John Metcalfe

We moved to fully Tunisia in 2021 after having a villa since 2016. Best move we ever made, relaxed way of life, good riding weather all year round, and only just over 2 hours from that big sandy playground called the Sahara. Plus we're only a 10 hour ferry trip to Sicily which then gives us access to the rest of europe either by ferry or just simply ride across Sicily onto mainland Italy then access to just about anywhere our hearts takes us.

I'd follow it through as far as possible, even if only for the benefit of your son and to show the w****r in the car that he isn't untouchable and above the law. Only problem I can see is the UK plod being about as much use as a chocolate teapot not having any interest in doing any proper police work. One benefit of living here in Tunisia is that the police deal with it almost straight away working on the principle arrest first then investigate when they're locked away. The police here have the power to lock someone up for 90 days without actually going to court and they do it, working on the principle of behave like a dickhead get treat like a dickhead, needless to say there is very little repeat or petty crime here, plus all police officers carry firearms and will use them without hesitation if the need arises

We had a young girl run up our arse as we stopped at a junction, luckily no damage to us or bike. She attempted to do a runner after forcing her way passed us and a couple of cars. We "chased" her for about 3 miles before we caught up to her in heavy traffic near a police check point, missus jumped off and went to inform police at check point who to their credit acted immediately and puller her over. She tried to deny hitting us but when we presented the video footage from the rear facing camera. On seeing this the officers pulled her from the car, placed her in cuffs and had her taken off to the local station. We were told to take a copy of video to traffic police asap who were dealing with her. Unluckily for her the video damned her as she was not only on her phone but also doing her hair whilst driving, didn't go down well with traffic officer, who by luck was actually a bike cop and was well pissed with her attitude and disregard for other road users. Her car was confiscated and turned into coke cans and she received a driving ban and a 3 month jail sentence suspended for 18 months along with a large fine. All within 14 days of incident, not bad for a so called 3rd world country.

View for breakfast this morning

My missus has done 1000's of miles ss a pillion with me. For first few trips she would put her hands on my waist gripping loosely onto the jacket belt. Know she sits on the back without holding on, i alot of cases on longer trips she either falls asleep or reads her kinde. The dnoring while she asleep is abit much through headsets but you can stske your life onit if i mute the mic wakes up Trust and understanding of each other is the priority for a safe and enjoyable ride. Admittedly our bike is made for 2up long distance touring

There's a company based in Milan called Mototouring, they do rentals. They also offer a free drop off and pick up service from all 3 of Milan airports, along with other locations throughout Italy subject to numbers. They have a website at https://mototouring.com.

I'm assuming you mean the S1000RR, if so it's got to be the RR that's unless you like sitting on a razor blade for a seat. also the RR is a bit less of a lay down and ride bike yet is still a sports bike. You only have to watch the TT superbike and senior races to see what I mean. I'd love an S1000 but "she who shall be obeyed" prefers the old K1100LT, probably due to the armchair of an pillion seat and backrest

Yep fully agree with all above comments. I've always used a small amount of copper grease on the backs of my brake pads on all my bikes and cars. It has a very high melting point which is well below the expected normal temps of normal braking so if you don't over do it and get it on the pads braking surfaces you will be fine. My 1994 BMW K1100LT has Brembo brakes and pads front and rear and I've had no issues at all using copper grease.

It gets hotter here from start of May. Last year we had temps of over 50 degrees during day and mid 20s at night

Not yoo bad here at minute

I do all my own servicing and repairs to my bike, yes fair enough it's not a modern computer controlled starship. It's a 1994 BMW K1100LT so pretty basic systems once you get the Clymer and read it. When I have to come back to the UK for the "dreaded" MOT I have a set of scrubbed in pads that are only used for the test. It may be sort of cheating but hey ho gets the test passed without problems. After the test these pads are replaced with the original set for the return trip leaving the test set ready for next time. Changing the pads can be done on beemer in the time it takes to boil a kettle and make a cuppa. I've been told I'm mad for doing it this way but at least I know that the pads in for the test are scrubbed in and have plenty of meat left on them. Whereas if I left the pads in from the journey through Italy and France even when the pads were fitted new before leaving home in Tunisia they would have the best part of 2000 miles on them before getting on the tunnel and would probably result in an advisory just as yours did.

I had the shoulder check "life saver" drilled into me when I did the Road Craft course with the police many years ago so it still come as second nature. I've fitted adjustable blindspot mirrors onto the fairing mounted mirrors on the K1100LT and have them set to cover the wider angle into the kerb area and the centre of the road. There have been a number of times over here in Tunisia when if I hadn't done the "life saver" then I could have been wiped out by a numpty on a battered moped/scooter who have no road sense or in the majority of cases no sense at all, to the point that the street cats and dogs have more awareness of traffic than they do.

I fitted pair Bridgestone Battlaxe's to K1100 before leaving UK for Tunisia and so far have done nearly 10,000 miles with the front looking like it still new and the rear has still got over 3mm of tread left. Nearly all the mileage has been two-up and fully loaded luggage with no signs of squaring off either. Cost not too bad either £200 for the pair fitted and balanced with National Tyres.

I've been doing mine through Bikesure for the last 5-6 yrs and they've been ace. Had both the ST1100 & K1100LT on same policy and that was only £105 fc, up until we moved over here to Tunisia and sold the ST keeping the K11 on including being over here for a maximum 180 consecutive days in the 12 month period and it's only increased this year by £10ish which I don't mind given some quotes I've been seeing banded around, plus I'm covered over here and in continental europe not just eu/schengen area, which is a bonus for us as we frequently jump on the ferry to Italy or France for a "holiday" so I've stayed with them.

After last weeks episode when the clutch cable went "twang" as I pulled into the drive and I ended up on the floor via a plastic garden chair and table. This left me with my arm in sling and a badly bruised shoulder. Ordered a new cable from a parts dealer in Germany which arrived earlier this week, so with my arm now sling free it was time to fit the new cable. After pulling old cable out with a draw wire attached, without removing fuel tank, removed footpeg and mounting plate to gain access to clutch arm attached new cable to draw wire and pulled in new one. Allowing for removal of footpeg and mounts whole job took less than time it took for kettle to boil to make a cuppa. Took another couple of minutes to finish adjusting cable and replacing parts removed and torquing footpeg mounting bolts up and ready for a quick road test.

So do I now. Had a hydraulic clutch on ST1100 which was sold prior to moving here, would have been very useful yesterday. At least no major damage to bike, unlike the garden chair and table which are now in pieces. Just proves that when 16st wearing an armoured bike jacket hits pre-formed plastic furniture there will only be 1 winner. Unlike when same 16st lands on marble drive after destroying said chair and table only one winner then and it wasn't me.

Must be catching this falling off lark. Clutch cable snapped yesterday afternoon as I was pulling into drive, given I was coming up a steepish slope off sand onto marble tiled driveway and just as pulled clutch lever in "twang" snapped cable at same time applying brakes and yep front end went under and down I went. No major damage to bike except cage around driving light mounted to engine bar. Main damage was to 1 garden chair and matching table which I went through smashing chair into pieces and leg off table. I've ended up with arm in sling due to shoulder charging chair, table and then solid floor, them marble tiles don't take prisoners. Plus side I got missus making cuppas as I can't lift kettle. Just ordered new clutch cable from spares dealer in Germany which should be here by next weekend, cost including shipping £32 so not too bad, could have been worse I suppose

The wife's granddad was in the Royal Artillery and after the war ended he stayed in Italy as he refused to fly home saying that he had seen enough planes fall out the sky, he eventually came home by ship. He suffered later in life with what he said was Parkinsons, but we think it was what is now known as PTSD. he also said he couldn't drive but his records had him down as a driver, we think that it wasn't that he couldn't drive but that he didn't want to drive after what he had been through. Now that we've retired and have some "spare time" we are planning to follow the "route" he took through Tunisia and into Italy. We are also looking at a trip to France to also follow where my Great Uncle was in 1918 when he was KIA and his body was never found meaning he is mentioned on the memorial in Soissons along with over 4000 British soldiers who also have no known grave.

Decided to take the K11 for a ride out since the weather was a balmy 22C. After a "healthy" breakfast we set off to the CWGC cemetery at Medjez el Bab which is a steady 2hr ride from our house. My wifes granddad served with the Desert Rats at El Alemein and then into Tunisia followed by the Italian campaign, he was one of the lucky ones and managed to return home to his family. As a veteran myself visiting these cemeteries gets rather emotional for me having lost friends in recent conflicts, along with family members having served in both WW1 & WW2.

As temperatures have dropped here to a rather cold 20C I took the opportunity to get some much needed refurbishment done to the brakes and wire some additional USB outlets along with extra lights and a couple ofGo-Pro mounts in preparation for when the weather gets warmer. Stripped front & rear calipers along with front master cylinder to give them a repaint and fitted new seals & pistons all round. Wired in a USB outlet to dashboard along with 2 to the rear topcase, 1 externally, for the use by "she who shall be obeyed", Kindle & phone etc and 1 inside the case for connection of Go-Pro battery chargers. Whole project has taken around 10 days to complete not helped by the interference of the feline supervisor who decided to take up residence on the seat when I stopped for a tea break. Went for test ride to cafe nearby and couldn't resist taking photo of these 2 parked outside, "only in Tunisia"

We used chunnel and not Hull-Rotterdam ferry due to timings of getting into and out of UK due to chinese flu restrictions both in UK and Europe meaning that the ferry didn't fit in. We literally landed at Manchester on the Monday evening, picked up by our son, dropped us at Ferrybridge services Travelodge, collected bike from storage on Tuesday, sorted everything out regarding bike etc and left at 06:00 on the Wednesday morning and on the chunnel by 12:30 and into France just after 13:00. Regarding Croatia and places we still looking around etc. There's a couple of you tube channels (TeaPot One, and a Bulgarian called Pavlin who's YT channel is Motorcyle Adventures) that I've been following for a while and they've done Croatia and judging by their videos to visit everywhere even just for a couple of hours would take weeks/months lol. There's also a few others on YT that travel Croatia on a motorbike. I've picked out a few places that we'll defo be visiting. One is a disused airfield that has a hanger into the mountainside, the runway is still accessible to ride on and there's some abandoned aircraft scattered about. There's a couple of National Parks worth visiting also. We're looking at going either end of April into early May or later in May. Current plan is to allow 4 days travelling through Italy (2 each way) and around 10 days in Croatia plus the ferries to and from Tunisia to Sicily/Italy.

We moved over here fully in June of last year after already having a house here since 2015. We then returned back to the UK in that October to collect the bike to bring it over. We left Pontefract on the Wednesday morning and headed for the tunnel having booked for the 12:30 train. We traveled from the tunnel terminal french side onto Siossons for our first overnight stop, a total of around 450 miles. Next day we left Soissions at around 12:00 after visiting the war memorial there to pay our respects to my great uncle who was killed there in 1918 and made for Lyon for our next overnight stop and the dreaded PCR test the following morning that was required within 48hrs of departing on to Tunisia. Our final days ride was from Lyon to Genoa for our final night before catching the ferry over here the following morning. 24hrs later we landed in Tunisia and onward to home. We covered around 1500 miles in the 3 days from initial departure from Pontefract to arriving in Genoa. You mention you are looking at Croatia or Romania, we've been thinking about Croatia also, but we have the advantage of been a little closer than you. we can literally nip over to Sicily (10hrs) then across Sicily (2-3hrs) onto the Italian mainland and over to either Bari or Ancona and then the ferry to Croatia. All of which, if we catch the overnight ferry from here can be done in the day We did 12 days in Italy in May this year covering around 2000 miles starting from Civitavecchia near Rome across to Rimini for 2 days and then down that coast to San salvo before cutting back across to Pompei. Then on down that coast, including round the Amalfi Coast road dow to the toe for the ferry to Sicily. That crossing takes less than 30 minutes and the across Sicily to Palermo before catching the ferry back here. I put a list of the hotels we used in another post, all of which are bike/biker friendly.

We're in Hammamet, halfway between Sousse & Tunis so ideally placed for getting around. We've had house here since October 2015 and finally mover here lock stock n barrel in June 2021 selling up in the UK. We made decision due to the chinese flu outbreak as the missus was over here working anyway and I was furloughed for most of time so we were running 2 houses, 1 in UK & 1 here and still surviving easily, so selling up wasn't as hard as we'd thought it would be. We've now had 18 months of "retirement", including a couple of "holidays" touring around Italy and loving it. We have now decided to join up with a couple of our Tunisian friends and open a cafe/cocktail bar, which if all goes to plan should be opening in next week or so. It will be a bike/biker friendly place with plenty of secure/safe off road parking and located close to the beach so everyone welcome if over here.

If you want dry and warm you could try over here in Tunisia as in May/June the temps are around the mid 30's and it's certainly dry here. The scenery is pretty good too with coastal roads along with inland towards the desert areas. Plus we have the added bonus of the Star Wars set in the south. Just to give you an idea of the weather here it's currently averaging 24/25 during the day and around 13/14 at night, not bad for December.

I've had similar issues on 2 separate occasions with licence renewals. I had to change my address and during this process the DVLA removed my bike entitlement. Luckily at the time I didn't have a bike and had no intentions at that time to get one. When I had to renew my picture my bike entitlement reappeared but my LGV entitlement had vanished. As I had not driven LGV's for a number of years and most definitely had no intentions of doing so I wasn't too bothered. However at this time I was contemplating getting another bike and was resigned to having to retake my test, big sigh of relief no retest required. The really strange thing is I had passed all my driving tests whilst serving in the RAF so should I have needed proof I had it all and would have been able to provide the necessary paperwork. I would have most certainly only sent them copies of the paperwork not the originals given they have the habit of conveniently losing things when it suits them.