AMOC International Rally 2005

AMOC International Rally 2006 - Denekamp, Netherlands

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After my first International Rally with the Scottish Section last year, which was a great success, there was a lot of enthusiasm for the 2006 trip to the Netherlands. (I have a bad habit of calling the Netherlands Holland, however it turns out that Holland is only one of the provinces that constitute the Netherlands, not a lot of people know that, apparently).
The Scottish members followed our usual practice of joining up along the route to the ferry at Newcastle at the nearest points to our homes.   We had decided to leave from Newcastle as it was cheaper, nearer for some and most of all docks at Ijmuiden which is well placed for travel through the parts of the Netherlands we wanted to see (central and northern). The route to our destination at Denekamp would therefore be through the heart of the Netherlands and would hopefully let us see some of the most scenic parts of the country..

Our group consisted of myself and my wife, Helen, Geoff & Val, Eddie & Mavis, Alf, Denis, Bill, Steve, Finn and Ivor. Our mounts were Self G11 600cc twin, Geoff & Val G9 500cc twin, Alf 500cc G80 single, Bill 500cc G80 single , Steve 350cc AJS single ,Ivor 500cc AJS single , Denis AJS Model 31 650cc twin, Finn Ural sidecar outfit and Eddie and Mavis brought a 350cc single in their van. Eddie kindly let us put our camping gear etc., in the van allowing us to be a bit less heavily laden.

After my ravings about the joys of international bike travel and the emotional highs of managing not to wrap myself around an suitable tree, my wife thought that she would have to sample the delights of international bike rallies and come with me this year.

After and absence of 30 years from pillion travel her posterior was persuaded to go on a 50mile round trip at Barry's BBQ last year and on the strength of this she was signed up for the Denekamp rally. As further preparation we had made some short local trips, the longest of which was about 25 miles so she was understandably apprehensive as the big day dawned. A group decision to camp at the rally site meant that we should have to take camping gear. Last year I did not camp and was on my own so luggage was not a great problem. This trip would see my poor machine carrying not only me but a pillion, our luggage and tent etc.

We did have trial loading of luggage and tent etc and kept cutting back on the items until the amount was only unfeasibly large. How it worked out was we had one pannier each, the tent, sleeping bags etc in a rucksack strapped to the carrier over the panniers and a small tank bag for any thing else. We did load the bike and tried it out to check handling etc. so we thought we had prepared quite well. It was only on the morning of departure that Helen tried to mount the machine with her full gear on and discovered that her leg mobility was impeded by the armour in the trousers such that getting on did prove to be very awkward. Fortunately Eddie and Mavis kindly took the rucksack full of camping gear in the van and so saved us a great deal of inconvenience.

Ivor Attempts Improvised Bodge

We met up with the others in the bright sunlight of a Scottish Spring Day (i.e. it was colder than it looked) and we had a great run down to Morpeth on the A68/A697 a good road for bikes and not overcrowded.   Eddie & Mavis in the van had got separated but we all met up at the next rendezvous at Carfrae Mill on the A68. We all met up as planned and stopped at a garden centre at Morpeth for lunch and refreshments.
It was just here that Ivor lost the pilot jet cover on his Amal Monobloc carb. which resulted in petrol draining out all over the engine. For those who are unsure, this is not generally regarded as a good thing. This is just the sort of problem which appears from nowhere and makes a mockery of all your planning for roadside emergencies. The cover in question is about the last thing you would take with you as a spare part as it does not wear or fail in normal service.
We spent a good amount of imagination and theorising about possible get you there bodges as when at Denekamp we could very likely get another cover from one of the Dutch organisers. We tried a variety tricks like silver paper, and wire or tie-wrap type solutions and were looking for chewing gum and sealing wax when Eddie came up with the kind offer of taking his one off the bike in the van and taking the chance on getting another in Denekamp. So all our bright ideas were shelved and we proceeded on to the Ferry Terminal.

When we arrived at the terminal Finn and his Ural outfit joined us and the party was complete.

Waiting at The Ferry Terminal

Atmospheric Shot of Car Deck

The Ferry was the usual line up and wait, move forward and wait, repeat for four or five times and eventually you board the Ferry. Its this chance mixing of machines and riders, the forced grouping of together of other nationalities and machines that can give interesting conversations and general chat with other owners and fellow travellers which can really make the journey a pleasure for me.

The ferry put us on an narrow upper gantry which was a tight squeeze for cars and was not too generous for two Bikes side by side. Once all the tie downs were in place you had develop your own Monty Python style silly walk to get out as the deck was an intricate spiders web of apparently random webbing

For me the Ferry journey is really the start of the trip where at last we are underway and will get to the continent at least and not stuck ignominiously at the side of the road in Britain, metaphorically watching our ferry sailing without us, the whole trip completely ruined . This year all who set out made it and unlike last year we did not start off under a cloud, disappointed for those of us who did not make it due to capricious fortune causing a breakdown at the worst possible time.

As usual the DFDS ferries provide good food and entertainment which gives the right start to your journey. This is also a time when as a group you get to know each other better and sets the tone for the whole trip.

A van and nine bikes makes a difficult group to keep together in traffic and to navigate through unfamiliar roads and junctions, especially foreign roads where the road signs and markings are different from those we are so familiar with. The point of this ramble is that we got split into two groups about 400m out of the terminal, a minor record even for us in the Scottish Section. Our only rain of the trip came at this time but after putting on my waterproofs it cleared up into a nice bright but windy day. I did not tempt providence and remove them until we got to our destination and this ensure we had a dry but windy day, maybe.

It was our intention to go up the coast using minor roads but after several abortive trips round industrial estates and such like we gave up and took the main road to Alkmaar. We had all agreed our route before hand and had decided to take the long dyke, the Afsluitdijk, across the Ijsselmeer.   This dyke encloses what used to be the Zuider Zee and has made a lake from of a huge area which used to be the North Sea

As we made our way up to Den Oever we passed through a small village and pulled in for a break as it was lunch time, by some freaky coincidence the other group had pulled into the same stop. Thus re-united and refreshed with good quality food at reasonable prices we continued on our way.

The dyke itself is 20km or so long and is a very straight and fast drive, we did stop at the observation point for the obligatory pictures. We had been told that even when its very windy its easier to go as fast as you can. Fully loaded two up we were not likely to give any speed limits a real fright but it is true that in my case going fast was not any more difficult and got the uncomfortable buffeting over with faster.
The dyke is built with the North Sea side higher and this must give some shelter from the wind but not so much that you really noticed, it is a magnificent feat of engineering especially for its great length. The observation point had a memorial to the men who built it however we could not get much detail as our Dutch was fairly non-existent.
Helen at the viewpoint on the dyke and not screaming to go home, which was one of my fears, in fact she gave every appearance of having a great time.

A Very Pretty Spot to Breakdown

After reaching the other side we turned south and headed for a run down the other side of the Ijsselmeer through the small villages on the coast but after Workum we had a delay while a broken chain was repaired. A North West Section Member had linked up with us as he would otherwise have been travelling on his own. Paul was fortunate that he had travelled with us as he would have been unlikely to have had it fixed so soon and may have not even got to the rally at all.

Heading south we passed through Lemmer, Kampen and skirted round Zwolle to our B&B at Dalfsen. We hit the motorway system round Zwolle at the rush hour and it was very difficult to take the right junctions and keep our group together, no doubt causing much annoyance to local road users. Sometimes it is impossible to navigate a place without going on motorways as all the signage for your destination routes you on to them. I know all our local routes will take you on to the motorway whenever possible but occasionally there is brown tourist route signage, sadly if they have such signs in the Netherlands we never saw them.

De Zwaluwhof - B&B

The B&B we had booked was terrific, Alf had been trying to find something on the web but most of the tourist sites were in Dutch and German only, so Alf phoned the local Tourist information and asked for something to take a party of Motorcyclists, they had suggested the Zwaluwhof (Swallow House) and yes it did have resident swallows!.    It is a fairly tall order to get ten bikes a van and fourteen people accommodation at the same place with secure parking but really this place could not have been better suited for us. Silvo our host met us with coffee and cakes he is also a Bike traveller and made us very welcome. We were given a recommendation for a local restaurant and had great meal which always tastes better when in good company and ensured that we slept very soundly.

Our Dutch language skills were put to severe test over the menu and although the waiting staff had some English items such as Ox-tail soup required advanced pantomime skills to convey the meaning providing much amusement to all present.

The B&B is just outside Dalfsen in very scenic countryside with horses and ponies in the fields and the peaceful atmosphere quickly calms the restive spirit. We felt it was so nice and ideal for us we booked it for the Monday night on the way home.

Denekamp

A Well Deserved Evening Meal

The campsite was situated just outside Denekamp which is about a kilometre from the German border. Denekamp was a nice, quiet place with shops, supermarkets and cafes to please everyone.

At the campsite we get down to the serious business of putting up the tent and relaxing in the sunshine with a cool beer. Isn't this what rallying all about?

The Scottish Section get settled in as can be seen we arrived early and had the pick of the pitches.

The Scottish Section representation at the big Ride out on the Sunday with Alf "our leader" in the forefront. The ride out was a terrific experience, mainly for the atmosphere as what seemed like a never ending stream of classic machinery puttered, spluttered, banged and roared its way off round the countryside.

The ride out went weaving its way through the countryside with a long ribbon of riders stretching out visible across the flat fields on a beautiful clear day. The route was through an almost impossibly neat and tidy country with no litter and virtually no weeds. Helen her first international and not that seasoned a pillion was so relaxed that she was taking pictures on the move, even though we were travelling quiet sedately across flat country this was confidence indeed.

The obligatory windmill shot which all travellers to the Netherlands are obliged to take.

Our trusty steed rests back at home after almost a thousand miles carrying two up. I will admit that we cheated a bit as Eddy & Mavis were kind enough to take our tent and sleeping bags as with them in their van. Helen found getting on and off very difficult with the tent on the rear carrier and it made life a lot easier when the tent was not loaded on the Bike.
Helen was not daunted by her first Rally ever (and a International to boot) on the bike and is making very encouraging noises, such as, lets go to the German International Rally next year. We will see but we will need to have a solution for the luggage problem first as a German trip will be a lot longer.
The Bike stood up to the travelling very well and was still able to go round the Edinburgh by-pass at 70 plus without any major problems although there the exhaust is a bit smoky and a re-bore seems to be on the horizon.

Return to Bikes Menu Page

	After my first International Rally with the Scottish Section last year, which was a great success, there was a lot of enthusiasm for the 2006 trip to the Netherlands. (I have a bad habit of calling the Netherlands Holland, however it turns out that Holland is only one of the provinces that constitute the Netherlands, not a lot of people know that, apparently). The Scottish members followed our usual practice of joining up along the route to the ferry at Newcastle at the nearest points to our homes. We had decided to leave from Newcastle as it was cheaper, nearer for some and most of all docks at Ijmuiden which is well placed for travel through the parts of the Netherlands we wanted to see (central and northern). The route to our destination at Denekamp would therefore be through the heart of the Netherlands and would hopefully let us see some of the most scenic parts of the country.. Our group consisted of myself and my wife, Helen, Geoff & Val, Eddie & Mavis, Alf, Denis, Bill, Steve, Finn and Ivor. Our mounts were Self G11 600cc twin, Geoff & Val G9 500cc twin, Alf 500cc G80 single, Bill 500cc G80 single , Steve 350cc AJS single ,Ivor 500cc AJS single , Denis AJS Model 31 650cc twin, Finn Ural sidecar outfit and Eddie and Mavis brought a 350cc single in their van. Eddie kindly let us put our camping gear etc., in the van allowing us to be a bit less heavily laden. After my ravings about the joys of international bike travel and the emotional highs of managing not to wrap myself around an suitable tree, my wife thought that she would have to sample the delights of international bike rallies and come with me this year.
After and absence of 30 years from pillion travel her posterior was persuaded to go on a 50mile round trip at Barry's BBQ last year and on the strength of this she was signed up for the Denekamp rally. As further preparation we had made some short local trips, the longest of which was about 25 miles so she was understandably apprehensive as the big day dawned. A group decision to camp at the rally site meant that we should have to take camping gear. Last year I did not camp and was on my own so luggage was not a great problem. This trip would see my poor machine carrying not only me but a pillion, our luggage and tent etc. We did have trial loading of luggage and tent etc and kept cutting back on the items until the amount was only unfeasibly large. How it worked out was we had one pannier each, the tent, sleeping bags etc in a rucksack strapped to the carrier over the panniers and a small tank bag for any thing else. We did load the bike and tried it out to check handling etc. so we thought we had prepared quite well. It was only on the morning of departure that Helen tried to mount the machine with her full gear on and discovered that her leg mobility was impeded by the armour in the trousers such that getting on did prove to be very awkward. Fortunately Eddie and Mavis kindly took the rucksack full of camping gear in the van and so saved us a great deal of inconvenience.
*Ivor Attempts Improvised Bodge*	We met up with the others in the bright sunlight of a Scottish Spring Day (i.e. it was colder than it looked) and we had a great run down to Morpeth on the A68/A697 a good road for bikes and not overcrowded. Eddie & Mavis in the van had got separated but we all met up at the next rendezvous at Carfrae Mill on the A68. We all met up as planned and stopped at a garden centre at Morpeth for lunch and refreshments. It was just here that Ivor lost the pilot jet cover on his Amal Monobloc carb. which resulted in petrol draining out all over the engine. For those who are unsure, this is not generally regarded as a good thing. This is just the sort of problem which appears from nowhere and makes a mockery of all your planning for roadside emergencies. The cover in question is about the last thing you would take with you as a spare part as it does not wear or fail in normal service. We spent a good amount of imagination and theorising about possible get you there bodges as when at Denekamp we could very likely get another cover from one of the Dutch organisers. We tried a variety tricks like silver paper, and wire or tie-wrap type solutions and were looking for chewing gum and sealing wax when Eddie came up with the kind offer of taking his one off the bike in the van and taking the chance on getting another in Denekamp. So all our bright ideas were shelved and we proceeded on to the Ferry Terminal. When we arrived at the terminal Finn and his Ural outfit joined us and the party was complete.

Waiting at The Ferry Terminal
Atmospheric Shot of Car Deck	The Ferry was the usual line up and wait, move forward and wait, repeat for four or five times and eventually you board the Ferry. Its this chance mixing of machines and riders, the forced grouping of together of other nationalities and machines that can give interesting conversations and general chat with other owners and fellow travellers which can really make the journey a pleasure for me. The ferry put us on an narrow upper gantry which was a tight squeeze for cars and was not too generous for two Bikes side by side. Once all the tie downs were in place you had develop your own Monty Python style silly walk to get out as the deck was an intricate spiders web of apparently random webbing For me the Ferry journey is really the start of the trip where at last we are underway and will get to the continent at least and not stuck ignominiously at the side of the road in Britain, metaphorically watching our ferry sailing without us, the whole trip completely ruined . This year all who set out made it and unlike last year we did not start off under a cloud, disappointed for those of us who did not make it due to capricious fortune causing a breakdown at the worst possible time. As usual the DFDS ferries provide good food and entertainment which gives the right start to your journey. This is also a time when as a group you get to know each other better and sets the tone for the whole trip.
A van and nine bikes makes a difficult group to keep together in traffic and to navigate through unfamiliar roads and junctions, especially foreign roads where the road signs and markings are different from those we are so familiar with. The point of this ramble is that we got split into two groups about 400m out of the terminal, a minor record even for us in the Scottish Section. Our only rain of the trip came at this time but after putting on my waterproofs it cleared up into a nice bright but windy day. I did not tempt providence and remove them until we got to our destination and this ensure we had a dry but windy day, maybe. It was our intention to go up the coast using minor roads but after several abortive trips round industrial estates and such like we gave up and took the main road to Alkmaar. We had all agreed our route before hand and had decided to take the long dyke, the Afsluitdijk, across the Ijsselmeer. This dyke encloses what used to be the Zuider Zee and has made a lake from of a huge area which used to be the North Sea As we made our way up to Den Oever we passed through a small village and pulled in for a break as it was lunch time, by some freaky coincidence the other group had pulled into the same stop. Thus re-united and refreshed with good quality food at reasonable prices we continued on our way.

The dyke itself is 20km or so long and is a very straight and fast drive, we did stop at the observation point for the obligatory pictures. We had been told that even when its very windy its easier to go as fast as you can. Fully loaded two up we were not likely to give any speed limits a real fright but it is true that in my case going fast was not any more difficult and got the uncomfortable buffeting over with faster. The dyke is built with the North Sea side higher and this must give some shelter from the wind but not so much that you really noticed, it is a magnificent feat of engineering especially for its great length. The observation point had a memorial to the men who built it however we could not get much detail as our Dutch was fairly non-existent. Helen at the viewpoint on the dyke and not screaming to go home, which was one of my fears, in fact she gave every appearance of having a great time.
A Very Pretty Spot to Breakdown	After reaching the other side we turned south and headed for a run down the other side of the Ijsselmeer through the small villages on the coast but after Workum we had a delay while a broken chain was repaired. A North West Section Member had linked up with us as he would otherwise have been travelling on his own. Paul was fortunate that he had travelled with us as he would have been unlikely to have had it fixed so soon and may have not even got to the rally at all. Heading south we passed through Lemmer, Kampen and skirted round Zwolle to our B&B at Dalfsen. We hit the motorway system round Zwolle at the rush hour and it was very difficult to take the right junctions and keep our group together, no doubt causing much annoyance to local road users. Sometimes it is impossible to navigate a place without going on motorways as all the signage for your destination routes you on to them. I know all our local routes will take you on to the motorway whenever possible but occasionally there is brown tourist route signage, sadly if they have such signs in the Netherlands we never saw them.
De Zwaluwhof - B&B
The B&B we had booked was terrific, Alf had been trying to find something on the web but most of the tourist sites were in Dutch and German only, so Alf phoned the local Tourist information and asked for something to take a party of Motorcyclists, they had suggested the Zwaluwhof (Swallow House) and yes it did have resident swallows!. It is a fairly tall order to get ten bikes a van and fourteen people accommodation at the same place with secure parking but really this place could not have been better suited for us. Silvo our host met us with coffee and cakes he is also a Bike traveller and made us very welcome. We were given a recommendation for a local restaurant and had great meal which always tastes better when in good company and ensured that we slept very soundly. Our Dutch language skills were put to severe test over the menu and although the waiting staff had some English items such as Ox-tail soup required advanced pantomime skills to convey the meaning providing much amusement to all present. The B&B is just outside Dalfsen in very scenic countryside with horses and ponies in the fields and the peaceful atmosphere quickly calms the restive spirit. We felt it was so nice and ideal for us we booked it for the Monday night on the way home.
Denekamp	A Well Deserved Evening Meal
The campsite was situated just outside Denekamp which is about a kilometre from the German border. Denekamp was a nice, quiet place with shops, supermarkets and cafes to please everyone. At the campsite we get down to the serious business of putting up the tent and relaxing in the sunshine with a cool beer. Isn't this what rallying all about?
	The Scottish Section get settled in as can be seen we arrived early and had the pick of the pitches.
The Scottish Section representation at the big Ride out on the Sunday with Alf "our leader" in the forefront. The ride out was a terrific experience, mainly for the atmosphere as what seemed like a never ending stream of classic machinery puttered, spluttered, banged and roared its way off round the countryside.
	The ride out went weaving its way through the countryside with a long ribbon of riders stretching out visible across the flat fields on a beautiful clear day. The route was through an almost impossibly neat and tidy country with no litter and virtually no weeds. Helen her first international and not that seasoned a pillion was so relaxed that she was taking pictures on the move, even though we were travelling quiet sedately across flat country this was confidence indeed.
The obligatory windmill shot which all travellers to the Netherlands are obliged to take.

	Our trusty steed rests back at home after almost a thousand miles carrying two up. I will admit that we cheated a bit as Eddy & Mavis were kind enough to take our tent and sleeping bags as with them in their van. Helen found getting on and off very difficult with the tent on the rear carrier and it made life a lot easier when the tent was not loaded on the Bike. Helen was not daunted by her first Rally ever (and a International to boot) on the bike and is making very encouraging noises, such as, lets go to the German International Rally next year. We will see but we will need to have a solution for the luggage problem first as a German trip will be a lot longer. The Bike stood up to the travelling very well and was still able to go round the Edinburgh by-pass at 70 plus without any major problems although there the exhaust is a bit smoky and a re-bore seems to be on the horizon.