We have made it to Italy, end of week two and have stopped for a couple of days in Pisa. Our hotel is lovely and from our HUGE roof-top balcony you can see the leaning tower. It is so close you feel you can almost touch it.

The ride from Nimes was a lot less fraught than the trip down from Calais as the wind had died right down and the sun has made an appearance.
We are still getting inquisitive looks and some people stop and ask where we are going and are surprised when we tell them.

We had our first run-in with the law. We were riding through Monaco roughly along the Formula One race route (we rode along the starting grid and over the start/finish line) and while too busy looking which direction to go, we illegally rode around that casino on our motorbikes. Hardened criminals are we. It is probably because motorbikes are noisy and they don't wish to disturb the Gucci set, although while the policewoman was perusing our licences, registration and insurances, a convoy of rather loud Ferraris drove by, I suppose you can make as much noise around the casino as you like as long as the source of the noise costs more than a quarter of a million euros.

The roads in Italy are terrible, surpassed only by the adherance of the drivers to the rules governing them. It is very much a 'close your eyes and hope' situation at times when navigating through traffic. At least it is practice for India.

On the positive side, the scenery is truly some of the most awe inspiring we have yet seen. The snow capped Italian Alps on the way down to Pisa, the point where the French Alps meet the Mediterranian Sea, the lovely coastline along the Riviera just to name a few.

We are already talking about slightly altering our course through Europe as the possibility of travelling to Dubrovnic in Croatia direct from Bari in Italy by ferry. This may be the course we take if the weather is really cold in Austria and Slovenia. We have plenty of time to figure that out though.

From time to time, I will be posting recipes that I either think of, or discover along the way. This first one I dreamed up when we cooked for our friends Paul and Justine when we stayed with them prior to our departure. We had planned to cook sirloin steaks, but I plain forgot that Justine is vegetarian. So here is a lovely vegie recipe that I created.

Caramalised Red Onion and Pepper Tart with Goats Cheese.

1 Red Salad Onion, Sliced.
1 Red Pepper (capsicum), Sliced
1 Green Pepper, Sliced
1 Yellow or Orange Pepper, Sliced
A few sprigs of Thyme
Half a dozen Cherry Tomatoes, Halved
1 Roll of mild goats cheese, roughly chopped
1 Packet of Filo Pastry
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
50g melted butter

Saute the onion and peppers over a medium heat until they start to caramelise. It will appear that they are burning, but don't panic, it is just the natural sugars caramelising. They need to reach this stage or the tart will be, well, tart.
When they begin to caramelise, add the little leaves of the Thyme and the tomatoes and stir to cook. Reduce the heat a little while you deal with the tart base.

To make the base, lay the individual sheets of Filo on a flat baking tray and brush the melted butter between each sheet. Offset the sheets by 30 degrees so that the sheets fan out in a circle.
Scrunch up the edges toward the middle forming the edges, but leaving a flat area approx. 20cm wide. The tart base can be either round or square, you choose.

Once this has been done, spoon the onion and pepper mix into the tart and dot the chopped goats cheese over the top. Brush the exposed edges of the pastry with the remaining melted butter and cook in a moderate oven. When the pastry has browned to a nice tan colour and the goats cheese has melted and browned slightly, the tart is ready to serve.

Cut into wedges and serve with a rocket salad and drizzle the plate with a little olive oil and a nice balsalmic vinegar.

Bon appetite

Well we made it to the South of France and are staying in Nimes for a few days to rest, carry out maintenance on the bikes, update the blog etc.

The journey South was not without its moments though. We never expected so much wind. It was gale force at times and made riding very dangerous. Once we were riding over a bridge on a motorway and had to slow right down and ride over in first gear with our feet down off the foot pegs to ensure we got across without being blown over the edge. Very scary stuff indeed. We stopped just past the bridge at a rest stop to regain our nerves and see if the wind would die down at all, it didn't so we got off the motorway and onto more sheltered backroads to Rodez.

Now we take the backroads anytime the forecast shows the slightest breeze. Much nicer scenery this way though.

Yesterdays ride was very wet, we took the backroads as winds of 70KM per hour were forecast, lots of very tight bends but the scenery of the rocky mountains was just amazing. If the weather was any kinder, we would have stopped more often for photos and to just enjoy the scenes, but the priority was to get to our destination for a hot bath and a defrosting.

Nimes is lovely, complete strangers guess we are tourists and say a heartwarming 'Bonjour'. Our French is improving no end. Nothing like being immersed in the culture to bring back all past French lessons. I am convinced I was French in a former life, I'm speaking the lingo like a native.

To sum up the first week of riding, France's weather is not to be taken lightly, more cathedrals than you can poke a stick at (there is even one right next to our hotel in Nimes) people are incredibly friendly outside of Paris, and the food is delectable.

Our new seats from P & P seating are fantastic, not one sore arse between us!!!

Total miles travelled to date - 833, you can work this out in KMs yourselves.

Well, what a disasterous non-start to our journey. The house completed on-time, which was great, but the day before (Thursday) I had a minor accident on the bike which resulted in me being more damaged than the bike. The bike needed a new mirror cover, indicator and a new plastic bumper cover for the side protector. I however hit the ground hip first which resulted in a bruise the size of a football. I also hit my shoulder which slightly bruised a rib or two which still allowed me to breath, albeit not a complete lungful. I had to replace my helmet as I hit my head too heavily on the tarmac to trust that it would survive a similar impact (thank god for helmets). Our friend Miss Hilary gave me a once over yesterday afternoon, no, not like that, she is an Osteopath. Hilary sorted my shoulder and allowed me to take a full breath again (YAY!!!)

We would like to thank Dave for all of his help since Thursday evening, Kev and Fiona for their assistance and great friendship also on Thursday evening (not quite the plan I had for that night) and Paul and Justine for providing that all important accommodation over the weekend.

It is now Wednesday 7th of February, 4 days after we were due to leave and we are finally away this morning with the bike now repaired, and me on the mend.

The next blog update will be the first in our journey.