In a way this is the exactly the point of this thread Simon, so please free to chuck it out there...
When you tossers were much younger…
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In my case it was the floor of the spare room of a hotel receptionist along the French riviera, late at night. 80 euros cash in hand.
I was traveling with my girlfriend at the time, so the 80 euros was purely to pay for the sleeping space
But this was fairly recent (around 2012 I think) and we had GPS and my current GS. Just bad planning on my part.
Still recent years: in 2005 we traveled to Spain and Portugal. Crossed Portugal by its length. Beautiful trip (even if a tad hot at 40 degrees in the south). Again planned with mostly Lonely Planet guides, Michelin maps and paper maps.
Towards the end of the trip we wanted to do some sea time. We arrived in Albufeira where we found a house to rent taking to someone in the square. We chained both bikes to a light pole nearby and wrapped them in blankets to protect them a bit from the sun, and fucked off to the sea by bus for the following few days.
That was also one of my first contacts, at the time, with Brits
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OK then, one of my favorite “adventures” was getting back from Morecambe Bay scooter rally in 1986
First, a bit of background…
A mate of mine had a habit of going as fast as he could go on his kitted Vespa PK50, downhill past the police station on the high street. As he got to the cop shop he’d change down to 1st gear and dump the clutch, resulting in a screeching skid for about 50 yards accompanied by the engine reving to about half a million rpm. This amused him much
Anyway, due to similar abuse at the rally in Morecambe Bay he blew his engine up, in those days we didn’t have AA cover and it was a long walk home
We very fortuitously found a long piece of rope from some roadworks, which I tied to the backrest of my scooter and tied the other end around the headstock of my mate’s scooter, off we set to tow him home, 130 miles with my 3 speed Vespa 100, 2 up with tent etc.
Halfway back I’m running out of petrol, it’s Sunday and nothing is open, this is long before GPS and 24hr petrol stations
So we took my petrol tank out of the frame and bungeed it onto the back of the scooter of the other lad riding with us, he went off to find petrol as he was the only one with any left.
Luckily, a bit later he came back having found somewhere open, so I put my now full tank back in and off we went again
Sometime later, on a bit of dual carriage way, I felt my scooter start pulling left and right violently. I looked around to see what was happening.
My mate, who had decided to zigzag back and forth from one side of the double road to the other, like a fecking water skier, was now sitting in the middle of the road watching me drag his scooter down the road on its side
TWAT !We eventually got him back, his scoot was in a sorry state, with severe road rash and a blown engine, but I got him home
This is the beast I towed him with, my first road legal bike, pictures from other rallies
Note : the reg plate bears witness to my inability to pull wheelies
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I think our first trip was '72. The Belgian 500 GP was always the first aiming point, followed by Heidelberg.
Wife had the map and signalled with taps on the shoulder for direction. Camping was the order of the day unless foul weather forced us into a Gasthof. Never once did we book anything.
After Heidelberg, it was usually "head south", Italy, Yugoslavia and the like.
Got as far as Calafell on the Norton 750. A full days ride from Geneva
Wife had the map and signalled with taps on the shoulder for direction. Camping was the order of the day unless foul weather forced us into a Gasthof. Never once did we book anything.
After Heidelberg, it was usually "head south", Italy, Yugoslavia and the like.
Got as far as Calafell on the Norton 750. A full days ride from Geneva
I have noticed, this year, a lot of scooter rallies. Pure coincidence, who knows, but they do seem to have a good time. I even wave to them now - well why not!
yes, they come past here, presumably heading to the coast. I can hear them go along the Welshpool Bypass down in the valley below me
It is not a good idea to be sitting on a roadside bench, enjoying your fish and chips in Clitheroe, when a gazillion 2 stroke scooters come past having been on a ride out from the Ribble Valley Scooter rally in the town.
My first Tour that involved a boat trip was when I was 20 in 1981 Larne to Stranraer, down to Droitwich Spa to pick up my girlfriend who I met at Uni then a week in Wales followed by a week in Cornwall camping at various locations with a Craven topbox and homemade panniers. First trip to France was 1984 (at23) Michelin maps France North France south for transfer days and Les cartes Departments for the areas we were touring in. Francs and Thomas Cook travellers cheques and AA "five star cover". One of the girls who was with us worked in the "First Trust Bank" (Now Allied Irish Bank) and got us all credit cards for buying petrol. Navigation was by map and written instructions like a Tulip map i.e road numbers and left and right arrows for turns and distances between junctions and landmarks near turns if known. This worked well particularly in rural areas. The biggest issue in those days were travelling through cities if you didn't have a detailed map of the city and you missed a road sign and ended up in a residential area or something. It always happened when you were getting soaked or sweating your bollocks off.
My wife is really good at map navigation and map reading so before GPS, on car trips she did the navigation and I drove. It only nearly went very wrong once in 1989 visiting friends in Edinburgh at their flat in Haymarket she directed me to turn left into a four lane wide one way street.......a very swift U turn ensued.
Touring from Northern Ireland is a bit of a pain in the bum as you have 500 miles to get from Scotland to the Channel ferry ports and we always tended to do it in one hit when we were young. You could buy a "Land Bridge" ticket. We tended to use Portsmouth to Le Havre route to avoid London and get a sleep on the boat. When I had kids and used to drive to France we got a late boat usually stayed in the lake district somewhere and took the Condor Seacat ferry from Poole to St. Malo. Getting my first GPS a Garmin Streetpilot 2610 in 2004 was a game changer in terms of ease of navigation.
Somewhere in the Massif Central 1984 My 1978 CB750F2 and my mate Brian's 1980 GS1000G (Later to be written off on the way home at Nogent le Rotrou on the way to Le Havre) when tired, he turned left in front of a car coming from the right as he looked the wrong way. AA five star cover really worked well for hospital treatment (broken leg) and a flight home. Me on the other hand trying to explain (in bad French) that his bike would be picked up and storage would be paid for, to a Peugeot dealer in Nogent, was interesting. Only truly clarified when a worker from the patisserie next door was summoned as he could speak english.
My wife is really good at map navigation and map reading so before GPS, on car trips she did the navigation and I drove. It only nearly went very wrong once in 1989 visiting friends in Edinburgh at their flat in Haymarket she directed me to turn left into a four lane wide one way street.......a very swift U turn ensued.
Touring from Northern Ireland is a bit of a pain in the bum as you have 500 miles to get from Scotland to the Channel ferry ports and we always tended to do it in one hit when we were young. You could buy a "Land Bridge" ticket. We tended to use Portsmouth to Le Havre route to avoid London and get a sleep on the boat. When I had kids and used to drive to France we got a late boat usually stayed in the lake district somewhere and took the Condor Seacat ferry from Poole to St. Malo. Getting my first GPS a Garmin Streetpilot 2610 in 2004 was a game changer in terms of ease of navigation.
Somewhere in the Massif Central 1984 My 1978 CB750F2 and my mate Brian's 1980 GS1000G (Later to be written off on the way home at Nogent le Rotrou on the way to Le Havre) when tired, he turned left in front of a car coming from the right as he looked the wrong way. AA five star cover really worked well for hospital treatment (broken leg) and a flight home. Me on the other hand trying to explain (in bad French) that his bike would be picked up and storage would be paid for, to a Peugeot dealer in Nogent, was interesting
. Only truly clarified when a worker from the patisserie next door was summoned as he could speak english.
Brilliant, Thank you for sharing your story. How very different are time we live in now to those you guys had lived through back then.My first Tour that involved a boat trip was when I was 20 in 1981 Larne to Stranraer, down to Droitwich Spa to pick up my girlfriend who I met at Uni then a week in Wales followed by a week in Cornwall camping at various locations with a Craven topbox and homemade panniers. First trip to France was 1984 (at23) Michelin maps France North France south for transfer days and Les cartes Departments for the areas we were touring in. Francs and Thomas Cook travellers cheques and AA "five star cover". One of the girls who was with us worked in the "First Trust Bank" (Now Allied Irish Bank) and got us all credit cards for buying petrol. Navigation was by map and written instructions like a Tulip map i.e road numbers and left and right arrows for turns and distances between junctions and landmarks near turns if known. This worked well particularly in rural areas. The biggest issue in those days were travelling through cities if you didn't have a detailed map of the city and you missed a road sign and ended up in a residential area or something. It always happened when you were getting soaked or sweating your bollocks off.
My wife is really good at map navigation and map reading so before GPS, on car trips she did the navigation and I drove. It only nearly went very wrong once in 1989 visiting friends in Edinburgh at their flat in Haymarket she directed me to turn left into a four lane wide one way street.......a very swift U turn ensued.
Touring from Northern Ireland is a bit of a pain in the bum as you have 500 miles to get from Scotland to the Channel ferry ports and we always tended to do it in one hit when we were young. You could buy a "Land Bridge" ticket. We tended to use Portsmouth to Le Havre route to avoid London and get a sleep on the boat. When I had kids and used to drive to France we got a late boat usually stayed in the lake district somewhere and took the Condor Seacat ferry from Poole to St. Malo. Getting my first GPS a Garmin Streetpilot 2610 in 2004 was a game changer in terms of ease of navigation.
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Somewhere in the Massif Central 1984 My 1978 CB750F2 and my mate Brian's 1980 GS1000G (Later to be written off on the way home at Nogent le Rotrou on the way to Le Havre) when tired, he turned left in front of a car coming from the right as he looked the wrong way. AA five star cover really worked well for hospital treatment (broken leg) and a flight home. Me on the other hand trying to explain (in bad French) that his bike would be picked up and storage would be paid for, to a Peugeot dealer in Nogent, was interesting
Never had a problem finding accommodation….maybe not in that village or town, but the next one
Top tip - start looking at 4-5pm
I remember a trip in 1999
A group of us decided we wanted to go to Hungary in May, to a BMW authorised European rally
It was to be held at Tihany on Lake Balaton
At a resort complex
It sounded exciting (after all …the fall of the USSR only happened 7/8 years before)
So we booked it by mail (proper stamps and letters) and paid by Eurocheque for the week
So, time arrived and we set off from Hull to ZeeBrugge and made our way down eastern France
finding accommodation in Contrexville for the first night
Someone (me) planned a paper map route to Switzerland to stay at Andermatt
However being early May we couldn’t get there as the whole area and passes were covered in snow
So, we had to take the tunnel and head to Lugano
Seeing a sign for Lake Maggiore we took that at stayed at the Lake in an apartment complex - just saw the sign for Pension
Next day we went over the Col De Aprica and then over the Brenner & then through the Austrian Tyrol down the Drau valley
Time was going on after Oberdrauberg and we stopped at a small village called Berg, for petrol
Someone saw a sign below the garage for Hotel Golf and we trundled down to it
Rocking up ….6 motorcycles abreast in front of the steps of this Tyrolean half timbered hotel
An old chap comes out in lederhosen and asks if he could help in Austrian
Speaking none we asked for 6 rooms
Yes he replies - 70 Austrian schillings per room
Now, we didn’t know how many to the £ and it could have been £500 or £50 per night
Dave pulls out a crumpled Telegraph out of his luggage
On it, it states the tourist rates and it transpires was about £40
But cash only
So we scraped together enough Schillings to pay for the rooms
All was well
On to Hungary - we’d never been and it was still hungover from the Russian ruling
Arriving at Tihany we presented ourselves at the HQ for registration
A team of glamorous girls were booking people in and they were interpreters
My turn
Ah, Mr ……. The girl says
I have been waiting for you
??????
There’s been a problem with your Eurocheque (luckily I brought a copy of my bank statement to prove the cheque had been cashed)
Ah, no problem…you gave proof
From then on we struck up a connection and rapport and spent most of the week together with Erika and the girls who would eat/dance and dine with the English speaking BMW riders
Erika (my Hungarian friend from that 1999 rally) have enjoyed a few holidays on the bike since then and she now has spent 10 years in Surrey, so we still keep in touch regularly
Funny old chance encounter ….all over a Eurocheque
A group of us decided we wanted to go to Hungary in May, to a BMW authorised European rally
It was to be held at Tihany on Lake Balaton
At a resort complex
It sounded exciting (after all …the fall of the USSR only happened 7/8 years before)
So we booked it by mail (proper stamps and letters) and paid by Eurocheque for the week
So, time arrived and we set off from Hull to ZeeBrugge and made our way down eastern France
finding accommodation in Contrexville for the first night Someone (me) planned a paper map route to Switzerland to stay at Andermatt
However being early May we couldn’t get there as the whole area and passes were covered in snow
So, we had to take the tunnel and head to Lugano
Seeing a sign for Lake Maggiore we took that at stayed at the Lake in an apartment complex - just saw the sign for Pension
Next day we went over the Col De Aprica and then over the Brenner & then through the Austrian Tyrol down the Drau valley
Time was going on after Oberdrauberg and we stopped at a small village called Berg, for petrol
Someone saw a sign below the garage for Hotel Golf and we trundled down to it
Rocking up ….6 motorcycles abreast in front of the steps of this Tyrolean half timbered hotel
An old chap comes out in lederhosen and asks if he could help in Austrian
Speaking none we asked for 6 rooms
Yes he replies - 70 Austrian schillings per room
Now, we didn’t know how many to the £ and it could have been £500 or £50 per night
Dave pulls out a crumpled Telegraph out of his luggage
On it, it states the tourist rates and it transpires was about £40
But cash only
So we scraped together enough Schillings to pay for the rooms
All was well
On to Hungary - we’d never been and it was still hungover from the Russian ruling
Arriving at Tihany we presented ourselves at the HQ for registration
A team of glamorous girls were booking people in and they were interpreters
My turn
Ah, Mr ……. The girl says
I have been waiting for you
??????
There’s been a problem with your Eurocheque (luckily I brought a copy of my bank statement to prove the cheque had been cashed)
Ah, no problem…you gave proof
From then on we struck up a connection and rapport and spent most of the week together with Erika and the girls who would eat/dance and dine with the English speaking BMW riders
Erika (my Hungarian friend from that 1999 rally) have enjoyed a few holidays on the bike since then and she now has spent 10 years in Surrey, so we still keep in touch regularly
Funny old chance encounter ….all over a Eurocheque
Ahh, the good old days of changing your money at the borders, Francs to Pesetas, then to Escudo, or Francs to Lira, Deutsche Marks etc etc
Used to end up with a tank bag full of assorted shrapnel when you got back home..
I’m sure I still have a selection in one of my collection of tank-bags
Used to end up with a tank bag full of assorted shrapnel when you got back home..
I’m sure I still have a selection in one of my collection of tank-bags
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It’s Europe. Every bloody village and town has accommodation on almost every corner
The joy that a 5p coin was the same weight and size as a one Deutschmark coin.
It’s Europe. Every bloody village and town has accommodation on almost every corner
A civilised place. No wonder UK plc voted to separate itself from it.
A civilised place. No wonder UK plc voted to separate itself from it.
The joy of finding out that different countries have their public/bank holidays at different times to the UK .. even different areas in the same countries shut up for different days.
Bought a brand new bike in 1980. Got the ferry to Santander with my girlfriend in the back, no travel insurance or credit cards. Just cash.
Rode around the coast line of Spain and Portugal, without a map. Just kept the sea on our righthand side .. ahh, the innocence of youth
Motorcycle clothing ! What’s that ?
Rode around the coast line of Spain and Portugal, without a map. Just kept the sea on our righthand side .. ahh, the innocence of youth
Motorcycle clothing ! What’s that ?
hah, during our week based in Grenoble in 1995 we decided to have a day off riding. Caught the train to Geneva, only to find it was largely shut for a bank holiday. On a Wednesday FFS.
The only place we found open to buy lunch was a Swiss version of McD at about three times the price.
We took a few snaps of the lake and English Garden and caught the train back to Grenoble. At least the train journey was quite scenic alongside Lac du Bourget etc.
My VFR750 was still on the pavement outside the SNCF at Grenoble when we got back. Not sure that would be the case now.
2018, invited by couple, on ferry, to stay at friend’s house near La Rochelle. I reckon they were swingers.
fixed it for youIt’s Europe. Every bloody village and town had accommodation on almost every corner
Ohh, the places where we used to end up staying overnight on the “Steptoe Moroccan Dash tours”.
One small hotel tried to convince us that a very large walk-in wardrobe was a room
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