Page 12 - Shining On Winter 2022

Tuesday

Once again we managed to get an earlier train without any hold ups, only to be greeted the other side of
the tunnel by rain, rain and more rain. The M25 was like a river and it was quite scary at times with the
spray and lorries and cars everywhere, who were not exactly driving to the conditions. But what made
my heart come up into my mouth was all of a sudden the bike seemed to falter, like it wanted to cut out,
along the busiest 5-lane stretch, and it being a ‘smart’ section it had no breakdown lane! The last thing I
wanted was to have to pull up on the inside lane where visibility was nil! Thankfully the bike kept coming
back to life, and I suspect that it was water ingress into the (exposed, Harley) forward-facing air filter.
Time to re-oil it I think! Once we got onto the M3 it started to dry out a bit and I made it home without any
further drama.

I did 1600 miles in all and another brilliant weekend touring in fabulous scenery with excellent company.
If you haven’t been to a Ulysses German meet, you must try it. I have been on four or five, the first in
2016, and they have never disappointed. Until the next time, it is good-bye from me and if you are
inclined, have a look at my YouTube channel, MotoGrandad, where I will be putting a few videos of the
latest tours with Ulysses GB. Subscribe to the channel and you will be notified when they go live. Auf
Wiedersehen, Alex.

The Long Way Back - from Hauenstein via the Schwartzwalder Hochstrasse (Rudy Ike)

As I look out at the rain it seems a long time ago that I enjoyed
the tropical temperatures of the rides around Hauenstein in
August. No doubt you will have read all about our Hauenstein
adventures from Alex’s excellent article, but this piece is about
an extension that Graham and I took from Hauenstein to the
Black Forest and back home via Reims and Ypres.

First of all Graham is a biker neighbour of mine who joined our
group on the last day of the Hauenstein weekend. There he
suffered the three-line whip and was press-ganged into joining
the Ulysses Club. His mistake for wanting to meet up there
before our onward journey! I did warn him.

After all the farewells at Hauenstein we drove off to the town of
Speyer, a picturesque large town on the banks of the Rhine with
an impressive cathedral. The hills around Hauenstein soon
gave way to the flat and arable plains alongside the Rhine.
Speyer was a welcome coffee stop and, considering the
temperature, a chance to cool down. We then drove on past
Karlsruhe to Ettlingen, our next stop for lunch.

Crossing the Rhine, we encountered a traffic jam. The two
lanes of stationary traffic were conveniently wide apart so
through we went. As we were taking advantage of this
experience, I suddenly recalled that in Germany filtering is a
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