Day 2
I woke up at 7am and immediately looked out of the hotel window, it was wet, but was not raining so that was OK. I got ready for the day and hopped on the bike at about 8, pointed the satnav east and off I went.
The bike has a 17L tank and will do about 220 miles to a tank at a steady 70-80mph. This meant I was stopping every 3 hours for fuel, a stretch and inevitably a chocolate bar or McDonalds. In fact I left France, crossed Belgium, Netherlands and half of Germany before I stopped for fast food. I was hoping to get free wifi to arrange a hotel, but alas, it was not to be. The journey was mostly uneventful, just motorway miles. The unlimited German autobahn always makes me laugh, I’d be sat doing 100mph which in the UK would get you locked up next to a rapist or something, but in Germany you just make nice progress. You’re also far from the fastest thing on the road with Audi Estates with the family and dog doing well over 130mph I would estimate.
The rain started to get heavier and heavier until it was proper torrential with thunder and lightning. You know it’s bad when the raindrops hurt your arms and legs through the bike clothing, which at this stage had the lining in still as it had dropped down to about 10 degrees. I even had the heated grips on. My bike clothing is very good and I can’t recommend it enough, Heine Gericke Master IV Pro, I was bone dry underneath it with the exception of my hands which were a little damp from the gloves. My BMW boots were 100% dry too. It pays to have decent equipment as being cold and wet would have been no fun.
About 8pm I rolled into Wroclaw in Poland. I had pretty much stuck on the E40 motorway all day and in Poland it’s pretty new and immaculate. Also it’s a toll road there but ridiculously cheap. I paid 8 Zloty I think which is about £2.30. The robbing bastards on the M6 Toll, who charge £5.50 for about 50 miles of tarmac should take note!
I was absolutely sopping and the rain was relentless. I searched TomTom for a hotel and it came back with a Campanile, I headed for it and walked into the lobby looking quite sorry for myself and leaving a river behind me. Unfortunately they were full, but they had another Campanile hotel just a few miles away which had spare rooms. So I headed there. Got a room and started drying my kit out. The nice man on reception too gave me a cheaper rate as he obviously felt sorry for me. A really nice guy. My room was lovely and it had tea and biscuits along with free wifi, so I was happy!
I hung my bike gear on the heated towel rail which was nice.
I also managed to park the bike under a bit of cover as it was just torrential rain. Once again, probably asleep by 11pm and had covered about 750 miles today. I had lost feeling in my bum!