29 replies to this topic

[Kaustic]

Hi

In the interest of keeping my inane rambling out of the way of the Carpe crew I'll limit my jottings to this topic.

I'm off in the morning despite all my procrastination. Spend yesterday and this morning trying to sort out a power socket so I can charge my Satnav and phone when I'm on the road. Had a bit of a problem and one nightmare when I thought I'd blown the whole system up. I really shouldn't have taken advice form one of the electrictions at work considering his nickname is 'Flash-Bang' All sort now though. Just got to get packed up

Rough plan is to spend a couple of days getting to Masserberg. After the rally I'll head East into the Czech then the Slovak republics. Quite fancy the sound of the High Tatras mountains. Then over into Poland. Before winding back North to the Baltic coast, and a meet up with my German housemate in Berlin who will be on a push bike holiday.

Watch this space for more (as soon as I find where I put my keys )


K

Edited by Kaustic, 19 June 2011 - 10:23 pm.

[dablik]

Sounds like fun Kaustic,, say hello to the in-laws when ya get to Slovakia and have a Slivovica or 3 for me,,,, lovely country m8,, ride safe and enjoy.

[TDMick]

Stay safe mate and take lots of Pictures!

[trevini]

Ride safe Chris - see you in Masserberg and don't forget your camera.

[muddy]

sounds good. Hope the weather's good for you. The Tatra mountains are beautiful, by the way. Are you camping?

[Studley Ramrod]

Weeehooo ! Have a great adventure Chris !

[dandywarhol]

If you've got time - have a read - done in true Dapleb rambling manner....................

http://www.carpe-tdm...mp;showentry=33

[Kaustic]

Well I made it to Masserberg, but not without incident

First night stop was in Namur

My advice :

No1. Avoid Belgium Beer.
No 2. Avoid second Belgium Beer.
No3. Do not leave keys in ignition all night long (see items 1 & 2),
No 4 (most importantly) , have roadside assistance (like what you get with a Carol Nash insurance)



Other than that the driving in Belgium is INTERESTING. Saw one car miss its juction of the moterway so just ploughed across the grass, and came across a car implanted in a shop window (might have been a ram raid !)

Been to see the Bridge at Remagen.

Heavy rain just after I arrived in Masserberg, but managed to get tent up afterwards for first night under canvus. I,m the only one camping so far.

Roads though the woods are excellant, ideal territory for Jolly.

K

[Studley Ramrod]

I reckon the comment in your first post musta been a premonition of sorts !


But, glad ya made it to Masserberg and good to hear yer enjoying the roads

[muddy]

Also, don't leave anything on yer bike overnight in Poland cos it won't be there in the morning. & I hope you've got a good lock. Lovely people the Poles, but there's a lot of tea leaves there as well. You'd be minus one bike now if you left yer keys in the ignition in Polska.

When I lived in Holland my Saturday treat was a nice big Belgium beer or ten. I stopped there last year & the smell of the beer & also Dutch tobacco was very alluring, but I made out without a lapse in my resolve.

[dapleb]

Funny that as every country told us how the next one along the line was gonna rob us and frowned at us when we told them which one we had just come from. Never had any trouble anywhere at all including Poland. Maybe we just got lucky.....and didn't leave the keys in the ignition (3), though (1,2,4) sounds to me like bad advice for the adventurous type.

[muddy]

Funny that as every country told us how the next one along the line was gonna rob us and frowned at us when we told them which one we had just come from. Never had any trouble anywhere at all including Poland. Maybe we just got lucky.....and didn't leave the keys in the ignition (3), though (1,2,4) sounds to me like bad advice for the adventurous type.

maybe things have changed now there's a bit more money floating around in Poland, I don't know. But I got my information from my relatives who live there and witnessing a guy get his leather pannier bags nicked while I was camping in Krakow.

Theiving is a funny thing though when you're travelling. For instance I spent a lot of time in Greece and you could leave your stuff anywhere (and I did, often) and still find it untouched days later. When anything did get stolen, you could almost lay money on the fact that a foreigner nicked it. When I did get my back pack stolen I found out through a bizarre set of circumastance that a German girl (junkie) nicked it.

[whichwaywasit]

maybe things have changed now there's a bit more money floating around in Poland, I don't know. But I got my information from my relatives who live there and witnessing a guy get his leather pannier bags nicked while I was camping in Krakow.

Theiving is a funny thing though when you're travelling. For instance I spent a lot of time in Greece and you could leave your stuff anywhere (and I did, often) and still find it untouched days later. When anything did get stolen, you could almost lay money on the fact that a foreigner nicked it. When I did get my back pack stolen I found out through a bizarre set of circumastance that a German girl (junkie) nicked it.

Yep, thats what I'd have told my missus as well

[muddy]

Yep, thats what I'd have told my missus as well

[Kaustic]

Latest update

After leaving Masserberg I took the senic route to the Czech border.

Stopped for sightseeing in Loket, then contiued to Terezin for my first camp

Road are variable, some true excellent , but the soft sticky patching on frost cracks is terrifying. Feeling your front wheel skip an inch to the side is not that pleasent. Too many patches to avoid them all and this went on for a couple of miles.

Terezin is an old Napolenic style fort with a town inside. Used as a concentration camp during the war and afterwards for the deportation of the Sudaten germans afterwards. Weird atmostphere

Then it was upto to Teplice rock formatiuons for a bit of a hike.

Skipped acroos the border into Poland to take an interesting rioad along the border before crossing pack into Czech for ride to Olomouc.

Today I will cross into Slovakia for a couple of days

K

[ChrisG]

My advice :
No1. Avoid Belgium Beer.
No 2. Avoid second Belgium Beer.

After the state of you the other morning you maybe need to add "Avoid German beer" to that list too

I hope you're taking lots of photos. Are the roads lined with prostitues as the Germans claimed?

[Kaustic]

Made it to Krakow after a fairly unpleasant ride though heavy rain for four hours. Boots leak badly, but new gloves are good.
Polish driving conditionts are not ideal, saw two car crashes on the way. Slowed me down a bit (if thats possible) I've got to say.


No prossies at the borders I'm sorry to say Chris, took a back road (no pun indented) across the border.


Been experimenting with this beer thing and Belgium ones still give the worst hangovers.

Looks as if its going to start raining again soon - Oh joy. Only just managed to dry out.

[Lars]

Looks as if its going to start raining again soon - Oh joy. Only just managed to dry out.

I cross fingers for more dry roads on your ongoing trip.
If your return journey leads you through southern Germany, you are welcome to stop at my home!

[Studley Ramrod]

Ya need some Tesco's carrier bags K I reckon ya just missed seeing RSRocket as he's on his way to Croatia.

Thanks fer postin' up

[Matlock]

Been experimenting with this beer thing and Belgium ones still give the worst hangovers.

Difficult to imagine a worse hangover than the one you had on German beer . However results aren't conclusive yet, so keep experimenting.