On the Road Again!

Yes. Me and Suzi Triplo in Austria on the way to the Wasserbüffel Club Treffen at Schloss Moosham. Sadly this event ceased to exist some years ago.

And here we are back in August 2006 and the ride up the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse . I came across a batch of photo prints in a Truprint envelope.  So I scanned a few in. If it wasn't for the date stamped by the camera I would not have even thought it was so long ago. Sorting the photos by date was easy enough, but sorting them by time they were taken was harder.  Not a problem had I been using digital technology but what we now get to call an analogue camera meant the date was hard enough. Anyway I have had a stab at it. At least I know the first one and the last one and maybe cluster some together from the middle. The others could have been anywhere along the road. In the morning we had breakfast in the youth hostel we had stayed in the night before in Zell am See, before setting off to the Grossglockner itself. Claire and I were travelling on my 1999 BMW R1150GS. At the northern end toll plaza All on the ride up or indeed down the mountain! At the Bikers Nest - Edelwei...

The Mars Moto was held not by Martians but by the Moto clubs forned for/by employees of the Mars company - best known for the chocolate bar of the same name. Also Galaxy and Milky Way.... My mate Tony was coming from UK and brought a pillion with him. I was still living in Zastávka in the Czech Republic with Kettle as my main transport. As Austria was considered too expensive they had the accommodation across the border in Sopron in Hungary. Ať this time Hungary hadn't joined the EU so there was a hard border - one where passports had to be shown. It was the same getting out of the Czech border at Mikulov. As I didn't work for Mars I had to pretend I had done, not that anyone even asked, and share a room with Tony and his mate. I got the put-u-up bed. Friday evening we had coaches into Austria for a BBQ. It was strange to share the BBQ site with lots of Austrian border police looking for illegals climbing the border fences. . On the way one of the guys on our bus sang The Marse...

This run was slightly different to that of 1993. I was going to meet my friend and fellow SOC member Steve Hazlehurst. Steve had attended the Czech Invader Rally near Brno the weekend before. My plan was to get to Köln to meet the DB Autozug to Salzburg. I'd meet Steve there and we were booked into the YH. The bike was packed with my Swagman panniers and the Givi topbox. The ride to Köln was easy enough and I had lunch near the Dom before finding the station near the exhibition grounds. There were other bikes there going to Villach.  Mostly HD on their way to some treffen of their own in Slovenia I think. Just before the train was due to arrive there was a massive storm. The train was "lost" and we sheltered where we could.  As it thundered and the lightning crashed around us I tried to take a selfie.  Not as easy as you might think with an SLR in those long days before digital cameras were invented. SLR Selfie - uses self timer! Actually, I did have one with me.  Th...

The World in Pictures - Day 1 I have been challenged by Neill Devall to post a picture, every day, for the next 10 days. The picture can be of anything you like but each picture must have been taken in a different country. You can tell us about the photo or not, as you wish but must at least specify the country. I'm not going to challenge anyone, but if friends want to take part so well and good! Austria (1993) http://www.hundertwasser.at/english/oeuvre/arch/arch_bad-fischau.php On the way from Zastavka u Brna where I lived at the time to Schloss Moosham to join up with the Wasserbueffel Club rally.

I guess I am not alone in having a huge collection of photographs taken before the digital age?  Thought not. So I thought I'd look out a few and scan them in.  I have a collection of pics taken of the Kettle (Water Buffalo or Wasserbuffel) on a few runs out and a couple of trips in Austria for the Wasserbuffel Club's rally at Schloss Moosham. 1993 - Garage in Zastavka on the trickle charger 1993 - Hundertwasser Autobahn Services 1993 - On the alpine road 1999 - Maltatal waterfall The next little batch are all from the 1993 Wasserbuffel Treffen.  The treffen is hosted in the Schloss at Moosham, and a lot of the hardier types camp, others stay in the apartments across the road, and some in the nearest town of Mauterndorf. Twenty years ago (nearly!) I was booked in the youth hostel a few miles away but one of the German guys said to share their room as they had a big room in the gasthof and a spare bed.  They took pity on me as I was from the Czech Republic, s...

img002 , originally uploaded by stevehh@yahoo.com . In the Alps. The trip was in 1999.  On the way to the Wasserbuffel Treffen at Schloss Moosham in Austria. We met in Salzburg after Steve had been to the Czech Invader Rally in Brno. For this part of the trip we headed down over the Grossglockner and stayed in Heiligenblut.  The idea was that we were going to stay in the Youth Hostel but we couldn 't find it.  So we stayed at a hotel. The following day we headed out over the Alps to the Dolomites for a circuit around the Pordoi area then back to an overnight stay. The next day we road all the way to Venice for a few hours before heading north to Austria via a few miles of Slovenia.

Handsome bloke and two Suzuki Motorcycles , originally uploaded by stevehh@yahoo.com . Not my title but Steve's!! In the mountains before the Moosham Rally. Me with my GT750 and Steve's Bandit 1200 on the left.

Marmots Originally uploaded by pauldevall . Took these little devils on the Grossglockner.  Marmots The range was about 60 metres and so on my Nikon Coolpix 8700 I was way into digital zoom to get them.  Luckily the little darlings were quite still as the slightest movement (or camera shake) renders maximum range on digital zoom useless i.e. completely blurred.  I always use the full 8mb and the "fine" setting for pics to hopefully get a decent resolution.

Today started off badly. I dropped the bike exiting the petrol station in St Goar! Not anybody else's fault but mine. No real damage to us or the bike. Pride suffered the most with the bike getting scuffs to the plastic cylinder guard and to the right pannier. I simply lost balance making a U-turn out of the place onto the road. It was slightly downhill and an acute angle to turn onto the road.. foot down, nothing there and bingo; nought mph keel over. What is the secret to BMW mirrors? The right one is prone to loosening and spins about and as if by magic it fixes itself. But not today, over 200 miles before I managed to get it tight. This time I tugged up on it and turn it at the same time and it locked in place. How the heck do you get them off? Mine simply turn round and bloody round. Aaaagh. After 308 miles we arrived at Dunkerque for the 1600 ferry back to Dover. Holidays for 2006 nearly over. Once I have got all the pix sorted on the camera I'll add to the blogs for each...

Today started off badly. I dropped the bike exiting the petrol station in St Goar! Not anybody else's fault but mine. No real damage to us or the bike. Pride suffered the most with the bike getting scuffs to the plastic cylinder guard and to the right pannier. I simply lost balance making a U-turn out of the place onto the road. It was slightly downhill and an acute angle to turn onto the road.. foot down, nothing there and bingo; nought mph keel over. What is the secret to BMW mirrors? The right one is prone to loosening and spins about and as if by magic it fixes itself. But not today, over 200 miles before I managed to get it tight. This time I tugged up on it and turn it at the same time and it locked in place. How the heck do you get them off? Mine simply turn round and bloody round. Aaaagh. After 308 miles we arrived at Dunkerque for the 1600 ferry back to Dover. Holidays for 2006 nearly over. Once I have got all the pix sorted on the camera I'll add ...

A whole day on a cruise boat might sound a nightmare but in fact it was very relaxing to sit on deck before going to one of the saloons for a coffee and a cake. A chance to unwind and read a book. Rüdesheim was a bit touristy and the greatest gathering of our fellow countrymen we had seen since we got off the ferry over a week ago. There are also more Christmas shops than seems really necessary, one lured Claire into buying a small snow storm dome thingy complete with snowman! Back at the hostel we had a read and a second cake! Dinner to look forward to, then back to the hostel and start packing the panniers. Doris reckons it's about 285 miles to Dunkerque and the ferry is at 1600, so we need to be away pretty smartly after breakfast. Should be home in time for Corrie! One of the big successes has been the Lakeland vacuum bags. Apart from one losing the little slider that helps seal the zip end they have been tremendous - I wouldn't hesitate in recommending them to anyone.