DavidJames
Registered user
Having just come back from my first ever trip abroad on my bike I thought I would share my experiences with you. Although I rode bikes when I was younger, I only passed my test around 18 months ago so my first long trip abroad was a big deal for me, especially as it was mostly solo. The opportunity came via an invitation from a German friend of mine that visits the Harz mountains every year with his friends during their public holiday weekend in early May. I made my final decision to go 1 week before the off as I had a few work things to sort before leaving - then the organisation/panic started. Using this place my source of information I went about collecting the essentials and checking insurance, breakdown cover etc etc. As the trip was only 4 days I decided I would travel as light as possible and use my large tail pack and a tank bag rather than panniers. My trial packing session was fine and everything fitted perfectly, however I did have some concerns about security of the tail pack if I wanted to leave the bike alone for any period. I resolved this by buying a product from Pacsafe which is designed for securing ruck sacks, and is basically a wire mesh which can be locked to a stationary object (or a bike in my case). I also took another smaller bag inside my tank bag so that I could take valuables with me when I was away from the bike for shorter periods, paying for fuel for example (this will be mentioned again!!!!!!). I made sure I had a few basic tools and also took the precaution of getting a spare fuel controller, as although my bike is still under warranty I figured it would be quicker to replace it myself, rather than wait for recovery should the worst happen.
Heiner and his friends would be travelling from Berlin on Friday after work and expected to get to the accomodation around 9 or 10pm. This meant that my journey there could be a fairly relaxed ride, or, I could take a diversion and also get a ride through the Mosel valley on the way there. I decided to leave early and take the diversion. I took a 7:30am train and made great progress through France and into Belgium, stopping at 11:30am for fuel and a quick rest just after Brussels. After filling the bike to the brim and paying for the fuel and a snack (with all my valuables with me - not the bike) I pushed the bike over to a parking spot for a 5 minute rest and my snack. I placed my valuables back in the tank bag as I was right next to the bike - no one would steal them whilst I was this close...............right? - WRONG!!! When I turned to put the wrapper from my snack in the bin, the passenger of the car parked next to the bike reached out and took my wallet. I did not notice the car leaving in a hurry and only noticed the wallet was gone a few minutes later when I thought about buying some water.
Instant panic set in and I started calling my bank and credit card suppliers to get them blocked. They had taken 300 Euros and around 20 pounds as well as my cards and photo driving license, I was actually quite lucky that they did not take my phone, camera, passport and documents. My initial thought was that I would be able to make it back to my mum's home in Kent on the fuel I had just bought, and that was the end of my weekend.
After some calming down and some calls to my wife and my friend Heiner, it was clear that if I could get to Harz he could give me more money and it would be ok - the problem was that I thought I would need at least 1 more tank of fuel to get there if I took it easy and no way to pay for it. I had plenty of time to consider the options as the Belgium police took 2.5 hours to come and take the report
We figured out 2 options:
1: Barclays told us that if I could get to a bank with my passport they could authorise money from my account to be given to me.
2: Western Union instant money transfer.
Whilst I was waiting for the police to come before I could go off to find a bank etc. a group of British bikers pulled in and very kindly all chipped in to give me 40 Euros and refused to give me their address so i could send a refund.
- This gave me my 3rd option, don't waste time with the banks etc and try to get there on 40 euros. As the whole episode had already cost me around 3 hours I did not feel much like taking it easy and conserving fuel for the rest of the ride to Harz so I deicde to try and get more cash from the bank. The Insurance office were quite confused when I went in and asked for some money (they were owned by a bank and therefore had a similar name to a high street bank 
) but sent me up the road to a real bank. I explained the situation to the bank teller....
..........computer says 'no'. 
I spot another bank a few doors up the road and try them, they are muuch more helpful and agree that if my bank can send some money they will open an account for me and I can take the money today - Barclays on the other had are complete b@stards!!!!! After sitting on hold for around 30 minutes in total, being cut if twice and speaking to several retards from all over the world they told me the cut off time for money transfer was at 2pm................20 minutes ago
. The bank manager was invetigating Western Union in the background and had called 2 local Post Offices to check they offered the service and what time they would close that afternoon. After thanking him for all of his efforts I rode up the steet to the post office to try my luck.
Western union is a simple principle - someone agrees to give someone else money from their credit/debit card and it can be handed out in cash anywhere in the world. There are obviously a few forms and hurdles you need to overcome (forms not writtend in English) but on the whole it went fairly smoothly and I was 400 euros better off by 5pm.
So now the scenic route was not an option and some serious 'progress' needed to be made..............5pm on a Friday evening at the beginning of a Bank Holiday weekend..........bugger!!! I hit several traffice jams getting to the motorway and then more on various sections in Germany, wherever I could I would filter and give it some beans (got flashed twice in Germany, but I think they only take a picture from the front
). I eventually left the Autobahn and headed into the Harz mountains with the Zumo telling me there was still an hour to go, it was 11pm. Suddenly there were no street lights and I was very aware fo the crap headlight on the GS, even on main beam. My first taste of the roads I would be riding for the next 2 days were scary, but also very promising 
Lots of sweeping curves with a hairpins and a fantastic smooth road surface. They seemed to be fairly well marked out, even with my shitty headlight i could read the road quite well and maintained some good speeds. I eventually got the turn off for the place we were staying which was a gravel track about a mile long - again fairly exciting at night 
The guys heard me coming down the track and came to greet me, it was such a relief to finally get there. I am sure you can guess the next few hours 
My bike ready for the crossing:
Heiner and his friends would be travelling from Berlin on Friday after work and expected to get to the accomodation around 9 or 10pm. This meant that my journey there could be a fairly relaxed ride, or, I could take a diversion and also get a ride through the Mosel valley on the way there. I decided to leave early and take the diversion. I took a 7:30am train and made great progress through France and into Belgium, stopping at 11:30am for fuel and a quick rest just after Brussels. After filling the bike to the brim and paying for the fuel and a snack (with all my valuables with me - not the bike) I pushed the bike over to a parking spot for a 5 minute rest and my snack. I placed my valuables back in the tank bag as I was right next to the bike - no one would steal them whilst I was this close...............right? - WRONG!!! When I turned to put the wrapper from my snack in the bin, the passenger of the car parked next to the bike reached out and took my wallet. I did not notice the car leaving in a hurry and only noticed the wallet was gone a few minutes later when I thought about buying some water.
Instant panic set in and I started calling my bank and credit card suppliers to get them blocked. They had taken 300 Euros and around 20 pounds as well as my cards and photo driving license, I was actually quite lucky that they did not take my phone, camera, passport and documents. My initial thought was that I would be able to make it back to my mum's home in Kent on the fuel I had just bought, and that was the end of my weekend.
After some calming down and some calls to my wife and my friend Heiner, it was clear that if I could get to Harz he could give me more money and it would be ok - the problem was that I thought I would need at least 1 more tank of fuel to get there if I took it easy and no way to pay for it. I had plenty of time to consider the options as the Belgium police took 2.5 hours to come and take the report We figured out 2 options:1: Barclays told us that if I could get to a bank with my passport they could authorise money from my account to be given to me.
2: Western Union instant money transfer.
Whilst I was waiting for the police to come before I could go off to find a bank etc. a group of British bikers pulled in and very kindly all chipped in to give me 40 Euros and refused to give me their address so i could send a refund.
- This gave me my 3rd option, don't waste time with the banks etc and try to get there on 40 euros. As the whole episode had already cost me around 3 hours I did not feel much like taking it easy and conserving fuel for the rest of the ride to Harz so I deicde to try and get more cash from the bank. The Insurance office were quite confused when I went in and asked for some money (they were owned by a bank and therefore had a similar name to a high street bank ) but sent me up the road to a real bank. I explained the situation to the bank teller..............computer says 'no'. I spot another bank a few doors up the road and try them, they are muuch more helpful and agree that if my bank can send some money they will open an account for me and I can take the money today - Barclays on the other had are complete b@stards!!!!! After sitting on hold for around 30 minutes in total, being cut if twice and speaking to several retards from all over the world they told me the cut off time for money transfer was at 2pm................20 minutes ago. The bank manager was invetigating Western Union in the background and had called 2 local Post Offices to check they offered the service and what time they would close that afternoon. After thanking him for all of his efforts I rode up the steet to the post office to try my luck.Western union is a simple principle - someone agrees to give someone else money from their credit/debit card and it can be handed out in cash anywhere in the world. There are obviously a few forms and hurdles you need to overcome (forms not writtend in English) but on the whole it went fairly smoothly and I was 400 euros better off by 5pm.
So now the scenic route was not an option and some serious 'progress' needed to be made..............5pm on a Friday evening at the beginning of a Bank Holiday weekend..........bugger!!! I hit several traffice jams getting to the motorway and then more on various sections in Germany, wherever I could I would filter and give it some beans (got flashed twice in Germany, but I think they only take a picture from the front
). I eventually left the Autobahn and headed into the Harz mountains with the Zumo telling me there was still an hour to go, it was 11pm. Suddenly there were no street lights and I was very aware fo the crap headlight on the GS, even on main beam. My first taste of the roads I would be riding for the next 2 days were scary, but also very promising Lots of sweeping curves with a hairpins and a fantastic smooth road surface. They seemed to be fairly well marked out, even with my shitty headlight i could read the road quite well and maintained some good speeds. I eventually got the turn off for the place we were staying which was a gravel track about a mile long - again fairly exciting at night The guys heard me coming down the track and came to greet me, it was such a relief to finally get there. I am sure you can guess the next few hours My bike ready for the crossing:
We live and learn!!
I was worried that the traffice might build during the day as the locals returned from their holidays weekend, but I think I was lucky. I made great progress on the autobahn, at times I was quite easiliy cruising at 110mph, but I could see this having a serious effect on my tank range so decided to ease up a bit. The autobahns in Germany were very good, there was plenty of scenery to keep the boredem at bay and other drivers were very alert of my presence so I felt pretty safe. The short section through The Netherlands was easy enough, but Belgium was a different matter................the motorway was empty, flat, straight and the most boring part of the journey by far. I did not want to tempt fate and stop in Belgium, so aside from a small cock up on the Antwerp ring road, I got out of there ASAP. The final stretch through France was easy and felt good as I saw signs for Calais and the Tunnel, I did have a little scare when the fuel went onto reserve and my Zumo took me to 3 closed petrol stations before finding one open 
I got to the Tunnel check-in almost exactly 2 hours before my booked crossing and was offered the next train
