day 19, wednesday 18^th august 99

After an average breakfast we pack bikes in the (surprise, surprise) rain. On with the stifling waterproofs and off we go…

There is a moment or two of confusion about how to get onto the Autobahn. We've decided to square off our tyres in an attempt to get to the 'Ring today. What can I say about the Autobahns? Mostly fast, some bits dead slow and some places where we had to filter between near stationary traffic. It's pleasing, in an odd sort of way, to find out that the German's have lane discipline that's equally as bad as the English. They hog the overtaking lane and go slowly, they pull out without looking and so on and so forth. Very much like being at home, then.

It rains, on and off, for most of the day. In the early afternoon, Jim leaves us to go to Darmstadt. This is where the German Triumph dealer is going to prove how efficient he is by replacing the radiator under warranty. Jim will join us at the 'Ring tomorrow.

Down to five, temporarily.

We arrive at the 'Ring at 5:35 p.m., ready for a lap. We don't get one. It's raining, soon very hard, and none of us fancy it in the rain. Depressed, we decide to book into a guesthouse and return to the track if the rain stops. A quick phone call to Adamanda (reaching Amanda) gets us two things – the location of a good guesthouse and the information that Adam and Amanda will be bringing their bikes over for the weekend, arriving the following evening. We do the guesthouse thing (difficult as we don't speak German and the hotel owner, Mrs. Merten, speaks no English) and return to the track at 7:15 only to find that it has closed early because of the rain. In order to emphasise the point, it rains again.

We go back to the guesthouse and Andy arrives. Iain is 40 klicks away, with a puncture. Fortunately, he phones and says that he thinks it's probably being fixed, so we go out to eat and drink.

Iain turns up at about 10:30 and joins us at the restaurant – immediately demanding beer and food. The poor bugger has had a bit of a crap day. Earlier, when it was raining particularly hard, he had to spend an hour waiting for the Bandit's electrics to dry out and do the working properly thing. That coupled with the puncture, means that he's well brassed of. Still, at least he's here, unlike Jim. We get a call to say that the Super-Efficient German dealer won't be getting his radiator until tomorrow. He claims that the town he's in is full of top totty but we suspect he may be trying on a ruse.

Mileage: 350