to : Bülach (CH) - Rheinfelden - Karlsruhe - Mannheim - Darmstadt - Rüsselsheim - Idstein -Limburg - Köln - Oberhausen - Arnhem - Apeldoorn - Zwolle - Meppel - Oldemarkt - Ossenzijl

return: Ossenzijl - Meppel - Zwolle - Apeldoorn - Arnhem - Oberhausen - Köln - Koblenz - Ludwigshafen - Karlsruhe - Rheinfelden - Bülach
total: 2068 km

It was one of the best meetings! Fine weather, perfect campsite, good food and a fair share of fun. A summary of the fun we've enjoyed:
Thursday - ride to Ossenzijl in the province of Overijssel, first shower while crossing the border to Holland.
Friday - a sunny dry day. I ride with Boyd and Trevor to the Ijsselmeer. Boyd turns out to be a great touring guide. He has no trouble finding "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe".
Saturday - Ride-out with guides Bert and Koos. We do around 150 km over backroads and have a pit stop in a cafe. A nuisance as ever, the scores of "drempels". Someone must make millions replacing all these worn out shock absorbers.
The ride-out ends at the Basser TT, an event for classic racing bikes. Great fun! Ear-splitting two-strokes screaming down the road alongside barking four-strokes. The pits are open to the public where some Lanz Bulldogs in the agricultural section are belching smoke and fumes while happily thumping away.
Till dinner time Koos keeps us entertained firing the carbide cannon. There's an awful ear-shattering bang to it!
In the evening we're enjoying Huub's tale of his epic journey to Mongolia and the efforts of Diederick van Zuylen and his smashing Band.
Sunday - Lambert leads us to the Nuttert van der Heide Rally in Boijl. Onehundert pre-war motorcycles take place in the run. A spectacular meeting as these bikes prepare for the start of the run. Another day we happily ignore carbon dioxide emissions.
In the afternoon I set off for home which I reach at 1 am on Monday. Towards Ludwigshafen an aircooled BMW GS passes me with a throaty roar. An hour later he repeats the feat, roaring by at full throttle. The guy has a license plate from St. Gallen and hardly had I passed into Switzerland it's him again roaring by a third time. This proves my point, keeping a steady moderate speed and stopping only for petrol is more efficient than sheer speed.

Motorcycles at the meeting: approx. 40
Organising team: Sjak Evers, Lambert Smit, brothers Bert and Koos - thanks for your efforts and time!