As well as the physical aspect of two-wheel transportation, namely the bicycle, nothing can compare to that of the love of perambulating the open road on a motorbike!

True, it does nothing to improve or reduce my so called 'carbon footprint', but why should the soothsayers have all the fun and not me? I loved biking in England, the only problem was the overcrowded roads and the less than sympathetic and uneducated four wheel road users which inherently cause motorcycling to be so risky.

As stated previously, there are roads here that stretch for tens of kilometres on which you can ride many of them without seeing another vehicle, (unless it's a donkey drawn cart or lost tourist!) I myself meet up at regular intervals with a number of like minded acquaintances which share my joy of the empty open road. We cruise the offbeat pathways through villages hardly visited by non-Spanish, regularly stopping at quiet ventas to top up on agua y zumo. (Water and juice). The sight of three or four 'bikers' often raises an eyebrow amongst the sparse populace though the situation becomes pleasantly amiable after a photo or two with the village's oldest inhabitant or a group of admiring wide eyed children, sat excitedly on the seat of a machine they won't experience for at least twenty years. (Legal age for riding a large motorbike out here is 25!) Then it's off again to the next stop and before you know it, 200 klms and eight hours have passed with a digicam full of the days memories, inevitably shown to one's spouse on return with an excited commentary.

I have found that bike tourists here are well received and made welcome wherever they stop. Small groups like the one I ride with are seen only as people who are out to enjoy their day out and bring custom, interest and life to a quiet bar. It's also in my opinion a more convenient way to sightsee, being able to stop, park, move on and ramble at will while experiencing some of the most wonderful and picturesque scenery in the world. Even on the one time we were pulled over by two of the national 'Guardia' traffic patrol bikes, it was only so they could chat and compare bike stories before parting with a wave and 'Luego amigo'.

Motorcycling here is a sedate and tranquil pastime which can chill you out to the core. The only drawback is if, like me, you insist on wearing protective equipment like a leather jacket and full face, then unless actually in motion, the heat can become very uncomfortable very quickly, but hey, it's a small price to pay for life on an open, empty road.

A buyer for the house, price agreed, date of possible departure from our home only three months away! Not much time to sort out the final details or to find accommodation.

Even at this advanced stage, there was still a hundred things going through my mind, not all positive either. That and the fact that my family was also in a state of confused limbo did nothing to dispel my own fears of our uncertain future. Even in the back of my mind I knew, though I didn't admit it, that there was still time to back out of the deal, a small window of time where I could just say forget it and everything would return to normal. I doubt weather I slept more than a handful of hours over the next few nights, my mind going over the same things, the problems, the challenges, the family. It appeared that everything in my head was tuned to the down side, the negative, the uncertainty of what we were about to embark on.

It's funny, but even with all that was going on in my frontal lobes, in the back of my mind I knew we were going to go no matter what. You may say it was a selfish, self centred, even blinkered obsession which was going to push the family into disarray and disharmony. But in all honesty, I truly believed as I still do to this day that the reasons and commitment I had for doing what I did was, and still is for my family, one of the best and right decisions I have made.

Now however began a time of fervent activity and mild panic. There was a myriad of arrangements and things to do with regard to not only moving out of our house, but working out and discovering what had to be done about moving to another country! What to do with all our furniture and belongings was of primary concern. How much should stay, how much should go, who was going to move it! Then there was our pet cockatiel. Not a giant amongst animals I grant you but still part of the family. We didn't really know what type of premises were available or if we could find one suitable to rent. It had to house us all for the immediate future and possibly for up to a year or more, after all, we had sold to get the best deal with respect to the current market, not because we were actually ready to go abroad.

Then there was our work. Rose and I had discussed a number of possibilities when perhaps our circumstances may change and we may again take a different direction after moving to Spain. So it was agreed that we would not burn all our bridges, but instead leave at least one option open to return and take up employment where we left off. For Rose then it was a case of requesting a temporary sabbatical absence from work. We decided that three years should be a sensible period in which time we believed that if we were to make a go of it, then that time should be reasonable. After that, we would come back and Rose could be once again take up employment where she left off. It was and still is an option and as time goes on, who knows?

As for me, well, it had always been a goal whereby one day I would just walk out of my employment, without a by your leave.

No explanation, no notice, no comment or notion, leaving everyone behind to ponder at the disappearance of their once long serving colleague, a goal I was soon to realise but more about that little gem later.

We broke the tasks down into manageable and do-able sections. I would sort out the more physical aspects of the move while Rose would tackle the more demanding administration minefield, suited me! Remember, we were actually planning to move twice so two sets of mandates had to be dealt with at the same time. We could settle the boys into somewhere if need be after the move to the rented accommodation so there were no real immediate worries about them. And as for work, we could take a few days leave before carrying on as before. No, it was just a matter of getting us moved with the least amount of fuss while leaving us down to the bare bones but with enough stuff to survive, what we hoped, a not too prolonged transit stay. In all this of course there was a Christmas to sort out. It was possibly going to be our last as a family in England, so we wanted it to be special, though Christmases for us are always special.

It was late in November and moving date was planned for 31st January 07, this gave us just over nine weeks in which we just about completed everything with regard to what was required for the move. Finding a domicile was the last hurdle and proved to be the most difficult. There was actually no shortage of rental options in the area, especially with Weymouth being a holiday town and in the middle of winter. Yet finding somewhere large and practical enough for us all, completely furnished and able to take our pet, and within budget proved somewhat more difficult. I tell you, some of the rental fees people were asking for what amounted to no more than a run down shell was absolutely unbelievable. There was plenty of c##p but very little cream. We had an affordable figure of around £800 a month with a preference for a town house. We wanted to be near ours and the boys' places of employment as we may need to sell the cars earlier rather than later and so may end up bereft of transportation.

Christmas came and went somewhat quickly. We entertained the family on the 'big' day as a parting gesture of togetherness, though we were down by one son, Luke, who had decided for whatever reason, to spend Xmas away with a friend. This was something I found hard to understand and was quite upset by the affair. But looking back, I suppose he was his own man and after all I had always told him to stand on his own two feet.

We were only three weeks away from zero hour with still no place to go. Contracts were due and ready to be exchanged on time, (mainly because as I stated earlier, we had done it ourselves) and we would either have to pull out or move out on the planned date.

The other problem that had raised it's head was the accumulation of 'junk'.

When we moved from Portland some six years earlier, we thought then we'd had a decent clean out, but looking into our loft it appeared that we had gained another ten tons of stuff, including two teenagers worth of disposable goods, over that short time which we now needed to get rid of.

Car boots, bazaars, church fates, relatives, scroungers, you name it, we used them to dispose of it all. It's a fact that 90% of people have stuff packed away in lofts or cellars that they had always intended to either display, keep in case it became valuable or intended to pass on to their family on death. I can only say we fell into that trap and made a monumental decision to make a clean break by disposing of everything we would never ever contemplate using again, all apart from a few treasured items and photographs of course.

The boys had looked over our stuff and made it clear they wanted none of our old junk. We looked over theirs and found they had trinkets and missing items they had long forgotten about. Starting from the loft and working through every room down to the garage, we filled at least one skip and flogged the rest including complete sets of china, boxed kitchen utensils and unwanted gifts, clothes too small or large to fit, old shoes, boots, shoe boxes of keepsakes, spare beds, broken garden tools, the list was endless. We all kept 2-3 boxes each of our most treasured items, most of Rose's being her childhood books, Enid Blyton, Little Women, Heidi etc, all of her classic volumes. The boys' stuff included their huge collection of Lego and toy cars along with their most treasured books also. Mine were full of Navy memorabilia, Zippo lighters, Liverpool FC programmes from the 70's and 80's.

But a clean break it had to be, and after many 'uhms' and 'aahhrs' about things, we finally got down to what was essential for the move and after again trawling the net for a good reputable Euro-move company, arranged for the bulk of our furniture to be shipped out. That was two weeks before D-day, and as we watched the lorry pull away, we sat on the plastic balcony furniture which had now become our main suite, mattresses on the floor for temporary beds, and a couple of old pots and plastic plates for a dinner service pondering the fact that we had very little left and still nowhere to live!

Useful hint
If you're going to move all your stuff out of the country, then again, shop around for a good removal company. Prices can vary by hundreds of pounds with some more flexible than others. The one we chose was actually one of the more reasonably priced and they did an excellent job. They wrapped, packed, stacked and protected absolutely everything before putting it on the truck. Detailed inventories were made and copied, care was taken to the extreme with some of out items, even down to the loading of my beloved motorbike and securing of my shotguns. The guys came late in the evening but a day early to enable them to get an earlier ferry from Dover, but did an expert and unhurried job, spurred on by a plate or two of ham sandwiches and plenty of tea. I was so impressed that I used them again for the final move out some months later and now recommend them through my business.

However, though we thought we'd packed all the non essentials, that wasn't actually the case. At that time we were still doubtful as to the chance of securing somewhere furnished and held back a number of items of comfort. Televisions and music centre, microwave and bed parts, bedding and some kitchen equipment, but we would have needed to book the removal company again anyway as you'll see.

Useful tip
I used the removal company to bring by motorbike over to Spain. Door to door it actually worked out cheaper than riding it over, and we sold the car before we came, after all, I didn't really want a right hand drive on a right hand road!

Some people do however decide to make the trip by driving their vehicle, either two or four wheeled, as part of the experience of moving. No problem with that really, except be careful when you do it. If it's on a bike, then make sure you carry plenty of water and try and plan to ride in the cooler months between October and March. It's a good ride as some have told me, but even on a bike it can be a long and unbearable trek, especially in the middle of Spain around Seville where temps reach their highest. Same for cars, if you've no air-con, then be careful. Having the windows open or the roof down can sometimes only exacerbate the heat situation with the wind increasing the temperature like a blast furnace. Be especially cautious if you're not used to the heat as it will, as I've said, hit you like a hammer and spoil your enjoyment of the journey. And if you're thinking of doing it in one hit, then plan to take at least half a dozen refreshment stops, especially if you're coming through France first, it's a long old hike I can tell you, but the good thing is, the main inter city roads are very good.

Spanish facts
When a woman marries, she actually keeps her maiden name and does not adopt her husband's surname.

Usually, men and woman have two Christian names and two surnames, one from their father and one from their mother.

And have you ever thought why a sun umbrella is called a 'parasol'?, well, 'para' is Spanish for 'for' while 'sol' is Spanish for 'sun', hence the word translates literally into 'for the sun!' and before you ask, yes, an umbrella is actually called a 'paragua', agua being the Spanish word for water, therefore literally translated means 'for the water!' Simple eh!

Useful phrase
Puedele llena el tanque por favor con diesel/gaseoline.
Pronounced: Pwaydaylay yaynah ayl tankay pohr fahboor cohn deeaysayl/gahsayohleenay.
Meaning: Could you fill the tank up please with diesel/petrol.

Next week
Found a place in the nick of time. Exchanging the contracts, no going back.