Well, the final entry now and it’s a bit boring. I had booked the Monday off work at the last minute due to Touratech Kassel getting my tank bag in, also the thought of all that way in 2 days wasn’t appealing.
A 9am departure saw my following the GPS to the border. It was uneventful really even though the road is pretty rubbish in places. I tried to capture this using a handheld camera. Do you know how hard it is to ride one handed!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8ybMJmEQdg
As I came out of one of the towns I stopped for a stretch and a Lada 4×4 stopped. Out got a plain clothes policeman and after lots of me telling that I didn’t understand Russian (He was probably speaking Ukrainian, oops) he eventually got an english speaking lady on the phone who gave me a grilling. Where was I from, why was I there etc. She also said that the guy couldn’t read my passport. There wasn’t much I could do and eventually he just waved me on after he got bored. I wasn’t paying any bribery money this time!
Border formalities were slower than coming in, but after being told to push to the front, I got through ok. The Polish side tried to tell me to go to the back of the queue but I apologised and grovelled and he let me stay at the front which was nice.
Then the few hundred km to Wroclaw in Poland. An easy ride.
Sunday was also an easy ride with about 600km to Kassel. A few hours on the bike with regular stops to check the Wifi to see how Hamilton was doing in the F1 GP made it a relaxing day.
Since I was in no rush at all I was plodding along the autobahns at about 60-65mph. I was overtaken by a lot of bikers on all types of bikes. Almost everyone that passed gave a bit of a wave or nod. You know the only people who didn’t? Big 1200GS riders (And the 1200 touring thing) A pack of about 10 passed me and all blanked me. However those of you who ride in Germany often will know the Autobahns have their fair share of accidents and I came across 3 that day. Many miles of tailbacks but the drivers are really good and although it’s not legal, they open up and allow you to filter. Each time I got to a traffic jam I would filter and pass all those big GS’s with their panniers who were too big to filter (or just plain thick as they were certainly trying) They’d then pass me again after it opened up. A proper tortoise and the hare scenario. Each time I waved and each time they blanked me. Odd. Anyhow …
I rolled into Kassel at about 5pm, found my hotel and unpacked. I’ve worked in Kassel a few times so know the place a bit so I had a walk around. It’s a nice city.
Touratech only open at 10am so I didn’t have to get an early night. Instead I ended up watching Sky News (Only English channel) and decided that the news is all crap. Beheadings, murders of young girls, Ebola etc. Where is the good news on the news? Oh yeah, that’s right, it’s not newsworthy. Gripe over.
Rainer at Touratech Kassel (and his dog) are awesome people. Speak better English than me and couldn’t be more friendly. Coffee and biscuits, helped me fit my tankbag (Ok, it’s only 1 screw but nontheless) and a long chinwag. I ended up buying the tankbag, some bar risers, a lockable Zumo mount and a UniFilter. Some nice bikes in the shop. It’s the 2nd largest TT shop in Germany.
Then off to the tunnel. As it often the case, on a bike they will pop you on the next crossing, so I had 15 mins to wait. Just enough time to buy a burger king, shove it in the tank bag and eat it on the train 5 mins later.
Departing the train at about 6pm Monday evening it was torrential rain, so the 2 hours home wasn’t any fun. Thankfully the M25 was clear and the M1 wasn’t too bad. Got home around 8, threw clothes in the wash and parked the bike in the garage where it stayed for a few days.
Since then I’ve given the bike another good clean and ACF50’d it. Checked it over and everything is spot on. The tyres haven’t really worn much either, I was expecting to finish them off during the trip.
The only casualty is my Interphone headset connector. It had been slowly become dodgy on one speaker. Fidding with it would work however eventually it gave up the ghost about 30 miles from home. I need a new headset and I may have a spare here somewhere, otherwise it’s only £30 and to say it’s done over 15,000 miles I am pleased. The main unit is perfect still and holds charge for 8+ hours so I don’t need to replace that. It even fell off when I was fiddling with it in Poland on the E40 at about 70mph. It took me 10 mins to find it on the hard shoulder. Oops. Thankfully it’s a toll road and virtually deserted.
Other than that there’s not much to report. It was good fun. Next time though I will look at a different bike if it’s just mile munching and no offroad. The G650X is great once in Ukraine, but getting it there, if in a rush is a pain. I love the bike though and won’t be parting company with it anytime soon.