Very sorry to hear about your accident Keith, it was a shame not to see you in Budapest. I had a little slide down the road myself in France as a result of some diesel on a roundabout but nothing serious.

Just a note to say that I stayed in the pension recomended by Momir in Budapest and found the place to be very good in terms of the room and also bike safety (which is my prime concern when travelling). The place was a little tricky to find coming into budapest but seemed to be well signposted coming out from the centre.

Also another point to note is that I went to see the mechanic recomended by Momir, (Andras +36 703 805 593). He was very friendly and spoke good english, he was also happy to let me watch and help him while he worked so I would recomend him to anyone needing mechanical assistance in Budapest.

If you're happy with a mechanic somewhere - e.g. Budapest http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/wink.gif please be sure to also post it in the "Repair shops around the world" forum.

thanks, Grant

Having just done Poland ( Krakow / Auswitch ) via Germany from Rotterdam I can say that due to road conditions in Poland I would doubt it possible to get from Krakow to Calais in one day.
I managed to get from Rotterdam to the Polish boader easy enough but this was a hard ride even on a my hayabusa. It took another full day to get to Krakow due to Traffic / Road conditions.
Email me for more details and pictuers of the roads, honestly you will not believce how bad they are ! tinman at dsl.pipex.com

ej! its not THAT bad man! i did london to torun (central poland) in 20 hours (inc ferry and time change) non stop riding, well fuel and smoke stops every 160 miles or so, on my trusty transalp this summer, if i was on a bike like yours i could probably cut it to 16 hours, on the way back i did it in 24 hours only 'cause it was non stop raining all the way from polish/german border to my flat in west london.

That bad eh Tinman? I was under the impression that the roads were pretty good. Would like to see the pics, maybe you can post them?

How was the trip otherwise?

I'm back in the saddle now after my recent bash and am thinking of heading off towards the end of Oct.

What was the weather like?

What were the Polish women like?

Well the trip was fantastic but very knackering at times. We headed from Rotterdam after the over night ferry from hull and drove through the netherlands and across Germany to the Polish boarder in one day and then got a b&b. It rained all the way across Germany and this made it hard work reading road signs and keeping the pace up, but still fun. The next day we headed towards Krakow but did not make the progress we wanted because of the roads. The e40 / e36 is made of large concrete flags which are cracked and drop and inch after each one, there is also are a large gap in the middle of the road. The other tarmac roads have deep groves where the lorries have worn them away and this can be dodgy if your front tyre gets stuck in them. Im sure it would have been less of a problem on a smaller 600 dual purpose bike but tough on a busa however it does make for interesting driving, I'll e-mail you some pics. Krakow was nice but to be honest it was the much smaller villages that we found more interesting. The people where very friendly and everyone wanted to talk to us, even the workmen we passed all stopped and waved at us. It was just like being a film star is the best way to describe it. Auswitch was not very nice, really depressing with everyone crying etc. Glad I went there but would not go again. The weather was not great but remained dry after the first day, my advice to you would be to hold of your trip there untill better weather next year now and head south instead through france spain. Don't be tricked by the night club signs either as we were as these are Brothels. it was funny however going in and asking how much only to be presented with a Polish girl making shagging jestures. Left there quickly http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/wink.gif
Came back much the same way and stopped in Amsterdam before back on the ferry.
Will defo do it agian and are already planning another trip but next time will head down through Germany, Austria then up through Hungary the Tara mountains and back through Poland Germany. Oh yeah the motorways are not built yet so if looking on your map you think you can wiz through to Krakow you'll be wrong - some show the motorways as dotted lines and it's these dotted bits that are not built yet - took us a bit to work out but hey it was our first time http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/wink.gif Oh finally one night whilst camping we heard guns going off - Oh how we laughed that night http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif
If you want to more just let me know...

The concrete flags Tinman mentioned are remains of an old German highway from Berlin to Wroclaw. AFAIK it is the last such section in Poland, I guess not more than 150km. All other roads are tarmac. Unfortunately, groves are not uncommon but they weren't a problem for me on a smaller GS500.
If there is something to worry about in Poland, for sure it's not guns, never heard one in my whole life.
Check this 10 days weather forecast to get a hint of what it's like now: http://www.weather.com/activities/ot...locid=PLXX0012

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mdmystko:
The concrete flags Tinman mentioned are remains of an old German highway from Berlin to Wroclaw. AFAIK it is the last such section in Poland, I guess not more than 150km. All other roads are tarmac. Unfortunately, groves are not uncommon but they weren't a problem for me on a smaller GS500.
If there is something to worry about in Poland, for sure it's not guns, never heard one in my whole life.
Check this 10 days weather forecast to get a hint of what it's like now: http://www.weather.com/activities/ot...locid=PLXX0012[/QU OTE]

The 2 gun shots we heard were whilst camping just outside the Auswitch Museum at a campsite on the Kolbego road. We had no idea what was going on but definatly heard them. This was not posted however to put anybody off http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif

J H C those roads look like a death trap. I was fooled by the maps which suggest motorway standard the whole way. Maybe you're right and I should head south instead.

Sounds like you had a good trip though, dodgy night clubs and gun shots aside. Thanks for the pics and the info.