TRAVEL FEATURE - SPAIN / AUSTRALIA
JIM TAYLOR
MAD MAX & A HELLS ANGEL
Bikers are comrades out on the road , and that ’ s what makes it remarkable . I have met so many out there , complete strangers who you never forget , one or two who surprise you as well . This account is from a few years ago , but fresh enough to still be relevant and we start off on ferry from Portsmouth ( UK ), to find some sunshine , just before the British winter sets in .
Down there on the ferry deck , loaded up and preparing to ride out into northern Spain at Bilbao , I noticed a pretty large grizzly looking bloke securing his luggage on a 2300cc Triumph Rocket 3 . He was sporting all the warning signs to show us his allegiance with ‘ the Big Red Machine ’ AKA the Hells Angels MC . The man was riding solo and I ignored his presence a few bikes ahead of mine in the queue . I keep myself to myself : just not interested in that stuff anymore .
This was October 2015 , just a week after my final departure from Kent Police . People think police officers all retire with nice pensions and smug grins ; well I like to think I sacked myself , by resignation to the fact that the service wouldn ’ t allow me to make a difference – not in anyway I deemed to be worth the money they paid me .
Anyway I would ride off the boat , full of my own plans and be heading south for the African coast ; it was sort of like a release from the ‘ open prison ’ environment I ’ d had myself trapped in all those years . People also tend to think that a warrant card must be a handy thing to be carrying around , but to me it had been more like an ankle tag , or a loyalty card where responsibility runs only one way ; no one imagines it to be a form of ownership , but that was my experience of it all .
Coming out of the port and skirting Bilbao , the road system is
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