
31 Aug 2011
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
Posts: 1,049
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Czeching out Poland and Slovakia: a two TA tour.
Czeching out Poland and Slovakia: a two TA tour.
My bike: 1993 Honda XL600V Transalp
My dad’s bike: 2009 Honda XL700V Transalp
Trip stats:
Total Miles: 2848.
Total Fuel: 282
Average: MPG (UK): 56
Highest MPG (UK): 65.8
Lowest MPG (UK): 41
Scottoil used: 300 ml
Engine oil used 800ml
Countries entered: 5
Wallets lost/nicked:1
Chain adjustments: 1
Punctures: nil
The time had come to set off on with my dad on our increasingly traditional, annual bike tour. The hurdle this involves is that he lives in West London, and I live in Tallinn. Previous trips had been to Sweden, France and this time Poland: midday between the two of us.
One thing I crave is mountains and that is a hard itch to scratch when the highest point in the Baltics is a slight swell of 316m above sea level. So needless to say, given we didn’t make it to the Pyrenees last year, I wanted to reach Poland’s south, and no question!
Preparation began about two weeks before when I started trying to figure out my packing arrangements after trying to manage bulging panniers and a stuffed hold-all across the back seat in France last year. The bike has an E45 Givi topbox and 2 smaller Kappa (Givi in disguise) E21 top-loading panniers.
Topbox: Approx 10kg
Tent poles, sleeping bag, two pots, GPS, various loading cables/chargers, pair or trainers, pair of flip-flops, tarp, toiletries, couple small LED torches, waterproofs, puncture repair kit, leatherman and waterproof gloves
Pannier 1: Approx 7kg
Some tools: mole-grips and short torque wrench, multimeter, engine and scottoil, cable ties, spare front and rear inner tubes. On top of that 2 litres of burning spirits, some more cooking gear, some dry foods, my wood/meths burning stove, a back up MSR pocket rocket and gas canister.
Pannier 2: Approx 5kg
My tent (only fitted because the poles were in the TB) and pegs, my small pillow, and my ¾ length thermarest.
Pillion seat: Approx 4-5kg
Small rucksack with clothes, poncho, small rollbag, bungees, cotton sleeping bag liner, maps and a good book.
Tooltube 1: Spanners, sockets, ratchets and screwdrivers to remove the fairing, wheels, brakes, seat and tank: if it needed more than that, I couldn’t fix it by the road anyway. (tyre levers hose-clamped to the rack)
Tooltube 2 (sealed off drain-pipe) 1 can of emergency tire repair spray.
Day 1 & 2:
So on Friday 5th August, I got on my fully laden bike and followed my wife’s car, with our two dogs peering at me from the boot window, to a friend’s farm house where we relaxed for an evening, before bidding my lovely wife and our dear canines farewell the next day at about midday. A lightly sprinkled ride of 90 mins saw me filling up in Pärnu, Estonia’s summer resort town (although not that day!) and then I started the ride south, crossing into Latvia 45 mins later. I arrived in the lush suburbs of Riga at about 5 pm and met two of our friends who not only put me up for the night and garaged the bike, but also took me out for a nice meal although I did manage to get garlic butter on my only shirt within 3 minutes of getting my éntrée…, followed by wine and cheese back at theirs!! What a great start to the holiday!
!
More to follow.... and some pics
__________________
Adventure: it's an experience, not a style!
(so ride what you like, but ride it somewhere new!)
Last edited by Warthog; 1 Sep 2011 at 07:09.
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