FINALLY ON THE ROAD!!!!!

This is it! We were finally on the road, heading for the first ferry that will lead us to Venice, Italy. Last month has been extremely hectic with last minute preparations, but whatever is done is done at this point. The bikes were loaded late on Monday, and the truth is that they felt veeeeeryyy heavy.

On our way to the port of Patras, the first problem showed up (and hopefully the last, although this is wishful thinking). The clutch of the 690 went dead, and Alex had to drive it through tolls with the engine stalling every time. A quick stop at a gas station to add some clutch fluid and make some phone calls to one of our mechanics did not really resolve things. With the night crawling on us, the ferry departure coming closer, and the marvelous Corinth to Patras highway (whoever has done it knows), we had a bit of a pressure thing going on.

Finally at the port, parked in front of the ferry we took the clutch system apart, trying to bleed the air out of it, and added some more oil. In the meantime the ferry was ready to depart, while Alex was still trying to put the bike together, so I had to drive on the loading ramp and park the bike there in order to prevent them from leaving us in Greece!

At this point it is day 2 on the ferry and we are another 14 hours away from Venice. We spoke with Alex's mechanic and he advised us to replace the clutch pump with a spare one that we have with us. This will in most likelihood provide a permanent solution to our problem. So once on Italian soil this will be our first aim. From there we are going to ride down to Sete, France, and see if we can catch the ferry to Morocco (950km in a day). If that fails we will reconsider our options further south.

Due to the poor satellite connection on the ship, photos will be uploaded at the first opportunity.
Spirits are high, and we can hardly wait to ride on African soil.