When Life Gives You Lemons order Salt and Tequila!
Dateline Farnham, England.
Wednesday 11 the June, 2025
Series 2, Instalment 2
Quintessentially British
The UK leg of our trip hasn’t exactly gone the way we planned so far. The oil leak in the bike required parts to be ordered which takes time even though it is a British bike (made in Thailand!) Then there is the matter of 4-5 hours of labour and $1000+ AUD of expense all to correct a lousy job done by the guy who serviced the bike in Geelong. So what else is there to do than make the best of what could be a shitty situation.
Our Airbnb host has been most gracious and understanding. She brings us fresh croissants every day and basically gives us the run of the place. So we make contact with a couple of old friends who live in this corner of England and arrange to meet up. This corner of England is fairly crowded but also very pretty. Everywhere is a riot of green and all very clean if a little grey and damp at times and there are quaint country pubs seemingly on every corner. Many of these pubs have been updated but most retain at least some of the rustic charm we seek.
Our first catch up is with my mate James Crates who I first met on a three week odyssey in Mongolia almost exactly six years ago. We meet up at a beaut little character filled pub, The Onslow Arms, in the throws of renovations but still serving a tasty Sunday roast and all the trimmings washed down with plenty of local cider. I’m still getting my head around the warm beer but the local ales in particular are superb.At the time James and I first met six years ago we were in the company of madman/genius (I never did work out which) Ed March, creator of the Youtube channel C90 Adventures. If you haven’t seen C90 Adventures do yourself a favour and Google it! We spend a leisurely 3 hours reminiscing and catch up on much that has passed since last we met. All too soon we part ways, vowing to meet up again somewhere in the world.
The next day we spend the morning wandering the streets around our base checking out an ancient mill that has been converted into five floors of amazing antiques shop before another hearty lunch in another quintessentially British pub. That afternoon we have arranged to meet our good mate Charley Boorman at his, there is no other word for it, estate, in the country. As we approach there are even deer in the driveway. Some of you will know who Charley is and the die hard purist will even scoff and sneer at his approach to adventure travel, quite justifiably pointing to his entourage of camera and sound people, producers, fixers, medics and others but there is no denying that he and his best mate Ewan McGregor have completely transformed adventure motorcycle travel and inspired 10s if not 100s of thousands of people to get off the couch and on the road. That matters little to us, we have always had an adventurous streak. The truly inspiring thing he and Ewan have done is raise nearly $50 million AUD for UNICEF! Let that sink in for a moment, 50 big ones and counting for disadvantaged kids to get an education. How many people around the world can say that? But to us he is just Charley, the bloke who used to drop in for a coffee on his way past our old place in Tassie. Sitting in his back yard, drinking coffee, admiring his extensive collection of bikes, checking out his new TV studio which he is building himself and questioning why the hell anyone has six different BBQs (apparently he ordered one and Weber sent him six) is a great way to spend an afternoon. Sadly we don’t get to meet Charley’s dad, Hollywood producer Sir John who lives in the guest house that Charley has also renovated. He is now 92 years old and though quite active, Charley and wife Ollie are doing their best to care for him.
Catching up with Charley at his beautiful Surrey Estate
Tuesday morning and we drop the bike off early at Triumph of West London and make our way by train into London centre where we behave like actual tourists as we walk endlessly around the city constantly dodging the continual barrage of faceless people scurrying briskly about with their earphones in, phones in hand, conducting business apparently so urgent it can’t wait another moment. They have become so adept at this that they can swiftly navigate through the crowd without ever looking up and never bumping into each other. It is a fascinating ballet to observe. Who knows what plans are made, what deals are sealed and how much productivity is achieved. Sally and I on the other hand stroll casually about taking in the sights.
The Eye
We take a ride on the giant ferris wheel known as the London Eye which provides spectacular views across the city.
Queen Boudica, vanquisher of Romans.
Then we wander past Big Ben and all the other great London sights to Buckingham Palace which we find somewhat underwhelming from the outside. Sadly our official invitations must have been lost in the mail so the guards won’t let us in!
None Shall Pass!
It is however the day that Billy Boston became the first ever professional Rugby League player to receive a Knighthood for service to the sport and we just happened to be at the Palace Gates when he emerged from his audience with the King! Cool.
Billy Boston, knighted for services to Rugby League
It is Wednesday afternoon and the bike is finally fixed!!! Our new best friends at Triumph West London now have enough of our money to retire early but at least we can ride off into the sunrise tomorrow with some confidence. We are lucky to have found these guys as they point out to us the parlous state of affairs developing in the bike’s engine. Had we not dealt with it now we would possibly be walking back to Australia. But we are not walking, we are off to Cornwall and another catch up with old acquaintances and quite a bit of sight seeing, more pub lunches, looking for dragons in King Arthur’s Castle and whatever may come our way. We have had a great time here in the south east despite the little set back but it’s onward and upward from here. We now have our wheels back so we may spend more time exploring and less time writing blogs but we’ll stay in touch.
