Excited? Moi?

Not a bit.  Well, just a teeny bit.  :-)

As I write, there are just 26 days until we set off, which, for those of you who actually take an interest in the blog and have looked at the route plans will know, means that in 28 days time, we shall be shacked up in Kedange-sur-Canner, having completed 2 days on the road. But that is then!

Last time I wrote, I was attempting to get us booked on a Ducati factory and museum tour. I you check back, you'll see that I was having issues with their booking form. Being the kind chap I am, I pointed out to the Ducati customer service people, they had a problem. They agreed there was a bug and assured me their techies were working to fix it.  Give it a few days they said, so that's what I did. No problem this time, except that instead of confirming a booking online, they tell you that someone will be in touch to confirm the booking. Huh? Anyway, they duly responded, well after another prompting email they did and confirmed that we are booked on the 9:15 factory tour on Monday 14th July. Great! Worryingly though, it said (NO MUSEUM).  Now, as that was the only mention, with no further information, I'm not sure if they mean the museum isn't open that day or if they just mean that the guided tour only covers the factory and the museum is self guided. Another email has been despatched to clarify, no response yet received. They are probably fed up with me or maybe the English speaker has gone on holiday! We shall see.

The next booking I intend to make, as I mentioned before, is to go up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I've spoken with Grizzly and he has declined the invitation to drop dead halfway up the 294 steps, so I shall be scampering up solo, whilst he sits below gumming a cornetto and taking photos of me at the top. As Biggsy isn't with us, Grizzly can be Woody's official photographer for this tour.

The Sprint celebrated (quietly in the garage, alone!) her 1st birthday yesterday, no doubt still thrilled by the new boots I bought just over a week ago. She now sports some nice shiny black Michelin Pilot Road 4s. With the Ride of Respect last weekend and some commuting, they have already covered over 400 miles, so they will be well and truly scrubbed in by the time we set off for the continent and 2700 miles of the tour. I've also promised her a Scottoiler to keep the chain nice and lubricated and she'll be going in to have that fitted on Saturday. Whilst she's being worked on, I'll be getting my leg over the Triumph Thunderbird LT, Britain's answer to the Harley Road King and putting that through it's paces for an hour or so. Fingers crossed the weather stays fine.

That's all for now.