I've just been reading on the C90 Club site about a couple of lads who did the John O'Groats to Lands End run in seventeen hours on...Honda C90 Cubs! That does sound like really quite unnecessary punishment, although the bikes themselves were apparently fine!

My greatest 'expedition' was one August day around fifteen years ago when I travelled by train to collect a Chinese Wuxi (Woo-jee) 200cc motorcycle - something of a Honda clone - from a tiny place called 'Insch' north west of Aberdeen. Leaving there at about 2pm I began the ride home some 300+ miles to Hartlepool in north east England. It was an almost new, low mileage bike and actually a very willing performer, with an incredible 120mpg too, which was just as well, as due to the sparsity of petrol stations on the journey, I was convinced that I would run out of fuel at any moment. Mid-way on the journey back there was a sudden, almighty clang-bang-wallop as one of the ten-inch-long engine bolts fell out. I later discovered that the Wuxi factory were notorious for not tightening their nuts correctly. I immediately pulled over and to my surprise, a car which had been some way behind me, stopped to check if I was OK, stating that they had seen something metallic bouncing down the road a few yards back. Amazingly, I managed to retrieve the bolt - the nut was sadly lost forever - and after reinserting it, had to hold it in place with my boot heel for the remainder of the journey.

Being August it stayed light until well after 9pm and I recall stopping at the Scottish-English border to admire the view just as the sun was going down. After a steady journey through Northumberland, I arrived at Newcastle and so did torrential rain for the last 30 miles to Hartlepool. I finally got home at 10:30 pm, thoroughly exhausted and swore I would never do such a journey again!

I actually kept the Wuxi for about two years, using it for my then daily commute of fifty miles, and it never missed a beat even with minimal maintenance of just regular oil changes, pretty much...well that and checking the nuts and bolts often!

375 miles to Cornwall.

Northampton to Barcelona in 23 hours on a TDM 850 1992 is, the company I worked for set up a flying school in Majorca and the pilot wanted to have his bike out their. I was on very little money back then and couldn't afford to stop overnight, I did it for the experience my first trip abroad. The pilot took the speedo cable with him to keep the mileage down on the bike so I had to guess my speed
I was absolutely shattered after but great fun

Done a couple of Iron Butt rides on the Burg 650 one of which I did 1340 odd miles in 30 hours

Pula Croatia 2006 via Venice. Pre affordable sat nav . Burgman 400 mk1

On my bucket list to redo but go further down to Dubrovnik this time .

Suffolk to roquebrune sur argens S. France. Around 1k miles. On my burger and another time twice on a RT 1200.

Chatham to catch the ferry to the Isle of Arran Scotland, it started raining as I got there and the ferry was not leaving for a few hours, so changed my plans travelled east to Edinburgh, the rain did not stop so phoned home to say I'm on my way back, it was Yamaha 22 hours of riding on a new lovely 250 Yamaha Majesty scooter, about 1100 miles. My other bike was a Honda Pan European not a bad tourer, but the Majesty was much more comfortable and having done 21+hours on the scoot I was still able to fish out 30p for the Dartford Tunnel toll.

Northern Greece and back via Italy. About 3,500 miles on a Norton Commando in the early 1990s. I used to make an annual trip down through France on the Norton - usually up to 2,000 miles in a week down to the Alps or Pyrenees. Leave work on Friday afternoon, get the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Cherbourg then an early morning run down through the Cotentin Peninsula for breakfast in front of the cathedral at Coutances.

I'm not up to those distances these days!

Not very far....the longest day was when I bought my Aprilia Atlantic. I was trading in my Leondardo, so did Teesside to Leicester and back down the A1 and M1 (150 miles each way?) in December! I was young and foolish in those days. As soon as I left Leicester it started to rain hard, and continued to rain hard all the way home. Fortunately the waterproofs worked. The Atlantic later on invariably died in the rain (Italian electrics!), but fortunately that day, it kept working all the way home!

Distance travelled in a day, just over 700 miles on my short lived 900 Triumph Tiger. This was from home here in Essex to Berlin via the ferry from Harwich. This was in my engine design days and for work when I had to get places fast. Planes didn't cut the ice for me. I found bikes to be the best way as our workshops and offices were completely hidden out the way where public transport was non existent. Did the trip once in my car but it was about as boring as you can get on a trip like that. The bike used to make me feel alive! Over period of years I got quite used to going all over the place on bikes. An expensive way to travel as tyres didn't last very long at the continental speeds I travelled at. Since I finished that type of work I haven't been abroad since and I don't actually miss it.