2010 Morini Treffen - Hockenheim

[jb666]

Just got back from the German Treffen - shame that D and UK dates clashed - and had a brilliant time!!
Shame the Kanguro is still in Belgium awaiting recovery - ignition failure. Got to talk bikes, drink beer, eat German sausage and got to ride round the Hockenheim Ring for half an hour!!

More to follow when I get sorted!!

John.

[jb666]

Well here we are - back at work and heard from the recovery people and the Kanguro will be back 5/6 July.

So what happened over the weekend? On Friday last week I left Ashford at 7.00 and headed off to Dover to catch the 0830 to Calais. I booked in and went in the docks to await loading. I stopped in my allotted lane and put my foot down - onto a slippy bit of tarmac and before I could do anything the Kanguro went. It successfully pinned my foot under the footrest, broke the mirror, broke the handguard and reduced the clutch lever by a third. ****!!!!!*****!!!!!!!
Thankfully some other bikers saw my mishap and quickly restored the bike to the vertical. I hadn't even left the country and had dropped the bike!! Then we were called to load on the boat but the Kanguro showed it's displeasure by refusing to start. A portent of things to come maybe?
After about 15mins kicking and cursing it fired up and I was stowed in the depths with the lorries. Up to the restaurant and breakfast - next stop Calais!!

To be continued .............

[jb666]

Well here we go - the next bit of the journey..

Docked in Calais and unloaded - the Kanguro started first kick - it would have started on the electric if I had charged the battery before I left home! As I didn't have a lot of time I took the motorway all the way to Hockenheim. In the 'old days' I would take a couple of days each way and pick twisty routes but work gets in the way a bit now - especially as I'm self employed!
It was a pretty uneventful journey apart from taking the wrong E42 - there is one part before Liege and one part after. It is a mistake I have made before, the last time it cost me 2 hours!!! One day I'll get it right!!
Anyway I arrived in Hockenheim and followed signs for the paddock as instructed in the Treffen instructions and soon picked up signs for the Morini Treffen. I rode into the paddock and was pleased to see loads of Morinis a handful of Gileras and the Anmeldung (registration). I parked up and went and to register. For the princely sum of 20 euros I had 2 nights camping, breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, free drinks (beer, soft or tea/coffee) for the weekend, a rally souvenir (a neatly packaged pair of earplugs!!) and a CD of photos of Treffens throughout the years. The CD was shown as a projection in the paddock building and I spotted myself making tea for the Brits in 1983 and my Strada at the Treffen held in Belgium in 1997!
I unloaded the Kanguro and pitched camp before it got dark. Tent up, out of bike clobber next stop - beer!!
Although drinks were included in the rally fee, food had to be purchased. This was done by buying Wertmarken - tokens - and using these as currency. It is a convenient system as it keeps cash in one place and servers only have to worry about the washers used as tokens.
So beer in hand, bratwurst ordered and on the grill I wandered about meeting many Moriniisti I had met previously and a few who I have known since my first forray in 1983. While I was doing the eating/drinking thing the organisers were holding a quiz where two teams had to identify bikes by their sound. Each team member had a selection of cards and had to select engine configuration (R reihe - in line or V of course), number of cylinders and 2 or 4 stroke. There was some discussion about how one team member could actually say that the sound was that of a Norton twin but the most entertaining part was the arguments over the sound of a Guzzi V8 racer!!
Having lost an hour from UK to euro time, a couple of beers taking effect and a day in the saddle making itself known I gave my apologies and left the remainder of the gathering to continue and made for my tent. I found it and crashed out. Tomorrow is Saturday - in fact it is Saturday now!! - and there is a ride out or a trip to a local bike and car museum and the parade lap of the Hockenheim race track which I had willingly paid 10 euros extra at registration. To the sound of the autobahn 200 yards from the paddock I drifted off into a contented slumber.

To be continued ..........

[adrian650]

Well done, please keep on posting.