Looking back, it’s quite amazing how quickly a week and 2,500+ miles pass. Here are a few of the details.
The trip started at 10.00hrs from Dover Dock on Saturday 1 May. Of the 14 down to travel, one was stranded (no names to protect the innocent until proved guilty) on the side of the M20 with a failed bike and missed the main tour altogether. I suspect that there is a good story in that, but I’ll let others narrate that in due course.
For most, the ferry crossing to Calais was a meet and greet session. Aside from me, there was Steve Burbidge, Lee Burrow, Mark Dilloway, Paul Grove, Jim McSharry, Bill Oates, Lucy Rea, Matt and Sharron Rockall, Bryn Sabin, Gary Simon and Martyn Williams all of who were R11xxGS mounted; Matt and Sharron being 2-up on an Adventure.
After a shambolic fuel stop on a Belgium motorway – just one checkout operating when I found myself 28th in line to pay!! – we headed out across country towards Germany. With many riders having had a long day, an early stop was made in Motel Moers, just 4 miles short of the Rhein. Unfortunately, a missed turn saw three riders heading deeper into Germany. A deft exchange of waypoint data via text message soon found the absentees in the correct hotel bar.
Next morning saw us on the short 90 mile run to the Mohne Dam. This dam on the Rhur (along with the Eder and Sorpe Dams) was the target of 617 Squadron (The Dambusters) during the night of 16/17 May 1943. After spending some time inspecting the dam, the riders headed for Berlin.
For many, this was a first visit to Berlin and expectations of ‘Cabaret’ images of the city were unfulfilled. However, Monday’s visit to and tour of the BMW motorcycle plant in the Spandau area of the city captured everyone’s interest.
From Spandau and a quick stop at a local dealer for purchase of new screens and helmets, we rode into the city to see the Siegessäule (Victory Column), the Sowjetisches Ehrenmal (a memorial and cemetery in the Tiergarten for 2,000 Red Army soldiers, complete with a pair of T-34 tanks), The Brandenburg Gate, past the Holocaust Memorial site in former ‘No Man’s Land’ between East and West Berlin, the site of Hitler’s Bunker (now a car park) and Checkpoint Charlie.
With his first Hogroast of the season looming, Bakerman left the trip at this point and headed home. The rest of us were once again into the saddle and heading towards the Polish border. A small hotel in the town of Zary beckoned and, having discovered that beer was just 80p for half a litre and vodka not much more, an evening of fun, frolic and imbibing followed (thanks, Matt!).
Tuesday’s 08.30 hrs scheduled departure was missed whilst at least one member of the tourparty made a careful inspection of the bathroom porcelain.
Just 10 miles away in Zagan is the site of Stalag Luft III, the scene of The Great Escape in which 67 PoWs escaped on 24/25 March 1944 through the 336’ long Harry tunnel. Our inspection of the site saw that, although much overgrown with new forest, the site of Hut 104 (and other huts) from which the prisoners escaped still remains. The line of the tunnel has been marked out and a memorial is placed at the exit end. A separate memorial to the 50 escapees who were subsequently executed was also visited.
Back on the bikes, we discovered that the standard of Polish main roads leaves much to be desired, so we took a cross country route towards Krakow where we were fortunate to find a decent hotel with secure parking in the heart of the city.
For the majority, if not all, our visit to Auschwitz and nearby Birkenau Nazi death camps will be a memory never forgotten. It is estimated that around 1½ million Jews, gypsies, intellectuals, subversives and criminals met their deaths here. The scale is hard to contemplate. When the Russians liberated the camp, they found 7 tonnes of human hair waiting to be processed into fabric, rope etc. Nearly 2 tonnes of this hair is at Auschwitz for visitors to see along with mountains of shoes, spectacles, suitcases and many other personal artifacts. Those not consigned to a ‘shower’ on arrival were put to work building nearby factories etc. Prisoners were kept in line by the fierce regime of ‘Kapos’, German criminal prisoners who collaborated with their Nazi masters. Prisoners ate a thin soup normally made from rotting vegetables and were given small quantities of bread. With that hard regime, survival was measured in months for men and weeks for women. The punishments that were meted for minor ‘crimes’ beggared belief.
Paul Grove, Bill Oates and Lucy Rea left the main group at Birkenau for an extended tour of southern Europe leaving the main party to start the long journey home.
In order to find some more interesting roads, we headed for the hills and mountains of Moravskoslezsky in the Czech Republic and planned to cross the Poland/Czech border at Wiechowice. Perfectly navigated to the crossing point, we passed the open checkpoint on the Polish side (both countries no being in Europe, free movement across borders is now the norm) and crossed the No Man’s Land to the unattended Czech control point where we stopped for Jim McSharry to snap a couple of piccies. Within moments, a Polish soldier was steaming down the road we had just ridden along in his ‘issue’ Polski-Fiat 126. He was somewhat agitated that we had passed his control point and explained by use of handsignals and the ‘piece’ on his belt that we couldn’t cross at that point. As we were exchanging gestures, the sound of a Police Car siren on the Czech side was getting louder and louder! When the Skoda equipped Czech police arrive, they also explained (by hand signals) that whilst we could walk across this border, or cycle or moped across, we couldn’t take our big motorbikes across. We had to turn around and cross by an ‘open’ border crossing. If we did that, we’d be free to ride our bikes around the block and return to the very point that we were standing at. Crazy or what?
Fifty miles on some of the best biking roads known to man, found us in Bruntál where we spent a night in the worst hotel with the worst food that it’s been my displeasure to suffer for a long time! Still, the back road to Prague made up for all that.
Having skirted past Prague, it started raining as we headed to the magnificent Motorradmuseum at the equally impressive Schloss Augustusburg before heading on to Colditz where we holed up for the night in a very tolerant hotel as we deposited gallons of water in their reception area,
The tour of Colditz Castle showed what determined lot Prisoners of War could be – with several tunnels through pretty solid rock still being available for inspection.
With Martyn having opted out of the Castle tour to strike out for home, the remaining bikers donned full wet-weather gear and hit the highway. Despite a dryish start, we rode about 250 miles in the worst and most persistent rain imaginable. With not a single rider’s kit being effective against the deluge, we called it a day at about 4pm and found a good hotel for the night.
Saturday turned out cold but reasonably dry as we struck out for Calais where we arrived in the early afternoon – about 3 minutes after Martyn!
For most riders, the trip has been around 2,500 miles. Some great sights, some good and not-so-good roads, but, most of all, some great camaraderie!
Greg
