TRIUMPH TIGER 900 ALTERNATIVE

When twisting the throttle becomes tiring and you only want to hold something cold, what better way than to take one of ´Ralfs chauffered cycle tours´based close to the beautiful park in the north of the city.

Many years of experience cycling around the tea plantations of the world has enabled Ralf to whisk well to do guests around the park in the comfort which they so deserve. Cold beer is available en route and for the greater distance between beer stops there is a small fly whisk attached to the rear seat with which to urge Ralf on faster before the beer is finished.

In all seriousness, Ralfs main business is tea and if you see ´Puretea´tea anywhere, please buy some. I don´t know anything about tea, but if it´s sold in Club Paradise it must be fantastic!!!!

Back to the road, here´s something that got in the way of a Tiger 900, case of beer to whoever guesses its weight correctly.......


Hamburg was the next stop with Juergen, Tim was having a birthday party for a select group of intelligentsia, so we were invited (why me, actually????) to spend a few days. Hamburg is another good stopover, not too big, easy to get around and living in the countryside only a few miles from the centre is great fun, surrounded by forests, fields and horses. I had a lovely early morning walk whilst all the late nighters were slumbered asunder, Ouma was the only early riser, eyebrows raised at my first beer at 7.30 am, chuckling a little as I explained my 4.00am rise, thus 3-4 hours into the day.
Thanks Tim and family for the hospitality and ICE cold beers.

A good surprise was to meet up with an old friend and regular guest of Club Paradise, Otto, down from his other island of Sylt to show us his home on the banks of the river Elbe, and to take us to one of the best restaurant views of that river for a lovely dinner. We stole someones table but Otto has a very slick way of doing this,(get the manager-Otto lives on Oevelgönne strasse!!!!!), and he promised we´d leave by 8.oopm. Perfect timing as yours truly was watching the rain coming closer and at exactly 7.55 the first drops hit, Otto paid the bill and we buggered off, leaving all to seek shelter somewhere inside the already crowded interior. Excellent departure....................


Having not broken speed limits up until now, except by the usual 10%, I had a hell of a job following Tim the day I left for Berlin! He was to show me a new section of the motorway which would help me on my way to the old ´A´ roads I much prefer. Trouble was, his new Audi is much faster than the Tiger, hence me flying along at 100 mph with my legs streaming out the back, sorry Chris, but I had to keep up!!!

Andre and Annette welcomed me to their country estate, after they´d found me at the bar of the local riding school sinking a couple of cold ones, and checking out the jodphurs, it was a long ride. Tennis court, olympic swimming pool and loads of lovely horses, plus cold half litre beers in the fridge, made me feel right at home. Not to forget Emma the wild pig (scary) and a gaggle of gangly goslings. For the Tiger, there was a brand new Range Rover and Discovery to talk to, and reminisce about the old country. Fortunately the Mercedes knew well enough to stay out of the way in the garage!!

Two days of looking around Berlin with 1,000,000 football fans cruising was enough, fortunately the beautiful older areas were quiet and free of noise. I watched the presentation of the German team at the Brandenburg Gate from a local bar and was really impressed - not being ínto´football, I have watched with my friends, during this trip, most of the matches, and enjoyed the experience.
I remember the days when football hooligans ruled the football publicity machine, but to see all these people having good clean fun was amazing. As teams dropped out, different nationalities even assumed the nationality of their next favourites, guaranteeing a lively audience every match. No violence,but singing, laughter and dancing - what a wonderful co-mingling of like minded souls!

POLAND

Why not go to the north coast of Poland while I´m in the area?
Swinoujscie and Miedzyzdroje ( get that around your tongue???) were my destinations and I booked on internet a renovated cruise ship near the latter on Wicko lake. Room was okay but it was so bloody quiet, no restaurant, so got on Tiger and went to Swin, which involves a free ferry crossing. Got totally lost in this place and couldn´t even find the beach, so got back on the ferry and went to Mied for dinner at an Italian place. Found a roadside bar next to the ship and had a few cheap coldies before bed.
Polish girls are stunning!!!
Got up early with the intention of crossing the border at Swin and going to the submarine pens at Peenemünde and then country roads back to Andre s house. Got the ferry, went past all the bloody roadworks for the 4th time, got to the border and was told only pedestrians and bicycles could cross......... The border guard took great interest in my bemused look as he told me I had to ride back to Stettin, 120km back, to cross the border which I had crossed the day before, ha ha!! However, I got wonderfully lost on the small back roads north of Berlin and found some lovely villages along the way. Germany really is a beautiful place to be, with the sun shining and a 1995 Tiger 900 between your legs!

A highlight of my stay with Andre was again an alternative form of transport to the Tiger, when we took one of his small single horse carriages through the forest/field tracks around his village.
The dust rising off the well ready corn fields as we passed, the cool of the forest paths and the smiling locals, used to this wonderfully eccentric country squire, made for an unforgettable experience. Of course, it was a little unpleasant for a couple of minutes as ´Dobbins´lunch came out at a full trot not 3 feet in front of our nostrils!!

A kiss on the muzzle to each of my favourite horses, and off I went, onwards, ever onwards towards a new horizon - Gottingen - south of Hannover and North-east of Frankfurt.
Staying with Juergens sister Annette (another Annette) and Juergen (another Juergen) and son and night club connoisseur Bennie ´the man´

A very see-able large town, which I will discover in the next few days, since I just arrived. Today I spent getting wonderfully lost through the unpronounceable tiny villages around this area. Ending up at an ancient town where the Fulda and the Werra rivers meet and form the Weser, which exits at Bremerhaven in the north of the country.
This town is called Hann.Münden and is a must see, it´s sooooo old and small enough to spend time looking at each of the old houses in detail, beautiful.

Photos will be forthcoming soon I hope, all the way from the beginning, not sure how many I can get on a blog but all the good ones will be on soon.

Before I end, if there are any bikers out there reading this, the country roads in this hillier area of Germany are STUNNING biker roads, even at the speed limit. Perfect surfaces and swoopy woopy upsy downsy roads, bring the noise of insane giggling into the helmet - bloody things (infringement of personal choice!!!!) - and what a great handling bike is the 1995 Tiger 900.