Yes… You are absolutely right….

I have been neglecting you, not on purpose but I do feel that I have waited way to long to tell you about the last bit of my trip….

Well,, On Monday I woke up in Harwich, and yes.. I snoozed a bit… And then I packed my tent and gear in what must be my personal best time..

Vlad started on the first kick,, rode down to the ferry and checked in, and then I went on board the ship that was about to set sail for Holland… When I parked in the belly of the ship I realized that I had put my cloves on the sidecar..

And guess what… now I was one glove short.. and yes, it was my favorite gloves.. I told myself that on such a marvelous trip there must something not going my way.. So I strapped vlad to the floor and then found my way up to the lounge deck…

Found myself a cup of coffee and and empty chair and to be honest even with a lost glove in my mind I was a happy camper…

After a little while a good looking women in bikerleathers approached me… Excuse me she said.. You don´t happen do miss a glove do you??

I wish that I could have seen the look on my face,, there she stood.. an amazon in leathers… holding my missing glove in her hand.. She had spotted my glove riding on the ship and stopped to pick it up… Unbelievable.. My beloved gloves was now a pair again…

The crossing over to Hoek Van Holland when according to schedule and me and Vlad soon found out that we now was supposed to drive on the right… ( yes I made a slight mistake when I left the terminal)

Stopped at the side of the road and tried to make up some plans for the rest of my trip.. I had earlier on looked at campsite a couple of hours from Hoek Van Holland.. So I gave them a call but to my surprise they where closed for the season..

And since roads in Holland mostly are straight and flat I convinced myself that it could be a clever idea just to drive and see how far I could reach before I was a danger to myself and other people on the roads..

Oh dear… Now its late again… Well… I will be back…

S.F.F.S

Stefan

Well sometimes sooner is later….

And yes I do know that it has been more than a few days since I wrote that more will follow soon.. And to be honest. That is the way I am… Even if I got the will to tell you all about my journey my mind is not always on the same track..

As some of you know I got my diagnose and even if I am on my way to understand how my brain works, or not work for that matter.. I´m not always able to control my ability to sit down and produce those lines that I am so keen to share with you…

But now I´m sitting here and its time for me to tell you about the later part of this journey of mine..

On Sunday everyone was packing their tents and gear and even if I do know that all of us wished that this weekend would be a day longer it was time for us all to get our bikes started and head for the next destination… In my case this was either going back to the friendliest Pub in England (The Prince Of Wales) or try to find a place to put up my tent close to the ferry terminal in Harwich…

Since I was booked on a ferry at nine a clock Tuesday morning I decided to have a look at google maps and to my surprise this time I found a Pub with a campsite 15 minutes away from the Ferry.. Wonder why I didn´t find this place when i arrived in England.. If I had then I could have made a great entrance at The Spirits Agm when all the others was there instead of beeing caught with my hairy legs sticking out my tent and the rest of my body snoring inside….???

Never mind… My relation to the Spirits was by no means affected by their first impression of me…. ( guess I pulled my legs in before they could smell my feets??)

Oh Dear,, looks like a lost my track … back on track… Sunday.. In Rutland… Said Good Bye to all my new friends and fired up Vlad.. Since both Stow Maries (The Prince of Wales) and Harwich was in the same direction I didnt had to make my mind up right away…

Later in the afternoon it was time to make a decision .. Should I head for The Prince Of Wales where I now I was welcome to put up my tent for one more night or should I try the Pub close to the ferry???

Well… knowing myself and the punters and lovely staff at The Prince of Wales I didn´t see the odds of me being up at seven a clock the next morning being in my favour I settled for Harwich…

The ride down to Harwich was straight forward… Vlad performed well and in the afternoon I found the Pub with a campsite.. The last few yards was pretty slow due to fact that the road was crowded..The street was packed with people participating in a running contest.. Not a big problem as none of them where planning to spend the night in a tent.. But the line of people wating to get to the toilet was a bit of a sight…

Everyone that wasnt running needed to go… So I sat down at the Pub with a pint and looked at the show.. There was a few raised eyebrows when people in trainers all of a sudden found out that they where not the only ones that wanted to use the facilities …

But soon the competition was over and things went back to normal.. for me that meant buying a bottle of Coke and som crisps and I got back to my tent..

But now its getting late … time for me to get som sleep…

So stay tuned,,,

And the show goes on…

And even i missed the trip that all of the Cossacks did on Saturday I had a great day, The reason that I stayed at the camp was that I had I minor oil leak that I wanted to have a look at and It was also time to replace my clutch cable..

Replacing the cable was a straight forward job but the oil leak was i bit harder to get around.. Peter from the Cossacks gave some good advise and explained the lubrication system of the Dnepr engine and we both come to the conclusion that the oil leak could wait until I was back home in Sweden..

This since it probably was a leakage from the pushrodtubes and that was according to Peter something that I should wait to take apart until I was safely home again.. And I can assure you that Peter did his best to teach me about the secrets of my engine.. And I told him honestly.. I am still learning..

I cant say that I am a good mechanic, but I have learned a lot during the time that I have owned my Dnepr and I´m a little proud to say that I have been able to improvise, adapt and overcome the mechanicals issues that happens when you are stubborn enough to ride fairly long distances on a bike built in the former Soviet Union..

And talking about long distance… On Sunday the Cossacks summoned me to a small gathering at the campsite… And.. I am so proud to tell you that I was handed a prize for the longest distance…

This marvelous prize is casted by a man from the Cossack Owners Club and I cant thank you all enough.. I am so proud that I am lost for words…. Once again.. Thanks from a proud Swede…

And its a bit special that this prize was for this years longest distance.. After all it went to a Dnepr rider…. As you can see its the KMZ logotype in red… The top and bottom words says “Heavy Motorcycles” and the the rest says Kiev 1952… Thats the year the production of Dneprs started… Well… to be honest I am not sure which year the name Dnepr first occured.. But i do belive its a bit later then 1952… In that year they started to produce the 750 flathead for the army.. Thats the bike that now is known as the K750M…

And here is a very fine example of just that motorcycle.. In excellent condition and I must say that I do hope that I in my lifetime will get the opportunity to own a flathead….. To me this is the ultimate bike from the Soviet era…

And even i both me and Charlie rides bikes that are a mish mash of parts and both are rides are a bit of “ratbike” style.. No one at this rally rises an eyebrow.. Its just… You ride.. you are here … And you are just very welcome… At a cossacks rally every kind of rider and every kind of old soviet bike is more than welcome… And yes.. The bikes doesnt even have to be built in the Soviet era.. Newer russian made Urals are welcome..

And if you got another brand that has it origin behind the Iron Curtain,, Please bring them as well.. But the Izh and others are a bit rare.. but they are out there and most likely anyone that visits the next rally in 2020 will have a chance to see bikes that you might only heard about…

Next years rally.. Thats the big one… I do hope that I can go there.. So hopefully,, If God will and Tsar so allows .. I might be there…

So for now… Fair Winds…

(there will be more to read soon)

Stefan