Up early as we've a big ride today. As we were getting ready, our Russian neighbour had a problem starting his bike, apparently he had charged his phone overnight and now the battery was flat. So, we helped him out with a jump, as he's heading for Amsterdam I hope he makes it.
We left camp and rode into Praha centre, had a bit of a look around then up to the castle. Then it was time to head to Gdansk, Poland. We were a bit surprised there was no border control and were quickly on the Polish Motorway. A big improvement from when I was here last. The speed limits were 140 km/h most of the way, the motorway new with brand new services. I was really surprised, they have improved dramatically. It was an uneventful ride and we arrived at Gdansk around 20:00 hours, about 15 minutes before dusk. We decided to do some shopping before we hit the camp as we didn't know if they'd be open after. returning to the bikes Scott noticed a large pool of oil under my rear wheel, strange I hadn't noticed anything when I parked. Unfortunately, upon closer inspection it appears that the final drive oil seal has failed. Oil was everywhere.
Luckily we were only 2-3 km from the camp.
Arrived at the camp, actually camps. We had our choice of 2 or 3. the first guy didn't seem that interested in helping us, the next was more friendly, that'll do us. Ride into the camp, between all the cabins and up and up to the tent area. The track was soft and sandy so we had to be careful, especially after a long days ride. Eventually we found a spot, on a bit of a slope...hummmm
We set-up camp and walked down to the restaurant/burger joint, grabbed burgers & beer.
 |
| Helping out a mate |
 |
| Downtown Praha |
 |
| Oil? but from where? |
 |
| After a long ride to be greeted with this! |
 |
| I'm not saying that Scott was bored with the sound of my voice, but... |
19 August
Breakie. The tents were really on a slant, felt like we were going to slide down the hill. Luckily for us, we met some guys from the Netherlands, unluckily for them, one of their party had lost his wallet the day before so were heading back home and not stay the weekend. We decided to wait for them to pack up and moved our tents to their spot. Whilst waiting I got started on the bike.
Stabilised the bike, not easy in sand, pulled off the rear wheel and brake calliper so I could inspect the final drive. Couldn't see much till I clean it up. So when we head into Gdansk I'll grab some oil for the final drive and some brake cleaner to clean it up.
About mid-morning we headed into Gdansk on Scott's bike, via the servo for supplies for mine.
Gdansk is mush bigger and prettier than I expected. We had a bit of a nosey at the centre, grabbed a coffee/tea, checked out the market, then off to do some food shopping and a bit of a rece to find out where BMW Motorrad was. Back to camp, cleaned up most of the oil, Scott cleaned up the wheel. Yep, it seemed that the seal was leaking and there appeared to be a piece of metal protruding from it, I couldn't see much more. It was the weekend and there wasn't anything further to be done. Lunch was Wurst, cheese & beers.
After it was cleaned up, I dumped out the old oil, refilled the final drive and test-ran it for about 30 minutes. Minimal leak, I was hopeful.
We grilled that night on a single-use grill, steak and veggies. Was a good meal.
 |
| Preparations |
 |
| Relocated tents, ready for repair |
 |
| Poland |
 |
| that, shouldn't be there |
 |
| Scott working on my bike |
 |
| Not good |
 |
| Beer cans do have a practical use |
 |
| Gdansk |
 |
| Single use grill |
 |
| after the grill, down time |
20 August
Up with Scott. Fried eggs and the "meat" from our friend in Romania. Then we rode down to BMW for opening time. I wanted to get in first thing and hopefully get the bike seen to. I spoke with the service manager and managed to get the bike into the workshop and have the mechanic have a look. It appears that the race from the main bearing had fallen apart and damaged the seal, luckily the gears appear unaffected and clean.
They are hopeful that the parts will arrive by tomorrow morning.
That'll mean 3 nights in Gdansk, but can't be helped. I hope that we can pick up the bike in the morning. Quote was around 1800 Zlotty (ca. €400)
We then went shopping at Lidl for essentials - Wurst, beer, bread and odds & ends. Then we walked down to the beach, the water was bloody cold. Played dice and had a quiet day.
For dinner we went down to the camp restaurant and had Pirogi with mushrooms and beer. Played dice & went to bed early.
 |
| Wheel off, now it begins |
 |
| The balls are all in place, but where's the race? |
 |
| all looks good, except for the cheeky race! |
 |
| Old bits |
21 August - 589 km
Up relatively early, breakie around 08:00, packed up our gear and headed over to BMW around 09:30. We were told all the parts had arrived but would still be a few hours to fit.
So, we rode into Gdansk, walked around, had coffee/tea. It really is a beautiful town and quite big.
After several coffees and a walk around to take up time. Then we grabbed some rolls from the market and headed to a park for lunch and a nap. Got the call from BMW just after 13:00 that the bike was ready, headed straight over there and left BMW around 14:00. the work cost 1700 Zlotty (around €394). Expensive but not too bad as this had been the only problem with the bikes so far.
We headed back to camp, picked up our gear and got going around 14:30.
We had decided to ride the "coast" motorway through Szczecin, it was slow going but we decided to press on to Berlin. We arrived in Berlin between 22:00 and 22:30 and headed for our camp. Unfortunately, the first camp didn't exist anymore, it had closed 3-4 years ago after a fire that destroyed many caravans that were in storage there. it was now new houses. So, we headed to our second choice, a little further out in Mahlow. It seemed ok and quiet. We got set-up and into bed sometime between mid-night and 01:00.
 |
| Gdansk |
 |
| Berlin campsite |
No comments:
Post a Comment