This is part of the fourth section of our around the world trip.
Complete Trip Overview & Map

Coming from the  Germany or read our previous visit to Netherlands
 

12/9/98 Our next stop at another friends, the crazy dutchman who recently returned from his 3 yr. trip on a Honda Fireblade to about 40 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, Russia and Australia. We first met in Malaysia, as I was coming out of Indonesia he was entering and he also visited us in Australia for a couple of weeks while the generous Honda dealer loaned him a more suitable motorcycle to travel to Cape York, a challenging dirt road to the top of Australia. Now with a proven travel achievement he is writing a book and doing the lecture and slide show circuit to motorcycle gatherings in the area, before heading off on another world tour on a new Fireblade hopefully swapped with his old one by the Honda factory. We sat for hours bragging and bullshitting with each other discussing what we had learnt and how to make those hard earned dollars go a bit further on the road.

13/9/98 Sjaak passed us along to a friend of his in Belgium, another hard motorcycle rider, Rik Seys, who rode a Cagiva to Iceland twice, and a Ducati in Japan. He likes to ride in Norway in winter using studded tyres while most motorcycles are at home warm in their users garages. He is also planning a world tour leaving next year on an ex Paris-Dakar Cagiva a three year trip. If everyone planning their trip leaves it will be like pit street out there. Rik and his girlfriend entertained us magnificently in the evening. We were unknown to each other before then, but hospitality between motorcycle travellers, particularly long distance ones is quite unique. Still raining, now for three days and heavy.

14/9/98 Strong winds and a storm overnight cancelled the ferry we were intending to catch to the U.K. out of Ostend so we headed down to Calais for the Tunnel Shuttle Train. At $US 70.00 it was about double the ferry specials but worth the experience. An enormous facility with ramps and double decker car or single decker truck and bus carriages, waiting for the next departure every ten minutes. Motorcycles loaded last just driving onto the carriages and we remained with the bikes in the air-conditioned cocoon carriage for the 20 minutes trip listening to the trains own FM radio stations.
 

Move with us to Great Britain
 

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