Home
Travel StoriesBogger's Et Al's Polish Adventure
Old Men Crossing Rivers
Ride Date - Mid July 2024
By Bogger
Day 3
I’m awake at early again, it’s 5.30am. The weather is still good and even though it’s early it’s not too cold. I make a brew and wait for the pastry wagon to turn up at 7.30am. I amble up and get a couple of pain au chocolate for myself and some bread for the ducks and geese.
It’s a lovely morning and we pack away nattering about the day ahead. We’re on our way just gone nine and again we are following the Moselle towards Boppard some thirty five miles away.
First port of call though is a fuel stop. I fill the Mode up with the cheapo E10 whilst Pete on the SH125 fills up with full fat 102 octane fuel. To be honest this was the first time I’d ever seen 102 octane! I know why Pete's put the very expensive fuel in. He’s disappointed with the performance of the SH125.
Before the trip I was a bit worried that the Mode might struggle against the SH, in terms of performance. I really needn’t have worried. The top speeds were the same, acceleration was the same, however the uphill performance of the Mode was significantly better. I just sailed past him normally laughing my head off. He was not impressed. Hence, the expensive fuel. The performance advantage although there, didn’t make any difference in real world riding
and making progress. I just enjoyed p****g him off on the hills.
Today was not a big long ride, just one hundred and fifty miles. All the bikes were running well and nothing had dropped off or fallen to bits, yet.
We’re riding along in wine country and all the hills are covered in vineyards for miles on end. On the way to Boppard we’ve crossed the Moselle a couple of times and the sat-nav has led us a bit of a dance. Eventually we finally end up in Boppard and have to cross the Moselle for the final time. We hop on the ferry, 4euros, and within five minutes we
disembark onto the far bank.
Nige is leading, as he normally does. I’ve no idea where we are, other than heading further East into Germany. The weather is still good, the bikes are running great, we’re on an adventure and we’re all happy. As happy as six grumpy old blokes can be anyway.
The next port of call for a stop is Runkel. Runkel is an old Medieval village situated on the river Lahn. It’s one of those villages where the old castle is set high up dominating the surrounding landscape. After two full circuits of Runkel we find a nice parking spot by the river, under the watchful eye of the imposing castle. There are a few local bikers out and we have a natter with a couple of them whilst scoffing an ice cream.
All too soon it’s time to set off again. We head out on the A49 towards Wetzlar . Most of the road signs are for the city of Fulda. Tonight's camping spot is twelve miles before Fulda at a place called Hosenfeld. On route there were a couple of detours due to road works, which the sat-nav did not like one bit. In fact the sat-navs played up all the trip.
At this stage can we talk about the Elephant in the room? That Elephant, being the Germans people. Now this is only my take on it, but. Hmm how can I phrase this? I’ll be nice. From personal experience on this trip I would say that fifty percent of the German people who I met were fine. The other fifty percent seemed to have an edge to them or even be
downright rude and obnoxious. Maybe I bring out the worst in people. Yes it must be me.
The further East we travelled the attitude seemed much better/nicer. This is not a complaint, just an observation.
Some eighty miles after departing Runkel we are stopped outside, what we think, is the entrance to the campsite. I’m left to book in whilst the others either go for fuel or food. I follow the signs and end up at an outdoor swimming pool cum outdoor leisure complex. Hmm I can’t see any tents or caravans. I wander into reception and in my finest German
(English) state that we have a reservation for tonight. After a bit of confusion, I ascertain I’m at the wrong place.
Then a nice chap, one of the fifty percenters puts me right and ushers me through a very small gate. On the other side of said gate and hedge was the campsite. Excellent, I’ll find the reception and book us in.
Reception is closed and looks like it’s not been open for more than 12 months. Here we go! After much searching I find a mobile telephone number and give it a ring. No answer. Seven attempts later I give up. The campsite is more like one of those residential type sites, but with no one around. All I can hear is the noise from the adjacent swimming pool.
After an age Ash and High Tech Pete turn up. They had also been up to the swimming pool but eventually found the proper entrance to the campsite over half a mile from where the sign was on the main road. Pete manages to find a note on the reception cabin outside wall with Nige's name on it and the camping pitch location. By the time the others turn up we’ve managed to actually find the pitch and set the tents up. We get a meal on the go and have a drink and at 8.20pm the heavens open and it’s gone cold.
We’re all in bed by 10.00pm.
Miles for the day, just over 160mls.
Share your tale - click here.
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
Reader's Comments
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Gotta love a R90S.
In my experience Germans can be abrupt and very much to the point. It's no secret that the average German doesn't like the average Englishman. Don't mention the ...
What Sat Nav were you having issues with? We need to know.
Upt.
And the reason the day went OK.....you had breakfast! Told ya so.
04/04/2025 12:05:50 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
Never got on with BMs myself as the cylinders always seem to be in the same place as my toes. Not made for size 12s obviously.
I like the ferry. Last year we were staying downstream of Rouen in an area called the Boucles de la Seine, a tidal stretch of meanders leading to the sea. There are little ferries called bacs along the river which date back to before the impressive bridges were built. Being France, these bacs are still in operation and what's more are free. We spent a happy day being ferried back and forth, stopping off for the odd coffee and snack. It lifted an otherwise disappointing hioliday.
04/04/2025 12:17:39 UTC
Bogger said :-
The sat navs were Tom Tom riders. Most days they got us lost or heading in the wrong direction.
We found Google Maps to be much better, but none of us had mounts for them. Doh.
Bogger
04/04/2025 17:55:36 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
I've got no experience of Tom Tom's, the Garmin XT on The B seems pretty good but there were a couple of moments on the last tour where on one occasion it lengthened the day by taking a daft route to the overnight and on another it was intent on taking us into Palermo even though we wanted to go in the opposite direction.
On reflection I am a convert to Sat Nav, which I never thought I'd say; yes they have their limitations but on the whole it has made touring easier for us.
Things like take me to the nearest fuel can be very useful.
Upt.
04/04/2025 23:04:27 UTC
Name
Comment
Add a RELEVANT link (not required)
Upload an image (not required) -
Uploading...
Home
Travel StoriesBogger's Et Al's Polish Adventure