Base Camp Europe

A Top Secret Hideaway:

On the continent, at least, all roads lead to Base Camp Europe. Nestled in a hamlet (for those Brits amongst you, it does actually have a church, so not strictly am hamlet) you've probably never heard of...set in a mountain range you probably have heard of, with a population of just 64, this sleepy local is not far from the borders of 5 countries.

Why there? Cheap accommodation...courtesy of a best friend (The Wolf), and his family, I am allowed to use their little cottage as Base Camp for my touring and writing - on the premis that I complete at least one screenplay during my stay. In return for thier grace of allowing me a room-at-the-inn, I shall get to work prepairing their properties to make them ship-shape for future paying guests.

Whilst there, I can take advantage of a fantastically central location. During a thumb-twiddling and coffee drinking sessions (not a rare occasion of late...or should that be latte) I thought I'd see how far various cities were from my future haven in the heavens of Europe.

Considering that a round trip between Surrey, in the south of England, to Cumbria in the north of England, can be 700miles (1126.5km), yet a similar journey, give or take a sore bum or two, could land me at the Colloseum or eating cheese on a canal whilst wearing clogs, I am finding those distances to be very reasonable indeed! Perhaps I should upgrade my saddle before departing...if I did, I think I'd take the opportunity to convert the pillion section into additional storage.

It is amazing how close some of these cities are to one another too...which got me on to plotting out some tours. Probably a good idea to see the country of your origin first, that, on reflection, you have managed to go to the same few places over and over again and not seen much else in between, around, and about. Since I don't speak any other languages (save for a smattering of French...and a splattering of Spanish) it also makes sense to start touring where your focus can be on the bike, riding, filming and getting used to the carried kit and living off it all, rather than worrying about how you might actually converse with anyone - I'm not quite ready to make the Google Translate app my favourite thing in the world.