Long Way Round Vs Wrong Way Round

So at last the meeting of minds has happened. It was back in October 2008 that we first bumped in to Russ Malkin at the NEC Motorcycle Show and talked of meeting up with him and Charley Boorman. It was always going to be difficult working around showbiz schedules but finally after 8 months we managed to find a day when we could accomodate them.

Now the day didn't start too well. First of all we still hadn't ridden the bikes beyond the driveway of HQ so the chances of riding all the way in to Central London without incident were slim so we loaded them all in to the support van. The meeting was at 11am and Matt feared the traffic in to London on Friday rush hour would be appalling so we left at 7am just to be safe. Imagine our surprise when we ended up sat in a breakfast bar at 8.00am having not seen a single traffic jam.

So about 10.30am we thought we ought to unload the bikes and get ourselves prepared for the hectic 1/2 mile journey from Homebase car park in Kensington to Long Way Round HQ. Some piss-taking ensued when I couldn't start my bike until it turned out Matt had forgotten to put a battery in it. Fortunately you can bump start a T80 otherwise I would have had an embarrassing pushing episode.

Then Charlie realised he'd forgotten to fit his L-plates. All of a sudden we were wishing we could have the time back that we'd just wasted in the breakfast bar eating ourselves to death. A quick search of the van turned up some red insulating tape. A few minutes later Charley had some truly shonky L-plates but they were at least in keeping with the overall theme of the bike.

So with 5 minutes to spare we eventually kit up and get ready to roll except Kaspars had now gone missing. Obviously the full english breakfast had got the better of him. Eventually he comes trotting out of Homebase looking relieved. Having rendered the gents bogs off limits for a few hours he felt obliged to buy something to make up for it, and so he proudly presents Charlie with some shiny new L-plates which would have been a good move had they not been magnetic ones.

Our grand arrival went equally badly since we'd left the arrangements up to Nick (never a good move bearing in mind this is a man who is usually still in his pyjamas at 2pm). Suffice to say Russ was not there nor was there anything in the diary about us arriving. Instead the lovely Hannah had to make small talk while we shuffled around trying not to look like some very sad individuals on shit mopeds.

Then things went from bad to worse when Kaspars asked where the toilet was. It was quickly becoming apparent that all we were going to achieve from this visit was a few photos for posterity and a plumbing bill from Dynorod.

And then as if by magic the shutters went up and dynamic duo arrived...