Escape to Colditz
	A European Ride To Eat (RTE) to Colditz Castle

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Each other month the Iron Butt Assotiation (IBA) U.K. cal a Euro.RTE and in October 2011 we went to Colditz Castle Germany, here is the report I submitted to Iron Butt the international IBA Quarterly Magazine

Escape to Colditz

Speed within motorcyclist’s tales is always around.  We are told Speed Kills.  For me it is the inappropriate use of speed that is the concern.  In the Long Distance safe riding community speed is a regular topic of conversation so why start a story about a European Ride to Eat (Euro-RTE) with speed.  The answer is simple I own a Kawasaki 1400GTR (Concours if you live in USofA) which is billed as a Sports Touring bike with the emphasis on sports so speed must be on my mind.  I love riding in Germany because the safety Police have not managed to stop the use of unrestricted speed public roads.  I started my motorcycling in 1967, actually before that my first year on this planet I was often rocked to sleep in the sidecar of my Dad’s BSA M20, a time when the white circular sign with a thick black band diagonally through it meant Unrestricted Speed Road, in the UK that self same sign now means ‘National Speed Limit Applies’, currently 70 mph.  This random maximum speed of 70 mph was a ‘temporary’ fuel saving measure introduced during a Gulf Fuel Crisis in 1973 and we have been stuck with it ever since.  So a chance to exercise my own decision making using my four S’s mnemonic; Safety, System (the Police System of motorcycle riding), Smoothness and from the first three S’s comes the final S; SPEED, was too good a chance to miss.

Colditz Castle is situated between Leipzeg and Dresden and well inside the former East Germany.  I’d ridden this way in 1993 just a few years after the Iron Curtain was raised so the chance to revisit the area and embrace the exploits of my WW2 heroes who were incarcerated in Colditz Castle was not to be missed.  I had two route options to consider, cross the English Channel at the Dover/Calais crossing or use my local ferry service from Newcastle (in the North East of England) to Ijmuiden, the ferry port of Rotterdam.  I do prefer the Chunnel as even though I had six years in the Merchant Navy I do suffer from Mal de Mer!  But with my economical head on the Ferry from my home port of Newcastle to Ijmuiden was chosen.

5pm Thursday 20th October and I was aboard King Seaways, bike secure on deck 4, me in my cabin on deck 9 and the Captain in charge of negotiating the 267 nautical miles to Ijmuiden, ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) 09:30 CET (Central European Time).  I need not have been worried the North Sea was like a mill pond and soon I was negotiating traffic from the ‘wrong’ side of the road!
First stop was to be Krefeld, close to Dusseldorf, to meet Gerhard Memmen-Krueger a seven times IBR (Iron Butt Rally) Veteran and now President of IBA Germany along with his fellow IBA Germany member Frank.  We partook of a light lunch on the banks of the Rhine where Gerhard and Frank advised me that this day, Friday October 21st, was the first day of the school holidays and as such the roads would be busy, well 50 miles in two hours is busy.  So no chance to exploit the unrestricted Autobahns as doing 20 mph was a challenge with the wall to wall traffic.

Zumo660 told me my arrival time was to be 21.30hrs so I called Ralf (Pension Zurich Alten Stadtmauer), via my Schuberth SRC-System Bluetooth headset and he could not of been more helpful, a trait that was to be evident throughout our visit.  Ralf, true to his word, was waiting on the porch to welcome me at this late hour and my Kawasaki and I were soon in our respective billets for the night.
I slept great and after Ralf's legendary breakfast was out seeking the best view of the castle.  We were next joined by Phil Weston (FazerPhil), an IBR Gold veteran, so Phil and I went to the previously reconnoitred location to get a shot of Phil and Colditz Castle with his copy of the Iron Butt Magazine.  Next to arrive was Ray and Rolland, fresh from the Isle of Man TT (as reported in the last Iron Butt Magazine) so I broke out my JetBoil and rustled up a coffee for each of them.

Then there was a lull in proceedings until the 4 pm photo call at the Castle gates so I used this time to complete the Colditz Castle tour.  Steffi Schubert was my guide and the whole history burst into life from her knowledgeable and informative tour.

Four pm and the rendezvous point was the castle gates.  Even Ralf joined us, dressed in his Russian Military uniform, and a local newsletter editor was recruited to record our coming.  She volunteered to do the camera work.  Unfortunately for Michiel and Reil, his friend from South Africa riding Michiel's retired H-D Softail, were about ten minutes late for the rendezvous so do not appear in the group photo, also missing by an even greater margin was Bob Stammers.  He arrived at Colditz as we were finishing the Eat part of our Euro-RTE.

It would not be a proper RTE if we did not Eat so the group reassembled at 7.30pm at Sopheinklause Restaurant for good wholesome German Fayre.  Once more joined by Rolf who had a speech for us all to enjoy.  Having been designated the Iron Butt roving reporter I asked the assembled throng as to their motivation for joining this European RTE; I must have waited too long after the first drinks had been enjoyed, because I did not get one sensible answer, oh well.

05.30 on Sunday morning and I was not the only one getting ready to ride, but first a layer of ice had to be removed from my Russell Day Long. Zumo660 set for Ijmuiden and my first problem was an Umleitung. Now if like me you thought Umleitung? Well at 05.45, pitch black, freezing cold you would soon realise that Umleitung meant something about the road block dead ahead of you and blocking the Zumo660's desired direction. I thought I knew best and saw a route around said Umleitung but as the road narrowed to a track, to a path and into a forest (where Wild Boar roam) I realised I did not actually know best and trying a U turn on a narrow foot path on a large touring motorcycle whilst scared of the wild life is not the best ever start to a day.

Back on course to Ijmuiden I was soon on an Unrestricted Autobahn, bright sunlight morning, no traffic and 150 hp at the back wheel was all too much for me. 211 kilometres per hour was my limit, which was 131 mph in real money. My GTR is not substandard but my nerve is and this was my limit and it felt wonderful, legal, safe and desirable.

All in all a brilliant Euro-RTE, 17 individuals from all over Europe, one even from South Africa, a good location and fantastic riding, ain't t life grand?
Post Script.  Adventures are relative, I thought I' d had a real adventure riding 1000 miles, doing my speed limit enjoying gay badinage with like minds but at the ferry I met this fellow: Cycled  far? Nepal, 8000 miles in six months, now top that!
Later Dave