Day 1 - Rolbik - Mikołajki

Friday 07/08/2020
------------------------------

So, amazingly, a small number of us actually made it to the start-line and headed-off through a cloud of dust and sand. I am starting to really regret my choice of motorcycle..... why did I not buy another adventure bike?

The squad is made-up of me, my brother-in-laws Tomaszek and Mateusz with a couple of new guys Grzegorz and Mariusz. So we have a Z1000SX, a Transalp, an old Africa Twin, an MT09 and the Starship Enerprise BMW RT1150. We left about 08:30 this morning - all to plan. It was really hot from the start, but bearable on all the dark forest roads.

We stopped for fuel pretty quickly as the MT-09 has a tiny fuel tank and is thirsty but we pushed-on and hit Malbork. Amazing castle. We stopped opposite it for a coffee and a rest. Very slow progress, but the temperature rose to 30C so it was hard going.

Hit some decent roads and made-up some ground before hitting really bumpy crappy roads (but with nice scenery). Eventually stopped for more fuel and lunch in a nice restaurant. It was boiling! Rode-on along tiny roads where we came up against a load of construction. We got a green light and were confronted by a road roller.... He wanted us to turn around, but it was impossible so we made him drive off the edge of the road, nearly toppling his vehicle over.

The roads really improved as we got near to Mrągowo - great lake and forest views. As we pulled into town Mateusz said that something is leaking on his foot. We stopped and found loads of oil pouring-out all over the road. After much investigation, we found a missing inspection bolt and all the oil was coming from there. Obviously a poor recent service..... Luckily Tomek  found the missing item in the engine bash-plate, so we re-fitted it, checked the oil and all is well (we think). 

To minimise risks, we decided not to go on to Mikołajki (which would be packed-out) and we stayed here instead in a nice rural campsite not far from the beach but with a nice bomfire area.

So far so good.

Mileage: 1211
Country count: 6 (GB, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland)
Beers: 15 + 1 big whisky

Fines: 0
Bribes: 0
Ass pain: 4/10
Mechanical issues: 1 (Oil leak)
Accidents: 0
Wetness: 0/10
Coldness: 0/10

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day +2 - Hannover (D) to Swindon (UK)

Image
Monday 17/08/2020 ------------------------------ After a bumb-numbing final push, I made it back to the UK in good time. If I hadn't camped and my ass could take the pain, I would have ridden door to door in 18hrs. It was a very warm night and I struggled to get to sleep initially. Woke-up to heavy thunder, but thankfully no rain. Didn't rush as I had plenty of time to get to the channel tunnel for my crossing.... I took some scenic roads toward the motorway which was nice but the clouds ahead looked ominous so I put-on my waterproofs and packed all the water sensitive stuff away. Rode straight into a massive storm - couldn't see a lot so had to pull-over for a bit. After a few miles the sun was out again so when I tanked-up, I removed the waterproofs. About 50km down the road an even more menacing cloud loomed and by the time I hit Holland, the wind and rain really picked-up. I stopped under a motorway bridge to put my waterproofs back on, but the location flooded within a...
Read more

Day 6 - Solina - Kazimierz Dolny

Image
Wednesday 12/08/2020 --------------------------------------- After another day / evening spent in the wonderful Bieszczady mountains, it was with great regret that we had to leave and start heading back Northwards. Really - this is where we should have rushed too 10 years ago. Unfortunately it has become over-developed now and far too busy. A nice cabin - day rides out and some mountain walking would be a nice alternative journey..... but not this time. We left the Bieszczady toward Sandomierz and hit some of the best roads and views of the trip. We didn't bother going to Sandomierz despite it beiing a great city but it was a real pleasure and a fun ride all the way until Kazimierz Dolny. On the way we rode through the biggest orchard region I have ever seen. Apples, pears, cherrys...
Read more

Day -1 - Swindon (GB) to Magdeburg / Barleber See (D)

Image
Saturday 01/08/2020 ----------------------------------- After weeks of 'planning' the inevitable last minute rush of packing and re-packing and faffing with luggage happened as always. I have a ridiculously big new horse-shoe bag which looks silly, but was still too small to take all of my camping crap... so I had to attach yet another dry-bag to the silly big horse-shoe bag. Additionally, I have noticed that my petrol tank overflow pipe is blocked / kinked so any excess rain / petrol is unable to escape from the tank. It was too late to fix it. All previously untested which is not ideal just before setting-off on a 3500 mile journey...  I was busy on Friday night, but managed to get a few hours of sleep in before reluctantly getting-up at 3.30am for an appointment with the Channel Tunnel. When you're planning a 700 mile day, you've got to get up early! That said, chunnel was busy and there were delays. Not great when you have to hang around in the sun with all your bik...
Read more