Day 142, 2011/09/20

Today is officially my last day on the bike. I hope to be in London by this evening, and since I am shipping my bike back from there, this should be my last day in the saddle. Needless to say, I am up early, still need to get to Calais in France, and then get onto a ferry to Dover. The 200km to Calais are relatively uneventful, and I manage to find the ferry port easily. The ferry ticket turns out to be a huge ripoff!!! On the ferry company's website, one is able to purchase a ferry ticket for approximately 15 Pounds, which I did not since, I did not know when, and what time I was arriving in Calais. However, if you purchase the ticket on the day, at the port, it is 65 Euros!!! Yes, no one told me that. Nothing really one can do about that really. If you decide to wait a day and travel the next, you will have to book yourself into a hotel/hostel for the evening which, would most probably cost you the same. Anyway, lesson learnt, I purchase my ticket and I manage to catch the noon ferry to Dover.
The ferry is very impressive. It has lovely sitting area, with bars and restaurants and even it's own Duty Free shopping area. So far removed from the horrendous ferry from Wadi Halfa to Aswan, in Northern Sudan.
The 90 min crossing appears to pass quickly, and before I know it, I am finally riding on the correct side of the road again. Yeah, I have been on the right hand side of the road since I hit Ethiopia. I must admit, I have gotten use to it, and the first couple of traffic circles do require more than the normal levels of concentration.
Dover is about 100 odd km South East from London, so it does not take me long to get to the outskirts of London and the M25. I must admit, it is a slightly surreal feeling to find myself on my motorcycle, on the M25 in London. Who would ever have thought that, I after 142 of traveling, would be riding my bike into London. I must admit, I never thought I would have gotten this far!!

As irony would have, it was not all to be and approximately 10 km from the center of London, my motorcycle eventually decided to give up, and I broke down on the outskirts of London, in a place called Barking. The sprocket, that I had managed to fix in Northern Kenya, had finally decided enough was enough, and the entire shaft broke. This unfortunately was pretty terminal! Short of splitting the motor, and having the shaft replaced, there was no way I would be able to get going.
Look, I guess I could not have timed it any better. If the bike had broken down a couple of hours earlier, I would have been stuck in France!! And that would have made getting the bike to the shipping agents a nightmare. Well I guess I must have a guardian angel looking after me!! ;-)
After a number of phone calls and loads of help from Naomi, I eventually manage to contact the shipping agents who, say they are able to assist me in collecting the bike. Of course, this does not come cheap, and the towing of a motorcycle across London only set me back 180 Pounds!! Amazing, it costs 950 pounds to ship a bike from London to Durban, and from one side of London to the other, approximately 40 km costs me 180 Pounds! Amazing. None the less, I guess it could have been a lot worse, I could be stuck in the middle of nowhere, and then that would have been a nightmare.
After a two hour wait, James Cargo arrive to collect my bike. It is slightly sad to know that this if officially the end of my trip, and the next time I will see my motorcycle it will be back in South Africa. But I guess all good things must come to an end!!
After loading the bike, I get a lift to the closet tube station and make my way to
East Finchley, where Naomi pics me up.
All in all, it has been a reasonably good day, and been able to finally meet up again with Dave and Naomi, after seeing them last in Luxor in Egypt is lovely!

Day 142, 2011/09/20