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Travel StoriesBogger's Et Al's Polish Adventure
A Long Ride Homewards
Ride Date - Mid July 2024
By Bogger
Day 8
We’re up at a reasonably early hour and managed to pack away before the heat of the day kicked in. Yesterday myself and Pete had decided to have breakfast in the campsite restaurant. It had been both enjoyable and inexpensive so it didn’t take much persuasion to do the same today. Pete quite rightly pointed out that if we have a good breakfast it would set us up for the day. How very true old chap! I concur!
We’d packed everything away and rode up to the restaurant ready for the off. The Welsh contingent wanted to hit the road and start mile munching ASAP. Myself and Pete just wanted to munch. We agreed to either catch up on the way or see them in Wetzlar. As it turned out it was the latter. The breakfast was as good and plentiful as the day before.
Myself and Pete wave goodbye to Na Spici campsite at 9.15 am, and set off along the country lane towards Karlovy Vary. We take a left to link up with the E48 heading West. 45 miles later we are over the border into Germany. We stop at 62 miles just to stretch our legs for literally five minutes. We’ve found that as general rule a five minute stop is as good as a half hour stop. If you stop for half an hour, your arse still hurts as much as after a five minute break.
We’re still on the E48 heading towards Bamburg. It was very hot, which in my book is a good thing.
At midday we’re at Bamburg and pull off to refuel. So far this morning we’ve covered 118 miles. I brim the tank again and at 4.56 ltr per gallon I seem to be averaging 115MPG. Not too shabby?
We filter onto the E7, but pull off a further 60 miles down the road into a lovely wooded rest area. Our arses are hurting and our legs are getting stiff. The trip is beginning to take its toll. Frequentish stops are needed, but we’re hard (stupid) so lets carry on.
Deep breath, lets go. We realise that today is a long hard day and there’s nothing for it but to get the hammer down. We’re flying down the Autobahn on a wide open throttle constantly hitting the rev limiters. When I say flying, I mean as fast as the scooters will go. This is between 60-70mph. We’re chasing the trucks up and down the hills with a daft grin on our faces.
We’ve been flat out for ages and my fuel light has been on for twenty miles. Pete is leading and I’m trying to catch him. The Autobahn is busy and with the volume of traffic I can’t catch him up. He’s only fifty meters ahead then 150 mtrs then back down to 30mtrs. But I still can’t manage to overtake. My fuel situation is now desperate. It’s been flashing for 38 miles. It’s just got to run out soon.
Finally I manage to pull alongside and point desperately at my fuel tank. He nods in recognition and seven miles later we pull in to refuel. TFFT! As an aside the SH125I tank holds over a litre more fuel than the Mode. Thankfully it was now only 35miles to Wetzlar. It was still red hot.
We ride into Wetzlar and stop to have a quick natter. What’s the name of the campsite Pete? Waaar I don’t know! FFS. I thought that you were chatting to Nige about it this morning? Apparently not! We rode into the centre of Wetzlar and stopped again. We rang Nige. No answer. I got my phone out and Googled Wetzlar campsites. Only one came up, I rang, bingo! It was just one mile down the road. Result.
We arrived at 5.00pm. Surprisingly we were the first ones there. We’d booked in and started to set up as the Welsh boys arrived. The campsite is more or less slap bang in the centre of Wetzlar. When I was booking in the chap in reception nervously asked if the bikes we were on were loud. Nah mate, just girl's scooters. He was somewhat relieved and had a bit of a smirk on his chops. Rude.
After setting up I wandered up to the onsite restaurant. I was knackered and didn’t fancy cooking that night. Neither did Pete. I poked my head inside the very large deserted dining room. Hmm this looks nice. I checked the prices. Not too bad. Not East European type prices but ok. Right Pete, we’re eating out tonight. Oh goody.
We turned up half an hour later to find the restaurant absolutely heaving. Rammed. I asked the concierge if there was enough space for two people? Nein!. Oh B******ks.
We really enjoyed our Sainsburys beef curry and rice. FFS.
Total miles for the day 282 miles in 30 degree heat.
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Let The Chaos Commence
After the where's and why's it's time for a long ride from The Midlands to Belgium. It doesn't all go according to plan but relative to this lot's usual mayhem - it's a good start.
Not Too Much Chaos
It's all going far too well - I mean losing half your crew is an everyday occurrence ain't it? Well it is for this lot. There's little mention of beer.
Old Men Crossing Rivers
I'm getting rather concerned for Bogger. Not much beer, early to bed, no-one lost, and no mechanical tomfoolery. There's a catch, surely there's a catch
Chaos Towards Colditz
More mayhem from a bunch of blokes old enough to know better. Brits used to try and get out of Colditz, these lads are struggling to get in. Fear not - there is beer.
Escape From Colditz To Poland
The lads take a brief look around Colditz before making a dash for Poland. There's a handful of shenanigans and guess what - beer.
Poland To Czech With Nitwits
After a night in Poland the British Buffoons head into The Czech Republic. They're tired and reading between the lines getting a little grumpy, but there's booze and food so they'll be fine.
Making A Simple Day Out Complicated
There's only a short ride into town today for the lads, nice and easy. Even so Bogger manages to get himself stranded through sheer stupidity. At least the food and beer is cheap.
A Long Ride Homewards
After another big breakfast there's a long ride ahead for Bogger and pals as they get their teeth into the journey home. Of course there's a disaster, admittedly it's only a minor inconvenience.
An Even Longer Ride Homewards
There's more big miles today, and not to anyone's surprise - more chaos. Traffic jams and sheer foolishness means some folks are having a REALLY bad day.
Reader's Comments
nab301 said :-
It's great on a group road trip where you can travel at your own pace and agree just to meet up at the next destination .
Nigel
03/09/2025 15:01:56 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I totally agree nab301. In an ideal world each member of a group ride should have sat-nav - and a list of "next stops". If the group can stick together - great. If the group gets chopped up with traffic lights and junctions then just use your sat-nav to take you to the next stop where everyone can regroup.
If anyone wants to head off at hyperspeed - off you pop! Want to dawdle and stop to take piccies? Crack on we'll see you in a bit. I'm sure there's still gonna be contention though - those at hyperspeed have to wait for the dawdlers at the next stop and the dawdlers don't get to chill at the next stop for as long. You can't please everyone.
As such nothing is perfect. But it's better than the "Keystone Cops" antics I've endured on some group rides. Stopping in dangerous situations to wait for stragglers, nipping through red lights to keep up, dangerously popping junctions to keep up, and all kinds of random maneuverers to get past/around cars and trucks.
As you know I still do a LOT of group riding, particularly with Sharon. We have some pretty strict rules and for the most part they work. The main thing is to keep safe, everything else is a minor frustration that can be sorted out safely with a phone call at some point.
03/09/2025 15:30:50 UTC
Bogger said :-
Ren, shhhhh, you mentioned SatNav. That's the next installment.
Bogger
04/09/2025 19:20:03 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Yeah Bogger I've spilt the beans innit. And, prey tell, how did that pan out for your friends? Well everyone else will have to wait for the next grippingly tense exciting instalment!
Now... according to my spell checker instalment only has one "l". I thought it had 2 as you typed Bogger. Let me go check.
05/09/2025 07:54:51 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
According to Grammarist double l is American spelling, one l for the rest of us. I still thought it was two but that'll be the interweb.
https://grammarist.com/spelling/installment-instalment/...
05/09/2025 07:57:04 UTC
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