Day 0 (Scott)

I had planned to leave Hammersmith at 2:30, and before I knew it, 4:40 had arrived. So time to go! Got all packed up, texted Tim I was leaving, and onto a blissfully empty Westway into the West end, past Euston station, still no traffic. Where is it all? Then Kings Cross arrived, and there it was. Bumper to bumper all the bloody way to Romford. It was hot, the clutch must have gone in and out about 500 times, I wasn't on zooming up the middle of the lanes with the bag hanging out both sides at the back. A slog.

Not fun.

The A12 started off a pain with red lights every mile and a half with a 50 stretch in between, and being Essex, flat out was the only option! After 12 or so I was bored, then it turned into motorway. Then I was scared. 50 in a 50 zone was fine. 50 in a 70 zone was scary. After a while my confidence increased, and worrying about time constraints I looked at the speedo, and we were doing 60mph, bloody hell and holding it. I tried not to think about how fast 10 inch rims should turn at 100kmh and held on.

At speed the Vespa well, the helmet was draughty and noisy. Quite glad we will be on the B roads tomorrow. I did look down once and see the needle past 65 by quite a bit, and that was just pushing it just a bit too much for my nerves. Anyway 1 quick refuel and Red Bull in Ingatestone services, and the last 50 miles just melted away. Great to see Tim and get the bikes on the boat after all this time, We're off!

So 3hrs 50 mins with 30 mins of breaks to do 86 miles, average speed 25.88mph, including one hour of not breaking 20mph, Top speed (on the porkie-pie telling Vespa speedo) 68mph. East London traffic sucks. One happy Kiwi having a drink on the ferry. Cheers.