Ha, made it (long)

Most of the story has been told but I might as well add my bit before
I start passing comment in existing threads.

It all started well enough, a bit chilly on the way to Harwich but I
was there in plenty of time to drink beer and laugh at Platys rate of
progress...

The first morning over in Europe started well with the passport
control guys in Holland warning of icy roads and bad conditions so we
just did the normal thing and set off for Germany without a care in
the World.

All was well until just before Oberhausen when the Tenere decided to
spit its charging system out of the window again. I pulled off the
motorway, told Platy to get going because it was going to be ages (if
ever) before I got going again. I phoned Flitwick Yamaha to check if
Yamaha warranty work could be carried out in Europe and they assured
me it'd be ok but to contact them if things got a bit difficult.

Over two hours later (temps well below zero all this time) the
recovery truck appeared and took me off to a Yamaha dealer where they
gave me a couple of hot drinks to warm me up and set about trying to
fix my bike. Obviously I knew where the problem was so the mechanic
removed the reg/rec and found one of the wires in the connector fell
out when he removed the connector.

After a couple of hours he assured me it was ok so I paid the 70 Euros
demanded of me (yeah, so I could have it done under warranty, that's
right), loaded my bike up and fucked off to try and get the last 250
odd miles to the hotel. Obviously I was going to do this as fast as
possible so it was throttle pinned and go for it. It was fucking
freezing ( -11c seen on a big red neon light at a petrol station) but
the bike was running ok and now it was charging my heated clothing
worked again.

I made it to the hotel soon after 8pm and after getting showered and
changed hit the bar for beer and food.

Thursday morning found us looking at fresh snowfall but we set off
happy in the thought that we'd be at the rally mid-afternoon and all
would be well. Then it snowed even more and we had a few discussions
in petrol stations about conditions, whether to go on, whether to wait
until Friday etc but in the end my view was that if Donald was going
for it on his ST4 there was no way I wasn't going with him. The ****.

The snow got worse and the last 15 or so miles from the motorway to
Solla saw a fair amount of snow laying on the roads but we made it ok
and parked the bikes up near the beer hut we usually frequent.

Pitching the tents was fun because we didn't have a shovel so had to
use our hands and kick snow out of the way until we'd got holes to put
the tents in. This involved digging down over a foot so obviously we
kept nice and warm with the exercise and after getting everything
something like sorted we did beer.

An hour or two later Platy rocked up after deciding to carry on then
letting his VFR have a little lie in the snow some 3 miles away.
Apparently this was it's 2nd go at suicide because he'd dropped it
into a snow drift at the petrol station where we'd last seen him.

Basically we then drank beer until it became too cold and retreated to
our nice warm tents for the night.

Friday morning brought the task of clearing away the foot or so of
snow that had fallen and left my tent seriously deformed but we got
them clear and went off for fire wood and a wander around site. It
snowed all day so a lot of time was wasted continually digging a
trench out around my tent to ensure that any snow sliding off it
didn't bank up the sides and damage it beyond use.

The late departures arrived just before dark so once they were settled
in we just went for the big fire and beer approach to keeping warm, it
honestly hadn't stopped snowing since the previous night so you can
imagine what things were getting like on the site..

Saturday was just the normal Elefant stuff involving sitting in the
sun (yes, it stopped snowing and the sun came out) and then digging my
bike out of it's carpet of snow. I couldn't be arsed carrying my
camera up there again because I'd taken photos off the bike the day
before but the snow covered the back wheel and was banked up something
like 2' high on top of the bike.

Saturday night was seriously cold but at least it didn't snow so the
tent made it to the end of the rally and that was the last I saw of
it. It's probably still there but I did collapse it so if anyone
wanted to sort out the damaged poles then they were welcome to it.

Sunday's ride started off ok, the access road to the rally had a fair
amount of snow/slush at either end but was otherwise ok. The motorway
was fine for about 40 miles then it started to fucking snow again.
This time it got a bit heavy in places but Donald and I just went for
it and made it to the hotel where at least I could have a warm shower
and have some proper food. Eventually everyone was sat in the bar but
unfortunately not all the bikes made it.

Monday saw Donald and Simon set off at 8am for earlier crossings and
Steve and I left sometime around 10am. I didn't even get 30 miles when
the fucking charging system went tits again. Steve was last seen
vanishing into the distance so I sent him a text letting him know what
had happened and set about stripping the bike down to see if anything
could be done.

Steve (top man that he is) turned around after reading my message and
we managed to sort things out by cutting other connectors out and
butchering them for parts. We set off again and that was the last of
charging problems for the trip so now it's over to Yamaha to see what
their reaction is when I give them some abuse.

The ride to the Hoek of Holland saw yet more snow, some of it very
heavy and I realised we were perhaps going too fast when we were
overtaking everything in sight and even the famed German autobahn
loons weren't keeping up. One high point was after we'd backed it off
a bit when I realised that the passenger in a car overtaking us was
taking photos as he went past. It was still snowing like **** and he
must have decided his friends wouldn't believe him when he told them
about us if he couldn't produce proof.

Good things about the trip were my new sleeping bag and airbed keeping
me warm even when the tent was collapsing under the weight of the snow
on it. My luggage kept everything bone dry so I'd always got dry
clothing, my waterproofs worked well and apart from my socks getting
damp because of sweat I was fine. Everyone made it and we had a riot,
it was what I'd always expected the Elefant would be like so that
alone made it worth the effort.

Bad points were very few with the obvious one being the Tenere
deciding it didn't want to charge its battery any longer. The inept
German mechanic who thought wedging a loose wire back onto the reg/rec
by breaking the connector then shoving a cable tie into the hole needs
a good kicking because if we could do a better job sitting in the snow
by the motorway it doesn't say much for his skills as a bike mechanic.
My satnav has decided it doesn't want to charge but that's probably
because I should have covered the carrier up when I parked it and
sitting under a couple of feet of snow isn't going to make it a very
happy piece of electrical equipment. Hopefully it'll work once it's
all dried out properly.

Will I go again? If the others are going then yes.

Will I use the Tenere again? Yeah, if it had been fixed properly it
would have been ideal.

 

I think that your definition of bad points differs from mine!

 

I think all of you are quite bonkers, but I'm very glad to know you.

 

It was a good and proper Elefantentreffen.

snip

It's a strangely compelling experience.

The embodiment of plucky British resolve, flanked by the Japanese in
German territory and you still managed to beat the odds to get home.

 

It sounds brilliant to me. Well done Donald for taking an ST4S with snow
claws, deserves a special reward.

That Tepee tent I took to Chimay would be useful. The pitch is too steep for
snow to gather, a super heavy duty groundsheet and only one pole. It has too
much ventilation but I guess it could be sealed before leaving. Stupidly
cheap:
www.outdoormegastore.co.uk/acatalog/Vango_Juno_Tepee_500_Wigwam_5_Berth_Tent_Bargain.html
Not worth packing to bring home!

Did one of you take a Gayzebra?

 

Never knowingly punctual. I caught the boat anyway. By **** that last bit
of road to Harwich is shit.

I was trusting you to do the decent thing.

Find a dealer you can trust and buy what they sell.

I've had a run of friendly Germans this year. A whole bunch of guys helped
pick us up in the services. The guy in Mitternach who helped us pick the
thing up again stored the VFR in his garage for a few days and carted us and
our luggage up to the site about 3 miles away. Then, when we were setting
up, a guy from the next pitch came over with his snow shovel and scooped us
out a hole for the tent.

....unlike the **** Bonwick, who came up behind me while I was having a piss
and hurled me into a snowdrift full of brambles. I got cuts all over my
hands and face, and spilled my beer.

The cheap festival tent performed well on its 3rd Elefant. The inner is
almost entirely mesh, which helps keep condensation to a minimum.

About 120 miles short of Randersacker, we ran into a snowstorm. Traffic was
down to about 30-35 with their flashers on, and the road surface was getting
covered. I couldn't keep my visor clear, and things were getting a bit
slippy, so I made an executive decision to pull over. The hard shoulder had
a couple of inches of snow, so I pulled the clutch in, put the feet down and
waited for the thing to coast to a stop. With both hands on the bars now,
visor clearing was no longer being carried out and there was an eventual
low-speed interface with the armco. No brakes were involved in this
shambles, and no injuries sustained. The poor old VFR ended up lying at an
angle with its front end hooked over the barrier. Some broken plastic
including indicator, but the main problem was that it couldn't be lifted off
the barrier. Hello Auntie Carole...

Within about 5 minutes, our next friendly German showed up. He gave us
shelter in his car, waited for 2½ hours until the recovery truck arrived,
fed us chocolate and beer and drove us all the way to Randersacker.

Monday involved a taxi to the station, a train to Frankfurt airport, a BA
flight to Heathrow and a hire car home.

Well, I am.

It must be admitted that two up on the VFR was utterly bonkers in the
conditions, but we'd have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for that
pesky snowstorm. Plan A was to take the Ural. If it hadn't broken down
before we left, it would probably have broken down en route. Next year will
see a big comfy outfit of some description.

 

that's the sort of thing he does - didn't you know already?

 

Heated visor too!

 

On Tue, 2 Feb 2010 13:53:03 -0000, "'Hog"

snip>

I decided it wasn't going to be cold enough to take one.

I didn't think it was as cold this year but the constant snow was a
pain in the arse on Friday and some kind of shelter would have been
good. I don't think a gazebo would have survived the weight of snow
but some good solid wooden poles supporting a tarpaulin would have
made a big difference.

 

I *think* it isn't so cold when it snows.
Then again it snows in the Antartic.

Did the Germans have the big tents up with stoves inside?

 

I could have done with a Kent screen on Sunday.

 

Unrelated to actual temperature:

Cold front meets warm front innit.

 

MV Motorrad snow claws were worth every penny.

To be quite honest, coming from Great Britain there's a lot of autobahn
to cover, so the ST4s is a sensible choice.

The £7.49 tent I got from Tesco worked well enough for me. The Germans
lent us a snow shovel to keep digging it out. Special award goes to Mr
Packer for diverting on the way to pick up a snow shovel, kept the tents
clear and allowed us to dig out the bikes.

No, but we did entertain a rather large Ewok at the fire in the early
hours of Saturday morning.

 

So Eaton made it after all.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, DozynSleepy

<Mode=Shaggy>

It wasn't me

</Mode>

 

A commonly-held misaprehention.

Quite.

Was snowing at <-15C yesterday and most of the weekend in Engelberg.

 

Wasn't it just. How's the head today?

 

Nice report, ta.

 

<jealous>

I assume the Alps are having boundless snow this year.

 

Where we are there's not been _that_ much, but it's tended to be
little but often, rather than big dumps, and it's been consistently
very cold.

This weekend we had clear skies for just a few hours on Saturday
afternoon, just in time for me to be able to plot the route back
across the open fields of untracked powder and join the one,
almost-unused, piste to the village about three quarters of the way
down. The rest of the time was mostly cloudy, with light snow,
occasionally heavy.

Oh, except for yesterday morning, but Champ was feeling poorly so
missed the sunshine. The afternoon probably made up for it though.