The Wrong Way Round (Tarka and Peter`s French Ural Adventure)

[Tarka]

The Why........A French Ural/Dnepr rally.

The When.......Thursday May 13th 2010 until Sunday May16th 2010

The Where..... Luttenbach pres Munster (near to Colmar in the Alsace region of France)

The Who.....'Amicale de France Dniepr - Oural' (note their spelling of Dnepr and Ural) who had invited my friend Peter Barker,editor of the Cossack Owners Club newsletter,and me to their event.

I`d first met Peter a couple of years ago when I went on the Ural Pilgrimage to visit the Ural factory in the Siberian town of Irbit and to ride factory fresh Ural combos off road for six days.
Peter,his wife Cally and I got on well,and stayed in touch........recently meeting up at the Dragon Rally earlier this year (as described in my Ride Report also posted here)...he was the one 'abducted by aliens' on the Saturday evening and not seen until the Sunday morning.

Just as I`d had a hankering for a good while to take one of my Ural combos to Ireland,which I finally achieved a year or so ago (and again posted on here,see 'Emerald Isle by Ural'),I`d long wanted to take one to France and further afield.
This 'Amicale' rally provided the perfect opportunity to both take a Ural abroad and also to spend some time on holiday with Peter.
Peter owns a 750 Ural combo so to help with spares commonality and to even the travelling pace I left my beloved 650 'Skaya' at home and went on my posh 750 called 'Dee'.

The 650 is really happiest at 50-55mph whereas the 750 is totally happy at 55-60mph and tolerates 60-65mph if needed.....that 10mph or so makes a big difference to easing long distances.
Doesn`t sound much of a speed but you can usually do that for tankful after tankful,and actually achieve very respectable distances in an unstressed manner.

For once in my life,and as a refreshing change,Peter had done a lot of research and provided some travel plan suggestions with alternatives.
He`d also compared ferry times and prices,and again provided suggestions with alternatives.
What a difference that made to my previous years of doing it all myself only to find non-committal replies from any other people joining me,or even total indifference along the lines of 'I`ll just follow you'.
Saying that,I`m not much of one for riding in company anyway,but a couple of Urals together held great appeal and there was an air of fresh adventure.....almost like doing my first European trip all over again.

That first trip was in 1984 and I`ve since covered what seems like most of France,plus been to the Picos de Europa in Northern Spain three times and to the Stella Alpina in the Italian Alps four times,along with touring the Alpine region and a jolly into Germany for the Nurburgring.
European solo bike travel was almost getting humdrum routine for me,but this first and forthcoming Ural trip had me all a tingle with anticipation and excitement at the prospect of a journey into the unknown.

Much as I know and trust my Urals,would anything go wrong over a decently long trip?
Would I have all I needed to fix any problems?

Well,the sidecar boot was packed with full toolkit,spare driveshaft and UJ,spare drive coupler donut,engine and gear oil,bulb kit,footpump,scissor jack,towrope,spare inner tube,tape,tiewraps,nuts and bolts,etc etc.....so here`s hoping,heh heh.
That boot is marvellous...on top of all those spares I loaded a holdall full of camping cooking gear and bits and bobs,as well as all my maps and my extra waterproofs.

The Urals aren`t road burners...they have their own unhurried pace...how would they feel on those big and fast French Autoroutes?
How would the UK handed combo feel when riding on the 'wrong side of the road' ?
That last one spawned the Ride Report title....Every single French biker we encountered was agog at our left hand sidecars...our UK sided combos. They literally couldn`t get their heads around them,and every one of them asked how we managed with 'Le panier a gauche'. I`m not sure if they all realised that we drive on the left here or what,but it became a very amusing thing to watch the double takes and furrowed brows as they scrutinised our machines prior to much,much discussion...and much more mirth.


It turned out that Peter shared this feeling of fresh adventure which I was having,and it seems to be a Ural phenomenon....everything is different and somehow more fun and adventurous on them.

We agreed on me travelling to Peter and Cally`s house in Beverley on Monday 10th May where I`d stay that night.
Despite Beverley being only a nod and a wink away from the Hull ferry to Rotterdam,the ferry fare was almost double that of the Harwich to Hook of Holland crossing...so on Tuesday 11th we`d have a pleasant country lane bimble down to Harwich for the 11.30pm night sailing .
Sounds a bit mad,but when you`re looking at nearly £300 for a Hull return sailing, the £20 petrol to Harwich and a nice day`s ride made for a 'no brainer' decision.

So....Monday 10th May 2010.
Yet another great thing about Ural travel .....just lob your camping equipment in the sidecar if you`re alone (or on the massive rear rack if with a sidecar 'monkey'). No faffing about balancing the load and arsing about with bungees or luggage straps.

Chuck in a holdall with a week`s worth of clothing and wash kit,etc.

Pull the tonneau cover over it all and the combo looks none the worse for being all loaded up,and everything is out of sight and out of the weather.

Now then....we`re going to France,remember.

The home of chic.

Of Haute Couture.

Good job I bought a new crash helmet at the Stafford Show.


A chap needs to look his best.....ahem

Quick....make a note of the odometer reading to record the adventure day by day.

Wirral to Beverley doesn`t really end up with anything other than the horrible M62 so there`s nowt to say about the ride over to Peter`s house.
The directions were to head for the east side of the Minster then a few smaller roads....and the Minster made quite an impressive sight,suddenly appearing from behind some buildings and trees.

Dee and I arrived at 'Barker Towers' in good form after a fuss free ride...the day was dry and bright but a tad cool.
Cally went straight into coffee making mode while Peter lost no time in jumping aboard Dee to see how a clean Ural felt like.

Not the most massive mileage (well,'kilometerage') but that was it for Monday.

Peter is an excellent cook,and he was soon putting his skills to the test in the kitchen....

.... While Cally once again went about addressing the more pressing needs.

Following a most delicious meal we had a giggle taking some not very convincing photos of 'Worldly wise travellers deciding their route'.

Much in the 'Boys Own Adventure' or old workshop manual stylee......
It made us all laugh anyway.

But this was what it was all about...........
Tomorrow and the trip ahead.

What awaited us ??????????


(To be continued soon)

 

[David Nimrod]

I'm hooked already... this is gonna be good

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

I like this

Looks like a real adventure, I can feel the anticipation

Looking forward to the rest

 

[brassmonkey001]

Keep 'em coming.

 

[Ash]

i have only read the -
The Why.......
The When.......
The Where.....
The Who.....
And i know this is going to be cracking read
now where was i

 

[Tarka]

Tuesday 11th May 2010

The day dawned bright and dry...perfick!

I brewed myself a coffee and sat gazing at the maps and listening to the birdsong outside while Cally and Peter slumbered.
I was wide awake and packed ready to roll well before the prearranged wake up call....thanks to me being a shift worker for over a quarter of a century nothing after 5am is 'early' for me.

Not that there was any rush.....our sailing time of 11.30pm meant that even on our Urals the 220 miles to Harwich should be more than easily achieved.
Ironically though,when you have more than time enough to get somewhere you can easily end up dawdling and making too many stops then finishing up in a blind mad panic to get there.
However,we`d agreed on setting off at 10.30 - 11am and there really was plenty of time to enjoy the day ahead.
So when Peter and Cally surfaced we enjoyed a leisurely brekky and a good gab before kitting up ready for the off.

Peter wheeled his Ural out into the morning sunshine.
His is a very rare 'Blurple' colored one.
This is an odd colour which is neither blue nor purple...hence the name.
It is rumoured to have originated following a Vodka fuelled session in the Irbit paintshop and I`ll not argue against this......apart from one other Ural I`ve never seen any other vehicle or object in this colour!
I kind of like it and it certainly grows on you.

Route was agreed.
Urals were packed and loaded.
Coffee levels were topped up and pre ride loo visits were made.

Just time for an obligatory photo then...........

We agreed in the finest tradition of Urallists and riders of other low powered non speed biased machines (my Enfield springs to mind here.....) that we would actively avoid motorways and major trunk roads wherever possible and practical to do so.

Apologies now to foreign readers who may not own a UK Road Atlas,but for those who do so and are interested in seeing our route to Harwich,here it is.

Once over the hugely impressive Humber Bridge with its awesome views (sadly not safe/legal/advisable to stop for photos) we took the B1207 becoming the B1398 to Lincoln.
Then the B1188 to Metheringham and the B1189 to North Kyme.
From here the B1395 to East Hecklington and the A17 to Long Sutton.
After that the A1101 right down to Bury St.Edmunds.
The aforementioned numbers cannot convey the scenic spledour and riding enjoyment of thse Fenland roads....arrow straights....right angle bends..blind crests...beautiful little villages.
From Bury St.Edmunds it was a bit of A134 then A1141 to Hadleigh becoming B1070 to Manningtree.
Finally the most wonderfully scenic coastal road along the banks of the River Stour along the B1350 through Mistley,Bradfield and Ramsey until a very short couple of miles of A120 into Harwich.

The odd bits of 'big roads' were a bit of a culture shock....why was everyone in such a mad rush????
Likewise while on our lovely minor roads we could occasionally see these roads in the distance or even parallel to us with the mad traffic nose to tail.
I couldn`t for the life of me understand why anyone would choose those crazy conveyor belts of traffic when you could enjoy the sights and smells of travelling the small back roads.
Why endure the misery and madness and risk life and limb to maybe save an hour or so in a day`s travelling?

Paradox time regarding my comments about speed.......we`d also agreed to take turns leading....changing over after each fuel stop.
I happily chugged through Beverley behind Peter and followed him across the Humber Bridge (where he kindly paid for both of us to save me goofing about for toll money as well as him doing so).
It made sense me following to begin with as Peter was very familiar with the small lanes and junctions en route to Lincoln.

However....a snag soon developed.
As I said earlier,the 750 Ural is wonderfully happy at 55-60mph.
But for some strange reason I found myself behind Peter at 45-50mph.
This meant that I (and my Ural) wasn`t travelling at a natural and relaxed speed.
It also meant that whenever Peter slowed in bends where I would most likely have shut off in the approach then accelerated round (especially on left handers),I was in fact bearing down from an unrelaxed low speed to an even less relaxed and (to me) dangerously slow 35-40mph.
I found myself feeling a bit stressed and uncomfortable instead of relaxed and smooth...and had to ask if we could maybe do 50-55mph instead of 45-50mph.
Peter seemed a bit taken aback at this and it was an awkward moment.
I wasn`t comfortable or happy at his speed and yet I was afraid of him feeling under pressure to ride outside his 'comfort zone'.
Another reason for me preferring to ride alone,maybe,but in all honesty I didn`t feel that anything should be slowing a Ural from its leisurely gait.

I took the lead from this point and most of the time Peter was a fair bit behind me .... I wondered if the holiday spirit or our friendship may suffer because of this.

[ NOTE- I haven`t posted this to slag off Peter. There was in fact a rather surprising and interesting reason for this speed difference...allied to Peter`s regular misgivings about the Ural engine 'over revving' ....but you`ll have to read to the end to find out. Also, it led to something happening in our first hour on Dutch tarmac which you`ll soon get to read about. ]

Anyway...we`d discussed having a lunch stop at any likely looking cafe and as if by magic a sight straight from the 1950`s confronted us at the next roundabout.
If ever a cafe screamed 'Perfect Stop For Travelling Urallists' this was it!!

A delicious 'All Day Breakfast' was consumed.....just in time,actually, as 'All Day' was in fact 'Until About 2.30pm' and heralded by slamming a big wooden beam across the door and doing a mop and bucket Grand Prix around the tables.
Nice and tasty anyway.........worth another visit.....if only I could find it again......somewhere near Sleaford on the A153 if you fancy it.

The day...and the route..passed totally pleasurably apart from a bit of a hiccup due to the scourge of British roads....the poorly signed detours around sudden roadworks.
That,and Peter occasionally appearing to lose all power and slow down...then get going again.

We arrived at the absolute final roundabout before the Ferry Terminal at Harwich with two or three hours to spare.
But why was Peter sat motionless at a green traffic light???
Several lorry drivers appeared less than patient or compassionate but they soon departed in a flurry of hissing compressed air and diesel soot.

Peter shouted that he`d lost all power....engine quit...and no neutral or charge lamp showing.
That looked like being a bad connection or total circuit loss...so we pushed his bike onto the pedestrian centre of the roundabout.

Tarka knows his priorities...so I got my camera out to record the incident!

I`d be failing in my civic duties if I hadn`t photographed Peter`s plight!

Anyway,the fault was simply a corroded fuse...the standard Ural fuses are those horrible pointy ended plastic bodies with a fusible link and endcaps fitted to original VW Beetles.
We changed the fuse and all was well.

Off into Harwich town centre for fish and chips at a nice little 'sunken park'.
That`ll save a King`s Ransom compared to prices on the ferry.

The camera`s got a timer....so I gotta use it.

Right then...it`s getting dark and there`s an hour or so to go.
Let`s head back to the ferry and check in. (Sorry about the dodgy pic).

Check in.....chat to a bunch of crazy English gents and ladies travelling to Germany in open cockpit original Morgan three wheelers (we had more luggage space on our Urals!)....and finally get aboard.

Don`t forget to check that odometer!

After a lot of confusion and 'You Are Here' chart consultation we finally find our individual cabins....Hey,not bad at all.

Get a thoroughly well earned and needed shower,then meet up on Deck Seven for something even more desperately needed.

7am tomorrow will see us riding in Holland !!!

(To be continued soon)

 

[Fanum]

Ahem

Git..

Well if i look out of the window next to where I'm sitting right now, I can see it

Carry on.....looking good so far, you mullet headed anti-social bugger you!

(By the way...that 'nice little sunken park' is part of the remains of the massive moundworks that surrounded and cut off Harwich port from the rest of Essex....behind it buy a little way is the place where the original Mayflower was built..it may have set off from Plymouth, but they didn't build it! ..there is also a rather nice old horse driven/hamster wheel type crane, built out of wood, which if you had bothered letting me know you were going to be close to, I'd have been very glad to beat your scouse head against )

 

[gas boy]

Loving this so far mate

 

[Dusan]

Excellent

Top posting again Tarka, can see why you didn't get back to me, ya's having far to much fun, keep em' coming, I am determined to get a extra wheel, for some 'slow fun' b lucky, hey what's with the Bald'hecan? I have the same cut, but in a follicular challenged completely opposite way! Looking forward to the next instalment of Tarks Travels, kindest regards Dus

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

This is the exact thing, that this site is about

 

[MattW]

Great report so far
Looking forward to the rest!

 

[Robbo1200ADV]

A Proper Trip on a proper bike I love those Rusky bikes having had a Voskhod a Jupiter and a planeta when I was a boy Bring it on!!

 

[bubbles]

Top post , enjoying this keep it coming .

 

[Ogmios]

cool - been looking forward to this.
More!

 

[Thunder]

Comfie chair located, coffee made, joining the hoards ready for the next instalment.

 

[Zoomboxer]

Bugger - will have to read this all over again when I get home. Pics do not show up on work PC.

Anyway it's totally worth reading again and again

 

[Tarka]

Firstly,thanks for all the interest and compliments guys.
The first two instalments took me over four hours to do,so it`s great to feel appreciated.
Secondly,sorry about the delay in continuing the report....I do occasionally have some work to do,you know!

Right,where were we?

Ah yes....aboard the ferry,having one of these.

It was good to know that things were still okay between Peter and me after the morning`s speed discussion and the change from alternating leaders at each petrol stop or rest stop (although Peter had lead for a couple of short stints).
Saying that,he did make a comment about me 'riding like a man possessed' on some of the more open sections of roads.
I was simply getting past those infuriating 40mph dawdlers that are increasingly clagging up our 60mph limits and preventing even a leisurely 50-55mph cruising speed,never mind any attempt to travel at the speed limit.

I really cannot comprehend why so many modern UK drivers just stay at 40mph or not very much beyond it when they are in 60mph limits and also why they appear totally incapable of overtaking anything that they encounter travelling slowly....thus creating the 'daisy chains' of painfully and stupidly slow vehicles in open limits.
As I said earlier,I`m not a speed merchant....I`m content to bop along on the Ural at 50-55mph and the 750 is very content in a 'sweet spot' at just under 60mph all day.........but I feel there really is no valid excuse or reason for any non malfunctioning modern car to be slowing a Ural down!
We discussed this over a couple more beers,in a very laid back and civilised manner,even where Peter defended the rights of people to travel at 40mph if they so wished.....I could recognise and respect his point of view but still felt that there was a serious lack in driver abilities and awareness allied to a potential driving test fail for 'failing to make due progress' if travelling so slowly with nothing hindering you otherwise.

Anyway....it could have been discussed and debated for the whole week,so we left that 'hot potato' and got onto Ural final drive gearing,as Peter still seemed bothered by a feeling of 'over revving' his Ural.
Working on the basis that we were both on effectively the same bike,and me certainly not over revving Dee or 'thrashing' her,I wondered if Peter was more used to his big Guzzi roadbike than his Ural combo....or that he rode his Ural solo more than the combo.
The Ural solo has a different,taller final drive and several combo owners have fitted this....to some worthwhile change,but one major snag is the gearbox driven speedo then under reading by quite a bit.
I suggested Peter was in the ideal situation of being able to modify and try out his combo on solo gearing free of charge by temporarily swapping the parts from his solo (it`s about an hour to do it all).
This seemed like a post holiday plan,and he sounded enthused by the idea.

[Like I hinted at in an earlier posting....this is mentioned for a couple of good reasons,to be revealed].

We put the mental and verbal spanners and socket sets away for the night,and reappraised the map again.....this time it was a map of Europe,yay!

One thing we totally agreed on was to resort to using Motorways to get away from the Hook of Holland and to get us on the proper course.
Again this next bit will be more meaningful if you have a Road Atlas showing Holland,Belgium and Northern France.
Looking at the map we could see that the traffic was likely to be mad busy heading towards Rotterdam...especially as we were disembarking from the ferry about 7am,just in time for early 'rush hour'.
Fortunately we spotted a Motorway tunnel enabling us to bypass Rotterdam.

So tomorrow`s plan would be leave the port and join the A20 towards Rotterdam but then veer South on the A4 and through the tunnel.
Then we`d join the A15 heading East towards Arhhem/Nijmegen until we met the A2 which runs down to S-Hertogen-Bosch and Eindhoven then further towards Weert.
In that last section there were several Motorway services so we could have a leg stretch/coffee/loo stop and decide on the definate evening destination........but I had suggested Bouillon in the Belgian Ardennes as a possibility after visiting it last year and only stopping long enough for a mug of delicious Belgian hot chocolate.

Bouillon is a delightful town set low in a valley with a river meandering through it and many attractive buildings,plus several hotels and eateries.
I'd wanted to stay there at the time of my visit but it wasn`t opportune,so it would make for a great Wednesday night stopover.

That agreed as a basic outline,I loaded the route into my GPS.
GPS??
Yeah right.......as if.
This is all I use and it`s got me successfully everywhere I`ve ever wanted and needed to go.....

We altered our clocks and watches to European time (one hour ahead) and headed off to our cabins.
I had cause to thank my years of shiftwork again,as following the clock change we were going to get about four hours sleep!

BING BONG,BLAH BLAH BLAH went the cabin mounted tannoy...one minute after my alarm clock had roused me.
There was time for a nice wake-up shower,then I kitted up and went to meet Peter at the agreed rendzvous for a light snacky breakfast and a coffee.
I waited but saw no sign of him ...and the lure of a full on buffet cooked breakfast was too much,so off I scampered to feed my face.
Talking of 'too much' it cost TWELVE EUROS...so I made the absolute most of the 'Eat All You Like' nature of the buffet!

I met up with Peter afterwards and we had a chat about the day ahead.
We were both excited at the thought of the new experience of Uralling in Europe and were grinning like Cheshire Cats.
We were both happy with the route and rough plan,so then we fought our way down the narrow and steep steps onto our vehicle deck....'our' deck because the ferry is so large there are several vehicle decks.
The mad Morganers were loading up and getting ready too....they have so little space that some of those with two people in had motorbike throwover saddlebags on the rear body!
The big J.A.P. vee twin engines at the front of some of them needed hand cranking,and it was fascinating to view these machines of a bygone age from the saddles of our modern bikes......well,they are both 21st century models!!

I gave Dee her daily pre-ride checkover,including checking and topping her engine oil as she usually (and did) need a top up.....oil was about midway between low and high.
With everything checked and locked and loaded,I turned to chat with Peter and reeled back in pain.
To my horror I felt like the back of my retinas had been seared.
MY EYES!!!!!!!!
Would I ever regain my vision???

Sadly,in a way,I did regain my vision.....only to be confronted with this....

Sorry if you were genuinely shocked and worried about my eyes.....but you wouldn`t have been as shocked as I was.
Those who know me will know my...erm,ever so slightly strong feelings about the voluntary wearing of HiViz,ahem.
Ah well,I bit my lip and remembered last night`s comment about people`s perceived right to travel at a third below the speed limit if they so wished.
Maybe I`m getting tolerant in my old age but much as it was my choice and right not to wear the stuff,it was Peter`s choice to wear it.


A guy in a full BMW suit and dayglo helmet with twinkling Bluetooth attachments aboard a full box-set and everythingelse equipped 1200GSA who worked in Holland kindly offered to take our photo before we set off.
It`s a bit blurry...like my last one... but here it is (must have been because of the Dayglo overload on the poor SD card in the camera! ).

I got aboard Dee and 'settled myself for the ride ahead.
Thumb up from Peter....both Ural engines started.
I could only tell my engine was running by the very slight vibration from Dee and by looking at my tacho because behind us was a symphony of snarling open pipes and popping and crackling from all the Morgans.
How exciting this all was!

The last few minutes on any ferry always have me tingling with anticipation.

A different country lies waiting on the other side of the door.
Foreign languages.
Foreign money.
Foreign food.
What`s the weather like?
What will the traffic be like?

We`ll see in the next part.....coming soon!

 

[Ash]

" To my horror I felt like the back of my retinas had been seared.
MY EYES!!!!!!!!
Would I ever regain my vision???

Sadly,in a way,I did regain my vision.....only to be confronted with this....
Sorry if you were genuinely shocked and worried about my eyes.....but you wouldn`t have been as shocked as I was.
Those who know me will know my...erm,ever so slightly strong feelings about the voluntary wearing of HiViz,ahem.
Ah well,I bit my lip and remembered last night`s comment about people`s perceived right to travel at a third below the speed limit if they so wished.
Maybe I`m getting tolerant in my old age but much as it was my choice and right not to wear the stuff,it was Peter`s choice to wear it. " quote



made i larf

 

[Ian Lynch]

Thanks for taking the time and effort to share your travels with us.

Ian

 

[AndyT]

Nice report so far...... I'm desperate to get to the end as I want to know the reason behind the "comfy speed" difference of both bikes. I went to GOTC on my Ural at the weekend a round trip of approx 330 miles nothing compared to you but I would say my outfit is more comfy at 45mph (especially going into left handed bends


Keep it coming

AndyT


PS. I had the same issue with the fuses and bought some spares off Fleabay