Leaving Portugal /Arriving home/3/5/2010

Waiting for a pick up from Nuno to take us to the airport,We are sure our bags
are full of the Sahara desert as they have grown in size, maybe it is the new wardrobe :-) We have both grown in size
as the food and drink has been just great.. now back to the diet ;_( More when we arrive in Switzerland -- if we ever do

Have arrived in Hong Kong after waiting in Switzerland for 7 hours for a connecting flight then a 12 hour flight by Swiss air to Hong Kong (you get what you pay for) now we only have a 8hour flight to Sydney then a 2 hour trip home will arrive in our bed about 12 noon Tuesday. We had to run to catch this flight and get transferred to gate thirty six just made it in time as  the Swiss plane had not turned their clock back, we are both in a lather of sweat.. but we are going home.. Hong Kong Airport is huge..and running with ones bags is not fun

Oh I forgot to mention the Pope was in Lisbon on Saturday huge crowds and lots of noise a great spectacle.

We are home again after 2 great adventures , arrived back in Sydney at 6am had to wait for the shuttle home which arrived at 8am  2 hours to drive home as there was an accident, did two loads of washing then hit the bed... Wow now it is Wednesday must have slept all Tuesday
It was a great holiday despite all the little hiccups, accidents, night riding, loosing baggage,loosing people,but the best part was meeting new Tour leaders and great new friends, it was a pleasure to ride with
-Our next adventure will be off to the good old USA in July -

Portugal Spain Morocco April 2010

Hi All

Well our great adventure is over, had a wonderful time ate too much drank too much. Have met some wonderful people and the trip was most enjoyable. Just loved Morocco and the people.

We are now in the Park Atlantic  Lisbon stranded until we get a flight home, as we are on Swiss air and they got to Zurich and the airport is closed, so it is just a waiting game. our  flight is not until Tuesday so we will have to check again tomorrow.

Vic has now caught a cold, and all our medication is in the big bag, which will be flown home by DHL when all the airports are open again.

Will keep you posted when we return.

We bought some new clothes to get us thru the week, and it is great how many times you can twist your undies around.

All for now

The End of a second Ayres adventure

Wow we are now back in Lisbon after a fantastic ride,and to top off all our excitement our bags were here to welcome us all intact and secure, Claus and his contacts with the other Moto group and DHL did a very good job. We even changed the Ayres Adventures procedure check list, and no bags were lost on the second tour.
On the last night before we headed into Lisbon we stayed in a wonderful Palace in a little remote village, very private and very beautiful, you will just have to wait for the photos when we get home.
The last day´s riding was through the mountains and very twisty, being on the back felt like I was a agitator in a washing machine being tossed about, and just waiting for the rinse , Rufus (Dr)had improved his riding and the Lawyer turned out to be a judge, he was getting better, Claus took the last days ride as his back had improved, and Nuno had urgent paper work for Denny and Alice to attend to, as Denny still had the papers for the bike in Morocco and he would not be able to leave the country(the bike is back in Portugal) - a little bit of a muddle.
We went to the same Cafe De Fado and it was very good we said our good byes to the family of Drs and Judges , Mike the Canadian is out playing Polo some where and we will join him to night for our farewell cuddles - he is a top bloke.

This has been a great tour but the Morroco one had more interest and more culture - still it was a great adventure all the same.

In seville Spain1

Hi all,

In Seville Spain, after a hectic two days of riding. One couple rode off the mountain and pillion Alice sustained multiple breaks and in Military Hospital. Rider OK but bike written off.

Our bags still in Morocco doing a second tour with another bike tour company that stayed at the same hotel, Manuel of Faulty Towers took the bags to the wrong truck - we are dressing in borrowed clothes and living out of a plastic bag. Hope to get the bags back before leaving on Tuesday which brings up another problem with all the airports in Northern Europe being closed due to the volcanic ash from the Iceland eruption. No photos as our computer being in our bags along with the camera and mobile phone chargers, house keys, etc. Lucky I took copies of our travel documents on a memory stick.

Leaving Portugal

Leaving Portugal
Wow we are now back in Lisbon after a fantastic ride, and to top off all our excitement our bags were here to welcome us all intact and secure, Claus and his contacts with the other Moto group and DHL did a very good job. We even changed the Ayres Adventures procedure check list, and no bags were lost on the second tour.
On the last night before we headed into Lisbon we stayed in a wonderful Palace in a little remote village, very private and very beautiful, you will just have to wait for the photos when we get home.
The last day´s riding was through the mountains and very twisty, being on the back felt like I was a agitator in a washing machine being tossed about, and just waiting for the rinse , Rufus (Dr)had improved his riding and the Lawyer turned out to be a judge, he was getting better, Claus took the last days ride as his back had improved, and Nuno had urgent paper work for Denny and Alice to attend to, as Denny still had the papers for the bike in Morocco and he would not be able to leave the country(the bike is back in Portugal) - a little bit of a muddle.
We went to the same Cafe De Fado and it was very good we said our good buys to the family of Drs and Judges, Mike the Canadian is out playing Polo somewhere and we will join him to night for our farewell cuddles - he is a top bloke.

This has been a great tour but the Morocco one had more interest and more culture - still it was a great adventure all the same.

We are leaving tomorrow and should be home Tuesday (all going well).

Good News bags

Good news  our bags are now in Lisbon at DHLs distribution Centre and will be delivered to the Hotel today, and we can have them when we arrive tomorrow... Yippee it has been 14 days since they went missing. These jeans should be able to walk by them selves now.

Also great news from Marrakesh that Alice (She was injured in the accident) can fly home on the 1st May she is on a stretcher and they have reserved 7 seats for her and Denny a Doctor and a Nurse to get them all back to Alaska she is still in pain but at least she be at home, Clauss friend has kept us all updated with her progress..

Clause ´s back has improved and he is again working out and walking and he is looking forward to going home to Germany on the 1st May`.

Looks like a little drizzle today , it will be a little tricky on the cobblestones to start for the ones that are inexperienced as most of the city roads are  cobble.Very bumpy in places..

All for now till the next stop. will partake in a little port nectar for you all.

Back in Portugal 28/4

Well so much to report, the trip has been excellent the `roads are twisty and the scenery has been magnificent  and the food just magic, the weather is perfect and all going well.Sorry about the delay in reporting but not having our little computer there was no Internet available in the hotels we were staying at.We are now in Porto in Portugal.

Our bags have been to Germany and "should be in Lisbon" today... so we hope they will be there when we arrive there Friday, we will be staying at the same hotel (Tiara) we were in when last in Lisbon and understand we will be having our farewell dinner at the same restaurant as the earlier tour.

The "Old Lawyer" is younger than Vic, what a surprise he looks about 75.  Yes he has dropped his bike but is OK and we lost him a couple of times and Nuno had to go looking for him. Some days have been very long "in hours" as we have to wait.. as the two Dr's and their Dad, "the Lawyer" have never ridden so far in their lives, so Vic and Nuno have been giving them riding instructions so that they can keep up.The tour is so much different from the last one. which was fast and we are missing all the guys and Ann.

Mike, the Canadian´, is good company and a good rider, he was to be on the Moroccan tour but for some reason decided not to, from our description he now wishes he had been. 

We have given this group a few laughs I don,t know if they understood us or laughed to be polite...

Iky is still in the truck and Claus has not ridden in Spain or Portugal as his back is still very sore from lifting the bike off Denny on the last tour.

We have stayed in some magnificent places.. from Monasteries and Convents to the oldest recognized hotel in the world next to the Santiago Cathedral, and we are now in a beautiful restored palace with our room in an adjoining warehouse overlooking the river.

We saw many pilgrims arriving in Santiago having walked over one thousand klms in a month giving hugs and many kisses to others who also made it (not being a Catholic we did not know anything about this). Santiago is one of the four corners of the cross.

We are off on a cruise on the river and then we are going to do a Yellow bus trip to see the sights of the city. As the name Porto suggests it is in the port growing region of Portugal and naturally one has to support the local industry.