Page 19 - Shining On Winter 2022

smaller bikes in the range 750, 850, 900 there wasn’t a lot there. There were also 3rd party vendors with
a range of luggage, exhaust, paint, customising options and engineering companies to cater for your
every need. I was impressed by the Jekyll and Hyde exhaust systems, but they don’t make one for the
750. There was also a custom painter there with a light reactive paint that changed colour with a control
box to activate it. He also did a chrome paint that I would have sworn was plated chrome if it hadn’t been
sprayed on a plastic panel.
I returned to the hotel for a freshen up and then
back to the venue for the VIP party in the evening.
If you’ve been to Garmisch you’ll know what the
party is like although this year it was only for VIP
ticket holders on the official organised trips. It was
an excellent event with live band, food, and drink
and saw riders and BMW enthusiasts from all over
the world. Our UK tables were next to groups from
South Africa, India and France. The biggest and
loudest contingent being from the USA (where
else). The party went on until about 2am, but I left
at 1am with one of our group to find the tube back
to the hotel. We met a couple of very drunk guys
from Argentina who had been at the party. They
had no idea where their hotel was or even if they
were on the right train, they just wanted to talk.
When we got off they still couldn’t remember where
their hotel was, but were happy to stay on the tube
chatting to people.

Sunday 3rd July
Sunday was a relaxing get over the party day, so I
went back to the event to look around with some of
the people I’d been riding with. There was hardly
anyone at the event on the Sunday so you could
easily see everything and chat to the exhibitors. In
the afternoon we did the tourist open bus top tour to
see the sights of Berlin, including the Brandenburg
Gate, Checkpoint Charlie and what’s left of the Wall.
Then back to the hotel for beer, food and a good
night's sleep ready for the home trip.

Monday 4th July (260 miles)
Another decent breakfast, load the bike and set off
at 9. Head for the autobahn to get out of Berlin and
avoid traffic. Good idea except the autobahn was
crammed with slow moving cars and lorries. There’s
no filtering allowed in Germany and the cars move
over to block you if you try, with hefty fines if you’re caught. So we crawl along with the cars and lorries
until we reach the exit. It’s slightly cooler today as it's only 29 degrees. Clear of Berlin we get back onto
some good twisty roads with great scenery, through forestry and over hills. We stop for lunch at a log
cabin for the obligatory currywurst. Return to the curvy roads heading for the hotel in Kassel. enjoyable
ride until hitting the rush hour traffic in Kassel and negotiating more cobbles and tram lines. Another 4
star hotel. I was getting used to the BMW ethos, time for more beer and food.

Tuesday 5th July (321 miles)
Once more onto the cobblestones and tram lines until the edge of the city, which to be fair wasn’t too far
as we’d ridden across half the city the night before to find the hotel. Out of the city it was good twisty
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