To Belleau Wood and beyond!

[XR Valdeez]

No internet last night, so it's Saturday night and we're in Arnhem, Holland! But here's what we did yesterday. We were up and rolling by 0900 hrs. It was cold, but not a cloud in the sky!




Our tour guide, Paul!



Some of the scenery on our way out of the mountains and into to Rhine Valley!




Back across the Rhine, and into France again! They were waiting on us!




Most houses had fresh flowers on the balconies!



We decided to get on the motorway and click off some miles to get to Luxembourg. We went back into Germany and then into Luxembourg.



Once in Luxembourg, we rode along the river in a Vineyard region. Very cool!






We finally pulled into Echtenach and found a hotel promptly. Just after checking in, it started to rain! We were lucky!



Tomorrow it was off to Bastogne, and finally, Arnhem Holland!

[XR Valdeez]

We had our best breakfast so far on the trip today! A nice start, on a cold, cloudy day! The rain had stopped, but it was foggy and the wet cold was piercing!



And into belgium!



We arrived in Bastogne cold, and in need of a hot cup of coffee. Afterwards we walked around the main square and saw a memorial to General McCauliffe from the 101st Airborne Division. He is the General that told the Germans who had come seeking his surrender, "NUTS". Also there was a Sherman tank there too.





We then went to see the 101st Airborne Museum! Very moving!



We then hit the motorway up to Arnhem!



Arnhem! We took a small walk and found out that this weekend is they are commemorating the Battle of Arnhem! The town is full of Paratroopers and old Veterans!



The Bridge Too Far!



One of the Paratroopers



The Regimental Shield. I fixed the orientation! These are everywhere! Very cool!






We're going to attend a memorial service tomorrow for the battle. After that we'll probably head south, towards Belgium! Off to dinner! So long and thanks for coming along!

[Stretch67]

<----- History geek.

I'm insanely jealous of your trip, Bro. Keep it coming.

Semper Fi!

[Saeed]

Excellent write-up and pictures. Thanks for sharing

[XR Valdeez]

We're off to Ypers, Belgium. Going to click off a few miles as the weather report for Monday is SHIT! Cheers till then!

[XR Valdeez]

We started out the day at the memorial service in Oosterbeek at the British Army Cemetary. There was a huge crowd, and there were kids standing in front of all the graves with flowers for each soldier. It was a very moving ceremony. We saw soldiers form England, Poland, Scotland, and members of 86nd Airborne and U.S. Army Special Forces.

While walking back to our motorcycles, something caught my eye.





It appears KTM has abandoned their motorcycle program entirely! Reports say that in the face of superior Honda motorcycles KTM is now going to build bicycles

We got on the motorway and started to make our way south toward Leper... However, about an hour into the ride, I apparently ran over a piece of shrapnel in the middle of the road and suffered a rear flat.



We put in a can of fix-a-flat and rode down to the next service station where we plugged it and got back on the road. In less than twenty miles I felt the rear tire going low again. We pulled over and saw that indeed the tire had gone flat again due to a second puncture less than an inch from the first! WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT!!!! We pulled into a closed truck stop in the harbor district, and tried to plug the second hole but it would not hold air. A Polish truck driver was kind enough to lend us the air from his truck to pump up the tire and we drove off to get as far as we could down the road, which ended up being a whopping three miles.

Deciding not to go through a long tunnel, we got off of the motorway and ended up on the side of the road in a very closed business district. After a few minutes of thinking, we found a chemical company where a gentleman named Dirk, kindly let us hang out and dry out in his lobby until we could sort things out. He was a great help!!! We finally got a tow truck and a ride to a hotel in Lier.

So here we sit in Lier trying to get a new rear tire for the motorcycle. So while waiting around for a new tire, we walked around Lier, here are some random shots from around the town.

This is the hallway in our hotel. This side of the building has been here since the 1570's! Don't build them like this anymore!







We would just like to give a big round of applause for Dirk from Evonik Industries and the hotel staff at the Hotel Van Aragon for all of their help!

We just got work that the motorcycle is finished so we should be rolling shortly!

[The_Scottsman]

What?!? The Superior Honda Motorcycle wasn't impervious to sharp objects on the road? You mean...


IT'S LIKE EVERY OTHER FECKING MOTORCYCLE OUT THERE?


Simply u n b e l i e v a b l e!!

[zundappuk]

Judging by your current position you are not far from the museum at Overloon, well worth a visit if you get a chance!

David

[The_Scottsman]

And????

[deej]

Love the report, and the bike (I own a 2005 ST 1300) The pictures of the tanks and such are awesome. Thank you for sharing this with all of us. ;)

[XR Valdeez]

Once we had the tire fixed, we were on our way to Ypers!

Back on the road again with a new rear tire! The shop was an automotive shop that also does motorcycle tires. We were told that over here a "tire specialist" does it all!



As you can see, we were expecting rain! We had about an hour of light rain on our way to Ypers. Not bad at all.

When we arrived in town, we were pleasantly surprised to find our hotel was right in the middle of town! It's called the Hotel Regina! I want to compliment the new owners, Chris and his wife for being the best host's we had our entire trip! If you are ever in Ypers (pronounced "e-pear") you should stay here!



Our dinner was excellent!




We had to eat fast as one of the big reasons we were here, was to see the "Last Posting" at the Menin Gate! As luck would have it, there was a bagpipe band there for the ceremony as well.

A little history of the area. During the First World War, over 550,000 men died in the area around Ypers, called the Ypers Salient. The Menin Gate contains the names of 54,896 names of British and Commonwealth soldiers who died here, but whose remains were never recovered! After the gate was completed, it was discovered that it was too small to list all the names, so an additional 34,984 names were inscribed at the Tyne Cot Cemetary nearby.

Every night at 2000 hrs, since 1927, the local fire brigade, using a bugle, sound the "Last Post". Hundreds of people gather for this ceremony each night to honor thos soldiers that fought and died here!




The bagpipe band marching in!



The inside of the Menin Gate with the lights on!



The band marching out! After a solo piper played the Lament, there wasn't a dry eye in the crowd!



After the ceremony, we walked around town a bit. The town is lit up nicely!







As it was our last night on the road, we heaeded to a local pub and had a few pints!

This is the view right outside our room!





Nikki and I went to the Flanders Field Museum in this building. It was a humbling experience! We then hit the road and set off for Tyne Cot Cemetary. When you walk up to the Cemetary, you hear a voice calling off the name of the soldiers that are buried here! It's a continuous loop recording that NEVER stops. Here are some images from Tyne Cot.



This Cross is on the site of the German position. The Australians captured this spot while suffering treamendous casualties. The graves of four German Soldiers are next to this. They are the last survivng defenders of this position, and are buried here as a tribute to their bravery.



It was a very moving experience!



The area around Ypers is covered with cemetaries! You really get a feel for the shear numbers that died around the Salient!

We than made our way to Calais, and the ferry. It was bittersweet knowing we were leaving Europe. I had even joked with Paul, saying "to hell with this, let's head these bikes south and into Spain!"

Onto the ferry!


Bikes go on first! We had a few more passengers on the ferry this time, but it was still a very empty boat!



The wind was howling and we had JUST missed a big downpour! The crossing was one of the roughest Paul remebered! The ship was moving quite a lot on our way to Dover.

We missed most of the rain on our way to Paul's house in London. Here's our trip's unofficial mascot "Woody". It's a dogs life, but we love it!



The next day, we were on our way back to the "Colonies", as our tour gide puts it! We had a great time!

I want to thank all of you that followed us on our trip and hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did!

Seper Fi!

[XR Valdeez]

I thought I would add my final thoughts and some opinions from our trip.

I thought France was expensive. We went through a lot of money while we were there. Also, breakfast was never included with any of our rooms. Beer was expensive too, so we would go to a store and buy beer and go back to the room for our own little "happy hour". On the plus side, The roads were great as was the scenery! The people we met were very nice and hospitable. If you ever are near a French truck stop at lunch time, pull in, the food will be great and won't cost a lot! The Alsace region, well, it was friggin' spectacular!

Germany was very clean and orderly. The beer was great and breakfast was included with our room. The Black Forest region we wree in was simply beautiful! Alpirsbacher beer is REAL good! We all wanted to spend more time in Germany!

Luxembourg, well, the price is right! Fuel was 1.20 euro a litre, as opposed to the 1.70 we had been paying in France and Germany. At a gas station just inside Luxembourg, it was packed with Germans and French buying gas. Many had gas cans too! And they were buying up coffee and cigarettes like crazy, i mean by the cases! The whole non-smoking thing has NOT caught on in Europe.

Belgium was good. In Bastogne, our first view of the city as we came in was a huge American flag on top of a building in the town square. Breakfast was always included and fuel was about the same as in France and Germany. We didn't get to see a lot of the back country because we wanted to go to Arnhem, so were were on the motorways most of the time.

Holland was pricey. We only bought fuel when we had to. Being in Arhem during the Memorial weekend was awesome. Talking to the current paratroopers was cool!

We walso went by a few World War One German cemetaries on our trip too. The one near Aisne-Marne is maintained by the U.S. from what I'm told. The German cemetaries we saw were all under trees. Each headstone is inscribed on both sides, with up to three names. Just like our soldeirs, these Germans, even though their leaders may have been the agressors, were young boys answering the call and fighting for their country too.





The different headstone was for a Jewish soldier.



We signed in prior to walking around.



This cemetary contained 8625 names.

We have already talked about our return to Europe and will probably head toward Eastern Europe!

Thanks again for coming along!

[The_Scottsman]

Great RR, Steve and Nikki!