Almost ready for the off, Elefanttreffen 2016

First apologies for the lack of updates recently but to be honest not much has been happening. Most of our energies have been around getting the sidecar and gear ready for the Elefanttreffen. This crazy idea has been in the back of our minds for a while, an evening at a bike rally last March led to further discussion then shortly afterwards we bought the outfit. I've done several mods to"winterise" it, matter of fact it seems to have been going on forever but here we are at last the night before the off, bike loaded and yes I've remembered the stoves!
Ferry tomorrow followed by a 300 mile run to Frankfurt on Sunday where we'll spend the night with Tomas and Andrea before heading towards the German Austrian border near Passau which is roughly where the rally is. A couple of nights at the rally then the run home, Just over a week off so looking forward to our first decent road trip since Belgium last August. Updates on a day to day basis will be on my twitter feed and I'll make sure I do a full report when we get back with plenty pictures, not sure what to expect but just like Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition we will always expect the unexpected. See you on the road sometime and always remember

"the sky is wide and it is a far cry to the world's end. The fire crackles fine o' nights below the firs, and the smell of roasting meat and wood smoke is dear to the heart of man. Fine, too, is the sting of salt and the risp of the north wind in the sheets. Come forth, one and all, to the great lands oversea, and the strange tongues and the fremit peoples. Learn before you die to follow the Piper's Son, and though your old bones bleach among grey rocks, what matter, if you have had your bellyful of life and come to your heart's desire?" And the tune fell low and witching, bringing tears to the eyes and joy to the heart; and the man knew (though no one told him) that this was the first part of the Rime, the Song of the Open Road, the Lilt of the Adventurer,which shall be now and ever and to the end of days".

John Buchan 
The rime of true Tomas

January 2nd insanity

First a happy new year to you all. Fiona came up with a plan to go camping on the 2nd of January to get us out of the house, of course it coincided with storms, heavy rain and flooding, undeterred we set off in the outfit ,first we had a nice lunch at a posh restaurant, (funny sitting in wet bike gear eating an a la carte lunch) Then we set off to do a bit of wild camping. The rain arrived on time and my stupidity in forgetting the cooking stoves meant we had nothing to brew up on or cook our dinner, my hopes of building a fire (I was prepared with logs etc) diminished as the sheets of rain rolled in. We decided at 7.15 it was all a bit pointless, we could see nothing due to the darkness and the rain, we couldn't start a fire or cook, if we were in the Siberian steppe it would have been fine but considering we had a house 40 minutes away it started to seem a bit pointless. Just as we were finishing packing up a car appeared our friend and saviour George Martin bearing a flask of hot tea, hot chip rolls and a selection on new year drinks, had he appeared 30 minutes earlier before the tents were down (we had one to sleep in and one as a shelter) we'd have stayed, if he'd been 10 minutes later we'd have missed him. It turned out well, a good bit of banter and a wet ride home in the rain and darkness, a different way to spend January 2nd and our shortest camping expedition to date.
It did reiterate to me though the importance of checking the essentials are packed (like a stove in winter), we'll remember it on the Bavaria trip .......
A short video to show the madness;