The Vampire tour
This trip
started as many often do on a winter’s night, poring over the European map
deciding where to go this summer. The real seed was sown at the 2007 Norton
International Rally in the Isle of Man after a viewing in the bar of “I bought a vampire
motorcycle” which starred Neil Morrissey and an 850 Commando; I thought it
would be a good idea to get a picture of my Commando next to Dracula’s Castle.
A bit of research on the Internet revealed several castles allegedly occupied
by “Dracula” or rather Vlad the Impaler who Dracula was loosely based on. The best known of the tourist trail Dracula castles is Bran Castle in the
Transylvanian part of Romania so I had a
destination to aim for. Of course it would be rude to visit only Romania and the countries in between so a
rough circular route was devised which would form the basis for the trip. Some
people when they heard about the plan showed interest. David Templeman was sure
his 750 Commando would be perfect for such a trip and Fiona Stewart was our
backup on her ER6 Kawasaki (well if superstars can have fixers and 4 wheel
drive back up, a modern bike as back up isn’t cheating!) Fraser & Tracey
Currie came along on their modern Triumph’s but went there own way for a proper
“holiday” on day 2.
Preparation
Of course
taking a 35 year old classic bike on such a trip involves some preparation, it
would be foolish to think you can just jump on your bike and go. My old
Commando had given long and sterling service and was in need of an Engine
rebuild which took place over the winter, it was checked over thoroughly and
serviced just before departure and had new tyres (Avon Roadriders) & chain
fitted. Tyres were a bit of a worry as in normal use a Commando can knock out a
back tyre in 3500 miles; David fitted an older style Avon Roadrunner to the
back of his 750 Commando in an effort to get some longevity. Just before the
off my bike appeared to be a bit on the rich side, the single Mikuni fitted
around 60000 miles ago showing signs of wear so I fitted a new needle &
needle jet hoping it would be fine. I had older style Krauser hard luggage
fitted whilst David kitted his Commando out with the newer style Krausers.
Spares included a complete Boyer ignition setup, coil, rectifier, zener, spare
belt for belt drive, clutch cable, inner tube and an assortment of Gaskets and
electrical connectors. As always I went overboard on the tools and included a
clutch tool and exhaust spanner (useful also as a hammer and a useful weapon
for fighting off unfriendly natives)
Scotland - Bosnia
David left
the day before us using the Rosyth to Zeebrugge ferry whilst we left on the
Wednesday from Newcastle to Ijmuiden intending to catch up with David
somewhere in Slovenia. David had a two day 1000 mile run
down to Slovenia in hot weather with not a hint of
rain. We on the other hand had the run from hell! Torrential rain greeted us as
we emerged from the hold of the ferry, it was almost as dark as night and an
electrical storm danced above our heads, the Policeman on immigration smiled
when I handed him my passport and wished me a “great holiday” he was obviously
amused with the floods running down the roads, I wasn’t!
Despite the
conditions the Commando ploughed on relentlessly until lunchtime when we found
ourselves around 120 miles north of Frankfurt and having a short respite from the rain. We had
arranged to stay with German friends near Frankfurt that night and charged on. As we turned of the slip road a hesitation by me at a junction led
to Fiona crashing into the back of me, tearing a pannier off and bending my
right silencer. The ER6 had a small crack in the fairing and a problem
with the headlight plus the top box mount was broken. Other motorcyclists
stopped to offer help which was refreshing as this practice appears to be dying
out in the UK. We patched the bike up and rode to
Tomas and Andrea’s house and set about more permanent repair. Tomas took my
silencer away and came back with it welded, the pannier was beaten back into shape
by Fraser & Fiona, Fiona quite obviously enjoying her new panel beating
career and the ER6 was fixed up including a new topbox mount ingeniously
fabricated by Tomas. Day one over and what a start to the holiday, this was to
be the easy part!
We were on
the road for 10.30 the following day and we all rode together until the turn
off for Munich, Tomas & Andrea were going there for a vacation and we
decided that Fraser & Tracey should charge on ahead, they were on faster
bikes but needed more stops so it made sense. If you are travelling as a group
it’s something you need to understand and agree on otherwise stops become more
common and you never get anywhere if you are limited to a (self imposed) 75 –
80MPH cruising speed. We headed for Klagenfurt but the combination of a late
start and poor weather forced us to stop 130 miles short of there Camping was
out for the night as we were soaked through so we found a nice guesthouse in a
small place called Jageredt (www.pension-jageredt.at
). The owner let us put our bike in the nearby barn overnight, they deserved
some dry time too. David had agreed to hang on for us at the campsite he’d
found in Luce just inside Slovenia and in the spectacular mountainous
region bordering Austria and Slovenia. The following day (Saturday we set
off again in the pouring rain, as I started the bike that morning I noticed a
ring of soot round the weld on the exhaust, of course being the eternal
optimist I ignored it but just as we turned onto the motorway again the weld
gave way and the silencer flapped about only held on by the two rubber bushes.
A quick repair with duck tape lasted all off 500 yards! I stopped and asked Tom
Tom (Until now it had been mainly lying in the tank
bag) for directions to the nearest car repair garage and amazingly it took me
to the Austrian equivalent of the AA. The young mechanic was excellent and in
no time we had the silencer off repaired and refitted. He asked for €10 I
happily gave him €20 and asked for a guarantee, he reckoned it would last no
problem till we got home!
We turned
of the motorway at St Micheal and headed on the
secondary road towards Klagenfurt, as soon as we turned off the
weather improved, the sun came out, the roads were dry and the Commando seemed
happy also. WE skirted round Klagenfurt and headed Slovenian border near Eisenkappel. The last 30 miles were superb, hairpin after hairpin, all the local guys were going up and down in droves
on their trick supermoto’s enjoying the Saturday night fun.
Stunning scenery
Of course we missed the turning for Luce and
carried on unaware into Slovenia for about 10 miles before realising
and turning back, even with an overloaded Commando though I wasn’t bothered,
this was fun! We eventually arrived at the campsite to find David having an
evening brew, after the tents were up & servicing done we treated ourselves
to a few beers and used to sites free Internet to find a camp site around 200
miles away in a National Park south of Zagreb, useful this internet thing!
Sunday,
sunshine and excellent roads, more hairpins, on towards Celtje and then the
Croatian border. Dave had been having carb sticking problems with his Mikuni so
we stopped just after the Border control to fix it, by this time the mercury
was up in the mid 30’s, we were hot and sweaty in the leathers.
Throttle repairs
South of
Zagreb Dave’s throttle started coming off the handlebar so we stopped to try to
fix it, at the previous maintenance stop one of the screws holding the throttle
on the handlebar had stripped so we spent about an hour trying to get a
temporary repair. Leaving the services I noticed David’s bag containing his
money, passport & documents normally firmly attached to his waist slipping
off the back of the bike just as we exited the services, a lucky save, that
could have been a disaster. We turned off the back roads to Sisak then along
the river into the national park. Cows were being grazed at the side of the
road and Storks made their nests in the overhead telegraph poles, we arrived at
the campsite around 5.30, set up camp and spent the next hour and a half on
maintenance including a more permanent fix to David’s throttle cable. We
stretched the spring in his Mikuni & gave the carb a good clean out to try
to improve the throttle sticking problem, then of course a well deserved beer
& meal at the campsite café.
During the
night I’d been bitten by an insect on the eye and forehead and woke up looking
like I’d gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson, then I thought I’d lost my passport,
an hour later and a call to the British embassy in Zagreb to find out what to
do next I found it in my pocket! Who put it there, in such an unlikely place!!
We decided to stay another night at here and use what was left of the day to
explore Bosnia. We set off down the picturesque
road which passed through small villages looking like they were from a bygone
age, it was taking our full concentration there were potholes everywhere and
parts where the road turned to hard compacted rubble, the Commando coped
admirably though. At Jasenovac at a railway bridge we came across a burned out
tank and a memorial to the soldiers who’d died there, a reminder of the recent
conflict, many houses still bore evidence of shell fire and I wondered if I
should really be there.
War Memorial
We stopped
at the town of Petra Dubrca at the first café we came to, it was very hot by
this time, we knew we were near the border so after we were refreshed we set
off for the crossing, after around 20 miles we realised we were going the wrong
way and turned back, we found the border crossing around 80 yards from the café
we had been in, unbelievable. Neither country seems to acknowledge the presence
of the other so on these roads there are no signs to towns in the neighbouring
country or even to border. We stopped at the Bosnian border control and were
asked for documents, it became apparent we had no insurance for Bosnia and would have to buy temporary
insurance at the border post but not before the guards fully understood why we
were there, where we were going and what route we intended taking. It then
didn’t help that David had the wrong documents, he’d inadvertently brought the
documents for his Ducati Monster, much tutting and debate amongst the border
guards they finally allowed us in, €13 for our temporary Insurance document and
we were in. I had asked if I could take some photo’s
at the border and was told most emphatically no, so I decided to film it anyway
with my helmet cam, this appeared to make David & Fiona quite nervous and
they asked me not to repeat this in future. Problem was that the road signs
were in Cyrillic so we never had a clue what was going on, we headed for
Prijedor which we were informed by the border guards was ΠρwscДop
on the signs, our original plan was to do a loop around Prijedor and then
through a national park before heading back to our original crossing point,
luckily we decided to just head back the same road we had came. Petrol was the
cheapest yet at under £1 a litre and we had 3 burgers & drinks for under €7
so that was good and I got some Bosnian insect bite medicine for €3 also (well
at least that’s what I think it was). We returned to the same crossing point
and then made our way back to the campsite, interesting day all told. Tomorrow
we intended to ride through Serbia and into Romania.
Difficult to read or what?
To be continued next month……
End
of season Do!
To be held at the Clachan Hotel Lochearnhead
on the last weekend of November (29th November) As
always this has been a great end to the year and I’m looking forward to a good
turnout. Price this year will be £42 per person, this
includes bed, Dinner & breakfast which in these times is excellent value
for money. Names to George peddie ASAP and he will
coordinate the returns. Call him on 07742 852057 or E mail george1045@hotmail.co.uk
And
Finally
After a busy year doing thousands of miles on my bikes I’ve
broken my ankle doing something as simple as walking back to my tent! So no
motorcycling for me for the next 6 weeks at least! Be careful out there,
walking is dangerous!!
The Small Print
The views and opinions contained within this
publication are not necessarily those of the NOC or of the branch but are
probably mine as I wrote it.
No one accepts any responsibility for
anything, if you have a good time don't say I didn't warn you.
Gino Rondelli
