London

After a day of playing with Gabriel and Tara, my nephew and niece, it was time to head home. We'd spent New Year's Day entirely in Montreuil so I decided to ride across the centre of Paris from east to west before heading up the motorway back to Calais. The return ferry was crammed full, but being on the moto and therefore first on board, I made it first into Langan's to secure a table away from the rabble. I'd ridden through some heavy hail storms around Beauvais and Amiens, but after that the weather was sunny. It was dark by the time I reached Dover and I took the M20, then the Blackwall tunnel and the Limehouse link to get home; sadly, riding into London doesn't match Paris for excitement. Before putting the GS back in the garage I removed some of the add-ons so that it was ready for its final ride and trade-in on Tuesday.

Gabriel is into Pirates at the moment, and a bit photo-shy.

Tara (not photo-shy!) with her father, Steph

Leaving Calais while seated in the restaurant