I hit 60 mph, not fast you may think, but I was flying down a rocky track on the edge of the Tunisian Sahara. I hit a deep patch of sand, the bike swerved left then right all I could do was pin the throttle wide open and hope for the best. I knew Shad was right behind me. I got through the sand, stopped and looked behind me just in time to see Shad and his BMW hit the deep stuff. He had no chance and flew over the handlebars, the bike hitting him in the back before coming to a rest on its side, Sand flew everywhere, he did not move....
Little bit of back ground info first, nothing to long or tedious.
I became aware of UKGSER last year when searching for information on Morocco. I came across Riz Savauge (Si) putting something together in open invite trips. A few emails later and it was agreed that if I got back from working offshore in time I would join the group and travel to Morocco. I got my self a bike. Evil bay came up trumps and I became the proud owner of a Yamaha XTZ 660. As with most things I do, I left everything until the last minute or later.
Once I landed from work in Nigeria I collected the bike, went through the mountain of really useful items that I had bought off the Internet in preparation for the trip and before I knew it, it was time to leave.
You can read Si’s full report here
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=244253
After having a great trip over to Morocco I ended up staying in touch With 2 of the group, Si and Shadwell (Shads). Over a few breakfasts and ride outs 2011's trip was settled on. Tunisia was about to be conquered. A few days to get there, a couple of weeks in the desert then a blast back.
April 2011
Knowing the problems I had with the XTZ on last years trip, I took the bike back to the company who did the Dyno Jetting asking them to fix the mess they had caused, which they duly did. When I picked up the bike it was running sweet as. Next was to sort out the suspension lights and some extra fuel tanks. This is where some very big thank you has to go out. First to,
Riz (www.thechopfactory.com) for sorting out the fuel pump/electrics, lights and making the WP KTM forks fit my XTZ.
Chris (www.silverbackmanufacturing.com) who took time out from building a bike for Ride magazine and did a great job fabricating and mounting 2 fuel tanks, rear toolbox as well as numerous jobs that we decided should be put in the bracket “can you just”. He also worked with me until 11pm of the night before I left. Top bloke.
Me collecting the bike from Chris 01.09.2011
Danny (www.motorcycle-mot-norwich.co.uk) for fitting me in and helping the bike pass its MOT. Yet again a couple more hours work the day I should have been on the road.
A little bit of a write up and pictures can be found here
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2813971#post2813971
Work has been keeping me to busy, add into that travelling between Norwich and the girlfriends in Manchester and the desire I have to travel and you could say something had to give. So single I am. Because of the hectic schedule I was keeping I never did any planning for the trip, hopefully leaving the technical stuff to Si and Shad. My plan backfired, unfortunately Si had to drop out in August and Shad hates planning anything more than what's happening when we get up in the morning. Shad did have to make a stop off in Switzerland so had worked out a route there at least. Then it was just a short hop to Genova in Italy so nothing could go wrong... right? I bought a map of Tunisia, down loaded the top 10 things to do whilst in Tunisia, that was us then ready to go, apart from my bike.
Day 1 the prequel
I was meant to be meeting Shad at his place to have a kit check and practice run. Due to my impeccable timings I was still working on the bike at the MOT garage. After giving Shad the good news he thought it best to come over to mine and lend a hand, as it was by the time he arrived I only had my bags to pack then load the bike. We were 4 hours late for our departure but who cares, here we go.
Leaving my place in Norwich
We got to shads for the shake down and a couple of beers whilst booking the ferry crossing from Genova to Tunis. We did try to do the same with the Tunnel but the Internet decided to pack up so we decided to pay cash when we got there and lay back enjoyed the Belgian beer and looked forward to what the next 3 weeks would bring.
2nd of September Day 2.
Miles travelled 402
Running total, used oil 2L
We aimed for a 7am start. Now that I was with somebody who could tell the time everything ran rather smoothly. Alarm at 615, breakfast, bikes checked over, customary photo shoot and off down to Dover. We banked on a 3-hour ride. It was then back to me to make sure I got everything else right. HA. That NEVER happens when i am on a dead line!!!!!
Early morning gay pose before we left Shads
They say things happen in 3 well today I had 6. The first three I blame the fact I don’t do early starts.
1. Leaving Shads place I had left my rucksack open, He did not notice it until we were doing 80mph down the A14. Luckily my passport and documents managed to stay put.
2. All my electrical gadgets where in a water proof bag in my rucksack, some how a bottle of water I had bought managed to turn upside down and start to empty itself over all my important stuff. Great. Fortunately no damage.
3. I never turned the spot tracker on until an hour into the journey.
Apart from that the bike was running fine, I was even getting 80mph out of her, any more than that started a bit of a speed wobble. All the work I (sorry others) had done made for a comfortable ride, that and my new Klim jacket were bloody excellent.
We were going to get to the tunnel well with in our 3 hours. Shad had to stop off to do some last minuet birthday arrangements; so we took it upon ourselves to have a five-minute break. Arriving at the Tunnel going to the first kiosk we started to sort out the best ticket price, 50 quid!! the internet said 14 last night. At this point a second attendant came over advising everybody there was a 2 hour delay. If only we where 5 minutes earlier.
Whilst waiting the expected 2 hours I thought it best to check the bike over especially the oil as I knew I was using quite a lot in Morocco and it was the one thing I never got round to getting looked at before leaving on this trip. As long as I checked it every time we stopped for fuel no problems. 1 litre later the level was good. I put that down to travelling at 80pmh for 2.5 hours.
The tunnel crossing was as seamless as ever. Except both me and Shads thought that rather than don gloves and do up helmet the train we would do it after passport control, except there was none. The road just seemed to lead straight onto the motorway so 1 handed I managed to do up my helmet and put both gloves on, 2 minutes later Shads pulls over to do the same. The order of riding was Shads up front with the twat nav and me following. Today’s riding was going to be motorways just to cover a bit of ground especially after the 2-hour delay at the tunnel.
My next 3 boo boo’s
4. Running out of fuel yes that’s right, even though I had a total of 36 litresof fuel. 20l on the front 16l in the new tanks. I put this down to the speed we were travelling at and the fact I had not had time to do a test run on consumption so I ran out 10k short of the services. Shad came to the rescue and it would not be the last time either. He had been sensible and filled up his fuel bottle for the stove. That 1 litre got me the extra 10k.
5. Filling up 36 litres worth of fuel is bloody expensive, the pump was telling me €65. It wasn’t until I checked I had used 98 octane.
6. Whilst using the toll roads I paid for everything using my visa card no problems until the last toll. Ticket went in, card went in but no barrier lift. bugger; there was a queue of traffic building up behind me so I pulled forward for the car behind to pay, I would then nip through once the barrier lifted not worrying about any problems I left behind. Unfortunately the driver was not clever enough to understand my english shouts and gestures, so HER passenger had to get out by which point the guards came out. I couldn’t hear them as I had my headphones in with music blasting. A bit of shrugging I handed over both the ticket and my card, problem fixed I was merrily on my way.
Shad was doing a great job up front of navigating, enabling me to just follow. It was getting late in the day the weather was warm enough to leave us sweating even though we both opted for the body armour and jersey. We hit traffic diversions around a town called Saint Memmie which had shut down for weeks long farmers market. Hot and getting tired it was time to find a campsite in said town. Might as well have a look around while we were there.
Campsite found, tents pitched or tarp in Shad’s case, a quick walk into town to see what all the fuss is about. Farmers market it was, fancy a combine harvester or very large John Deere tractor then this is the place to come. At night they have a full on pop star stage with bands, side stalls fair ground rides and prefab restaurants with a varying menus. I was drawn to a particular log cabin that had a waitress with what could be described as having a perfectly shaped pair of charecters. No picture, that would just be wrong plus I dont like sharing. Shads French being the better (but not good) of the 2 of us it was left up to him to order a couple of steaks, chips. salad and beer. The steaks where perfectly cooked and they had to be for a bill of €50. Back at the campsite first day done, just time to update the diary then bed.
Day 3
Miles Travelled 350
Running total, oil used 2L
The morning was a little fresh so once we had packed all the gear up it was back to the KLIM jacket which was no problem as it really is a bit of kit that does what it was intended, comfortable and very wind proof. Today’s travels would be away from the motorway and onto the back roads, time for some peg scraping maybe not on the tk’s. It was about 30 mins after we set of that my bike started to play up again or should I say just as it did in Morocco, kangarooing and struggling to do much more than 60mph. Fortunately the roads were of such quality that I ignored the problem hoping that it would just go away. With the roads empty of traffic, long continuous corners and great scenery it wasn’t long before we needed fuel. We took the opportunity to do a bit of shopping for lunch and a late breakfast.
Strangely after filling up with fuel and a little oil the bike wanted to play nicely again. The rest of the morning was spent travelling these great roads with only the one surprise. Coming round a corner, there sunbathing in our path was a dog, a bit of weaving on our part as the dog was not going to move and we were on our way again. Lunch was taken on a bench outside a town hall.
It was after lunch things became ordinary, the roads straightened out, traffic built up which meant we just rode to cover ground. Our objective was Switzerland where Shad had arranged for us to stay at his mates place for a couple of days. The French/Swiss border appeared, so we took are chances and gunned it hoping we wouldn’t have to stop and complete complicated customs cards or apply for a visa. We made it, but only just, a man in cap waved at us as we crossed, so we waved back.
A few years back I did a solo trip to Italy. It was whilst travelling on the Eurotunnel back then that I spoke to a couple of other bikers who advised that Switzerland is country of fast long corners, they where right. So here is a bit of advice to pass on, Switzerland is a country of fast long corners. It wasn’t until we got to the north east side of lake Geneva that things really slowed down, major town’s and city’s, traffic everywhere but at least we had the lake to our right, it was tempting to stop of and find one of the many beaches for a bit of a dip. Things never really picked up from there as it was then into the valleys of the surrounding mountains with single carriageways, it did give us chance to be typical tourists, gawping at the spectacular views all around us. Being in valley’s also meant that it would almost be time for us to start snaking are way up the mountainside to Chris’s place in Nendaz. Looking up we could see the road we had to take unfortunately the higher we got the wetter it got so a bit of extra care was taken on the roads.
Shad never one to miss a photo opportunity
As we pulled up outside Chris’s bar the heavens opened up. Chris greeted us with a can of petrol, a 3ft log, split into 4 half way down and a spectacular fireball. This is the swiss way of outside heating. Huge flames for about 6 hours in total. plenty of warmth for everyone. With introductions over, Shads and myself got changed put all the bags in the log store, biking gear in the back of Chris’s car.
We couldn’t have timed our arrival any better as there was a bbq birthday part arranged for one of the local skiing instructor’s with all his Belgian mate’s being invited, some of whom also had great charedters. Needles to say things turned very drunken for them. The best game of the night being the ladies comparing strongest abs and who had the kinkiest knickers, the looser was the one who happened to not be wearing any. Awesome fun especially as 2 shared the prize that night. I was drinking larger tops; Shads gave me a funny look followed by your gay. I think he might have been more embarrassed with the bed wetting if I had stuck to man pints. The night ended about midnight when we got a lift back to Chris’s place.
Roads used.
Day 4
Waking up with a slight head but clean sheets, Shads could be thankful I saved him that embarrassment; I have long ago learnt to deal with it. The rest of the morning was spent helping Chris tidy up the bar, putting the furniture back In place. There was some steak and sausage left over from the bbq which went a long way to helping make us feel human again, that and the beautiful mountain air. It was today that I could appreciate our location. The bar is at the bottom of what would be the ski run in the winter. The mountain goes down to the valley floor then back up into another mountain range on the other side. A large full-length glass window in the bar frames all this. It is spectacular now let alone when everything is white. After hearing about how hard life is running a bar in the summer then working as a ski instructor in the winter I think I might just want to change jobs. The afternoon was all about relaxing as well as recuperating from the ever increasing hangover. We sat in front of the TV most of the day, watching family guy star wars trilogy. As a thank you for his hospitality we took Chris and his girlfriend out for a meal. It was no highbrow affair but the food could have come from a top restaurant, very well presented with a lovely bottle of wine that finished everything off. All that was left, was to brave the rain as it had not stopped since the day before, to get back to the car before making our way to Chris’s for the last time. Once back to the wooden house on the hill Shad braved a vodka where as I went for the tea option before falling into bed and setting the alarm for 7am. It was also going to be are last night of comfort, Camping from here on in and the trip begins for real.
Little bit of back ground info first, nothing to long or tedious.
I became aware of UKGSER last year when searching for information on Morocco. I came across Riz Savauge (Si) putting something together in open invite trips. A few emails later and it was agreed that if I got back from working offshore in time I would join the group and travel to Morocco. I got my self a bike. Evil bay came up trumps and I became the proud owner of a Yamaha XTZ 660. As with most things I do, I left everything until the last minute or later.
Once I landed from work in Nigeria I collected the bike, went through the mountain of really useful items that I had bought off the Internet in preparation for the trip and before I knew it, it was time to leave.
You can read Si’s full report here
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=244253
After having a great trip over to Morocco I ended up staying in touch With 2 of the group, Si and Shadwell (Shads). Over a few breakfasts and ride outs 2011's trip was settled on. Tunisia was about to be conquered. A few days to get there, a couple of weeks in the desert then a blast back.
April 2011
Knowing the problems I had with the XTZ on last years trip, I took the bike back to the company who did the Dyno Jetting asking them to fix the mess they had caused, which they duly did. When I picked up the bike it was running sweet as. Next was to sort out the suspension lights and some extra fuel tanks. This is where some very big thank you has to go out. First to,
Riz (www.thechopfactory.com) for sorting out the fuel pump/electrics, lights and making the WP KTM forks fit my XTZ.
Chris (www.silverbackmanufacturing.com) who took time out from building a bike for Ride magazine and did a great job fabricating and mounting 2 fuel tanks, rear toolbox as well as numerous jobs that we decided should be put in the bracket “can you just”. He also worked with me until 11pm of the night before I left. Top bloke.
Me collecting the bike from Chris 01.09.2011
Danny (www.motorcycle-mot-norwich.co.uk) for fitting me in and helping the bike pass its MOT. Yet again a couple more hours work the day I should have been on the road.
A little bit of a write up and pictures can be found here
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2813971#post2813971
Work has been keeping me to busy, add into that travelling between Norwich and the girlfriends in Manchester and the desire I have to travel and you could say something had to give. So single I am. Because of the hectic schedule I was keeping I never did any planning for the trip, hopefully leaving the technical stuff to Si and Shad. My plan backfired, unfortunately Si had to drop out in August and Shad hates planning anything more than what's happening when we get up in the morning. Shad did have to make a stop off in Switzerland so had worked out a route there at least. Then it was just a short hop to Genova in Italy so nothing could go wrong... right? I bought a map of Tunisia, down loaded the top 10 things to do whilst in Tunisia, that was us then ready to go, apart from my bike.
Day 1 the prequel
I was meant to be meeting Shad at his place to have a kit check and practice run. Due to my impeccable timings I was still working on the bike at the MOT garage. After giving Shad the good news he thought it best to come over to mine and lend a hand, as it was by the time he arrived I only had my bags to pack then load the bike. We were 4 hours late for our departure but who cares, here we go.
Leaving my place in Norwich
We got to shads for the shake down and a couple of beers whilst booking the ferry crossing from Genova to Tunis. We did try to do the same with the Tunnel but the Internet decided to pack up so we decided to pay cash when we got there and lay back enjoyed the Belgian beer and looked forward to what the next 3 weeks would bring.
2nd of September Day 2.
Miles travelled 402
Running total, used oil 2L
We aimed for a 7am start. Now that I was with somebody who could tell the time everything ran rather smoothly. Alarm at 615, breakfast, bikes checked over, customary photo shoot and off down to Dover. We banked on a 3-hour ride. It was then back to me to make sure I got everything else right. HA. That NEVER happens when i am on a dead line!!!!!
Early morning gay pose before we left Shads
They say things happen in 3 well today I had 6. The first three I blame the fact I don’t do early starts.
1. Leaving Shads place I had left my rucksack open, He did not notice it until we were doing 80mph down the A14. Luckily my passport and documents managed to stay put.
2. All my electrical gadgets where in a water proof bag in my rucksack, some how a bottle of water I had bought managed to turn upside down and start to empty itself over all my important stuff. Great. Fortunately no damage.
3. I never turned the spot tracker on until an hour into the journey.
Apart from that the bike was running fine, I was even getting 80mph out of her, any more than that started a bit of a speed wobble. All the work I (sorry others) had done made for a comfortable ride, that and my new Klim jacket were bloody excellent.
We were going to get to the tunnel well with in our 3 hours. Shad had to stop off to do some last minuet birthday arrangements; so we took it upon ourselves to have a five-minute break. Arriving at the Tunnel going to the first kiosk we started to sort out the best ticket price, 50 quid!! the internet said 14 last night. At this point a second attendant came over advising everybody there was a 2 hour delay. If only we where 5 minutes earlier.
Whilst waiting the expected 2 hours I thought it best to check the bike over especially the oil as I knew I was using quite a lot in Morocco and it was the one thing I never got round to getting looked at before leaving on this trip. As long as I checked it every time we stopped for fuel no problems. 1 litre later the level was good. I put that down to travelling at 80pmh for 2.5 hours.
The tunnel crossing was as seamless as ever. Except both me and Shads thought that rather than don gloves and do up helmet the train we would do it after passport control, except there was none. The road just seemed to lead straight onto the motorway so 1 handed I managed to do up my helmet and put both gloves on, 2 minutes later Shads pulls over to do the same. The order of riding was Shads up front with the twat nav and me following. Today’s riding was going to be motorways just to cover a bit of ground especially after the 2-hour delay at the tunnel.
My next 3 boo boo’s
4. Running out of fuel yes that’s right, even though I had a total of 36 litresof fuel. 20l on the front 16l in the new tanks. I put this down to the speed we were travelling at and the fact I had not had time to do a test run on consumption so I ran out 10k short of the services. Shad came to the rescue and it would not be the last time either. He had been sensible and filled up his fuel bottle for the stove. That 1 litre got me the extra 10k.
5. Filling up 36 litres worth of fuel is bloody expensive, the pump was telling me €65. It wasn’t until I checked I had used 98 octane.
6. Whilst using the toll roads I paid for everything using my visa card no problems until the last toll. Ticket went in, card went in but no barrier lift. bugger; there was a queue of traffic building up behind me so I pulled forward for the car behind to pay, I would then nip through once the barrier lifted not worrying about any problems I left behind. Unfortunately the driver was not clever enough to understand my english shouts and gestures, so HER passenger had to get out by which point the guards came out. I couldn’t hear them as I had my headphones in with music blasting. A bit of shrugging I handed over both the ticket and my card, problem fixed I was merrily on my way.
Shad was doing a great job up front of navigating, enabling me to just follow. It was getting late in the day the weather was warm enough to leave us sweating even though we both opted for the body armour and jersey. We hit traffic diversions around a town called Saint Memmie which had shut down for weeks long farmers market. Hot and getting tired it was time to find a campsite in said town. Might as well have a look around while we were there.
Campsite found, tents pitched or tarp in Shad’s case, a quick walk into town to see what all the fuss is about. Farmers market it was, fancy a combine harvester or very large John Deere tractor then this is the place to come. At night they have a full on pop star stage with bands, side stalls fair ground rides and prefab restaurants with a varying menus. I was drawn to a particular log cabin that had a waitress with what could be described as having a perfectly shaped pair of charecters. No picture, that would just be wrong plus I dont like sharing. Shads French being the better (but not good) of the 2 of us it was left up to him to order a couple of steaks, chips. salad and beer. The steaks where perfectly cooked and they had to be for a bill of €50. Back at the campsite first day done, just time to update the diary then bed.
Day 3
Miles Travelled 350
Running total, oil used 2L
The morning was a little fresh so once we had packed all the gear up it was back to the KLIM jacket which was no problem as it really is a bit of kit that does what it was intended, comfortable and very wind proof. Today’s travels would be away from the motorway and onto the back roads, time for some peg scraping maybe not on the tk’s. It was about 30 mins after we set of that my bike started to play up again or should I say just as it did in Morocco, kangarooing and struggling to do much more than 60mph. Fortunately the roads were of such quality that I ignored the problem hoping that it would just go away. With the roads empty of traffic, long continuous corners and great scenery it wasn’t long before we needed fuel. We took the opportunity to do a bit of shopping for lunch and a late breakfast.
Strangely after filling up with fuel and a little oil the bike wanted to play nicely again. The rest of the morning was spent travelling these great roads with only the one surprise. Coming round a corner, there sunbathing in our path was a dog, a bit of weaving on our part as the dog was not going to move and we were on our way again. Lunch was taken on a bench outside a town hall.
It was after lunch things became ordinary, the roads straightened out, traffic built up which meant we just rode to cover ground. Our objective was Switzerland where Shad had arranged for us to stay at his mates place for a couple of days. The French/Swiss border appeared, so we took are chances and gunned it hoping we wouldn’t have to stop and complete complicated customs cards or apply for a visa. We made it, but only just, a man in cap waved at us as we crossed, so we waved back.
A few years back I did a solo trip to Italy. It was whilst travelling on the Eurotunnel back then that I spoke to a couple of other bikers who advised that Switzerland is country of fast long corners, they where right. So here is a bit of advice to pass on, Switzerland is a country of fast long corners. It wasn’t until we got to the north east side of lake Geneva that things really slowed down, major town’s and city’s, traffic everywhere but at least we had the lake to our right, it was tempting to stop of and find one of the many beaches for a bit of a dip. Things never really picked up from there as it was then into the valleys of the surrounding mountains with single carriageways, it did give us chance to be typical tourists, gawping at the spectacular views all around us. Being in valley’s also meant that it would almost be time for us to start snaking are way up the mountainside to Chris’s place in Nendaz. Looking up we could see the road we had to take unfortunately the higher we got the wetter it got so a bit of extra care was taken on the roads.
Shad never one to miss a photo opportunity
As we pulled up outside Chris’s bar the heavens opened up. Chris greeted us with a can of petrol, a 3ft log, split into 4 half way down and a spectacular fireball. This is the swiss way of outside heating. Huge flames for about 6 hours in total. plenty of warmth for everyone. With introductions over, Shads and myself got changed put all the bags in the log store, biking gear in the back of Chris’s car.
We couldn’t have timed our arrival any better as there was a bbq birthday part arranged for one of the local skiing instructor’s with all his Belgian mate’s being invited, some of whom also had great charedters. Needles to say things turned very drunken for them. The best game of the night being the ladies comparing strongest abs and who had the kinkiest knickers, the looser was the one who happened to not be wearing any. Awesome fun especially as 2 shared the prize that night. I was drinking larger tops; Shads gave me a funny look followed by your gay. I think he might have been more embarrassed with the bed wetting if I had stuck to man pints. The night ended about midnight when we got a lift back to Chris’s place.
Roads used.
Day 4
Waking up with a slight head but clean sheets, Shads could be thankful I saved him that embarrassment; I have long ago learnt to deal with it. The rest of the morning was spent helping Chris tidy up the bar, putting the furniture back In place. There was some steak and sausage left over from the bbq which went a long way to helping make us feel human again, that and the beautiful mountain air. It was today that I could appreciate our location. The bar is at the bottom of what would be the ski run in the winter. The mountain goes down to the valley floor then back up into another mountain range on the other side. A large full-length glass window in the bar frames all this. It is spectacular now let alone when everything is white. After hearing about how hard life is running a bar in the summer then working as a ski instructor in the winter I think I might just want to change jobs. The afternoon was all about relaxing as well as recuperating from the ever increasing hangover. We sat in front of the TV most of the day, watching family guy star wars trilogy. As a thank you for his hospitality we took Chris and his girlfriend out for a meal. It was no highbrow affair but the food could have come from a top restaurant, very well presented with a lovely bottle of wine that finished everything off. All that was left, was to brave the rain as it had not stopped since the day before, to get back to the car before making our way to Chris’s for the last time. Once back to the wooden house on the hill Shad braved a vodka where as I went for the tea option before falling into bed and setting the alarm for 7am. It was also going to be are last night of comfort, Camping from here on in and the trip begins for real.
, what more can I say. GO AND HAVE AGO YOURSELF (and invite me along, please). 
