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July 11 - July 17 2012: a CBX-trip through Holland and Germany. On the left you see a map of my trip, every color representing a traveling day. Start and finish: Nijmegen (marked '0'). Every trip's destination is marked on the map with a number; click it to directly go there. Summary Wednesday July 11, 135 km: Nijmegen (NL) - Vasse (NL), visiting Erwin's home. Thursday July 12, 335 km: Gasselternijveenschemond (NL) - Barmstedt (D), visiting Hammer of Justice. Friday July 13, 45 km: Barmstedt (D) - Vaale (D), visiting bike meeting MSC Vaale. Sunday July 15, 170 km: Vaale (D) - Müden/Örtze (D), visiting biker friendly camp site Sonnenberg. Monday July 16, 290 km: Müden/Örtze (D) - Hoogstede (D), visiting biker camp site 'The Rose'. Tuesday July 17, 177 km: Hoogstede (D) - Nijmegen (NL). Home sweet home. Total: 1.240 km. |
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Main target of this holiday: visiting the annual bike meeting in northern Germany organized by MSC Vaale. As always the weather forecast wasn't too positive: 2012 was already in the top 5 of wettest summers since 1905. By the way: 'Schauer' means 'showers', and 'Regen', well ... 'rain'. |
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Trip 1a, Wednesday July 11, 135 km. The first twenty km were dry (yeah!) as I rode to Erwin's home. Did I say 'home'? It's a more like a castle since he rebuild his place the last couple of years. Before we left he made a minor repair on the swingarm; Erwin's first weld on the CBX, and he did a good job. |
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Trip 1, Wednesday July 11, 88 km. We rode to biker camp site De Motorschuur in the small town called Gasselter-and-the-rest-I-always-forget. |
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It was the third time we were there, and again we were the only visitors. Not surprisingly, this early in the motorcycle season, and with the last month's bad weather. It didn't rain though. | |||
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No reason for complaints: we got a warm welcome from Madeleine and Gijs, and a similar dinner. |
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Until 01.30h we talked bikes, dogs, stupid regulations, windmills, beer and work. |
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Next morning Gijs made us a healthy breakfast: eggs, ham, cheese, bread. |
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Erwin went home; recently his third child was born which made it difficult to stay away too long. |
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Trip 2, Thursday July 12, 335 km. As I left I put on my rain clothes because the sky looked quite threatening. But, o wonder, after one hour I concluded that barking dogs seldom bite so I took it off. Plastic-free makes riding more fun. |
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At a gas station the Italian chef ran out of his kitchen with a lot of 'mama mia!'. No, this was not a Benelli engine. Yes, Benelli made a six cilinder bike in the late seventies. Nice man, although a bit feverish. | |||
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Like two years ago, close to Hamburg, the barking dogs came into a bite frenzy. It rained like hell. |
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It didn't bother the bike – the engine runs even better when it's a bit wet and cold – and it didn't really bother me because rain is a familiar companion. But I always have to pay attention twice as good because, while raining, bikers are less visible to motorists. Remarkable: all day, all 335 km, I didn't see any bike on the road. |
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I visited Willi, a.k.a. 'Hammer of Justice', whom I met four years ago at the Trommelslagertreffen. Beside him is Jos, a funny guy (how's your hair, Jos?). |
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Willi made us a lentil soup 'Großmutter Art'. Indeed, it looks like a puke but believe me: it tastes like heaven. |
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The fact that my gloves are magnetic made them easier to dry. | |||
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After a few beers and some bullshitting about ketchup we went to bed. I ended the day reading a nice book about photography. Or better: a book on looking and seeing. | |||
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Trip 3, Friday July 13, 45 km. Friday the 13th we visited a guy called Herman, in Kiel. Herman's supposed to be a bike technician specialized in Honda CB's. All I can say is that he does not represent the famous 'Deutsche Gründlichkeit'. Willi and Wolfgang (r) are obviously happy to take their bikes home again. |
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Willi and I rode to the main goal of this holiday: the annual bike meeting organized by MSC Vaale. Why there? Two years ago, on my way back from Alstræf in Denmark, I met Dirk Mengel on his KTM RC8. He invited me to come to their bike event in Vaale. So I did. | |||
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We put up our tents ... |
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... went to the bar ... | |||
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... and had a good time until four in the morning. | |||
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Next morning it was raining. Beautiful clouds though. |
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Not everyone succeeded the long journey from bar to tent. |
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About ten guys stayed up all night and hardly could stand on their feet anymore. Quite an achievement, and funny, and entertaining, and a bit embarrassing sometimes. | |||
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Just get out of the way if one shouts: 'FLEISCHBERG!' (meatheap). |
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About twelve o'clock I was ready for my first beer ... |
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... followed by a stronger fluid: one third rum, one third beer, one third coke. The first one hurts, but after that it's actually quite tasty. On the left you see Burghart; for whatever reason he was always around. |
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About 16.00h Erwin arrived at the scene, after a 400 km trip on his GL1000 sidecar. It was his lucky day: the combination Burghart and a glass of booze he really disliked. | |||
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Burghart posed on my bike. I didn't think his look was bad-ass enough though. Point at the picture to see the stunning result. | ||||
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Finally he wanted to show us his hometown, Hüll, on the map. He failed. |
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In the afternoon more bikers arrived at the camp site. |
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There was some wandering and wondering ... | |||
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... some photographing ... |
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... and every now and then a little demonstration. At that time I didn't realize that there were two very interested cops amongst the audience. I wasn't arrested though. | |||
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At the Dyno stand a familiar bike with a familiar sound was tested. |
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We caught up with Dirk Mengel, the Responsible One for our visit. | |||
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Erwin did some dirt track racing on his GL; his sidecar course payed off (and prevented anyone from getting hurt). |
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The weather was nice. What do you do at such an occassion? You walk, you talk, you look, you drink. No more, no less. |
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Germans always have a so called 'Brennplatte', a safe cage to smoke up tyres. Not easy with a bicycle. | |||
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With a bike the sound and smell is spectacular ... |
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... and yet a bit disrespectful. | |||
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I rest my case. |
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Solid ingredients: a camp fire ... | |||
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... a party tent ... |
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... and fire works. | |||
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Trip 4, Sunday July 15, 170 km. The sound of music, laughter and revving bikes lasted until six in the morning. I'm glad I'm a good sleeper. Still someone said to me, as I came out of my tent: "Du siehst aus wie 'ne Toilettenfliege!" ("You look like a toilet fly!"). Not a compliment. But true. |
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Talking about Toilettenfliegen: I love photographing hang-over guys. The one on the left should have printed 'ran wild' on his sweater instead of 'running wild'. The guy on the right looks quite fit .... | |||
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Nope. | |||
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We packed and slid our way from the party area. |
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A nice tradition: MSC Vaale put a trailer along the road to goodbye the bikers. | |||
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I seem to have a difficult relation with Hamburg: two times I had heavy rains, this day it was the tunnel under the river Elbe. Riding through a tunnel is no fun on a bike anyway; getting caught in a traffic jam in a tunnel is a scary experience. Temperature over 40 degrees, the CBX overheating, inhaling unfiltered exhaust gasses and not being able to overtake cars because it's a one track road. No picture taken: just use your imagination. |
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But there was light at the end of the tunnel. Erwin and I caught up at a gas station – he was even more stuck in the traffic jam with his sidecar but luckily had none in the tunnel – and together rode to biker friendly camp site Sonnenberg in Müden/Örtze (D). We found this site on the internet: nice place but completely biker-free. We had no problem with that; especially not Erwin as he was quite tired because the party noise kept him awake all night. | |||
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Willi and his son Yarik showed up so we shared our sausages. 'Love is... sharing your sausages' ;) |
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In the evening the plans were made for the next day. Again we would split up: I would ride to biker camp site The Rose in Hoogstede (D), Erwin would ride home and visit the site in the afternoon, and so would Willi and Yarik. |
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Trip 5, Monday July 16, 290 km. We went to bed early and got up early. Again Garmin, map and TomTom were consulted. |
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Before we split up, we had a nice sunny breakfast in the village Müden. |
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For whatever reason this day my TomTom was completely confused: had I listened to its suggestions I'd have ended in Reykjavik. So I consulted my old fashion map, took my old fashion school pencil and wrote an old fashion route on an old fashion piece of paper. Fail-safe. | |||
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Well, 'fail-safe': rain and wind kinda shredded the route ... | |||
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... and parts of it ended on my visor. Still, I found my way. |
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Again no other bikes on the roads. Perhaps they are not welcome on the German roads? It's desturbing to see that the signs at the parking places deny the existance of bikes. Is it a conspiracy? |
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Because of the many many 'Baustellen' (roadworks) there were many traffic jams. A good thing to have two wheels so I could still continue my trip. | |||
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At Cloppenburg I left the bumpy German Autobahn and continued my trip over nice curvy fresh-bituminized roads. | |||
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At certain time I felt my rear brake wasn't responding as it should. I found out that a bolt had loosened. First aid kit for bikers: 1. Duct tape, 2. Tie-wraps, 3. WD40. This time number 2 did the job. | |||
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I had very little rain on my way to biker camp site The Rose. The moment I arrived there, about 15.00h, it started to rain so I waited until it stopped; it's no fun putting up your tent while it's raining. But it didn't stop for a second. Actually: it rained continuously until the next morning. | |||
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A few minutes after I arrived two sidecars came in. On board a man called Roger, a woman called Wilma and three Cocker Spaniels named Jan, Koos and Sjaak. From that moment on it I felt I was in a stand-up comedy show: relaxing, enjoying a beer and listen to a Rogers barrage of bike related anecdotes. Very entertaining. Erwin came, and Willi, his girlfriend Helga, their sons Jos and Yarik and even their dog Alaska: another big reunion. |
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At the end of the evening Willi and his family left. Erwin too, in the rain again. Unlike me he'd ridden in rainy circumstances all day. Very peculiar but funny somehow. | |||
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The Roger Show lasted until 01.30h. | |||
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Jan, Koos or Sjaak called it a day on my jacket. Camp site owner Gert offered me a shed to sleep in. | |||
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Trip 6, Tuesday July 17, 177 km. After a good breakfast (which was as good as the dinner the evening before) the rain stopped. I took the time to take a look at Rogers self built sidecar, based on a Alfa Romeo engine. I'm not a great sidecar fan but this sure is a nice one. The ride home was heavy clouded but dry again. In proper German one could ask the question: "Hat es sich gelohnt?" ("Was it worth while?"). No doubt: yes! |