in Slovakia.

I turned around and headed back into Poland and took a cross country route eventually arriving in Brno where I decided to stay the night. By sheer chance I found a hotel overlooking a lake with lots of recreational use and saw several balloons passing by.

I saw my first GB car today since western Turkey.

Poland and the Czech Republic are miles ahead of even Russia and Ukraine. The roads are excellent; there are lots of new cars and there is a general feeling of prosperity. The country is clean and tidy and the housing standard similar to that of the UK.Day 52 – A day of almost unbroken motorway from Brno, about 120 miles east of Prague, across southern Germany to Metz in la belle France. Vive la france – it’s wonderful to be in such a cultured country.

Metz is a lovely old town dominated by its cathedral which is magnificently illuminated after dark. The central area is full of pavement cafes and restaurants and has a real buzz in the evening. The café I chose was full of young 20-something people enjoying their food and company of friends. Several broke off to play petanque. The only sadness was to note that almost everyone was smoking ignoring the damage they are doing to their health and storing up horrendous problems for the future. Why do they do it when the evidence is so overwhelming ?

I broke the magic 500 mile barrier today and clocked up 551 miles in total (equivalent of Southampton - Aberdeen). That’s my best ever on a bike by more than 100 miles over my previous best. I departed at 8.00 and arrived at Metz about 6pm with 4 tea/coffee stops and 30 minutes for lunch. I pressed on to Metz as I know it is within striking distance of home. Twice before it has been my first stop when travelling south but I have always stayed on the outskirts and missed out on the delightful centre.

My wrists, shoulders and knees ached by the time I arrived but nothing a couple of Codeine (and a good night’s sleep) can’t cope with.

It will be strange not having to find a hotel tomorrow.

I’m looking forward to giving the bike a good clean and getting rid of the caked on mud and grime from the ‘stans. I’ll then look to see if I can fix the fused wire to the dipped headlamp but if not (which is likely) will take it to an expert to fix for me.

After that it will be feet up for a while reflecting on my trip and deciding what conclusions I draw from it all.

Day 53 - Up early and departed Metz at 7.15 in a thunder storm. At least I know my waterproofs work.

It was a pretty unpleasant ride until about 45 minutes before Calais when the rain stopped and sun shone. Could do with a washer and wiper on my visor.

It was 290 miles to Calais and arrived there about 1.00pm. I learnt my lesson from last time to make a reservation for the return trip otherwise they charge full fare of about £75. My reservation was for 10 days time but that was converted to today with just under an hour before departure. Manged to grab a sandwich to take on the shuttle with me and hurried to the terminal just in time to be loaded.

Made it back to Fareham by about 3.30 UK time. Total trip ran to 9,600 miles which was about 1,400 more than predicted.

Glad I did it and that it went without any major hiccups. It took 2 years of planning and over 7 weeks to execute. I wanted to do it before reaching my 70th birthday which meant either this year or next and there's no time like the present. This will be my last major adventure. In future it will be more conventional trips to western Europe.

The idea of a blog came from my previous boss Carol Taylor who suggested I should do it. Thanks Carol for planting the idea in my mind. I have enjoyed writing it and hope you my readers have enjoyed sharing the experience with me.

When I have had time to reflect I may add some final comments.