On the Road Again!

Looking to next year for what maybe a jolly-boys trip to the Czech Invader Rally or what might end up a Billy No-Mates trip. I have been to five previous Czech Invaders but only once when I rode there completely alone. I did that in 1992 on my DR800SL. It's not something I would do again. Not in one hit. When I arrived I could hardly get off the bike I was so stiff for sitting in one place for hour upon hour. Those were all held at the same "rally-inn" in  Chudčice  near Brno. The last one I did was way back in 2004 with Claire as pillion. The BMW GS wasn't well received - not being a Suzuki! BMW at Rally. There is no way I'll be on the Kettle. At 37mpg it will cost a kidney to ride the 1700 mile round trip. So Pepé will need to be the bike of choice. If only I had cruise control as well to help with the saving of fuel. If I am to go over as a solo traveller I will stay in Youth Hostels. After all I will be an old age pensioner by then. We did that way back in 199...

The YHA at Creglingen was relatively cheap for an en-suite twin room. Breakfast was the usual German youth hostel fare; rolls, cheese, ham and salami plus cereal and coffee. The coffee was some of the best all trip and I gorged three cups. The plan was to spend all day to meander to the Etap at Düren. And we did. The first part was along a bit more of the Romantische Strasse and then across the 'green' routes on the Michelin map towards the Rhein. First stop was Rüdesheim am Rhein. We have been here before, but on a river boat trip not by road. We had lunch. Here I learned that rindwurst is beef. Once again we had sausage and for the first time (and last!) chips. A walk round the tourist heart wasn't complete without another Käthe Wohlfahrt visit. In Rothenburg our beer was served in lidless steins and it kept it cooler longer, so I was on the lookout for one. In the end it was the afore mentioned shop that had them, and more surprisingly they were cheaper than any I had se...

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 am Rhein 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 hesita...

I had to get up in the night to check on the bike as it was parked on dirt... As it rained heavily for a few hours. We should be used to this by now.  In the end it was pitch dark and I had two disc locks to get off, then I could see f.a. and took it down outside the main entrance. When I came to shift it later in daylight, I found I was only about 2ft from nice firm tarmac! Bugger! Today is boat trip day, 1020 from St Goar. Let's see how it turns out.

After three days of almost total damp (mostly actual rain!), it was no surprise to wake up at 0730 to the usual sound of car tyres on wet tarmac. I had toyed with saying "bugger it" to another day in the wet and heading off to Italy, perhaps even Venice. In the end the weather was shit everywhere in Europe, or so it appeared on the net. As we had only 50 miles to go today I planned a more circuitous route via the Wolfgangsee and Mondsee (where Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer married in the Sound of Music!) Claire @ Wolfgansee Tourist Office Mondsee Church Then to Attersee to Bad Ischl (where Doris threw a wobbler and took us through the same tunnel three times) where we saw the same group of bikes inc 2 1200 and 1 1100 GS's; not one of the miserable b*****s bothered to return our greeting wave. So much for the GS Brotherhood. The weather looked up after Attersee so for the first time since Sunday morning we could ride without waterproofs! Big HU...