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Elefantentreffen Ride Report
Day one - Isle of Wight to Brussels
Km today: 510km Km total: 510km Up early and full of anticipation only a trip into the unknown can conjour up, there's not much to say when you spend all day riding... The previous night I'd found myself watching the weather forecast thinking "I hope it doesn't snow here tomorrow" before i realised where I was actually travelling to. On the way to the ferry from the Island to the mainland I got used to having the additional weight on the bike, waited the 45 minutes for the crossing and met up with Jack (jackofnone) at Portsmouth. After a quick exchange of greeting we were on our way. Arriving at the Eurotunnel terminal early in time for a bite to eat we parked up and waited for Chris (rockhopper) to arrive: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0016.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0017.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0019.jpg Five minutes before the final call for our train I see a grey shape zip up the access road and park up, we were all there. So after more hastily exchanged greetings we were on the bikes and waved through customs without stopping once, perhaps the KTM hard panniers would be a good method of smuggling drugs? On the train we had our own carriage to park up in, and before the announcement informed us we were liable to set off the fire detection system we got about taking some flash photos: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0022.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0025.jpg Chris set about repairing the connector for his heated vest, all the while protesting that "It's not a breakdown" ;) http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0029.jpg Off the train and into Northern France, instantly noting how it's chillier on the continent than even a pretty cold day back in the UK. After an hour or so we stop for fuel. My preparations didn't go far enough and my neck warmer wasn't keeping the cold out. Thankfully Chris had a spare balaclava which saved the day for me, without it I'd not have made it to the site http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0031.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0033.jpg Onwards to Brussels!! We rock up at a hotel somewhere outside the city and quickly decide €180 per night is a bit spicy, punch the nearest Etap into the sat nav and head off, well the other two do, I swing the bike off the side stand with a bit too much enthusiasm and it doesn't stop when centred, queue a graceful dismount to the right and a bike on it's side... Thankfully the panniers and crash bars stop it going very far and despite being loaded up it was an easy lift to get it back upright. We travel the few km to the Etap and park up all in the same space, only for the bike to decide it'd be happier on it's left hand side this time, a heroic team effort somehow prevented any damage despite the incident involving three bikes and a parked car. My distain for Brussels continued unabated. After a quick meal and a beer I left the other two in the bar, punched in tomorrows route on the Zumo and went to bed, tomorrow was going to be the big day... |
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Day 2 - Brussels to Nuremburg (almost)
Km today: 627 Km total: 1137 Up early, The €8 breakfast didn't live up to the promise the price made, thankfully the continentals know how to do coffee... On the road there's not much to report, slog it until the fuel light comes on, refuel, rinse and repeat. As we travel further south the snow gets thicker on the ground and we get the occasional blizzard. The wind chill means any moisture on the front of the bike freezes, the screen, the muffs all had a thin coating of ice after a few hours riding. The pinlock system worked wonders in keeping out the fog, but evcentually it succombed and the ice crystals begin forming on the inside of the visor, gradually working their way up until the view from one of your eyes is completely obscured. Flip the visor up and wipe it away and you're eyeballs feel like they're frozen, then the moisture on your glove covers the whole inside of the visor and blocks your view entirely, I only made that mistake once... Anyway, somewhere north of Wurzberg we stop for fuel while the snow is falling, at the time it was a novelty as we didn't know this was pretty much going to be par for the course for the next few days: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0036.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0037.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0039.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0041.jpg These were the conditions all the way to Nuremberg, until disaster struck. Only a kilometre from the hotel we would be staying at that night we come to the end of the highway and stop at some traffic lights, thirty seconds later with the clutch in I hit 1st gear only to get a lurch and stall - the clutch had completely gone, zero pressure!! Much to the delight of the traffic I wheel the bike over from lane three to the side of the road and set about looking for the problem, there's a smell of mineral oil by the slave cylinder and after some poking and prodding it's obvious the fluid is leaking from the hydraulic hose, where the banjo meets the braided steel. Thankfully I'd extended my UK breakdown cover to Europe before I left so after a quick call and an hours wait I get recovered to a KTM Roadstar roughly 10km outside the city who were open until 20:00, but only on a Thursday - what luck! If they know one thing at KTM Roadstar it's customer service, as soon as I arrived a mechanic wheeled the bike off to the workshop and I was greeted with offers of tea and somewhere to sit down, gladly accepted after three hours standing by the side of the road and recovering the bike in the coad weather. After some discussion about parts and times we agreed to remove one of the lines from a 2010 shop floor bike and fit it to mine the following morning. One of the guys who worked there even drove me back to the Motel to save me the taxi fare - awesome!! As I left the dealer I saw my bike already on the ramp prepped for tomorrow... http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...8012010132.jpg Back at Nuremberg a late dinner and a fruitless search for a cash machine were about all I managed before crashing and wondering what would happen tomorrow |
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Day 3 - Nuremberg to Nuremberg:rolleyes:
Km today: 120 Km total: 1257 It feels odd putting on your riding gear knowing you've no bike to ride, but we set off on the slippery streets of Nuremberg to KTM Roadstar to pick up my bike. This would be the first time I'd ridden pillion since passing my test and the early morning snow did little for my nerves, but Chris proved more than capable a pilot and we eventually got to the dealer after a couple of wrong turns. Jack's KTM had all the fixtures for my luggage so it all made it there with me. At the dealer we were offered more drinks as we waited for news, Chris and Jack returned to the hotel to get their stuff and while they were gone KTM Roadstar's desert truck turned up: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0042.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0043.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0044.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0045.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0046.jpg They use it to take tours into Africa, quite the opposite of the weather we had in germany. Once Chris and Jack were back we packed up and set off. We made it to a petrol station ~60km south of Nuremberg and the clutch started to go again, not catastrophically this time but the pressure would start to go and you had to pump it back up. After some roadside head scratching we decided it was best for the guys to go on ahead and I'd limp back top the dealer to see what's what. Back at the dealer we have more head scratching until the mechanic spots the problem; the heated grips were shorting onto the handlebar, through the clutch master cylinder and down the braided line, causing it to heat up and boil the clutch fluid. The solution: Don't use heated grips!!! By the time we sorted it all out it was too late to try for the site so I spent the night back in Nuremberg, with renewed confidence that I knew what the problem was and could stop it occurring... http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0048.jpg |
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Day 5 - Elefantentreffen to Brussels
Km today: 815 Km total: 2286 I woke up early, around 05:00, because of the cold. Even with my wooly hat, knee length socks, trousers, base layer shirt and hoodie in a winter sleeping bag it was cold. I managed to go back to sleep in fits and starts and heard the other guys leaving early, we'd spoken last night and we decided to head off separately as they wanted to leave early, I wanted to have a lie in!! I emerged at ~09:30, the sun was just breaking through the cloud and lighting the site beautifully: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0144.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0145.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0146.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0147.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0148.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0149.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0150.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0151.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0152.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0153.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0154.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0155.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0156.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0157.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0158.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0159.jpg What I hadn't realised was that with all the breathing you do inside the tent the condensation tends to form on the inside and freeze onto anything, which included my riding gear. It was pretty unpleasant putting all that on with ice crystals in it, but dragging all my kit back to the top of the hill where we'd parked warmed me up: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0160.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0161.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0162.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0163.jpg The bike started first time and I got it loaded up and made for the exit, which was uphill through 6" of snow with ice underneath. Half an hour later I was there but not before I'd stalled it a handful of times, almost dropped it more times than I remember and had a crazy fritz come flying the other way, slam on the brakes and get his outfit wedged between my pannier and snow drift - sturdy things these KTMs;) Parked at the bottom of the hill just before the highway back north I stopped to put on the many layers and took a couple more photos http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0164.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0165.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0166.jpg Back at the Etap: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0167.jpg Long day!! http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0174.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0177.jpg My head was a blur from the last 10hrs, I couldn't remember how many times I'd stopped for fuel, but I was glad to be closer to home than I thought I would have been at this point... |
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Day 5 - Brussels to Isle of Wight
Km today: 510 Km total: 2796 By now I wanted to get home so I set off at 09:00 or so, the car park was still icy but somehow I made it to the road upright It was a day of more miles with little worth mentioning except the winds down the E40 to Calais, the Adventure is a tall bike that catches the wind at the best of times, but with all the gear on it I was leaning as hard as I dared just to keep it going in a straight line. it's a very odd feeling going round left hand curves whilst leaning to the right, and every truck overtaken would cause the front end to skip around and push you ever closer to the snow close to the central reservation - not much fun... Still, I made it safely to the Tunnel and just jumped on the next available train, once stopped the sun was warming and I could already feel like home was close: http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0178.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0179.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0181.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0182.jpg Back in the UK it was reassuringly British normality on the motorways, after several thousand kilometres on European roads where everyone keeps to the inside lane and people tend to use their mirrors I felt like humming the national anthem when after only twenty minutes on British soil I'd had two 60mph dawdlers in the middle lane and an oaf in a pickup try to side swipe me because looking in his mirror was too taxing for his brain... The last photos I took were at the ferry terminal in Portsmouth, I must have looked a wreck, covered in salt and road grime, absolutely shattered, but so happy to be home http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0183.jpg http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/r...0/DSC_0186.jpg |
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Waiting for the rest :)
Was the seat warm? ;) |
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Seat was toasty warm and very comfortable, but just tipped the bike from being tall to being too tall to manage safely when paddling around |
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Looks cool as though. :thumbsup: |
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Looking forward to seeing the rest Wolfie. |
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All up there now, any pics i didn;t post here are in my album: http://s488.photobucket.com/albums/r...%20Jan%202010/ |
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Epic Trek, young man - Respect!
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Mentalist! There isn't an emoticon available for the amount of respect I have for you camping and riding in that weather! I did the Dragon rally in Feb a few years back where it snowed a little but nothing settled, but this takes the biscuit! It may have felt like frozen hell there, but you'll love the memories you have from it in years to come.
Brilliant trip mate, well done for doing it :). Would I do the same thing? NO! :lol: |
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Awesome ;)
Quality write up and pics, Nice job. How did you get on with the rat packs ? |
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That's a fantastic read:cool:
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Great pics and write up.
But what did you get up to at the camp site, or is that a what happens on tour stays on tour situation? |
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So many nutters all in one place.
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I ain't see no snow chains!
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Jayzuz you're a brave one mate. I'd love to do that kind of journey...but only in my mind. I hate the cold.
And you went all that way and went thru all that only to spend on night there??? Was there anything to do there but drink? I mean do they usualy have bands or something that didnt make it cos of the snow? Whats the normal thing ....or is your trip exactly what the norm is? Either way, i dont know if you're brave or nuts but you did it so that earns my respect either way. Some great pics too :) |
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To answer a few questions: The ration packs were fine, as I said before I quite like them:eek:, petrol stove worked like magic, Chris had a Swiss army stove that burned kindling, but finding kindling at all, let alone dry kindling, was impossible, and his gas stove stopped working if you left the cannister touching the snow. The Coleman just fired up and gave out masses of heat, only had it on ~1/3 power and it boiled up the water in about 5 minutes There's not much to do on the site other than drink - I was so tired I didn't touch a drop (stuck to hot choc;)) - we had a good wander around to take in the atmosphere then cooked some food and chatted - it got dark at ~17:30 so it wasn't long until your body started saying it was time to go to bed The camping in the snow with a lot of other nutters is pretty much par for the course for the Elephant, not much else to do - I probably wouldn't go again - it's a lot of physically challenging riding for a night in a tent in silly cold temperatures, but I'm extremely glad I did go this time:cool: |
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Cracking write up and pictures, our thanks to you for being brave/stupid/mug enough to go and share it with us, and as you say it's one of those things you wouldn't want to do again but the experience is priceless. I might just have to stop being so rude about KTM's now that I've actually seen one put to proper use, although it's didn't prove me wrong entirely, (can't really blame the grips unless they were KTM fitment?)
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One can only admire your endurance and determination! Well done sir!!
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I should have had my doubts about the electrics when I found he'd wired the 60A rated aux fusebox directly into the 10A fused accessory line with no relay A little rewiring to be done soon methinks... |
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Epic ride and report, well done. Nice to see you made it there and back relatively trouble free
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I've stopped there a few times on my way to Amstetten, Austria, mainly to buy a vignette for the Austrian motorways - the menu in the restaurant is a bit limited. |
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LINK Passau looks further south?? |
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:D
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It looks just like this one, which is where me and my mate Alex usually stop for fuel
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&so...01929&t=h&z=16 |
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If you are ever heading that way again, I can recommend this biker friendly hotel just outside Wurzburg. If there's a few of you they'll lock the bikes up in the garages overnight - great beers (so I'm told) and excellent food.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&so...,0.002411&z=19 |
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Here's a pic of the C90 Cub I mentioned a few days ago, it made it to the rally
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2760/...5a7c2ca86b.jpg More photos here http://www.flickr.com/photos/8963323...7623328381084/ |
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Top bloke, we camped right next to each other:cool: |
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fantastic-we should have an annual award for the person/s who undertake this type of road trip-you'd be a winner in my book
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Is that why it's called the Elephant Rally? :smt115 |
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I enjoyed reading that and the pics are brilliant but I think you are a total nutter!!! you and everyone else who camped out in that are totally of your rockers but I have the utmost admiration for you hun. Is a fantastic achievement and surely a credit to your riding abilities. Absolutely amazing
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Such disappointingly appropriate machinery for the task.
There's a chap on UKRM made it two-up on a manky old VFR750 despite also owning a sidecar outfit. |
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You didn't ' invest ' in a vignette, did you ? ;)
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