- Joined
- Oct 2, 2007
- Messages
- 1,650
- Reaction score
- 478
- Bike
- Triumph 800 XC
This ride report was posted on ADVrider but I don't spend much time there any more.
Reposted here for both your and my own enjoyment.
Here goes...
The Isle of Man TT..
Something I had been reading and dreaming about since I was a 16-year old Kid in South Africa who got his first Bike, a Honda MT-50, and got badly bitten by the biking bug. Naturally at the time, being so far away, I never imagined I'd actually GO there.. It may as well have been the Isle of MOON TT.. Little did I know...
Zoom Forward to January 2008. Me and my mate Phil were in Cairo together, talking bikes and watching a lovely lady gyrating on stage when we happened on the Idea of going to the IOM by bike.. after a few beers we had a plan... we would do this !! Never underestimate the powers of persuasion locked up in a beer !!!!
Our proposed route was me riding from Sinsheim to Ramstein, where I'd meet Phil, then continue via Belgium to France, to take the tunnel at Calais. Once in the UK we'd ride to his place near Portsmouth to stay a night before riding up via Winchester, Bath, Stonehenge and a few other towns to Liverpool to take the ferry to IOM in the wee hours of the following morning...
About 1500+ Kilometres one way...
On 28th May I hopped onto my GS and headed for Ramstein, where we planned to Rendez-Vous at the Burger King. I arrived 10 minutes behind schedule..
Phil was ready and waiting, Sparsely kitted up compared to the load my GS was carrying.. How the hell is he going to live on so little ??
I was a lot more loaded up,, and that includes my body weight.. ugh,, have to do something about that...
Following a mostly uneventful route on the Autobahns of Germany and then freeways of Belgium and France we finally made it to Calais and the tunnel. It was only a short wait until boarding time... (More about the MOSTLY later..)
In line to pay my tunnel ticket:-
Get a look at the exhaust on my bike.. while riding behind a truck a big chunk of polystyrene wrapped in black plastic came off the truck. I dodged the styrene successfully, but the black plastic stuck to my exhaust and cylinders,, what a stink, and what a mess.. I still have some residue on the exhaust that just won't go away..
The train is enormous!!! It looks like something out of a Mad Max movie, Futuristic and primitive at the same time.... Cool!!
Naturally we were not the only bikers on the way to the TT.... Everyone was abuzz with excitement.
There were also other, less friendly, French bikers on the "Chunnel", but we never engaged with them.. We were in a good mood that didn't need spoiling.
After getting to the UK we avoided motorways from Gatwick and took a ride down some country lanes. Typical English summer rain prevented me from busting my camera out as much as I'd have liked. This pic was taken after we had stopped for a pee behind a hedge...
..and a fuel/coffee stop.
When we got to Phil's cottage we had a mishap,, Phil's side stand sank into the gravel and his bike went over.. This would not be the first time phil's bike decided to lay down.. I got my camera out tin time to snap Phil tossing his helmet down in Disgust... :lol8:
We were pretty tired at the end of the first day and our butts were really sore.. We went out to an Indian restaurant that night and had a great meal, followed by a good sleep.
Day 2 coming up!!
Reposted here for both your and my own enjoyment.
Here goes...
The Isle of Man TT..
Something I had been reading and dreaming about since I was a 16-year old Kid in South Africa who got his first Bike, a Honda MT-50, and got badly bitten by the biking bug. Naturally at the time, being so far away, I never imagined I'd actually GO there.. It may as well have been the Isle of MOON TT.. Little did I know...
Zoom Forward to January 2008. Me and my mate Phil were in Cairo together, talking bikes and watching a lovely lady gyrating on stage when we happened on the Idea of going to the IOM by bike.. after a few beers we had a plan... we would do this !! Never underestimate the powers of persuasion locked up in a beer !!!!
Our proposed route was me riding from Sinsheim to Ramstein, where I'd meet Phil, then continue via Belgium to France, to take the tunnel at Calais. Once in the UK we'd ride to his place near Portsmouth to stay a night before riding up via Winchester, Bath, Stonehenge and a few other towns to Liverpool to take the ferry to IOM in the wee hours of the following morning...
About 1500+ Kilometres one way...
On 28th May I hopped onto my GS and headed for Ramstein, where we planned to Rendez-Vous at the Burger King. I arrived 10 minutes behind schedule..
Phil was ready and waiting, Sparsely kitted up compared to the load my GS was carrying.. How the hell is he going to live on so little ??
I was a lot more loaded up,, and that includes my body weight.. ugh,, have to do something about that...
Following a mostly uneventful route on the Autobahns of Germany and then freeways of Belgium and France we finally made it to Calais and the tunnel. It was only a short wait until boarding time... (More about the MOSTLY later..)
In line to pay my tunnel ticket:-
Get a look at the exhaust on my bike.. while riding behind a truck a big chunk of polystyrene wrapped in black plastic came off the truck. I dodged the styrene successfully, but the black plastic stuck to my exhaust and cylinders,, what a stink, and what a mess.. I still have some residue on the exhaust that just won't go away..
The train is enormous!!! It looks like something out of a Mad Max movie, Futuristic and primitive at the same time.... Cool!!
Naturally we were not the only bikers on the way to the TT.... Everyone was abuzz with excitement.
There were also other, less friendly, French bikers on the "Chunnel", but we never engaged with them.. We were in a good mood that didn't need spoiling.
After getting to the UK we avoided motorways from Gatwick and took a ride down some country lanes. Typical English summer rain prevented me from busting my camera out as much as I'd have liked. This pic was taken after we had stopped for a pee behind a hedge...
..and a fuel/coffee stop.
When we got to Phil's cottage we had a mishap,, Phil's side stand sank into the gravel and his bike went over.. This would not be the first time phil's bike decided to lay down.. I got my camera out tin time to snap Phil tossing his helmet down in Disgust... :lol8:
We were pretty tired at the end of the first day and our butts were really sore.. We went out to an Indian restaurant that night and had a great meal, followed by a good sleep.
Day 2 coming up!!
