Friday 08/06/2018
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Didn't have the best night of sleep despite feeling tired and going to bed early. Had a decent breakfast at my in-laws, said my goodbyes and wobbled slowly down the sand track to the village and fresh tarmac. Despite being low on fuel, I chose to take the scenic route through Swornegacie and then Konarzyny to see the stunning lakes / countryside for the last time.
Progress through Poland was good and the next thing I knew I had passed Szczecin and was in Germany. Hit a ton of traffic and roadworks in Germany and had to filter like mad to make any progress. It was another scorching day and I wasn't prepared to sit in a traffic jam all day and boil in my bike gear.
Overtook a German guy on a trike, the back of whose trike was made to look like a WWII tank... There's something dodgy about a lot of the former East Germans I reckon, but it was pretty cool - I give him that. I rode past the old East/West German border. I'm glad that they've preserved it as a bit of a museum peice. I clearly remember the stress of passing through that border as a child - it hasn't changed a bit in terms of the way it looks.
I passed the place where I camped last time near Magdeburg, I was half tempted to stop there again as it was so good and so convenient. Rode on toward Hannover and considered going even further as progress was good, but then it became cloudy and I thought that it may rain. Ended-up riding about 15km South/West of Hannover to a small lake where I am now camped-up. Got a spot right on the lake, but it's pretty busy with a lot of Germans escaping for the weekend - not quite as nice as the last place with loads of duck shit that I had to clear out of the way before putting my tent up. Also a bit steep at €16.50 I reckon, especially as you also have to pay for the showers on top!
Drank the beer that I bought at my last petrol station stop and 'cooked' / ate some of the food that I brought with me all the way from the UK. Fake Smash (not bad this time) and a tin of meatballs - more than enough after a big breakfast and petrol-station hotdog and coke lunch. As it's the last day of the trip, hit the bar and had a couple more beers - why not?
Tomorrow, I still have a mammoth 600 odd miles to ride to get home. About 440 of those are on the continent and I'll have about 9 hours to do that, so it should be easy. The Fazer has been amazing. It's taken everything that I have thrown at it and never missed a beat. What a great bike. Amazing for such an old banger. Whilst at home I have to top-up the oil a bit every week, for some reason I've only had to do that once this trip! Obviously long distance touring suits it well. It's going to be a difficult bike to replace with it's comfort, power on demand and all-round practicality.
Mileage: 3938
Country count: 9 (GB, F, B, NL, D, PL, LT, LV, EST)
Beers: 44 + 1 Vodka + 1 Grappa
Fines: 0
Bribes: 0
Ass pain: 4/10
Mechanical issues: 0 (1 new tyre)
Accidents: 1 drop (+1 crash that didn't involve me)
Coldness: 0/10
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