Issue 133 : February - March 2004
Millennium Ride
Fazar FZ6
The Treffen
Elephant Rally
HD Shipley Rally
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Millennium Ride
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Coool dudes at 20 below!
Last year I attended the 4th Annual Elephant Rally in South East Germany. This year we decided to try the alternative Elephant Rally held at the Nurburgring, the original home of the event. I arranged to meet Bruce, an Elephanteer of some experience dating back to '72, at Dover late on a Thursday in darkest winter... After a night at a B&B in the port we crossed the channel and headed for Lille aboard our ever faithful Armstrong MT500s. These ex warhorses set free into civilian life have proven themselves to be excellent civilian steeds for long distance travel. The weather was kind to us; cold yet dry as we meandered out way Eastwards to Arras for a nose about the elegant central squares for coffees and sticky buns. Then it was on to Cambrai, stopping for the night at Le Nourion at a cafe/B&B. Upon leaving town Bruce's chain parted company with its sprocket leaving him stranded in the middle of the N43. Bruce isn't big on maintenance. It was easily fixed however and off we went toward Charleville Meziers and Sedan. We pulled off the main Sedan ring road in search of petrol and more sticky buns. No sooner has we stopped than a very nice French lady invited us in for coffee - a result! After a slurp and a chinwag with her hubby and a nose at his Ducati Sena replica, yum yum! we headed off the main road into the Eifel Mountains and into Luxembourg and our first taste of snow. Snow lay all about, deep and crisp and even as the low sunshine dazzled the eyes and warmed the spirit. The beautiful rolling hills ushered us forward toward Germany through pretty villages and wooded hills to the Nurburgring.
The weekend was full of the usual merriment and drunkenness that can only be harmonised by individuals having fun and not by any government enjoyment agency. After the firework display and mandatory nude riders upon an MZ outfit, I was informed that I had won the long distance award. So it was worth traipsing from Cornwall to Bundesrepublik and camping in a claimed minus 20 degrees. It was so cold that the flame on my lighter froze so I abandoned breakfast and headed to the bar for Fruhstuck. The ice on the pons was, as we found out by looking at our tracks, thick enough to support a bike and sidecar and two riders - Euro nutters. Eventually time ran out and again in bright sunshine (weren't we lucky), we headed for home. The bikes fired up without a complaint, unlike some of the more sophisticated marques about us, and we headed off toward Leige, avoiding the shady (read icy) road surfaces. After a good night's kip in an F1 hotel at St Omer, we headed across the Channel where we split up, Bruce riding North to Shropshire and myself to darkest Cornwall. Altogether it was a brilliant rally and it was good to see some Brits attending. Hello to all the boys and girls from the Druids MCC. Boo
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Cornwall to Nurburgring in deepest winter on an Armstrong. Cornish MAG member Boo actually enjoys it, the man's nay natural!
The site which was a proper campsite with a real bar and warm lavvies, was filling rapidly with bikes from all over Europe. Nowhere else can you see so many crazy outfits and the odd trike. A dodgem side car, a Daihatsu Cossack and the most immaculate NSU Max with a single diesel engine and an aeroplane e drop tank chair.