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Day 9 Friday – 14^th August – Fond farewells and breakdowns

With the best intentions in the world, our 8.O’clock start became a 9. O’clock start and nearly a 10. O’clock one. The whole camp came to see us off, coming and shaking our hands and waving goodbye. I admit to being moved by the simple friendliness of these people, and we felt sad that our stay was over.

Finally we began the long haul back. We were booked into Koblenz that night so in theory had further to travel on this leg.

Otto led us back via a different route which got us on the motorway quicker. The miles clocked up agonisingly slowly and we stopped about every 50 miles for fuel in case petrol was scarce on this new route. The trouble is the usual one of travelling with a large convoy of bikes, every stop puts an extra half-hour on the journey.

We headed towards Zelezna Ruda where we would cross the border about 80 miles south of where we had crossed before. The scenery was absolutely stunning.

I had a very bad moment at one point. Whilst overtaking a lorry at about 55mph on a single carriageway, I hit a patch of oil and the bike veered dangerously close to the front of the lorry. It was the closest I have been on a bike to copping it!

We crossed the border into Germany without any problems and were soon on our way to the Autobahn.The rain had held off, and the temperature was more suited to travelling.

After a few hours, disaster struck. The support vehicle driven by Malcolm accompanied by Lorraine (who didn’t feel too well) did not appear at the service station on a fuel stop.

Spotters and markers were posted but after half-an-hour it was obvious that one of 3 things had happened:

Either the truck had passed it without us noticing and was further up on the Autobahn or one of occupants was ill or they had broken down.

Otto’s cellphone that was in the truck was diverted to his work’s number.

We were stuck, still had nearly 200 miles to reach Koblenz and the afternoon was wearing on.

Finally, Otto decided he would ride back whilst the main party moved on, hopefully all meeting up later at Koblenz. Sadly this was not to be. Otto rode back accompanied by Audrey, Paul and Colin as we moved off once more deeper into Germany.

Anne now took the lead and painfully we finally came within 20 miles or so of Koblenz. It was now pitch dark and we pulled in for a final re-fuelling trip.

No sooner had we entered the petrol station that a spotty German jobsworth started ordering us all about and organising us.

I went to move my bike after filling up and he nearly had a fit. "You pay first!!".

I tried to patiently explain that I was not doing a runner, but was just letting the next punter to the pump but he would have none of it.

I paid for my fuel and made a big play of brandishing my receipt and asking for permission to move, but he had lost interest in my jibes and marched over to accuse Chris of not paying.

I think he could feel Chris’s displeasure even if he could not understand the words but the pillock still hung around with an accusing air until I tapped his arm and explained that these bikers were very tired and pissed off with him and would probably rip his head off if he didn’t sod off.

He very wisely did sod off.

After a few turns around the central roundabout, we finally pulled into our Hotel in the middle of Koblenz.

The girl at reception organised the rooms with a minimum of fuss and delay, and very soon was serving us cold beer whilst we chose what we would like to eat (the kitchen being closed we could only have snacks but they were substantial and filling).

The service was excellent and the staff genuinely seemed concerned for our comfort, disregarding our leathers and boots and settling us down in the restaurant as quick as possible.

We learned that Otto had found Malcolm and Lorraine who had broken down. They would spend the night where they were and get the breakdown service out in the morning to fix the truck. We would decide what to do from there in the morning.