I didn't really sleep so well on Friday night in anticipation of setting off on our practice trip to the Derbyshire Peak district in the morning. I went to bed after meticulously packing my panniers and drybag with all the hardware, camping equipment and clothes that we'll be taking on teekondBALTICA. I was wide awake at 5:30am on Saturday morning and after a quick breakfast with Vicky and loading up my bike, I was on the road. It was the first time that I had ridden my GS with anything like the actual weight of luggage that we'll be taking on the trip. I went for a quick lap of Clevedon to see how she felt and was pleasantly surprised because the handling didn't seem to be too badly affected at all. I stopped to get petrol before heading up to Mike's house in Bristol. I filled the tank up, dialed up the suspension pre-load a couple of clicks and then climbed aboard. Now the bike felt different - with a full 30Kg of fuel in the tank it was a different story, I had some problems getting the bike off the side stand much to the amusement of the assembled motorists at the petrol station. After some heave-hoing, I was on the road to Bristol with an enormous grin - I was on the road!
I met Mike at his house and we set off over the Cotswolds for our mid day rendezvous with Will at BMW Motorrad, Oxford. The rain held off all the way to Oxford and we rolled in to the carpark to meet a beeming Will astride his K1100 in the midst of all the brand new BMW models outside the showroom. The last few miles in to Oxford were hit and miss for Mike as he had neglected to fill his tanks and he was running on fumes by the time we got there. After a few minutes of fiddling with straps on Will's bike, the three of us were heading North in Convoy.
It was the first time that the three of us had ridden in convoy together and it took a good hour or so to get used to each other's particular style. We hit the motorway in an attempt to get some miles done at which point the heavens opened to ensure that our respective wet weather philosophies would be fully tested. I had gone for 'go light and dry fast', having just bought some new Furigan single skin gloves and having removed all the thermal linings from my jacket - within 15 minutes I was more than a little chilly, but not too cold. Mike had recently purchased an all-in-one rain suit which, as I predicted, did a fantastic job of keeping the inside of his top-box dry when he didn't bother to stop and put it on.
We made good progress and were soon in Ashbourne in Derbyshire, where we stopped at the very rock and roll local Sainsburys to get some food. After a highly nutritious lunch of meatball sandwiches, we were ready to hit the road again. We were ultimately heading for the Packhorse Campsite just North of Matlock, but Mike suggested that we do a lap of the National Park first to get some saddle time. Will stayed with the bikes while Mike and I went shopping and due to force of habit I guess, I put my disk lock on. My disk lock has a neon cord that you can attach to your handlebars to remind you to take it off before pulling away and thus avoiding a rather embarrassing incident when your bike travels a full wheel revolution before coming to a complete stop! I unusually didn't attach this and will picked it up for the floor and attached it for me. Suffice to say, as I pulled off, I got about a metre and there was an almighty thump as my bike came to a dead stop. I managed not to drop it on top of Will's bike, but there were a number of other consequences, firstly it caused my brother to erupt in an uncontrollable fit of laughter and snorting. Secondly, it caused Will to call me a 'fucking idiot'. Thirdly, it made feel like a complete twat! I have only ever done that once before and it was on a bike that cost significantly less to fix. My immediate worry was that I had really knackered something - there are lots of expensive hydraulic brake calipers and complicated wheel spokes down there. Sure enough the lock completely jammed in the spokes and no amount of brute force on the behalf of Will or myself was going to move it. Mike managed to subdue the giggling fit for long enough to suggest wheeling the bike backwards which did actually work! I spent the next 20 miles being convinced that something was going to break as I was sure that I had damaged one of the spokes.
We hit some fantastic roads in the National Park, albeit greasy with rain and damp, and made it all the way up to a lakeside rest stop by Woodshead Resevoir, just North of Snake Pass. We made our first roadside brew using Mike's Pocket Rocket Stove and my new camping kettle. It turns out that Mike had managed to pack some of his Wife's lemon tea and after mistakingly making himself and Will lemon tea with milk, he mistakingly made another one!! A hail of blasphemes was followed by general disbelief that Tetley could possibly make lemon tea bags.
We made it to the campsite at around 7:30pm after having done around 300 miles. The Packhorse campsite was on a saddle (!) of the hill just north of Matlock, a beautiful setting surrounded by lush green countryside criss-crossed with rustic dry stone walls. We rode up to the farmhouse / reception, parked our bikes and walked over and knocked on the front door. Nothing. A ring of the bell. Still nothing. I opened the door a little and shouted to be greeted with a cheerful Derbyshire 'hello' and a small but robust hound charging down the hallway towards me. The cheerful lady happily relieved us of our £26 and was in the middle of a describing the route to the local shop to the assembled Balticians, none of whom were listening, when Will commented on the how friendly the cheerful lady's robust little hound was. We all looked down to find Fido merrily humping Will's Hein Gericke Road Boots. There were more fits of gigling and snorting!
It's fair to say that Will had been a bit out of his comfort zone for most of the day, riding a bit quicker than he wanted to due to Mike's rather aggressive riding style. things were about to change. As we started unloading the bikes and setting up camp, Will perked up and went it to boy scout mode whilst I think Mike would have preferred a room at the Matlock Hilton! We cooked Chicken Curry and drank a few European Beers whilst trying out all of our camping gear - mint! It was bloody cold and a bit damp, but all went off pretty successfully. We decided that we would try and do the main trip 'unchained' - buying our food from local suppliers rather than chains. We reasoned that this would not only give us a more unique experience, lots of opportunity to interact with the locals, but would be better for us and cheaper.
We also managed to get in to the inevitable discussion about the balance between getting the miles done and experiencing some of where we are. In any overland travel, there is always a tension between making progress on the trip and seeing the sights and culture of the places that you pass through. Normally when I travel with my wife, it's pretty straightforward because we have a similar attention span and always seem to want to move on from a place at the same time. This is certainly not the case amongst the Balticians! Mike has proclaimed himself that he has 'fucked off' some of the wonders of the world to go and find breakfast, whilst Will needs to generally have settled down in the local community, married a local girl and help build a school before feeling like he has 'done' a place. I'm exaggerating a bit, but it illustrates the point. I'm somewhere in the middle on this one I think. Anyway, we resolved nothing and this part of the story is far from over!
I eventually fell asleep on my new folding camping pillow feeling tired but very happy and a tiny bit cold.
