Monday 26th May.
Arriving at Frankfurt after Asia was like landing on a different planet. We caught a train to Offenbach, just out of Frankfurt, which was where we had booked a room on Air BnB, with a guy named Freek. We arrived about 8.oo pm, still in broad daylight, with the temperature around 16 degrees, a far cry from what we had left behind. At present, the sun is setting around 9.30, with twilight going for another hour after that. We walked to Freek's place from the station, and after meeting him, and having a drink, we headed off to bed for some well earned sleep. The following day, we realised we had no jumpers or anything warm to wear, so a shopping trip
Arriving at Frankfurt after Asia was like landing on a different planet. We caught a train to Offenbach, just out of Frankfurt, which was where we had booked a room on Air BnB, with a guy named Freek. We arrived about 8.oo pm, still in broad daylight, with the temperature around 16 degrees, a far cry from what we had left behind. At present, the sun is setting around 9.30, with twilight going for another hour after that. We walked to Freek's place from the station, and after meeting him, and having a drink, we headed off to bed for some well earned sleep. The following day, we realised we had no jumpers or anything warm to wear, so a shopping trip
to Frankfurt was in order. I also wanted a map so I could get my bearings, and work out where we had to go for the Horizons Unlimited meeting that was starting on thursday, and also for future travels in Germany. A train ride back to Frankfurt, (much more expensive than the Skyrail in Bangkok), and a look around to get our heads into the total change in architecture and customs of Europe was a real learning curve. After checking on the bikes arrival, which was supposed to be Thursday, we were advised the funds still hadn't been cleared into the freight forwarders account yet, so the bikes had been postponed till Friday. That meant we would be a day late for the start of the HU meeting. Nothing we could do about it, so spent some more time sightseeing, and we realised we only had one sleeping bag, so went and bought another one. (We hadn't planned on being in Europe for another year yet!). Thursday came, and we had to move out of Freeks house without our bikes, so we found a cheap hotel near the centre of Offenbach. Checking on the bikes again, we
found out they were now not coming till sunday, so that put us in a good mood. We decided to hire a car for the weekend, and headed down to the meeting, about 65 kms south of Frankfurt. As most of our camping gear was with the bikes, we had the sleeping bag we had just bought, and that was it! We had hired a 7 seat wagon that we could sleep in, borrowed some mattresses from Jens, (organiser of the HU meeting), had a blanket we borrowed off Freek, and that was all we needed. The meeting was great, about 150 people, everybody wanted to help the stranded Aussies, and we met some terrific people. After freezing the first night, we needed another
sleeping bag, so drove into Heidelburg and bought one. It really is a beautiful city.
On the left, home sweet home..........
We got on the net for a brief time while at the meeting, and found out the bike shipment had been cancelled by the freight forwarders, due to the funds not being cleared into their account. We checked with our bank, and they had been withdrawn the previous thursday, so we were now more than tad annoyed. On the Sunday morning we left the meeting, and went down to Sindelfingen, just near Stuttgart, where we had been kindly offered a bed by Tim and Carrie Cargain, whom we met at the meeting.
On the left, home sweet home..........
We got on the net for a brief time while at the meeting, and found out the bike shipment had been cancelled by the freight forwarders, due to the funds not being cleared into their account. We checked with our bank, and they had been withdrawn the previous thursday, so we were now more than tad annoyed. On the Sunday morning we left the meeting, and went down to Sindelfingen, just near Stuttgart, where we had been kindly offered a bed by Tim and Carrie Cargain, whom we met at the meeting.
Bridge over the Rhein at Worms.
As the car was due back in Frankfurt on Monday morning, we rang Avis to extend the hire for one more day, only to be told that would cost another 345 Euro, as we would be outside of our contract, so that started another saga, which went for a few more days before being cleared up. It entailed driving from Stuttgard to Frankfurt and back, and arguing with Avis staff and their supervisors in both cities. Long story short, we kept the car until Friday. We weren't having a good week!!! The bikes had now been re-sheduled to arrive on thursday and friday, each bike on a different flight, and it is only with the help of an Australian named
As the car was due back in Frankfurt on Monday morning, we rang Avis to extend the hire for one more day, only to be told that would cost another 345 Euro, as we would be outside of our contract, so that started another saga, which went for a few more days before being cleared up. It entailed driving from Stuttgard to Frankfurt and back, and arguing with Avis staff and their supervisors in both cities. Long story short, we kept the car until Friday. We weren't having a good week!!! The bikes had now been re-sheduled to arrive on thursday and friday, each bike on a different flight, and it is only with the help of an Australian named
Andrew who works for Thai Airways that we got them on the same flight and arriving on Friday. While we had the car, we did some sightseeing in the area, including a trip with Tim as a guide to a castle named Burg Hohenzollern, near Henchingen, south of Stuttgart. Tim and Carrie were terrific hosts, we got some much needed washing done, and sampled some of the great food and wine in the area. Did I tell you wine is cheap in Germany, about 4 Euros a bottle?
Tim at the Castle (He is the guy wearing sunglasses, not the other dude with the sword).
Tim rides a sporty, and Carrie has a 250 Virago, so being into bikes we had to take the opportunity to visit some bike shops in the area, one was massive, having about 1,400 bikes in stock, spread over three floors and two buildings. Unfortunately Carrie had to work, so Tim had a look for her. Some nice bikes there, wouldn't mind having some spare cash myself............ We also visited MotorWorld, two huge buildings, each with two levels, filled with exotic cars and bikes, both old and new. It is free to just wander in and have a look around, we spent about 2 hours there.
The next day was an early start, the alarm went off at 5.30, today was the day we are to get the bikes and be on our way. We left Tim and Carries at around 7 thinking that the traffic from Sindelfingen to Frankfurt Airport would be horrendous. The traffic was light so we arrived at Frankfurt at 9 am, plenty of time to go around and find out where the Cargo section was. LUG was the Freight forwarding company so we
Tim rides a sporty, and Carrie has a 250 Virago, so being into bikes we had to take the opportunity to visit some bike shops in the area, one was massive, having about 1,400 bikes in stock, spread over three floors and two buildings. Unfortunately Carrie had to work, so Tim had a look for her. Some nice bikes there, wouldn't mind having some spare cash myself............ We also visited MotorWorld, two huge buildings, each with two levels, filled with exotic cars and bikes, both old and new. It is free to just wander in and have a look around, we spent about 2 hours there.
The next day was an early start, the alarm went off at 5.30, today was the day we are to get the bikes and be on our way. We left Tim and Carries at around 7 thinking that the traffic from Sindelfingen to Frankfurt Airport would be horrendous. The traffic was light so we arrived at Frankfurt at 9 am, plenty of time to go around and find out where the Cargo section was. LUG was the Freight forwarding company so we
went straight there after being ID’ed to enter the Cargo Section. LUG informed us that the bikes would’t be ready until 12 ish so back to the Car Rental Returns, thank god that went smoothly. A bite to eat at the airport and then back to LUG to sit and wait. We finally got the paperwork at around 1.30 and headed straight down to Customs, things were looking good until the Customs Officer asked if we had our insurance green card (similar to CTP/TAC). Oops, forgot about that, so back in a taxi to ADAC (like RACQ) to get the green cards. If we had known we could have gotten this insurance early that morning or even the day before. Green card insurance cost 105 euros (A$ 150) each per
bike, for 1 month. That hurts. Back to customs, wait in line, eventually a Customs Officer opens the window to get my paperwork, and was clearly not happy about doing the paperwork for 2 motorbikes late on a Friday afternoon. Anyway this ended in smiles all around and paperwork stamped, back to LUG to do battle with the counter people on the cost of the import. We had a quote for the import paperwork, the Dangerous Good Certificate, storage fees (mmm, ½ day) and the cost of getting rid of the wooden crates for 82 euro per bike. The LUG invoice came to 150 euro per bike (Surprise, Surprise). One hour later the price was negotiated to 99 Euro (A$ 150).
It was then 6 pm so 2 hours to put the bikes together with the help from another great person, Rene, who helped us with the green card, our luggage, the unpacking of the bikes and assembling them. People in this world are simply amazing. We finally left the cargo section at 8 pm being lead by Rene in case we ran out of fuel (this is a condition of airfreighting, there must be minimum fuel in the tank). Thanks Rene for all your help. We are heading up towards Michlau Sudrach (about 150 klms) east of Frankfurt, where Daniel & Sabine live. We met Daniel at the HU meeting, and he very kindly offered us a bed for the night. On the A3 Autobahn, semis, cars, caravan, motorhomes all going somewhere fast for the long weekend, very hairy riding at times. We did not have our headsets as they were in the
crates and we did not have time to charge them. Darkness came upon us and we still had 50 klms to go. Curt passed a truck but unfortunately by the time I got around the truck all I could see was Curt’s tail light going off into the darkness, he had turned off, and I had no chance of following. The truck driver behind me in his headlight would have seen me jumping up and down, cursing and swearing, what to do now, cannot turn back, cannot exit, so I rode to the next fuel/food stop to think. Curt had all of the phones, the passports, the money; all I had was one credit card and the computer. So my only plan was to find McDonalds and free WiFi, it turned out to be another 17 lonely dark kilometres down the road. Lucky it was a 24 hour Maccas because I pulled in at 11 ish, went in and asked for the WiFi code. They do it differently in Germany, you log in and they send your code to your mobile. Problem No 1, I have no mobile so after explaining this to girls that spoke little English one of them gave me their mobile number and code. Yaaaaah, I’m in, start calling Curt by Skype from around 11.30 pm, I call and call and call, no answer so I sent him a text where I am. Little did I know that he was riding around looking for me and not knowing he had all of the phones, luckily he stopped and heard the phone ringing? I was so relieved when he answered it, he had been to the village where we was supposed to be staying but couldn’t find the house so he rode back to the A3 and was about 20 mins away from me. The girls at Maccas were so relieved and happy to see Curt when he walked in, (I think they thought I was bedding down for the night) we sat for sometime to collect our thoughts, Curt had to thaw out and decide a new plan of attack. Then the phone rang, it was Daniel & Sabine, the people we were suppose to be staying with, they had fallen asleep waiting, and had woken up and wondered if we were ok. We told them where we were, they said it was only 20 mins away, so back on the bikes at 2 am, no GPS, only a map in the dark and no bloody idea. Problem 2: 3 am and lost again, riding around, cold and not very happy. Finally found the Village but not the house, I think I would have woken everyone up explaining to Curt my frustration #$@#$##, so we call Daniel and Sabine, they kindly came down and lead us back to their home. It was nice eventually sitting, talking and having a Vodka or Tokay at 4.30 am. A big thanks to this lovely family for being patient with us, without all of our new German friends we would have been in more trouble than Flash Gordon.
Note to ourselves:
1. NO RIDING IN THE DARK and playing cat and mouse with the trucks and deer.
2. Read all paperwork on entering a country.
3. Do not follow wrong way Curt.
Note to ourselves:
1. NO RIDING IN THE DARK and playing cat and mouse with the trucks and deer.
2. Read all paperwork on entering a country.
3. Do not follow wrong way Curt.
Saturday 7th June
Next morning breaky, more chatting, then Daniel, Sabine, and their two daughters left for their 2 week holiday. So we packed up the bikes and headed north/east to Nads and Dennis' place in Neumark. Arrived at around 6 pm (getting better, only getting lost once). Great to see Nads, Dennis and their new baby Jake. We are staying at her parent’s house, such hospitality is greater than words can express. The following day they took us to their special place on the lake, their parents and grandparents have a little cottage overlooking the lake.
Next morning breaky, more chatting, then Daniel, Sabine, and their two daughters left for their 2 week holiday. So we packed up the bikes and headed north/east to Nads and Dennis' place in Neumark. Arrived at around 6 pm (getting better, only getting lost once). Great to see Nads, Dennis and their new baby Jake. We are staying at her parent’s house, such hospitality is greater than words can express. The following day they took us to their special place on the lake, their parents and grandparents have a little cottage overlooking the lake.
Very warm today 32 degrees, lovely spot, Germany is a beautiful country, rolling green meadows, long continuous curves, quaint little villages and beautiful, friendly people. We have basically not stopped eating and drinking for the past 4 days now, so all of the weight we lost by sweating in Asia is back. Nadine (Nads) has a lovely family, thanks to all. Tomorrow if the weather is good we head back down south for the Touratech Meeting.
12th June
We left Nads mum’s place on a cold cloudy morning, but at least it wasn’t raining. The roads were great, and we managed to find our way without getting lost. The scenery was superb, green rolling hills, farms, and storybook villages scattered about, along with quite a few wind farms, and at one place acres of solar panels. The Germans are big on solar and wind generation, and there wind farms and panels all over the country. I had had an oil leak on a pipe on my bike since Thailand, not bad, but enough to be a nuisance, and had done a repair at Dennis’ shed while we were there, and this was the first decent ride since then, so I was pleased to see it was finally fixed. We rode to Daniel and Sabine’s place for the night, and while we were there, I did a small repair on Eli’s XT600 Yamaha.
We left Nads mum’s place on a cold cloudy morning, but at least it wasn’t raining. The roads were great, and we managed to find our way without getting lost. The scenery was superb, green rolling hills, farms, and storybook villages scattered about, along with quite a few wind farms, and at one place acres of solar panels. The Germans are big on solar and wind generation, and there wind farms and panels all over the country. I had had an oil leak on a pipe on my bike since Thailand, not bad, but enough to be a nuisance, and had done a repair at Dennis’ shed while we were there, and this was the first decent ride since then, so I was pleased to see it was finally fixed. We rode to Daniel and Sabine’s place for the night, and while we were there, I did a small repair on Eli’s XT600 Yamaha.
13th June
Today we were heading down to Sindelfingen and Tim and Carries place again, to meet up and go to the Touratech Travel Expo on Saturday. Another great ride through lots of small villages and along winding roads through beautiful countryside, Australian riders eat your hearts out. We even found our way through Stuttgart fairly easily, through long tunnels under the city. A good days ride, and we arrived at about 3.00pm.
Today we were heading down to Sindelfingen and Tim and Carries place again, to meet up and go to the Touratech Travel Expo on Saturday. Another great ride through lots of small villages and along winding roads through beautiful countryside, Australian riders eat your hearts out. We even found our way through Stuttgart fairly easily, through long tunnels under the city. A good days ride, and we arrived at about 3.00pm.
14th June
We rode down to Niedereschach to the Touratech factory with Tim, (well Tim and I rode down, Lyn, Carrie and her daughter woosed it in the car, just because it was a bit cool). It was a great show, goes over 3 days, and they get about 10,000 people through in that time. There were a heap of trade displays, demo rides from a lot of bike manufacturers, and a lot of presentations from various people and organisations, although most were in German, so not much good to us. Lyn bought a heated vest on special, in hindsight I should have bought one too. When I fitted the wiring, I found there was a dodgy connection in the plug, but it is a sealed unit, so will have to get a new wiring section from Touratech.
We rode down to Niedereschach to the Touratech factory with Tim, (well Tim and I rode down, Lyn, Carrie and her daughter woosed it in the car, just because it was a bit cool). It was a great show, goes over 3 days, and they get about 10,000 people through in that time. There were a heap of trade displays, demo rides from a lot of bike manufacturers, and a lot of presentations from various people and organisations, although most were in German, so not much good to us. Lyn bought a heated vest on special, in hindsight I should have bought one too. When I fitted the wiring, I found there was a dodgy connection in the plug, but it is a sealed unit, so will have to get a new wiring section from Touratech.
15th June
Today we head off towards the UK, with Tim and Carrie riding with us as far as Gaggenau. Terrific roads and scenery through the Black Forest, and we managed to get lost again, but it doesn’t matter on these roads. We managed to find our way to Trier, where we booked into a budget hotel for the night.
Tim, Lyn, and Carrie looking out over part of the Black Forest.
Today we head off towards the UK, with Tim and Carrie riding with us as far as Gaggenau. Terrific roads and scenery through the Black Forest, and we managed to get lost again, but it doesn’t matter on these roads. We managed to find our way to Trier, where we booked into a budget hotel for the night.
Tim, Lyn, and Carrie looking out over part of the Black Forest.
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Crossing the Luxembourg and Belgium borders
16th June
We spent the morning looking around Trier, at the Porta Nigra, built in the Roman times, the Dome, and a really nice Cathedral. A very picturesque city, and popular with tourists. From there, we headed off at lunchtime through Luxembourg towards Balogne in Belgium, the area famous for the Battle of the Bulge, and managed to get lost again. We eventually found our way, and had a look at some of the monuments around the city, before heading off for the cold ride to Namur, where we stayed in a hotel. Lyn’s heated vest was working well.
We spent the morning looking around Trier, at the Porta Nigra, built in the Roman times, the Dome, and a really nice Cathedral. A very picturesque city, and popular with tourists. From there, we headed off at lunchtime through Luxembourg towards Balogne in Belgium, the area famous for the Battle of the Bulge, and managed to get lost again. We eventually found our way, and had a look at some of the monuments around the city, before heading off for the cold ride to Namur, where we stayed in a hotel. Lyn’s heated vest was working well.
17th June
A fairly cold, boring ride to Calais along motorways today, but we wanted to get there, as we were meeting up with Grant and Susan (founders of Horizons Unlimited), and catching the ferry to Dover next morning. Most of the way was across fairly flat farmland, with a few canals here and there. The ferry terminals are massive, as big as a town, and the whole city of Calais seems to exist just for them. The beach would have been nice if the weather was good, but it was cold, drizzly, and the wind was howling across the channel at a zillion knots, so we just wanted to get in the shelter of the hotel. We had pre booked a hotel on line, and when we arrived it looked like one that hires rooms by the hour, but it was cheap enough, (for Europe) and warm and dry, so it did the job. We caught up with Grant and Susan for tea, then had a few drinks with Martin and Elvio from Touratech, before heading off back to our little love nest for the night.
A fairly cold, boring ride to Calais along motorways today, but we wanted to get there, as we were meeting up with Grant and Susan (founders of Horizons Unlimited), and catching the ferry to Dover next morning. Most of the way was across fairly flat farmland, with a few canals here and there. The ferry terminals are massive, as big as a town, and the whole city of Calais seems to exist just for them. The beach would have been nice if the weather was good, but it was cold, drizzly, and the wind was howling across the channel at a zillion knots, so we just wanted to get in the shelter of the hotel. We had pre booked a hotel on line, and when we arrived it looked like one that hires rooms by the hour, but it was cheap enough, (for Europe) and warm and dry, so it did the job. We caught up with Grant and Susan for tea, then had a few drinks with Martin and Elvio from Touratech, before heading off back to our little love nest for the night.
