Day 3
So I woke up at 6am again to the above. More rain and thunderstorms. At least my gear was almost all dry, specifically my gloves.
It didn’t take me long to get ready, repack my bag, check that all electrical gadgets were charged and still working after the rain and get ready to go. Getting back on to the motorway was a piece of cake after a minor couple of U turns.
Of course, when I passed some tanks, I needed to get a photo so I popped the bike up onto the pavement and snapped this.
It was now Friday and in Poland (and Ukraine) it was a long weekend as far as I could tell due to something about Easter. There was virtually no traffic anywhere, but typically there was I, on the pavement on a motorbike and who would drive past but some policemen. I thought that this would be my first run in with the law but they ignored me which was nice. So I got on the E40 again and continued heading east.
I decided to go via Auschwitz as it was on the way. What a truly depressing place. How people could do that to people is beyond belief. The less said the better.
It was still raining for most of the day and pretty cold so I had the heated grips on (I’ll explain why this is important later) , torrential still and at one point on some flatlands I was treated to a fantastic lightning show! Thankfully I didn’t play a staring role. Towards the early afternoon I made it to a town called Rzeszow as I recognised the familiar golden arches. It had stopped raining now but was still pretty miserable. I sat down, had my Big Mac meal and relaxed for half an hour. I was contemplating whether or not to try the infamous Ukrainian border tonight.
Anyhow hopped back on the bike and it was dead. Nada, nothing. Turn the key and nothing lit up. Damn! On my bike though the battery is relatively easy to get to and I had the tools to get to it. I did this and checked no wires had come loose. All looked good but I was confused why it had died. Across the road was a petrol station so I went and bought some jump leads and then walked around the McD’s carpark with no local lingo, trying to ask for a jump start. Eventually a nice man with pigeon English helped me out however the bike still wouldn’t start after 10 mins of being hooked up. I was unhappy now, cold as it had started to rain, and just at a loss of what to do. The closest BMW dealer was a few hundred miles away and it was a long weekend. I couldn’t speak the language either which didn’t help.
Then enter Anyo to the rescue! He walked over and introduced himself, he was originally from Hungary (I think) and had married a Polish lady and lived in Poland for 10 years. His English was pretty damn good and he explained that i was kind of lucky. he has a similar model bike and there was a great BMW Independent just a few mins away, the only one for hundreds of miles. Even better, Anyo called the owner up, at 6pm on a bank holiday Friday and he agreed to meet us at his workshop. Anyo took me there in the car, explained what was wrong to the non English speaking bossman, and we then went to pick up my bike in his van. Things were looking up!
A few mins later a mechanic arrived who spoke perfect English. He had worked in Scotland for a few years and was great to chat to. Paul happily changed my battery for me for a new one. The garage “Willinger Motorcycle” are my hero’s. The price was reasonable too. They had at least 50 BMW bikes there, a real nice setup. I couldn’t have broken down in a better place.
After a chat and many thanks I headed back on my way, not knowing why the battery had gone flat and slightly nervous that it would happen again, but off I went. This time with heated grips off as these sap a lot of power, just in case.
Off I headed to the border…