I've been touring Germany and Poland for the last couple of weeks on my F650GS twin. I stopped over at the German HU meeting which was fun and Germany was as lovely as ever, though expensive with the low pound. Poland was less expensive however ultimately disappointing with boring scenery, truck-filled poorly-maintained roads and junk food. The weather wasn't too good either, and I was in Torun (south of Gdansk) on Sunday night when I saw the late night weather forecast for the next few days. This was so poor I decided to cut and run for Germany.

I did some routes in Mapsource and downloaded them to the Zumo. Monday morning I was up and away at 06:23 (05:23 UK time). I spent an hour visiting the series of Prussian fortresses in Torun, then headed for the motorway. What I hadn't realised was that the motorways in that area were toll roads and the Zumo had 'avoid toll roads' set. Consequently I was on single carriageway roads and didn't get to the East German border at Frankfurt am Oder until 13:03. 239 miles in 6 hours 40 mins isn't exactly flying though my fuel consumption was still around 70 mpg.

But by then I was thinking of heading much further west, and now I was on the German Autobahn system I made making better progress cruising at between 75 and 80 mph. I rapidly transited East Germany and after another 221 miles I was near Hannover by 17:17. I realised there was a chance of making all the way home so got a list of ferry times sent to my mobile (I already had a return ticket from Calais).

To ensure I kept alert I started drinking a can of Red Bull at each fuel stop. 190 miles further on and I was entering Netherlands at 20:43, then at 21:30 and another 47 miles I was into Belgium. By now I was aiming for the 00:30 ferry and raised my cruising speed to 85-90 mph, though fuel economy took a hit and was now below 50 mpg. The French border was another 130 miles further on and I entered France at 23:19. Just another 36 miles to Calais where I arrived at 23:46. Total milage to this point was 862 miles.

The 00:30 ferry turned into the 00:55, the 60 minute crossing took 90 minutes and to cap everything P&O couldn't get the bow ramp down on the quay and spent an hour faffing about. I eventually got away from Dover at 02:30 UK time and made it back home at 03:54 (04:54 CET).

A total of 909 miles plus a tortuous ferry crossing in 23 hours 31 minutes.

I couldn't have done this with the standard screen and seat; the high Eagle screen kept much of the wind blast off me even at 90 mph and the AirHawk seat helped my not-so-iron butt.

I'd like to say my Ultimate Ear monitors provided me with non-stop music from the iPod but they failed (for the fourth time) half way through Germany.

Tim

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"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)