We started preparing with a visit to Watsonian, a sidecar specialist based in the Cotswolds, back in February 2017.  We were both given a test ride in a sidecar, and Mark also took a test ride on the sidecar’s bike.  We decided there and then to get a sidecar fitted to Mark’s bike and ordered one the same day.  It eventually arrived, having come from Russia via Austria, in June, with Mark taking his bike to Watsonian shortly after to have it fitted.  We both went to collect the completed bike-with-sidecar-attached in August, taking the train on the outward journey and, of course, the new bike-with-sidecar outfit on the return.

In the meantime, we’ve been doing a lot of other preparation, some very mundane such as arranging insurance, and some rather more exciting such as choosing and booking the cargo boat which will take us from Tilbury on the first leg of the trip on 5th November.