I'm not really new...but I feel as if I am!

[Chris1200]

It's been a while since I posted anything here, perhaps a couple of years or more. The layout of the site has changed somewhat since my last visit (or perhaps I've just lost a bit of my memory!) and in some ways I feel like this is my first visit.
It has been a while since I've even ridden a bike. Two years and six months to be precise and I have missed it keenly. My circumstances didn't allow me to have one (and I'm not talking finances) and the sense of loss has been painful. However the cloud now has a distinct silver lining and I'm eager to return to two wheels. I have enough saved up enthusiasm to keep me going for the foreseeable future and I feel like I am now at the very start of an adventure.
In the past I had all the usual thoughts about where I wanted to go. RTW trips, trips from UK to South Africa, trips to Scandinavia etc. I have even gone as far as starting to plan a route and choosing a bike, all in my mind of course but never for real. There was always something that stopped me from making such a trip happen. The extent of my personal two wheel adventures has ultimately been trips of between two and six weeks through France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Germany (my favourite biking country) and Italy. And do you know what? I think that's where I am comfortable. I do envy the hardcore adventurers in some respects but the bottom line is that I'm someone who likes decent roads, a comfortable bed, food I'm reasonably familiar with and a single currency. I have finally accepted that I will never be (and don't want to be) the guy who finds himself waking up in a field in Bolivia or a mud hut in the Congo. It just isn't me.
Now that I know my limits I am itching to plan a trip for myself and my fiancée. I need a bike. A nice, comfortable tourer that will glide along the smooth tarmac that has become a staple requirement of any trip I will make. A friend and I have agreed a deal for his beautiful 2001 BMW R1150RT. It has had a privileged upbringing in his care and has every possible extra I could want. The phrase "never raced or rallied" was created as an accurate description of this fine machine.
I fancy France again. I liked it every time I went before and I don't expect it to have changed much in a few years. Do they still speak French?Germany. That's another must do for me. The Rhine route from Koblenz down to Lake Constance is a wonder that I have never tired of. In some ways it feels as if I'm planning to go and see an old friend. The knowledge that the meet is going to happen takes away the panic and stress of the preparation. It might happen this year and it may be 2015 before we meet again. But it will be a reality and no longer just a dream.
So here I am, starting from scratch. No bike (at the moment), no helmet, no clothing, no boots....but an unquenchable thirst and an insatiable hunger for the adventure to become a reality. Wish me luck folks!