BT xi - The other persons viewpoint

Hi Guys

Continental breakaway team have returned today after an exciting approx 4000 miles or so.  To summarise:

The "starvation tour"

French hotel restaurant excuses included: "yes we have a restaurant but we are full; yes we have a restaurant but we are closed for the annual festival" (same excuse for bar - a sober evening ensued); after careful pre-checking by Graeme of a German hotel that there was a restaurant nearby we discovered they had closed (for the season?) a cold bike ride to next town followed. And we will not mention the +one hour out of doors in dropping temperatures wait for a fast food Pizza in Millou.

Graeme attuned me to approx 230+ miles of hard riding each day so a good breakfast was followed by about 8/9 hours of bum breaking curve bending, sight seeing action followed by dinner if lucky.

Weather was variable - temp range -1 deg C to + 28 deg C.  the -1C included snow and a bovinely stupid quodropod who would not move out of my way on the Navio Pass (snow about 3 inches deep at this point).  When I tried to move bike to a different tyre track (animal was standing chewing cud 2 feet in front of me) dropped bike in ice and landed under cow which them moved!!!! No serious damage.

Bikes were serviced before trip including new brake pads.  My brakes felt "off" at an early stage and Graeme's followed.  It turns out we had a duff batch of pads via Border Bikes - warranty claim in hand.  Riding across Czech Republic without brakes was fun (Graeme's brakes lasted till Holland - he limped from there to Duns - though not appreciably slower!!!!).  Triumph dealer in Leipzig is a hero for replacing my pads and brake fluid without an appointment. 

On the further up side:

Great roads - N152 bewteen Spain and France - 80 miles of bends without straights (best road in the World in my opinion) and lots not far behind for enjoyment: The Bowling Hotel in Millou - manager remembered us from previous trip and bought us drinks - roads in area a joy to ride particularly as weather perfect.

Hotel in Italy - "sorry we have no beer but we have this - what is it? (cannot remember what they answered but - 28 % proof - RESULT.)  This followed by dinner with wine included for 10 Euros each! 

Czech Republic - great roads and scenery (too straight for Graeme I think).  Excellent outdoor dinner including 6 beers between us and lots of beef - 20 Euros makes us forgive hotel with locked reception and long wait for receptionist to arrive after her "siesta".

All in all a great trip. My joy in biking has been rejuvenated.

Lucky John

BT xi - Day 15

Day 15 or +1
A safe decant from the ferry and the eco setting loaded into the gps, we set off for home, via our mechanic in the borders.

An examination of John's pads and the removal and inspection of mine, a call to the suppliers resulted in an admission by them that there was a faulty batch.  (But they weren't going to tell anyone, obviously).    A warranty claim has been made and both of us should be getting new discs and pads in the near future.

The final few miles home were conducted also in eco mode.

Post script.  3 hours after getting home, I am at a friend's house awaiting the rac to arrive as the car has broken down........ (silent scream)    Roll on WAW iii, BR whatever, and most importantly Barbietours 12..........

to be continued...(maybe)

BT xi - Day 14

Day 14
The last day of the trip but a day marking the 100th day of Barbietours in mainland Europe and also 20,000 miles covered in the 11 trips to date.
After a relaxed (couple of) crispy bacon croissants it was time to had to the ferry.  We had time to burn do we took the very small country roads and thankfully the severe weather forecast stayed away and we had a very nice morning ride.
It was my turn today for the brake problems.  From a slight judder when stopping it became a major shudder during any braking.  Very similar to John's symptoms leading to the suspicion of a faulty batch.
After a horrible braking effort for traffic lights we decided to head straight for the boat.
I enjoyed the ergonomic layout of the shower on the ferry.  The soap was attached to the wall over the sink and well away from the shower resulting on a very wet wc, floor and compartment. Muppets !!
We are currently looking for a corner without piped music to enjoy our crap overpriced beer.  Don't know what we will do about supper but at the 'budget' Little Italy, i refuse to pay €18 for a pizza.
I wonder of cows feel this this on their way to the abattoir !

BT xi - photos for mad dog

BT xi - Day 13 The long march homeward.

Day 13
The last full day riding day was dedicated to mile munching, mostly on the autobahn.  There was a minor detour to Quedlinbourg and a slightly longer one (due to road closures and detours) through Hameln, just to ease the monotony of the motorway.
The weather got progressive colder and wetter as the day went on with a cheeky little side wind to keep us on our toes.  This made passing any truck (very) interesting.  Only one truck was blown over though.
We were very cold and sore when we arrived at the best shower of the trip.
Tomorrow off to the ferry. Heavy hearts and pissing rain forecast, but relieved arses.

BT xi - Dinner

Another pig dies to donate it's shoulder to Graeme.  While John had his first schnitzel of the trip having previously dedicated himself to cow killing, be it through slaughter or getting them to laugh themselves to death in the snow.

BT xi - Day 12

Day 12
Today was an interesting day (another), low cloud and almost constant drizzle made for wet weather (boil in the bag clothes).
The Czech roads were all in good condition, quiet and fairly straight through open countryside (very like English countryside but without hedge rows and housing except in the villages, which all seemed to have their pond and flats.  All the buildings though are brightly colored which is a pleasure to see.
It was fortunate that the roads were straight because John's brake problems got significantly worse! As a result we decided to abandon any hope of winding roads in favour of a route that required the least braking effort.
Technology came to our aid, not WiFi this time but Wifey.   Yes i resorted to the Haddington back up service and called gill, on the go, and she located a Triumph dealer in Leipzig and texted us the address.  Our GPS did the rest.
The verdict was that, not only were (all 6) John's brake pads down to the metal, some were even half way through that !
An hour and a half later, New pads and fluid and a huge thank you to the dealers and with John's wallet considerably lighter (The couldn't take visa or mastercard) we set off for hotel, which in true Lucky John style was less than 5 miles away, although it was in rush hour traffic!
Lovely small business hotel, Clean, dry and with our bookings and all those little extras that we could need. (except bar and restaurant.)
No pictures today, maybe later.