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Thursday, August 4, 1977
This morning I was not very happy. I got out of my sleepingbag at eight in the morning
and Gerben was whining about the oil-lamps in the toilets that were there while
it was light. I had nothing to do with it so I was very annoyed about it.
The weather is very nice today. After all the rain we had the previous days
it was good to see some sunshine again.
The camping looks a lot better with the tents and the motorcycles in the sun.
In the evening, Gerben and a few friends were smoking. I don't know what brand
of cigarettes they had,
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Camping guests from England with their Triumph
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but they started talking like idiots.......Meanwhile, Kees, Theo and Jenny and
some other camping guests and I had a good time in the bar talking about bikes
and music and drinking beer. At three in the morning I went to my tent to get
some sleep.
Friday, August 5, 1977
After the pleasant time at the bar on Thursday evening, I stayed in my sleepingbag
until eleven. Then I went to the bathroom to have a shower and went to the bar.
It was very busy in the camping bar so I volunteered to help them out.
That was a mistake. Some time later I was alone doing the bar and the others were
sitting in the sun. When I asked someone to make a sandwich for a guest, he refused
and Gerben was still asleep so then I had enough of it. I decided to quit.
I was quite disapointed about working here and tomorrow I will ride home. I helped
the last customer and then I went to my tent to pack. I loaded all my luggage on my
little Honda and told Gerben that I was leaving early in the morning and that I
would sleep in the attic that night.
My route from Bonlieu to Voorburg
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With a 125cc bike and a topspeed of hardly 100 km/h, it makes no sense to use
the freeway so I got my map and a ruler and I drew a straight line from Bonlieu
to Voorburg. That would be my route for tomorrow.
Saturday, August 6, 1977
I left Camping Moto on a quarter to three in the morning on my way home. (
odometer: 11716.2 km)
It is very foggy with a visability of hardly thirty meters. From Clairvaux I was
riding behind a truck. because of the speed he was riding, I guess the driver
knew the road. It was very cold too.
At a quarter to five in the morning, I was still riding behind that truck when
I saw the lights of a restaurant. There are not many restaurants open this time
of day so I stopped for breakfast.
After breakfast I left the restaurant and soon I was riding behind the same
truck. Maybe he had done some delivery nearby while I was having breakfast.
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Near Longeau, I needed to fill my tank. At a quarter to seven I found a
gasstation and with a full tank I went on, riding home. The fog was gone and
it was a nice sunny day.
At seven I bought a cheese sandwich at a café in Langres. Unfortunately the
cheese tasted disgusting. I left the café without eating my sandwich but I
forgot that I had to pay so a very mad waitress came running after me,
screaming that I had to pay the bill. She was absolutely right so I apologised
and payed the bill.
Near Verdun, I had a coffee. It was almost ten o'clock in the morning. My next
coffee break was in Sedan, near the Belgian border at eleven. Here I also bought
a French motorcycle magazine. You could see that it was near the Belgian border
because they sold erotic magazines. They were illigal at that time in Belgium
so the Belgians bought them over the border, in the Netherlands or France.
At half past three I had a late lunch at a restaurant near the freeway between
Antwerp and Breda and at a quarter past five I arrived at my parents house (
odometer: 12567.2 km) My trip today was eight hundred fifty-one kilometer in
fourteen and a half hours. That is an average of almost sixty kilometer/hour.
Not bad on a small 125 cc bike.
Epilog
This whole trip was 2771.5 kilometer. On the trip from Voorburg to Bonlieu I had
the small fairing and the sports handlebar and on my trip back home I had the
motocross handlebar. Riding long distance with the motocross handlebar was much
more comfortable.
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