Murphy was an optimist!

by Rex and Sally · Published September 28, 2025 · Updated November 3, 2025

Dateline Leopold Victoria

Thursday 25th September, 2025.

Series 2 Instalment 13

When we first mooted the possibility of undertaking this latest adventure we posed the slightly flippant and totally rhetorical question “What could possibly go wrong” The obvious answer was of course, “Almost anything”. Nowhere on that list of theoretical “almost anything” did we foresee the rapid decline of my will to proceed caused by something akin to the proverbial death by a thousand cuts though I guess with the benefit of perfect hindsight we probably should have. The signs were all there from the beginning.

Loaded up and full of promise.

Upon our arrival in England in early June we go immediately to Motofreight near Heathrow Airport to collect the bike only to realise that we have too much stuff to easily pack it all on the bike. We decide to package up all my camping gear in a large box and forward it to the hotel in Vienna where Sally and I will be parting ways in about15 weeks time. She to head home to Australia and me to continue on to parts unknown for an indefinite period. We email the hotel and they assure us they will hold the package until our scheduled arrival. About six weeks before arriving in Vienna I email the hotel again to check that the package has arrived safely. It has not! The tracking code indicates that the package went to Vienna but when a customs charge is to be paid the hotel refuse, don’t tell us, and the package is returned to His Majesty’s Customs warehouse somewhere in England. Many emails and hours spent listening to music on hold all draw a blank. As I write this, about $2000 worth of high quality camping equipment are still missing somewhere in the system.

Going back to the beginning of the trip again and some of you may recall that we had the bike serviced in Geelong by the local Triumph dealer before loading it on the boat bound for England only to discover a major oil leak the first day out on the road. This is of course repaired by the West London Triumph dealer, at considerable cost, and as the Geelong dealer had gone broke and closed down, there was no possibility for compensation.

A few days later we have the first of two low speed falls resulting in Sally’s first confidence shaking injury. Being the trooper she is she gets right back on the horse but the damage is done, her trust in the bike and my ability to control it are severely eroded. Her bum also has a nasty bruise to constantly remind her of my incompetence.

From here things appear to take on a much rosier hue.

There is always room for ice cream!

England, Wales and Scotland provide some magnificent riding in mostly glorious weather through some picture postcard scenery. We catch up with old mates Billy Ward, James Crates and Charley Boorman, we eat many traditional pub lunches and sample the occasional local ale. The Airbnbs are as always a lucky dip but predominantly they are outstanding value with warm inviting hosts. Surely our misfortunes are all behind. This positivity stays with us right through Iceland where we spend two of our best ever weeks on the road with our good mates Scott and Gina. Except for the time Scott trips and damages his shoulder while trying to help me push start the Tiger which has a flat battery from me leaving the lights on all night.

Now that’s a fish hook!

After Iceland and the Faroe Islands we spend three weeks in Norway.

My favourite Viking

If you’ve been following the blog beforehand you may remember we were blown away by the Norwegian scenery, the land, the culture and its people. What we haven’t mentioned till now is that we were less than impressed with the general demeanour and behaviour of one of the tour company personnel. Let’s just say he won’t be on our Christmas card list. It left a slightly uncomfortable taste in our mouths and probably lead to the group being much less tight knit than others we have travelled with.

Ten days later and we are in beautiful Switzerland or at least it would probably be beautiful if we could see it through the driving rain.

The rain in Switzerland falls mainly on the motorcyclists.

This of course contributes to our second and more severe crash, though still only at low speed. Sally’s injuries this time however are considerably worse. In the last blog post I mentioned bruising. What I haven’t told you till now is that she in fact has an undisplaced fracture of the right tibia at the knee joint. This has not only destroyed her confidence but given my own normally unshakeable self-belief a serious kick in the teeth. It has also lead to us spending a hefty sum of money and time rearranging schedules, hiring cars, booking hotels and generally dicking around. It is all doable of course but it slowly wears away at us. To add insult to the injury, my tyre pump and tyre repair kit are torn away from the bike in the crash. I retrieve them from the roadside but subsequently forget to pack them on the bike when leaving the Airbnb a few days later. I contact our host who locates the kit and volunteers to send it to us care of our hotel in Ljubljana. It never arrives despite me handing over about $100 in freight charges. Arrgh!! All enquiries to the Swiss post office prove fruitless. Another $300 worth of vital equipment gone.

There are few things beer won’t fix.

Three weeks around Italy, Corsica, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia are simply amazing and just what we need to reset the enthusiasm reserves. The history, culture, food, people, scenery and just the total ambience of the place are unmatched anywhere we have ever been. I wish we had more time here.

On the Serpentine Rd, Montenegro.

I wish Sally could enjoy it more too but she is stuck in the van with a very uncomfortable leg. At the end of our time here we have to make arrangements to get Sally to Vienna to meet her flights to Singapore and then Australia which have been booked for months. The only feasible solution is to fly her from Ljubljana to Vienna where she stays for a few days waiting for the homeward flights. Again she has to endure more complication, expense and tedious waiting around. As if to emphasise her misery she has caught a nasty head cold which is migrating to a very chesty cough.

Sally and Jarrod celebrate finally getting out of the monster VAN!

By now my resolve to continue is faltering. In desperation I make the irrational decision to head back to the UK to either try to locate at least the camping equipment or purchase some inexpensive replacement gear. (Edit. We have now been informed that because we did not collect the package in a timely manner it has been disposed of!) Soon after setting out from Vienna on my westward quest I begin to feel the onset of what I think is Sally’s cold. Thank you for sharing my darling but you really didn’t have to. As it turns out it is much worse. By the time I hit British soil again two days later I have full blown Man Flu (it’s a real thing, look it up) I get a cheap room in a B and B and collapse in bed for two full days sweating it out. By the time I am able to make coherent thoughts again I have assessed my situation thoroughly and come to the only sensible decision I can make. Given the unstable security situation in the Middle East and also the Pakistan/India border closure, my preferred route is closed to me. The alternative is to go north through Georgia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan etc. then China, Laos, Malaysia and so on till I get home. The problem is winter is coming and trying to ride through Russia and the Stans in winter is proper suicide. The sensible option is to leave the bike at Motofreight to be sent home and for me to fly home ASAP to recover, lick the metaphorical wounds and reflect on the highs, and there are a great many highs, but also contemplate the lows of four months, 25,000km and 20 countries on the road.

Could’ve bought the T shirt, should’ve bought the T shirt, DIDN’T!

Since when have I ever done the sensible thing? Well for once in my life that is exactly what I have done. We are both back home in Leopold, Victoria with no immediate plans to do anything other than visit our girls and the grand kids. But oh my goodness haven’t we had a time of it! The places we have been, the roads ridden, the people we have met, the food and culture, all of it. It’s all been incredible and it’s a shame we have had to end it like this. Oddly enough though, Sally has already floated the idea of attacking the trip from this end, perhaps next year or 2027. Not her, not on the bike. Just me. She knows only too well I still have a massive itch to scratch so who knows what may come? Watch this space.