Calum's Road - A Ride Of Two Halves

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Callum’s Road – A ride of two halves

Over the last five or so years that I’d inhabited ukGSer I’d read reports of Tossers riding off here and riding off there. Not once did I think that I’d ever get involved in one myself…………………

One trip that had really caught my imagination was the ‘Scoots in the Sahara’ trip so, when just over a year ago HRH posted that he was thinking of riding down to The Gambia I immediately sat up and took notice. I remember the moment well; sat at work first thing with a screaming hangover, read his post and within 10 minutes was on the phone to him asking if he ‘minded’ if I came along for the ride……………..I spent the rest of the day in a haze……….feck me I was gonna ride my bike to The Gambia :eek :bounce1 :eek

This was going to be a trip that I hoped would push the limits of what I’d done before on a bike, for me a proper ‘adventure’.

The plan:
To ride our bikes fro Callum’s Road on Raasay to the proposed site of Callum’s Road in The Gambia and in the process raise as much money as we could in order to help build the ‘new’ Callum’s Road.

Wind forward a year, fund raising activities done, numerous personnel changes along the way, the minimum of planning and it’s nearly Christmas. Two things happen that were to change the trip for all of us and me in particular.

Firstly the situation in Mauritania, which we had to pass through, deteriorated with more kidnappings of foreign nationals taking place. This, coupled with a number of personal reasons, meant that I had to make the difficult decision not to travel further than Mauritania and to then ride back home from there.

Then the weather turned, with snow, ice and freezing temperatures across northern Europe. The decision was taken by us all not to risk the ride from Raasay because of this.

At this point I was on the verge of chucking in the towel. I’d hung onto the idea of at least setting off from Calum’s Road and now we weren’t even gonna do that – for me it was now just a ride to Morocco and back……………
Then I got to thinking about what we were doing the ride for in the first place and secondly, that actually this would be a trip to push myself what with the weather and the fact that I’d be on my todd travelling back for the last two weeks. Very quickly my positive head was back on and ready(ish) to go…….

What follows are some pictures and a mixture of ramblings sourced from my frail memory and ‘journal’ recordings made on my phone along the way. Thunder has already done a fantastic ride report so I’m gonna try and cover what was going on in my head along the way :eek: to give an idea of what it’s like to ride with a bunch of Tossers on a trip like this; well that’s the plan, let’s see how it pans out………………….

7.05am 9/1/10

“Woken up not having slept much last night. Looks like a further 2” of snow have fallen and I need to get the sodding bike down the drive and out of my road.”

Out comes the bags of sand I’d bought the day before, drive suitably covered I reverse/slide the bike down the drive, into the road and begin to load it up.

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Gear’s put on and I’m bricking it, firstly at the thought of getting to the main road and secondly ‘cos ‘this is it’ I’m off, the culmination of a years worth of not planning.

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Off onto the M1 without incident and I meet Sockpuppet at Leicester Forest services…………it starts snowing

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The plan is to meet the Scottish/Irish contingent that night in Folkestone ready for an early ferry the next morning. The Southern contingent had crossed a few days earlier trying to avoid the forecast bad weather……….

As we hit the M25 the snow started getting heavier and settling and, as we hit the M20 the light went and we found ourselves in a blizzard. At this point I was genuinely scared, more scared than I think I ever have been on a motorbike (but nothing compared to an experience I was to have later, in Morocco:rolleyes:). We were crawling along at 10-20mph in the slow lane, at times with none existent visibility and being overtaken by trucks and cars. I decided to pull over at the Maidstone slip road and as we did I heard Sockpuppet go down behind me. What followed was a nerve racking ride to the nearest services, accompanied by a very helpful copper. We parked up and found ourselves rooms at the Holliday Inn.


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Some mad fecker turned up later that night on a GSXR Adventure!!!

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To say I was despondent at this stage would be an understatement – for fecks sake, this was only day one and it looked like we were snowed in :(

I spoke to the other guys, they had made it through the same snow to Folkestone and would be trying for the Eurotunnel in the morning. I really didn’t think we’d make it………..

7.05am 10/1/10

“Sunday morning and here we are only in Maidstone, Rich dropped his bike twice yesterday but is ok…..looks like there’s no more snow so we’ll try and make a break for it – that’s if Rich’s bike’ll start as he’s had problems with his battery………….”

Kitted up, on the bikes and Sockpuppets won’t start, what a great feckin’ start to the day! In the end we decide that I should press on to the tunnel and Sockpuppet would head to St Eptoe for remedial work and catch us up on route.

Had a surreal ride to Folkestone, overtaking a snow plow on the M20 and generally feeling shit for leaving Sockpuppet behind :(

Arrived at the terminal, FFS where was everybody else?

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Was this trip ever gonna come together :mmmm

The others had missed the train so I got on be myself and we arranged to meet up in Calais

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After several coffees and croissants in the petrol station I eventually heard the ‘roar’ of four GS’s and we were, at last, together, yay :JB

Texts were sent, drinks drunk and GPS’s set – we looked at the map in the petrol station and it was agreed to go through central France, the ‘cold’ route :eek

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I offered to lead as it would mean negotiating the infamous Paris Periphique and having ridden through Paris a fair bit I at least had a vague idea of where I was going. My little Quest didn’t have room for French maps so, for France I just had a cheap TomTom in the map pocket of my tank bag.
The ride to Paris was cold, very cold …………. acclimatising us to what was yet to come.

As we hit Paris the TomTom kept slipping down to the bottom of the map pocket making it dangerously hard to follow in the heavy traffic of Paris but I didn’t care, I was in my element and having fun and the TomTom was taking us along the inner ring road, even more fun than Periphique :JB The group rode brilliantly, and we all managed to keep together which was a result in itself.

As an aside, I was reading Bike magazine earlier this evening and the following extract about riding a GS through Paris really struck a chord, sums it up perfectly for me :D

‘……………Paris, the home of modern motorcycling rebellion. Noisy pipe, leather jacket and a riding style so cavalier that traffic knows it had better get out of the way. This is life on the fringe. Cockroaches surviving it all and repulsing everything else. It’s an attitude I find myself respecting as the Parisian riders howl around their city’s maze of trunk roads, bullying their way through to their destination, quite unlike the sanitised rebellion that happens on the German creation beneath me. Anyone seeking rebellion on a GS is only rebelling against what they’ve allowed themselves to become. And what they allowed themselves to become is the sort of person who buys a GS’!!!

Anyway, I digress……………..we got through, got a bit lost, rode around a retail park a few times and found an Ibis. Weary and cold some hit the bar and some unpacked and then hit the bar :augie Food was had and our first night of the trip ‘proper’ was done and dusted.

7.33am 11/1/10

“sat here packing, can’t believe how much snow there is now we are south of Paris! Hope to make Milau by the end of today, let’s see how it goes………..can’t believe how much alcohol some of the team put away last night, and the fecker’s up this morning like he was drinking Perrier all night………..:eek :D

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Andres
 
Will try............but this week is a bit hectic...........hope to have it all done by the end of the weekend :)

Andres
 
7.33am 11/1/10

“sat here packing, can’t believe how much snow there is now we are south of Paris! Hope to make Milau by the end of today, let’s see how it goes………..can’t believe how much alcohol some of the team put away last night, and the fecker’s up this morning like he was drinking Perrier all night………..:eek :D

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Andres

Finally you got it started, keep it coming dear boy, looking forward to the rest. :thumb

And by the way, it's Mr Fecker to you from now on! :jager :D
 
Great read so far. I can’t wait for the next instalment:thumb2
looks like a real adventure developing.
:popcorn
 
This was now the start of the M-Way slog south with the vague idea to try and reach Milau. I ended up leading the pack, as on the previous day, and that seemed to stay the default position for most of the trip in Europe with Nakambale taking up the job of ‘tail-end-charlie’. I’d never ridden in a group before and found it both a fun and frustrating experience. Fun ‘cos it was quite hard work doing your best to keep everybody in your sights and set a speed that worked for everybody and frustrating ‘cos that speed was somewhat slower than I’m used to riding on Euro M-Ways at :( But anyhow, I soon got into it and we all settled down to a steady ride south.

Poor Mikey didn’t have hand guards (let alone muffs), how he coped with the cold feck only knows :comfort My winter kit consisted of three Merino wool tops, a fully heated fleece, my Twat suit and army Gortex over jacket. Not to mention a snappy little combo of muffs and gaucho. Even with all that kit (most peeps had similar) we were having to stop every 80 miles or so to get hot drinks inside us and just generally thaw out. It was well below freezing all day and the snow was just getting thicker the further south (and higher) we got.

It soon became clear that no way were we gonna make Milau that day. We stopped near Claermont Feraund and admired the snow from the warmth of the services………

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A short hop down the M-Way and we find an Etat (cheap motel) for the night.

Bikes are parked up

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Pictures of people taking pictures of snow taken

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And a number of rare French Ninjas spotted

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We retired to our rooms to get changed and out of my window I spotted one of these

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Now, you see Buffalo Grills all over France adjacent to main roads and I’ve always been fascinated by them but never been in one. In a twisted sort of way (I’m veggie) I was really looking forward to, at last, eating in one…….it wasn’t to be. Some of the others had gone in search of a drink but there was no bar in the Grill………..they were found next door in a bowling alley where we were to have the biggest pizzas I’ve ever seen, even Bhud was defeated by his :D

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Suitably satiated we crashed out in preparation for the next days ride; the climb into the Auvergne / Midi Pyrenees proper.

Up bright and early and it’s bogging cold, we hit the M-Way, head south and start climbing, climbing climbing. It’s stunning scenery and stoopid cold. The higher we get the deeper the snow gets and the whiter everything gets

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I was getting spooked all the time by the surface of the road, was it ice, was it dried out salt :nenau But still couldn’t help but admire the stunning views. Then, before we knew it we were in cloud/freezing fog. I’ve never been on a bike (or car) in conditions like this before. Ice crystals floating in the air like some sort of twisted trip, clothing and bike turning white as it was covered in a layer of ice and we slowed right up :eek: Even so Bhud and I managed to end up ahead of the others as Thunder’s glasses had frozen up and they’d had to stop.

I then did one of those really, really stoopid things………….I was riding along with a small clear area in the middle of my visor that wasn’t iced up and I wondered to myself what would happen if I opened my visor. Deep down inside I knew exactly what would happen if I opened my visor…………I still feckin’ did it though didn’t I :rolleyes: Wooooooooosh and the visor was frozen :eek: I then rode the last 5 miles to the services with my visor open, I thought my feckin’ eye balls were gonna freeze solid and fall out, god that was painful :(

Bhud and I waited at the slip, the others caught up and we all went and had warming cup after cup of coffee. Here’s some more pretty pictures of snow, in the services this time………………..

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Those of the bikes that had temp gauges all maxed out at minus10’C when passing through the freezing fog……….so god knows how cold it really was :eek

The ride continued, still beautiful, still stoopid cold but always very spectacular as we started to hit the swoops and bends that lead, inevitably, to the Milau bridge. The sun was out and I swear we hit a balmy minus 5’C on that section. I was having fun, playing silly noisy buggers with my right hand through the tunnels and generally larking about with Bhud and myself passing and riding along side each other.

Then the bridge was below us and quicker than a quick thing we were on and then over it. It really is a spectacular sight as you approach it or from below but, sadly, such a disappointment when crossing as the high barriers mean you can’t see bugger all over the side.

Any how, I had other things on my mind. I was looking forward to the next section of M-Way, the swoopy, fast section that drops and drops and drops until you are back at sea level approaching Perpignan. All the pent up frustration of riding in a slow moving group was gonna get a welcome release :JB

As we hit the first of the bends myself, Bhud and Mikey broke away from the group and gave the bikes some well needed welly. This is one of my fav fast roads. Ever. Full stop :bounce1:bounce1:bounce1 Top fun was had by us all and I had an interesting time discovering just what Heidis are like on a fully loaded GS at three figures; never dangerous but feeling the blocks move at those speeds was interesting and ultimately kept the speeds sane :augie

When we stopped at the bottom to wait for the others we noticed something strange…………….no snow :JB For the first time in the whole trip N O SNOW :JB:JB

We then headed off for Perpignan and the crew was introduced to filtering French style; as we hit a traffic jam approaching road works all the cars pulled over and created gaps to let us through – I love riding in France :)

Eventually we hit Perpignan and another Etap was found and stayed in.

5.44pm 12/1/10

“Well, what can I say about today? I’ve NEVER seen so much snow in all my life. Passed through freezing fog at one stage, extremely beautiful but extremely cold! A really surreal experience, the visor froze up and I had to ride with it up which just froze your eyeballs. And……and……all my feckin’ kit turned white with a layer of ice, what was all that all about!? Three of us went for a hack down the twisty M-Way after the Milau, my favourite, and as we got lower and lower it got warmer and warmer. As we hit Perpignan it was a very comfortable 5’C, most of us even turned off our heated grips it was so hot! Early start tomorrow”

Andres
 
:eek::eek::eek:

I hate cold icy weather at the best of times, but what you've described is much, much worse than I can remember ever having ridden a bike in. All of you are nutters of the highest order, and that should be taken as the compliment it's intended to be.

I'm enjoying the writeup, though. :thumb
 
Enjoying this, well done mate.
:mmmm
When riding in snow, whilst very scary you can see what you have to deal with. More worrying are surfaces that you are unsure about, maybe in poor light. One morning whilst separated from the group, I started early about nine am in an attempt to catch Sid and Glen, it was Bitterly cold and I realised there was ice about, but I was only a few hundred meters from the motorway so I went for it.
Safely on the motorway, I was travelling about 55 mph, as I approach a sweeping bend to my right in a wooded area there were two Gendarmes in the road sliding their feet on the tarmac (indicating Black ice :eek: ) A bit further round the bend there were cars in the barrier !!!
It still sends shivers up my back now.
 


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