MRT Rally

Well we have enjoyed a beaut long weekend camping at the MRT Motorbike rally. We arrived on Thursday afternoon about 16:30, and were happy to find that along with only a few others we had the choice of the camping areas. The rally camp site was held in the grounds of a hotel which also caters for events like weddings and meetings. Also located on the site was a target shooting complex, which Steve got to visit, but more on that later on, also opposite where our tent was camped was a scout hall!

Leaving Remscheid

The area we picked to camp

The ride over to the meeting site was via some more fun ‘B’ roads, which Werner picked or knew about. We had great sunny weather throughout our camping and riding at the meeting. But storms were forecast to arrive in the evening of Sunday 4^th Sep.

Werner & Caludia, with Ralph the MRT orgniser and guy who rode my bike to Werners house for me.

Another Aussie motorbike touring couple at the rally, Acer and Vanessa.

The Rally meeting had several product vendors including Rukka Clothing and Touratech among them. I was impressed with the Rukka riding gear and think when my current BMW jacket and pants setup wear out I will check out the Rukka line up. Although I have not seen any stores in Australia, let alone Alice Springs!! So I’d guess this would be an internet purchase.

There were several Photo/Slide presentations of guys and gals doing overland trip, all in German of course, but we had several helpful camping friends which did quick translations for us of the trickier bits of jokes in their stories. Some guys had travelled through Syria before the current uprising.   I was interested in their trip. Some Africa adventures (of course) and these were also interesting.

Some photos of about Gieboldehausen township /village. At MRT rally site.

A Pub

House near town centre

Main strass

On Friday arvo I went and bought 12 x 500ml beers, and some ice (for use in a pannier esky). One thing I found out is German beer shops don’t have pre-chilled beers. So as it was quite warm and humid (I guess 28’c) a few light refreshment s were in order. So as things go one beer led to another. Before long I was enjoying myself quite well.  But the night was to take an interesting turn as I was passing the entrance to the shooting complex, I heard some voices inside.  So I decided to say ‘Hallo’ and see who was there.  Well the 3 guys inside were very happy to say hallo. Two of the guys had been scouts (Martin & Christopher), and Thomas was a scout leader. They were also members of the shooting club. Well as you can guess the 3 in the club were enjoying a quiet drink, and with the appearance of a ½ drunk Aussie. The game quickly became lets fill him up completely! Suffice to say by the time I emerged and was reunited with Deb (Somewhat cross with me! & almost ready to catch the next plane home) I had dispatched quite a few schnapps and beers. I was a bit  worse for wear by then (about 01:30).

Fast Guido, nice guy. Visited Alice Springs in 2008. Had some funny stories too. Another seasoned RTW moto tourer (unlike Steve & Deb!), he also helped with our Morroco planning.

Anyhow I was paying the price on Saturday for my exuberance the night before.  Too bad, still enjoyed the slide shows and photo presentations. But I did take a 90 min poppy nap after lunch though…

The Rock band that finished up the party on Saturday night were great for us oldies. They were really enjoying themselves and so were the crowd. Which partied hard until the early hours of Sunday morning.  Mind you I was not in a party mood as I did not want to be nursing another hangover when we started the short tour East and North. We were in bed about 23:30 and busy packing up by 09:00 after breakfast on Sunday.

Our tent (gold spars), packup on Sunday morning.

Scout Hall oppsite our tebt site.

Bikes lined up

We had been told of a museum of the old East/West Wall, and one of the few original border crossings used by several people. Duderstadt was not far, only about 20 – 25kms from the Gieboldehausen (the MRT meeting location). So we thought it would be good to visit.

Old GDR border post, now a museum.

Watch out for the barbed wire!!

After about an hour visit, we had seen enough, the museum was interesting and showed many relics from an era the German friends we know would prefer to leave behind.

 As we turned about  and headed north in the sunshine of an increasingly hot morning. I remember the TV scenes that I could from Nov 1989. Also thought about the countries that are still oppressing their populations, then also the new political upheavals in the Mediterranean Arabic nations.  I hope this may mean more overland routes re-opening as the nation’s stabilize over the coming decades.

We were heading to an old 16^th century township called Quedlinburg.  We had heard it was spared much of the devastation of allied bombing of WWII.  Much of the township still had its old buildings in use. The route I had loaded into the GPS took us over some mountain ranges and National Parks. Again we saw many, many other motorrad riders enjoying the sunny Sunday arvo in the hills. Along with Ferrari’s, Porsche’s, BMW’s and the ever present VW’s.

Quedlinburg town market square

Old Houses and shops

Stephen with the Old guys

On getting to our destination we could not find a campingplatz, and chose a Pension (B&B). Deb got the washing done, as we were out of clean, non-stinking clothes. One to the joys of two up biking, and camping, is little space. So we only have one pair each of hike style pants (can convert to shorts too), and our riding pants. So with 4 days at the Rally site, with no showers or laundering, we were both in need of shower and somewhere to wash our dirty clothes.

All for now
Cheers
Stephen and Deb