Ady's European Tour

[ellrider]

Welcome back Ady even though it is premature.

Let us have a look at your log when you have the time.

[MadStu]

Let us have a look at your log when you have the time.

You Always have to lower the tone!


Welcome home Ady

[chippy1]

Welcome home Ady

Sorry about your premature arrival problem

Good effort though

And I too look forward to looking at your log .

[MT Pocket]

Well here goes - proof as to why Im not a travel writer!

Euro trip start, clock 8425 km
31st Pencoed to Bournemouth - Stopped by bunkers place to drop of riding kit for the Twinshock Trailfinder (the stuff I now need for the Welsh Two Day, bugger) Sorting out luggage at B'mouth, despite so much luggage space, getting it to fit and weight balanced wasnt that easy.

1st Bournemouth to Dover - Last minute sorting, misplaced phone charger already and running out of charge quick for some reason. Split carb boot at Chichester, rectified quickly using the short 500 boot instead of stretching the 350 onto the Delorto, hard to fit because the 'barrel' of an air filter (k&n) and 350 battery. First breakdown overcome, whoopee. Met Stu at Brighton after he got permission off his Misses hahaha.

2nd Dover - Calais - Mappen(Gremany) - Flat battery at Dover, having to kickstart onto/off ferry. Decided not to use heated grips despite riding through the night and it's freezin. Crankcase breather pointing onto chain seems to be keeping it moist enough for only a squirt of lube every now n then. Rode through the first planned stop (Antwerp) as I felt ok depite only having napped on the ferry. It caught up with me in N Germany though as I started to go wrong and dived into a convenient forest near Mappen (about 80miles south from Trecce) First wild camp and got discovered in the morning as I was packing up and had the top cover off the tent showing a bright orange flysheet. Found I can field shower, brush teeth and shave with about 1.5 ltrs of water, good eh. Forestry goes on forever so easy to find somewher to wild camp, be descete, away from the road and leave nothing behind and it shouldn't be a problem I think.

3rd Mappen to Rugen Island. - took wrong turning at Stralsund just before the bridge and was stopped by a guy in a taxi. His name was Jens - a sea pilot for Stralsund harbour, questioning me about the bike. He saw I was desperate to pitch so after showing me the harbour, he jumped on his BMW and we motored onto Rugen Island and he organised a pitch for me, ace luck. Got pitched next to Dutch bikers who had a lot of kit despite a lack of panniers- showing what a sports bike can carry, again very inquisitive about the bike.

[arceye]

Sounds like a great trip Ade.
Very brave to do it on your own.
Got any pics ?

[MT Pocket]

4th All day at Prora. (Hitlers projected holiday camp) The place is immense, two museums. Got let upstairs by curator so had a good nosey all over the semi-derelict buildings. Watched some footage, great story of this huge design. Rode back to Sund after trying to baptise Groundhog in the Baltic sea. Carb leaking fuel, it's absolutely critical that the carb is 100% vertical, bloody thing.
Prora - the buildings stretch for 4.5 km!




5th Rugen Island to Nr Poznan (Poland) Mispalced another charger, WTF! As soon as I get near a town centre the bike starts a very high idle which attracts even more attention! Embarrasing enough to make me keep my distance - half the damn reason to travel is to see the towns! Realised I hadn't prepared for Poland atall, no language knowledge atall and not in the Eurozone bloody hell, oh we aren't either! haha.

6th Poznan to Skierniewice. Visited Chelmno, very understated despite what occurred there, signed visitors book, bought book and had a 'conversation' with curator in Polish (much gesticulation and pointing, hard bloody work that) Motored away and got caught in thunderstorm, hid in bus shelter and had a laugh with some locals doing the same. Dodged some more storms round Warsaw - a place I wanted to see. Conked out in rain at Skierniewice, plug seems dead (it wasn't). Still got starting probs, may put original jets back in and chain is stretching, next one'll be a Regina I say.
Chelmno memorial - thats my quite large bag sitting on the floor




cont'd -

[MT Pocket]

7th Skierniewice to Auschwitz - 3000km so far. - Only just got the bike going after another wild camp which I was taking to more than I thought I would although the flies were eating me to death - headnet came in handy though. Bike stopped again at main N/S junction so made the decision not to go all the way to Lublin to see Majdanek, save it for another trip as I didn't want to overdo the concentration camp thing. Put orig jets back in, checked valve clearances, valve timing, rocker play and cam rollers - it was all starting to sound a tad rattly!! eek. Or was it just my imagination? Storms again so had food stop in bus shelter with stove on, very gratifying this self sufficiency. Finally got to Auschwitz just before they closed - great to have pics with no one there.
Needs no title -



Another wild camp, farmers field this time - only to find later that it has a train track 50mtrs away!

8th Auschwitz (Oswiecim) to Bornice, pronounced Oshvieshim and Borrnichay. Met a young Polish lad whilst packing up, chatted for ages about Polish stuff - being in the industry, how did I miss the fact that half the Polish hierarchy died in a plane crash a couple of years ago? Walked around Auschwitz with guide and two groups of girls, two from Australia and the other two from Finland (v nice). They were doing opposite loops of Europe, how coincidental!


So glad to have finally got to visit this place, been wanting to do this for years but because of the thoughtless chatter etc from people walking around, it doesn't seem as solemn as my visit to Bergen-Belsen years ago.

[MT Pocket]

8th cont'd. Happy to be leaving Poland, lorry drivers are nuts and if you can't do 60mph you get pushed off the road. Stuff is cheap and will come better prepared next time. Got to pleasant campsite at Bojnice (Slovakia) Had a few drinks with the campsite owner and a road 'Geographer'. She told me about the similarities etc with the different languages/currencies in the area, ya could tell she worked on the roads though!
Spotted this en-route


9th Bojnice - Sopron (Hungary) Happy Birthday ME!! Did laundry, pity its hissing down and wont dry for a bit. Bike wouldn't even fire so in front of a class full of kids from the area I rolled down the hill to get away from my embarrassment. Stripped the bike at the bottom of the hill, as I'd had a tip from a sterling geezer, I decided to chuck the plug cap, stripping back sufficient threads on the HT lead as to wrap them round the top of the plug, ran great but still rattling away. Nightmare through the town of Nitra, bike revving away to bring greater attention to me passing through! Out of Slovakia into Hungary, better roads/road manners, quite rural but flat - abit like Lincolnshire but with less Potatoes. different currency again but they don't seem to mind Euros. Found OK campsite on the edge of a Nature reserve with natural Heated springs nearby, medical benefits from hot sodium bathing? Give that a miss me thinks, bearing in mind the elderly mainly German folk using it.

10th Sopron to Zell Am See (Austria) Good journey out of Hungary but kept getting lost as maps were large scale and Tomtom didn't even stretch to Poland ferchrisakes. Pushed on through the rain to get to where I'd been skiing/boarding with the RAF championships at Saalbach/Hinterglemm valley, mistake, ended up going back out of the valley to Zell Am see to a campsite and pitching in the rain, arse.

[MT Pocket]

11th Zell Am See to Santo Stefano - Rode South to Grossglockner national park, ace roads but blooday freezing, made an effort to repair heated grips so I could feel digits again. Cloud everywhere, BMW 1200GS everywhere! Met a couple from Stoke that had paid 10k for their 1200GS but it seemed like they were using it to it's full as they reeled off where they'd been, mightily impressed by my efforts too they were.



Swiss roads/ all of this area is brill.


Look at the face that says; why the hell did I choose an openface lid for this - nah a good choice to be honest, as soon as I was off the mountains it was warm again. I did have a strange visit to Spar en route tho', the girl on the till was looking at me in a funny way - I got outside and found that my face was covered in dead flies!!
Met loads of bikers all over the place, all intrigued by the MT and giving credit for the distance travelled. More n more excellent roads. Resorted to Tomtom to find a campsite in the Dolomites, a good choice. Nursing the bike at this stage (since Poland really) as its definitely getting noisier.

12th Santo Stefano to Coldrano (Italy, Dolomites) more Alpine roads - the sports bikes cant catch me - well they can't pass me coz I'm 1.5 mtrs wide and bouncing all over the road!! Massive brake fade which resulted in a few heartstopping moments, calm down I say. The MT continues to be a source of bemusement to people, not helped maybe by me wearing a MX lid and goggles/glasses. Decided on a different strategy for picking campsites. Found one that seemed right, whilst pitching a lady was strumming guitar next door, a strange absence of mozzies and with the eve still air all was perfect ish with the right ambience an all.



cont'd

[MT Pocket]

12 cont'd. Got chatting to a Netherlander that had visited the areas of Scotland where I'd been based and commented on the mozzies/flies/midges there, never again he said. Also a German chap mit ER6n talking for ages, showed him pics of my ER6f and how to get the catalytic converter out to improve MPG and the stiffled sound. Said his wife understood that he needed to get out once a year to 'recharge' his batteries. Tent dry for first time since Auschwitz.

13th Coldrano to Lake Como. Left in the rain, no shock there then! Found out why there was no mozzies, farmer was around about 5am spraying insectiside on his apple crop next door! Stelvio Pass was awesome, celebrated with an Alpine hotdog with mustard, won't bother next time!
Lake waters/alpine rivers are turquoise. 3/4 left, middle distance are people in the tree clearing!


Roads are just something else with bikers everywhere.



St Moritz valley is gorgeous as is the whole area. Got to Como mid afternoon, something wrong with front end - disc screws had wound themselves out and one was catching on the fork leg, eek after the mountain passes an all! I passed a proper bike shop that had allsorts, owner seemed chuffed that I appreciated his Moto Guzzi 125 (1974) enduro and a mint 1950 M/G specimen, both of which he fired up for me and they ran beautifully, the 1950s one req'd a tickle on the carb and a couple of kicks.

1950 Moto Guzzi - gorgeous



You could tell the guys at this place were proper bike mechanics. A real grass roots shop too where I purchased a plug cap for a Piaggio scooter and it did the trick real good on the MT.
Heflinger