FreudianSlip
Well-known member
So, the day finally arrived. After 'er indoors bought me a ticket for the Brno MotoGP as a surprise for my b/day with the only condition (as I'd been whining about it for months) that I go on the RR for about 90e, I ended up spending over a grand in the preparation of said event.
I bought the following:
TomTom Rider 410 - fancy edition with the anti-theft solution (although I did take someones advice from here and just put it in my pocket when needed)
Sena 20s dual pack (1 for me, 1 for the nephew - which reminds me, I want it back)
Tailpack from forum member
Brake pads for the front
Telferizer RAM mount
Hotel for 4 nights in Brno (very poor hotel, I wont go there again)
2 hotels in Germany, 1 on the way there, 1 on the way back
about 300 quid in petrol (I counted 14 fuel stops)
Return ferry crossing
Touring screen
Charging cable from forum member
Fuel container (2 off, 1 for me, 1 for nephew)
Reflectors for helmets
Fire extinguisher (just in case)
Usual high-vis jackets/breathalysers etc..)
...
I'm sure I've missed stuff here but I'll edit/add as and when I can remember.
We set off at 7:15am on Wednesday morning to catch the 12:00 ferry from Dover. It was a horrible, horrible day - miserable with that constant drizzle with real bad traffic until about 9:30 when we finally got past Luton and onto the M25. No incidents so far, just a single fuel stop at Toddington. Making it just in time, 30 mins before departure we boarded the ferry. My nephew (Chris) was overwhelmed as this was his first time abroad with 1 exception at which he never set foot out of the cab of his dads wagon, 25 years previously) so he was very excited, snapping pics of anything and everyone. To be honest, I was glad to get aboard the boat so I could take the helmet off and not have him whooping and yelping in my lugholes every 12 seconds.
Crossing was boring - food was rubbish and extortionate - and I was a bit annoyed as theres a burger king at the departure point, but the dock-wombles said that we'd be boarding vey soon - for about 20 mins.. grr. Anyway, the weather gradually got worse the closer to Dunkirk we got cumulating in it just pissing down as we got off the ferry. As I tried to use my right thumb to change the mode to 'rain', I accidentally grabbed a handful and gave it the berries .. not a single slippage but the traction control intrusion level went all black .. very scary considering I'd only turned a few revolutions of the wheels before I think i'd have binned it on a 'normal' bike.
Off through France and into Belgium we rode, fully experiencing the 'wtf' driving of the continentals in torrential rain. Crossing into Belgium the weather gradually dried up a bit with just patchy rain, and then the mile munching began. Safely through Belgium, around the Brussels Ring (many WTF's were given) and out the other side, the sat nav's speed limit sign vanished, indicating that we were on an autobahn (I never saw us cross into Germany) so we lit 'em up managing to hit an indicated 153 mph (139 according to the sat nav when later reviewed) - given it was wet and we were fully laden with 3 x more stuff than we actually needed, I backed off and waited for Chris to fly past as he wound his zx6r up. After a loooooong ride, we found our destination hotel in a small town called Idstein, which I can honestly say, was lovely. The weather had dried up and warmed up so much that we actually had a bit of a sweat on. The locals in Idstein were brill - very friendly - very interested in the bikes and our journey and spoke remarkably good english for a non-touristy location. Our German was crap of course. We'd covered about 600 miles or thereabouts.
The next day we set off at about 8am after a continental breakfast that didn't impress my companion and headed east ... sat nav faux pas here... I'd followed the booking.com address perfectly, but it appears they didn't. After counting down the miles to destination down to 43 we decided to stop (again!) for fuel and something to eat. I checked on the phone using google maps, as to where we were and if there was anything around us worth looking at but as I stared at the location of us, and our destination, I realised we were no where near. A double check on booking.com lead to a scratching of heads followed by a 'fk me' moment of realisation. Correcting the sat nav left us feeling cold and desperate - we were still 230 miles off our actual destination and had headed the long way round and about to enter Prague via a norther route.
We hit Czech with a sense of uncertainty as I'd never been there before - but again, nothing really changed except the currency and the frequency of the petrol stations. We still did daft MPH but only for short stints. The motorways down from Prague to Brno are *shockingly* bad - many road works and there should be many more, 'cos the bits that aren't being worked on are terrible. We almost lost the fronts on the bikes a dozen times whilst crossing lanes due to the concrete that bridges the 2 lanes together having failed leaving 4" wide gulleys. Just beware if you're doing this yourselves. Also, in certain sections, the road surface is soooo bumpy that you're almost bounced off your bike, so you change lanes to get off the bumps, then fall down a 4" gap in the concrete. We didnt relax much on that leg of the journey. I did have a bit of chill time though - as the headsets ran out of charge and my charging cable didnt fit (too chunky to go into the headset side). Chris's charging cable that he bought from a petrol station (for 15e!) worked for him, but I was happy that my headset was quiet for a while. I did realise how much I needed it to be charged though when we got into Brno and I (of course) couldnt hear the bloody sat nav.
Arriving at our hotel at about 8pm we chained the bikes up, creaked and cracked our aching bodies into the hotel to find that it's like something out of the 1970's. Never before have I slept on something as uncomfortable as their 'bed' without it usually having a train running along it. Hotel Pyramida - steer well clear.
We didnt touch the bikes again until the day of departure - after a good chain lubing, we were off on the Monday morning heading eastwards with the correct destination set in the sat-nav this time. The day was beautiful - sunny, dry, not too hot - perfect. The miles simply melted away. Until about 12pm when the suns rays were at their strongest and even having every vent open on my textiles made little difference. My nephew was melting in his 1 piece romper suit. After yet another fill up in Germany and filtering through yet another traffic jam, the sat nav took us off out of the way along some very beautiful German back roads - wonderful forest sections and pretty villages until we eventually re-joined the motorway 20 miles down the road. Arriving at our hotel in Aachen at around 5pm we settled in for the night after all to brief visit to the local bistro for food & beer (served by an absolutely beautiful German lady with a Canadian accent).
Up and at-em by 8am the next morning, usual battles with contact lenses having gone worse than usual and we were off ... Hitting Belgium at rush hour in the pissing rain ... not pleasant. A long ol' trip and into France and we arrived 4 hours and 30 mins before our scheduled ferry we managed to get a free change of ferry to the 2pm (or we can go on the 12:00 for 28 quid each.. bollox to that - thats more than I paid for the original ticket!). It was lashing down with rain, properly lashing it down...
Met a lovely Belgian guy (Paul) riding a Triumph Bonneville to an event at the Ace cafe the following day - nice chap, proper old biker dude.
Arrived in Dover to wonderful sunshine - so we quickly made it up to the M25 where the traffic and rain started. A long and miserable wet ride all the way to the M1, filtering through the rush hour traffic for miles on end finally saw us break free of the tedium just north of Luton where the traffic stopped sporadically until Northampton at which it was free flowing. As I approached home, given it'd been raining constantly since the M25 the heavens opened ... the road turned into a river and visibility was very poor. By the time I'd got home, my up to now brilliant Oxford textiles had had enough and were soaking water through - i'd accidentally left a pocket flap undone, and rain had got in .. not a nice feeling when you're already busting for a piss.
Chris carried on northbound to his place in Barnsley and we can now both look back on a proper adventure.
Would I do it again? in a heartbeat .. although I'd do it differently next time, take an extra day or 2 there and back, and try to avoid the motorways.
I bought the following:
TomTom Rider 410 - fancy edition with the anti-theft solution (although I did take someones advice from here and just put it in my pocket when needed)
Sena 20s dual pack (1 for me, 1 for the nephew - which reminds me, I want it back)
Tailpack from forum member
Brake pads for the front
Telferizer RAM mount
Hotel for 4 nights in Brno (very poor hotel, I wont go there again)
2 hotels in Germany, 1 on the way there, 1 on the way back
about 300 quid in petrol (I counted 14 fuel stops)
Return ferry crossing
Touring screen
Charging cable from forum member
Fuel container (2 off, 1 for me, 1 for nephew)
Reflectors for helmets
Fire extinguisher (just in case)
Usual high-vis jackets/breathalysers etc..)
...
I'm sure I've missed stuff here but I'll edit/add as and when I can remember.
We set off at 7:15am on Wednesday morning to catch the 12:00 ferry from Dover. It was a horrible, horrible day - miserable with that constant drizzle with real bad traffic until about 9:30 when we finally got past Luton and onto the M25. No incidents so far, just a single fuel stop at Toddington. Making it just in time, 30 mins before departure we boarded the ferry. My nephew (Chris) was overwhelmed as this was his first time abroad with 1 exception at which he never set foot out of the cab of his dads wagon, 25 years previously) so he was very excited, snapping pics of anything and everyone. To be honest, I was glad to get aboard the boat so I could take the helmet off and not have him whooping and yelping in my lugholes every 12 seconds.
Crossing was boring - food was rubbish and extortionate - and I was a bit annoyed as theres a burger king at the departure point, but the dock-wombles said that we'd be boarding vey soon - for about 20 mins.. grr. Anyway, the weather gradually got worse the closer to Dunkirk we got cumulating in it just pissing down as we got off the ferry. As I tried to use my right thumb to change the mode to 'rain', I accidentally grabbed a handful and gave it the berries .. not a single slippage but the traction control intrusion level went all black .. very scary considering I'd only turned a few revolutions of the wheels before I think i'd have binned it on a 'normal' bike.
Off through France and into Belgium we rode, fully experiencing the 'wtf' driving of the continentals in torrential rain. Crossing into Belgium the weather gradually dried up a bit with just patchy rain, and then the mile munching began. Safely through Belgium, around the Brussels Ring (many WTF's were given) and out the other side, the sat nav's speed limit sign vanished, indicating that we were on an autobahn (I never saw us cross into Germany) so we lit 'em up managing to hit an indicated 153 mph (139 according to the sat nav when later reviewed) - given it was wet and we were fully laden with 3 x more stuff than we actually needed, I backed off and waited for Chris to fly past as he wound his zx6r up. After a loooooong ride, we found our destination hotel in a small town called Idstein, which I can honestly say, was lovely. The weather had dried up and warmed up so much that we actually had a bit of a sweat on. The locals in Idstein were brill - very friendly - very interested in the bikes and our journey and spoke remarkably good english for a non-touristy location. Our German was crap of course. We'd covered about 600 miles or thereabouts.
The next day we set off at about 8am after a continental breakfast that didn't impress my companion and headed east ... sat nav faux pas here... I'd followed the booking.com address perfectly, but it appears they didn't. After counting down the miles to destination down to 43 we decided to stop (again!) for fuel and something to eat. I checked on the phone using google maps, as to where we were and if there was anything around us worth looking at but as I stared at the location of us, and our destination, I realised we were no where near. A double check on booking.com lead to a scratching of heads followed by a 'fk me' moment of realisation. Correcting the sat nav left us feeling cold and desperate - we were still 230 miles off our actual destination and had headed the long way round and about to enter Prague via a norther route.
We hit Czech with a sense of uncertainty as I'd never been there before - but again, nothing really changed except the currency and the frequency of the petrol stations. We still did daft MPH but only for short stints. The motorways down from Prague to Brno are *shockingly* bad - many road works and there should be many more, 'cos the bits that aren't being worked on are terrible. We almost lost the fronts on the bikes a dozen times whilst crossing lanes due to the concrete that bridges the 2 lanes together having failed leaving 4" wide gulleys. Just beware if you're doing this yourselves. Also, in certain sections, the road surface is soooo bumpy that you're almost bounced off your bike, so you change lanes to get off the bumps, then fall down a 4" gap in the concrete. We didnt relax much on that leg of the journey. I did have a bit of chill time though - as the headsets ran out of charge and my charging cable didnt fit (too chunky to go into the headset side). Chris's charging cable that he bought from a petrol station (for 15e!) worked for him, but I was happy that my headset was quiet for a while. I did realise how much I needed it to be charged though when we got into Brno and I (of course) couldnt hear the bloody sat nav.
Arriving at our hotel at about 8pm we chained the bikes up, creaked and cracked our aching bodies into the hotel to find that it's like something out of the 1970's. Never before have I slept on something as uncomfortable as their 'bed' without it usually having a train running along it. Hotel Pyramida - steer well clear.
We didnt touch the bikes again until the day of departure - after a good chain lubing, we were off on the Monday morning heading eastwards with the correct destination set in the sat-nav this time. The day was beautiful - sunny, dry, not too hot - perfect. The miles simply melted away. Until about 12pm when the suns rays were at their strongest and even having every vent open on my textiles made little difference. My nephew was melting in his 1 piece romper suit. After yet another fill up in Germany and filtering through yet another traffic jam, the sat nav took us off out of the way along some very beautiful German back roads - wonderful forest sections and pretty villages until we eventually re-joined the motorway 20 miles down the road. Arriving at our hotel in Aachen at around 5pm we settled in for the night after all to brief visit to the local bistro for food & beer (served by an absolutely beautiful German lady with a Canadian accent).
Up and at-em by 8am the next morning, usual battles with contact lenses having gone worse than usual and we were off ... Hitting Belgium at rush hour in the pissing rain ... not pleasant. A long ol' trip and into France and we arrived 4 hours and 30 mins before our scheduled ferry we managed to get a free change of ferry to the 2pm (or we can go on the 12:00 for 28 quid each.. bollox to that - thats more than I paid for the original ticket!). It was lashing down with rain, properly lashing it down...
Met a lovely Belgian guy (Paul) riding a Triumph Bonneville to an event at the Ace cafe the following day - nice chap, proper old biker dude.
Arrived in Dover to wonderful sunshine - so we quickly made it up to the M25 where the traffic and rain started. A long and miserable wet ride all the way to the M1, filtering through the rush hour traffic for miles on end finally saw us break free of the tedium just north of Luton where the traffic stopped sporadically until Northampton at which it was free flowing. As I approached home, given it'd been raining constantly since the M25 the heavens opened ... the road turned into a river and visibility was very poor. By the time I'd got home, my up to now brilliant Oxford textiles had had enough and were soaking water through - i'd accidentally left a pocket flap undone, and rain had got in .. not a nice feeling when you're already busting for a piss.
Chris carried on northbound to his place in Barnsley and we can now both look back on a proper adventure.
Would I do it again? in a heartbeat .. although I'd do it differently next time, take an extra day or 2 there and back, and try to avoid the motorways.
