Where it all began

It was a lovely, sunny January day in Dorchester, and here I am, sitting on the bike for the first time. I admit, I was nervous.
So much effort has gone into making this R80 GS the best bike for the job. What if it didn't feel right? But of course I needn't have worried. It felt wonderful.
Tesch's boxes went on the next day, and they looked impressive, but what pleased me most was a little gimmick I've been thinking about for years. I've always wanted somewhere to plant my umbrella. Don't laugh! It's very useful. You can sleep on a bike in the rain, or pull out maps, open boxes, and keep dry.
Here (below) I have it up in Ethiopia, where umbrellas are sacred. With me is my temporary riding buddy, Fabio, from Italy. We rode to Addis together.

HOW TO MOVE THROUGH THIS SITE

Every page in the journal has a date. At the bottom of every page are two links, "NEXT" and "PREVIOUS" which you can use to follow the sequence of the story.

At the foot of the page is a group of other links. The "calendar" link will (surprisingly) bring you to a calendar, which shows you where all the pages are in that particular year. On the right you will see a link enabling you to move to a different year. Yellow squares on the calendar denote newspaper articles. Red squares lead to controversial material. I have left the last pages of the journey on this site. If you want to see the whole story, you will have to buy the CD. Now go to . . . PAGE ONE