On the Road Again!

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...

A long weekend. Luckily it was the weekend at the end of the May half-term school holiday and so I was able to load up the bike and set off in good time to get across to Moosham. The route via the Mikulov/Drasenhofen border crossing and around Vienna and then west past the Red Bull Ring, although then it was called Zeltweg, would be about 250 miles.  Czech fuel was cheaper and I topped up before the border. With a range of only 130 miles to a tank fuel management is important. On arrival at Schloss Moosham I had nowhere to stay. I met up with Thomas Wahle who I had "known" for a few years exchanging letters about Kettles.  I had never met him before.  I was going to look at nearby Mauterndorf for a room or even a bed. Thomas and the Stuttgart area Büffel Herde had a large room and parking in the barn across the road. They also had a spare bed. As I was a poor "Czech" they wouldn't let me pay. The weekend was a great success. A couple of the Austrian members got ...