We looked at places in the Péloponnèse before coming here but decided it was a bit too rustique and a bit sauvage in the Winter…we also looked at places in Tuscany but felt that the men were/are really misogynistic even though the food is so good.
I’m currently considering whether to buy the modern Trident 800. It’s really very pleasant
We bought a Trophy 1200,30 years ago!, nice touring bike but a bit top heavy so not great for long distances. We sold it and sadly never replaced it, I’d been riding motorcycles since I was 13, ( illegal but hey).
That’s what I’m finding with my current bike (BMW S1000XR), it’s a bit top heavy. It’s lovely on the road but stopped or wheeling it about is becoming a chore.
It can be really stressful at times and I couldn’t ride it myself safely, so ended up a reluctant pillion 
It’s hard to find the Greece that we first loved in the 1980s. Lesvos has a lot of that left with controlled tourism and an economy determined to work based on productivity of local goods, but they also have a terrible problem with boat-people. Italy, I’d probably pick the Marche or Abruzzo, that I’d also really like to try the Dolomites, but I can’t comment on social mores of the locals. In general, the food in Italy seems better than that of France, cooked and supermarkets, but I’ve not studied extensively and both are good enough.
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Top-heavy doesn’t seem unusual compared to many bikes I grew up with, and the Trident was no exception, plus the forks were horribly under-damped and it was all a bit wallowey. For my 60th I wondered about a Royal Enfield Interceptor, but there were some clear negative noises to be heard, and I think they were probably correct - I’d never be happy riding to match my present level of ability, but riding outside that envelope might be quite painful.
I visited many islands in the early 80s with my first wife and more recently with my ‘now’ wife two wonderful road trips on the mainland. If it had been up to me we might have moved to Greece but I believe they changed the goalposts and we would no longer qualify. Ewa was in any case concerned about health care. I certainly feel very much at home there. My favourite part is the Pelion peninsula. We’ve been living in France now just over a year and it certainly ticks most of the boxes. That wonderful sea, the music, the fιλοξενία will have to be just for visits. Meanwhile we’re getting plenty of blue skies and sunshine and the local French are very friendly. I feel very fortunate.
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Do you remember the concept of ‘Greek Island hopping’?…complete with a copy of Let’s Go Greece and and an Interrail Pass….that was fun and got me to Athens via Vienna and Beograd and Skopje…and then I recall to one of the last almost inhabited islands in the Cyclades via Santorini on a wooden converted fishing boat complete with a sail. To Anafi.
No tourists, no harbour, one place to eat, no cars and just hanging out and backgammon and …ahem, other stuff.
I liked the early 80’s but I like today too.
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Lonely planet for me
I loved those days. I came back from our first island hopping adventure and signed up to a Greek language night school course straight away. It used the BBC publication Greek Language and People. Does anyone remember the accompanying tv show with Chris Searle? He would visit various islands and the mainland talking to people about the language - and surprise - the people. The book gave a gentle introduction to the alphabet. Subsequent visits to Greece with a smattering of Greek reaped rewards. We would head for places away from the holiday centres. The welcome on hearing my very basic Greek was wonderful. I remember being hugged by a rather large widow all in black. She said ‘Greek boy’. I was rather chuffed.
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A taxi driver in Piraeus once asked me if I was Greek, which pleased me no end. 
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About ten years earlier, I used my thumb to get me from Ostend to Thessaloniki, guided by a two page map of Europe from my stepfather’s The Economist desk diary, but after that relied on trains and boats and planes (and buses, taxis, a few private cars and a truck delivering milk in the middle of the night in Turkey).
It was a memorable journey with many new experiences along the way - I remember spending a night in a mobile office (aka caravan) in Munich’s Schwabing district and being woken in the early hours by drunken locals throwing rocks at it.
The following morning I learned why - it was an office for a company that sold unbreakable windows and they had a sample on the outside of the caravan.
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Oh lekker indeed!…I also remember hitching from Hamburg to here in the Cévennes aged 17…
So many crazy but safe experiences and it was always sunny!
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…my fascination with the Péloponnèse started with reading Gérald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals and I so wanted to be in Greece….and I was so lucky to spend a flight from Southampton to Jersey sitting with Lée Durrell and Gerald …the best flight ever and to this day, I still can spend hours and hours watching insect and chilling out listening to birds and frogs and so on…..
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Weather: I think its terrifying. I was leaving Bergerac at 6.30 this evening and it was still hovering around 30c. This is not right or normal in the 3rd week of April. Maybe the odd 2 or 3 days but this heat has been going on already and the next 2 weeks all warm. No idea where we are headed with it. Perhaps Normandy 
Greece: I left Oz in September 1997 'for a year or 2’. My goals were to hang out with family and visit Ireland and Greece. Guess where I haven’t been ? . I’ve just started to read a book (written by my late father) about an Englishman called Frank Abney-Hastings, my ancestor. He is apparently a hero in Greece and when dad went out there for research with my brother they were treated like royalty by navy people, historians ect and told any of us going were to go to see all the sites and get in touch for official tours! @JohnBoy thought of you when I started reading, I still need to scan the other book of Grandpa Reggie’s for you but have a digital copy of this if you would like it.
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How interesting.
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Yes please x
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Temperature at Bridlington on the East coat of Yorkshire yesterday was a very pleasant 18 degrees.
As part of my bucket list on returning to the UK we sat at lunchtime overlooking the harbour with fish and chips in hand.
Why do seaside fish and chips taste so special?
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It’s the seagulls and ozone… adding to the overall flavours 
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