Improving biker...

... improving his bike.

Now, where do I find space for all of these tools?

Progressing in planning...

More detail. This first map is reasonably precise...

… whereas the maps generally are more in the nature of broad outlines as they progress.

What is sure is that we're starting in London, going to Nordkapp (the northernmost piece of tarmac in Europe), then to Africa...

… along the West Coast...

… and ending (in theory, at least) at Cape Agulhas (the southernmost point in Africa).

Well, it seems like a good idea.

(The total distance is 15,674 miles. It's not far. Around the world is 25,000. Our trip, over 365 days is only 43 miles per day; mere bagatelle!)

New bike acquired...

Intrepid adventurer & new Adventure Bike

And then a bike...

AT for BT19

We bought a bike for the trip. It is lovely, isn't it? It's a 2016 Honda CRF1000D Africa Twin DCT (Africa Twin for short).

It's not the colour suggested in an earlier post, but it is lovely.

Stepping stones...

Bike's gotta be fixed...

… border guards gotta be charmed...

… diseases gotta be resisted...

Kinaesthetic overview #1

Kinaesthetic overview #2

Planning #2

Africa is roughly 4,000,000 times bigger than our living room rug. Look closely and you'll see our possible/probable route (highlighted in red).

Michelin maps 1cm = 40km 

Routes

More detail. This first map is reasonably precise...

… whereas the maps generally are more in the nature of broad outlines as they progress.

What is sure is that we're starting in London, going to Nordkapp (the northernmost piece of tarmac in Europe), then to Africa...

… along the West Coast ...

… and ending (in theory, at least) at Cape Agulhas (the southernmost point in Africa).

Well, it seems like a good idea.

(The total distance is 15,674 miles. It's not far. Around the world is 25,000. Our trip, over 365 days is only 43 miles per day; mere bagatelle!)

Planning

Dear friends of Angelika and Simon, here's where we're going. For an easier-to-manipulate view of the route, you can click here. Of course, we'll be setting off from London and going north first. Then south.

We'll decide on the return during the journey.

We will be leaving in early July '19. We expect to spend Christmas '19 in Cote D'Ivoire. I wonder if they have turkey and Brussel sprouts.

Just for the record, Europe is much smaller in comparison to Africa than the map above shows. That's what imperialism will do to cartography. For example, Nordkapp (northerly point Norway) to Gibraltar is appx 3,500 miles. Morocco to Cape Agulhas (southerly point Africa) is appx 7,250 miles. It's significant politically and it's significant if you're planning a motorcycle journey and you make the mistake of thinking that Africa is the same size as Europe.

And this is the bike we'll be riding. It might even be this actual colour. Cool, eh?

The bike: Honda Africa Twin CRF 1000 DCT