I am sorry, but I have been forced to switch the Tag Board off (messages from well wishers). This is due to it being targeted SPAM and inappropriate websites.
Sorry to all those who left messages, they were all viewed previously.
FTGG, Cookie
The final day: I cannot beive it!
What a great breakfast as well, fresh strawberries and yogurt. Now that is very different! The Hotel Ariane was definatel;y a good choice and should I return, then that is definately where I will stay.
First, as is his way, Snapper had us all lined up outside on the bikes for a photo, but as we sat there, we saw the rain start to come over. This was not a good sign. Here we go then and first we had to weave our way out of the very beautiful Ypres (Leper) and head back towards Dunkirk. Pud, very obviously with the prospect of an english breakfast in his mind, soon sorted us out and decided on the route via Poperinge. The rain decided to drop all it had and the wind thought it would join in, which made riding very difficult for us. You may wonder what I mean, but the obvious is the bikes being moved around in the blustery wind, but also for me, my water proof coveralls were billowing out so I could see the view in my mirrors. It was a hard ride, but we all made it safely to Dunkurque and had a wait a short while before we boarded the ferry.
We also had an announcement made on the MV Dunkerque Seaways by Mark at reception. Wow, we were so surprised at how many people came up to make donations. It was wonderful, thank you all! Then, Mark came to see us and invited us onto the ships Bridge, where we met Captain Andy Ridout, who was very interested in what we had achieved. Shortly after returning to our tables, First Officer, Byron, a biker himself, came to see us. The ships welfare fund was making a donation to us, so on behalf of Captain Ridout and the whole crew, we received a donation of £1000. Yes, that is three zero's after the one. What an amzing donation, and we thank everyone on the DFDS MV Dunkerque Seaways!
Soon after landing, we were joined by members of the Royal British Legion Riders who came to ride back with us. Then we were joined by member of the RATs the Triumph Riders so our convoy was rather long and made us feel very special.
The wind and rain did not let up, so we had a rough ride back to Gillingham but then the clouds went and the sun ame through a little - just before we arrived at ou finishing point at the Royal Engneers Museum, and what a welcome! There was welcoming home notices and lots of people, including family, riders, Meridian TV and Mandy and Andy plus team from our main sponsors, Laguna Motorcycles with champagne to toast our success. Fantastic!! A perfect end to our tour - I for one, felt very special.
I also understand that the Live Tracking stopped working whilst we were in Ypres, but not sure why as yet. This was a shame, as this was a fantastic tools for everyone to follow us and I have received so many positive comments about it. If anyone is considering a charity event such as ours, then I would recommend Bike Trac - fantastic!
This is the last of the Blogs, although I will be adding a few missing ones and adding here and there. This was a very special and unique trip with many thhings which happened to us which made it very special and emotional. I met so many wonderful and magical people that I intend to keep in contact with, and I know the other team members feel the same.
One final thought, as we took the bikes back to Lagina this morning, I was following the bikes in my car and as I watched them, as I had done for two weeks, it suddenly struck me, how professional at riding in formation they had become. With the matching riding gear, they looked terrific and I was very proud to be part of them. It was very hard to say farewell to my new family and I leave you with our rallying cry, "For the greater good: Yarp"!
Cookie
The day started well with breakfast at our Hostel - Hilles Hostel in Trier where they gave us the main kitchen aqs we were such as big party. Nice bread, hot hard boiled eggs, jams plus the usual cheeses and meats. Thern after the photo's by Snapper, it was off to Luxembourg. Beautiful countryside again and in lovely sunshine, what more could we ask for. Oh, hills, bends and a little speed. Yep, got all that and more 
We carried on into Belgium and the first stop of the day, Bastongne, where the Battle of The Bulge happened, not that you could tell with a tank with shell holes in it and a jeep in the twon square. Coffee it was before heading off to meet Blue Knights Belgium VI on the D4. Luckily for us, they were located in a garage which had a patisserie and restaurant next door. Perfect. Introductions were made, a bite to eat and off we went, with just under 200 miles left to do.
It was motorway - some of it very roug - bone shankingly so, and because of that - no description. Boring stuff. Oh, sorry, it started to rain ..... HARD! Typical.
We arrived in Ypres in very good time and managed to please Snapper then it was off to find the hotel. Hah, we did not account for all thwe road works or the fact most of the town was sealed off for the week. Our guides did not know the way around, as they are not local and had the wrong hotel name. We did some running around and all credit to the guys, they worked hard to get us to the Hotel Ariane. Thanks guyys, you really didwork hard on our behalf.
Time to buy them a drink before Rik headed hiome - a journey of 136 Kms, whilst the others stayed to join us for the ceremony at the Menin Gate and a drink of two.
The ceremony at the Menin Gate was a big one. The Last Post Association who had invited us to particpate, had a march from the Grotte Market to the Belgium Memorial before goig=ng to the Menin gate itself. When we arrived, there were hundreds of people blocking it off. Spud and Dog were in their Police and RAF informs respectively, and were laying wreaths on behalf of the team. We would like to thank John Sutherland of the local Royal British Legion who had obtained the two wreaths for us.
I also met up with Nina and Leif two friends of my wife, who came to see us and joined us for the evening. They really enjoyed themselves and we enjoyed their company. We were also joined by our good friends from Blue Knights Belgium IX, including my 'brother', Ronnie the President of the Chapter.
The ceremony went well, with the town band marching with the Last Post Association with the standard bearers. After the bugles payed, Spud and Dog went up to lay the wreaths and I know that it was emotional for them. Once the ceremony was over, more photo's were completed. I have to say a big THANK YOU to Jon the Snapper. He has worked tremendously hard on our behalf and late into the evenings. Thanks mate - the photo's are brilliant.
Off to do some socialising with our friends before I find myself back at the computer with one more days blogging to do. There will not be any more Twitter feeds, as we will just be riding back to the post and to the UK for the end. I will be doing a final blog to cover the last day, and if I can nail one of the team to a chair, I may even be able to put something together for the four days we split.
Thats it for tonight, Cookie
I am sorry for a brief report today, but those reading Twitter will understand.
We met up in Friedrichafen and it was great to see the guys again. They were accompanied by Armin Weh, a local bllue knight who works around Lake Constance.
Armin led the riders in and out and in heavy traffic, time took a beating, so we ran behind. We managed to stop for coffee at the end of the Lake and said goodbye to Armin and thinks for riding with us Brother. To make up time, we hot the motorway towards Stutgart and everything went wellthe roads and scenery were fantastic. I even managed to get some serious bends and moutains in. That was untill Baden Baden when we hit major traffic problems which seemed to last forever.
To add insult to injury, I suddenly had an issue and had to quickly pull over. Because of the sudden illness, I took to a support car to save time. Then the rain came: boy did the rain come down and the guys got really wet through. Now, I am being teased if it starts raining - do I want to get into a car? Me!
We were running very late and had to miss one important part of the agenda, but that really was unavoidable as we still had over 100 miles to go and it was nearly tea time. We did manage to make good time and arrived at the Hostel for 7.20pm
No sooner had we unpacked, it was time for a Pizza and bed.
Tomorrow will be an emotional day, we travel through Luxemburgh and Bastogne to Ypres, so it will very emotional for us at the Menin Gate. We will also be meeting up with the Royal British Legion near to the Gate.
For those wanting to know what the main group got up to whilst we were in Czech Republic, I hope to get one of them to help me put something together and publish later.
But now, "time for bed" said Zebedee!
After Cookie peeled off as part of the Czech team, the biker group were technically challenged hence no blogs. Although a little belated, I hope these snippets will give you a flavour of the missing days.
12 Jun the ride to Colditz from Zagan was varied and enjoyable. There was a brief stop in the Square at Dresden so Spud could pay respects to his father’s memory but we were pushed for time so we did not have time to look around. The weather behaved itself and we arrived at Colditz castle soon after 1400. A few minutes after arrival, Steffi, one of the Colditz guides asked me if we were the group for the 1400 booked tour. She kindly delayed our tour until 1500 so we could put our stuff in our rooms and change. The extended tour was excellent, highlighting many aspects of the various escape attempts. Many of the areas we were shown have not been renovated, but to see elements of some tunnelling through the castle by French officers was fascinating, they used heat to crack the rock so it could be removed!!
In the early evening we sat in the square in Colditz marvelling at the ingenuity of the escape attempts from Colditz over a beer or two and one of the team devoured a huge ice cream from the Schlosscafe. To the Australian couple who were having a quiet meal in the Restaurant zur Post I hope the change of atmosphere after our arrival meant they had a different evening rather than a spoilt one. We stayed in the YMCA in the castle buildings which I believe were administrative offices during WW2, the quality of the rooms was excellent as was the buffet breakfast which provided a wide choice of good quality food.
13 Jun. Colditz to Oberau ( near Bertchesgaden) the longest distance of 350mls. We had a number of short showers which did not ruin an excellent days riding, including a short excursion through the Czech Republic. This days riding was judged to be the best day of motorcycle riding ever for Kriegie. We did arrive in Oberau in the rain which continued into the evening. The hotel was comfortable and the food and service was good.
14 Jun Oberau to Kaunertal ( Charly’s Place) We set off from the Gasthof zur Post soon after 9am in steady rain. The ride down through the multiple bends to Bertchesgarden was not enjoyable, but thankfully the rain subsided after about 30 mins on the road from Bertchesgarden to Kaunertal. Thanks to Pud for the choice of great roads, this surpassed the previous days riding. I was now beginning to get the feel of the T100 Bonneville and was getting in tune with group riding, the flow of the 7 bikes through sweeping bends and beautiful countryside provided a buzz. En route we called at the village of Pfronten Meilingen which was the site of the jump scene in the Great Escape film and, after much deliberation and discussion; WW11POW was photographed on the spot where the publicity photo of Steve McQueen was taken and the site of the jump scene. This ended up to be the latest finishing time as we arrived at Kaunertal at 2040 after 281 miles; the final couple of miles was on dirt tracks as the road was being extensively rebuilt.
15 Jun Kaunertal to Feldkirch. We left Charly’s hotel at about 1000 for the Stelvio pass experience. On the way to the start of the Stelvio we passed 2 large lakes with beautiful views and through the town of Glorenza Glurns which we entered under a stone arch and passed by large old wooden buildings. A few kilometres after the start of the Stelvio we stopped for coffee to give Snapper the chance to get positioned for our arrivals at the top of the pass. I was the slowest of the group going up Stelvio and thanks to the tail rider, Dog for his patience in waiting for me, as well as riding more slowly I could not resist stopping for a couple of photos!
The roads are exciting and the views indescribable. As well as the bikers, there were hundreds of nutty cyclists riding the pass. On the descent, I overtook one cyclist and then for at least 12 or 15 bends he was right with me, at one stage I thought I might suffer the ignominy of being overtake, I clocked him doing just under 50mph prior to overtaking him!!! Not something I would fancy on a tyre one inch wide and little break blocks. The subsequent ride through Switzerland and Liechtenstein took us through more great views and past old military fortifications on the border near Balzers. We had an afternoon coffee break in Zernez, Switzerland before continuing to Feldkirch where we stayed in the 700 year old Youth Hostel. The building had previously been used as a hospital and before that as a leper colony. We were 3 to a room with 8 beds; it would have been very crowded if filled to capacity! The staff were great and the Chinese buffet in the restaurant opposite was good. The whole days riding had been remarkable covering 173 miles over some challenging roads.
16 Jun Feldkirch to Trier. We were met at Feldkirch by Armin, of the local Blue Knights who escorted us to Friedrichshaven to meet up with the Colin, Dutch and Cookie after their Czech visit. After a coffee on the north end of the Bodensee, Armin left us. En route to Trier we met heavy rain, route diversions and heavy traffic which meant we had to cancel the visit to the site where Roger Bushell was executed. Even with this change we still did not arrive at the hostel in Trier until 2050 after 343 miles. This was a bit of a survival exercise.
Hopefully this fills the gap while Cookie was elsewhere.
For us, the greater distance had been driven by Duttch yesterday, so we only had about 4 hours this morning. After a lovely breakfast on the top floor of the hotel, it was oin the road and nothing reaslly to report until we made Freidreckshafen at about 2.30pm. It took a while to find a Guest House with vacancies and then relax. We made the RV point ready to meet the rest of the team tomorrowq.
Freidreckshafen is a beautiful place on the edge of Lake Constance - very busy! We went into town for a short while, but it just is too busy. This is the home of the Zeppelin and the latest model flies overhead from the airport giving tours. We hope to have time in the morning to visit the Zeppelin Museum before meeting with the others, as it is next to the RV point.
Talking of the others, I have had a very brief if noisy conversation with them tonight, and I can honestly say, they really enjoyed the Stelvio Pass and all have patches to prove they have been there. They would not tell me anymore seeing as though I missed it and would be green with envy. B******s!!
I hope to have some reports from them tomorrow evening - bet they don't type it up for jme though
Until tomorrow and more Tweets, Cookie
We have been travelling from the Czech Repulic into Germany making our way to Friedrichshafen where we will meet up with the bikes again. They will be riding the Stelvio Pass tomorrow so they should have fun. They had better weather today for when they visited the place where they filmed the Steve McQueen jump today. Although they did have a ver long riding day.
I have uploaded lots of photo's to the main website Gallery and will be adding more as we go along, so keep looking out for it. The link is: https://picasaweb.google.com/101003547257443045259
We also had some great TV coverage on BBS South East - apparently a five minute news spot when the reported travelled with us.
Thanks to everyone who have sent Twitters, Replies on the blogs and on email. Unfortunately, there are just so many that I cannot reply individually - time is so limited. I do not check emaails that often, because the Blog, Twitter and Photo's take most of my down time. Please keep them coming as I will be reading all of them again when I get back with the team Cookie
Mixed emotions today. The five of us have had the most extraordinary and emotional experience. I am not sure what we had expected, but what actually happened was the most fantastic emotional experience. I simply cannot fully express how we were received, but in simple terms, Colin and Gordon were treated as royalty. The hospitality was second to none. When it came to saying goodbye, it pulled at my heart and there were tears but also a warmth and joy from this special meeting.
Now for a little detail on the events of yesterday. We we guided back to the church by George (Major in the Reserve Army) in his uniform. When we arrived, it became obvious that this was going to be special, there were flags, chairs and Czech TV. The crowds built up as 10am got closer, then we were joined by the children from the nearby school together with teachers, Marie Davidova , the organiser of the event and most of the previous ones. She has really taken this monument to her heart and treats the two fallen airmen, Thomas Kirby-Green and Gordon Kidder, with love and respect. Her dedication has been magnificent and no words could express the respect we feel for her. Marie, is the deputy director of the school which looks after children with special needs.
The ceremony strated and finshed with recording of a fly past by a Spitfire before the national anthems of teh Czech Republic, UK and Canada were played Marie gave a welcome speech and named all the visitors in turn as well as all the VIP's attending the memorial. This included the local hero, known simply as The General a remarkable man of 98 years, in his full uniform and it is quite obvious that everyone loves him. The children, sang and gave speeches, which was iuncredible given their needs. I was stood with our interpreter, Iveta, who had love in her eyes, she explained how the children had worked hard with the teachers to undertake the ceremony. This was a very emotional memorial. The flowers were laid on the flower beed, first by The General, then followed by Colin, Gordon, Major George, PhDr Petr Majer and others, but unfortunately, I forget their names.
Both Colin and Gordon made speeches and both did extremly well, speaking clearly even with the obvious emotion they were feeling.The children sang songs and it truly was a beautiful ceremony.
Following the ceremony, we were invited to the school for refreshmenst and to receive a traditional welcome from the children, of bread and salt. I wore my Blue Knights colours and took my crash helmet to show the children and let some of them have their photographs taken weraing the helmet. The queue to do that was quite long We were also presented with gifts from Marie and on behalf of the Mayor. I was very touched, that Andy, who is an signpainter, did some art works for the school whilst he was there. Art is a major factor in the children's school life, as we found out during the tour. I was amazed and imoressed by the standard of work by not only the children, but also the teachers. We were then taken to the closest locatin which could be identified, where Thomas Kirby-Green and Gordon Kidder were murdered by the Gestapo. The area had been fields and a small road, but is now an housing estate with tenement blocks. Flowers were laid by Colin, Gordon and Marie escorted by Peter Majer. I hope my photo's do it all justice. Talking of photo's, these will be placed in an Album on the website Gallery rather thsan in Flickr foor the Tracking page
Michal Holy has now become a firm friend but as he had to return to Prague for work, he had to leave us. Thanks you Mike, it was a pleasure meeting you.
After this, George took us to the City Hall, which has a very high tower above it, which entails taking two lifts to the top. I am not going into details about the difficulty we had with the overload on one lift, but three of us finally managed to get to the top in the end ahem!!! The views weree well worth it and an english speaking guide was there to explain the history and views to us. All thsi had been arranged by George, and we are indebted to him for that.
It was back to the school after to wait for the 5pm Mass at the church in honour oF Thomas and Gordon, which was conducted by the very preist who gave Andy and I the tour of the Church. Not knwoing the heirarchy of the Church, but he is quite high up and more than a preist. A very quiet unassuming but gentle man wityh a warm heart. He also presented each of us with momentoes from the church whiuch was very kind of him.
We all met up at the Castle Restaurant for our final dinner This was taken with mixed emotions, as we had a fantastic time and we had entered each others hearts and it was duifficult to speak and express our feelings. One thing I am certain, this is not the end as we have built new relationships. The tears were very real.
On a personal level, a part of me will always remain in the Czech Republic. I know that this is written with emotion, but that is how this visit unexpectadly affected both me and the others. I cannot thank all our new friends for all that they have done for Thomas and Gordon and now for Colin and Gordon, and for those of us not directly involved. I must also thank Iveta for the hard work in interpretting for us. It was very draining for her as she tried to express the feelings and emotion but she did a wonderful job and we all thank you.
This has been longer than usual, because of the special circumstances I had to try and do it justice. The other factor is time. I can type in the back of the car as we travel through the Czech Republic to Germany. A little different to riding all day, then fiting in the blogs at the end of the day. I hope that you will forgive me for that.
Today, it was time to split the team. The main body were heading towards Dresden and Colditz Castle. But, three of us, Colin, Dutch sndf myself were taking the Xtrail and heading into the Czech Republic and headed towards Ostrava.We were followed by Gordon Kidder and his son, Andrew. It was mainly motorway all the way, but we did decide to get off and cross country to the City, We did find a great restaurant in Ostrava whilst we waited to head to Hrbuvka.
We were really pleased that our SatNav took us straight to the RV point, the church where the memorial was located. As we were early, no one else was there, so we had time to inspect the memorial stone to Thomas Kirby-Green and Gordon Kidder.
This memorial had been set up after the Iron Curtain went down and was the idea of The General who had been a POW at Stalag Luft 3. He returned to his home area, he heard about the murder of the two by the Gestapo on the orders of Hitler. The people in the area then set up the memorial and Mrs Marie Davidova, Deputy Principle of the nearby school has been looking after the memorial, with the school children.They had been hoping that sometime a relative would be able to attend the ceremony. Well, we had brought Colin and Gordon Kidder across. Gordon is the nephew of the airman and he brought his son, Andrew.
Soon, people started arriving, but it was not until Captain Michal Holy arrived, that we had some communication. Mike flies for Czech Airline , CSA and speaks perfect english. He is such a nice guy, that we became friends immediatley. For me, I heard the church organ being played, and I was introduced to the person playing, which turned out to be the area Priest. Not sure of his title, but he took me up to see the organ and he played for me. I was joined by Andrew and after he had finished, the Priest took us into the tower and across the roof to ring the bell. Totally different experience and very kind of him.
As I walked out, I was approached by Iveta, who introduced herself as the interpreter and knew all about me, which took me by surprise, to say the least. She also told me that she had read the website and she was able to tell me about our visit from there. She also told me, that she is actually Marie Davidova’s daughter, and had taken the time to travel over from Prague to help her mother, which was so nice of her. Iveta speaks very good English as well, better than Dutch anyway! That was a coincidence, as Mike Holy also had driven from Prague. In fact, when we all talk, they live about 5k from each other but did not know each other.
Soon others arrived and we held a small personal ceremony with The General and George, a Major in the reserve army and a few others. Lots of photos were taken and will appear soon. From there, we went to a local restaurant and did lots of talking and explanations over a local beer or two. Together with Mike, we had been accommodated at the city’s Fire Service and EMS HQ which was very comfortable. In fact – a lovely place to stay. We could not believe the bathroom, not only a big powerful shower, but a large full jacuzzi bath as well. Just a shame, none of us had the time to try it out. Would be good for two, but Dutch, you lost out mate Cookie
Up to brilliant sunshine and it was straight back to our camp for a shower before going to the barracks for breakfast, which we now love. But before that, I have to report (even though I do not wish to, but I have to be fair) that I had done some washing, as had Gramps, so I asked if he had his ball of string, so that we could put up a line between the trees and hang our washing on it. Well, we decided to do double strength, so carefully measured the length before we put it up. Unfortunately, as we were being watch and having the proverbial taken out of us, we stood there wondering why we were three foot short! This, much to hilarity of Spud and the guys. In fact, we hadn’t seen them laugh so much in ages – months in fact.
Off to the Museum for a tour of the exhibits in the main building before heading across to Hut 104. This was built with the advice and guidance of ex POW’s, so it is very authentic. It has an original fire burner which had been excavated on the site, so is original from one of the huts. They have re-created the entrance to ‘Harry’ and demonstrated how quickly it could be covered up. They also have a tunnel outside covered in clear Perspex which is interactive for small and large kids. This is built to the actual size, so everyone can experience it.
We travelled to Stalag Luft 3 where we had a look around the actual site and posed for Snapper who was getting shots for Shepherd Neame, one of our sponsors. We held up bottles of Spitfire beer and wore their red Spitfire t shirts.
We then walked from the entrance of Harry in a single file, through the woods to Zagan railways station. This was quite spooky as the platforms are the same as they were during the time of GE2 and painted the same. We were told the reason was that it was’ history’. We stood on the platform and saw that the machine tower/pillbox was still there. Snapper caught us on camera before the drivers walked back to the cars and went around to the railway station to collect the team so we could get to the barracks for lunch.
Back to the camp before we did some riding and filming with Peter from the BBC South East reporter. Out into the town to refuel the bikes, get a few things from the shops and then on to the memorial.
We headed back out to the site of the actual memorial to the 50. The four Blue Knights in the team wore our colours, as did Pud in his Royal British Legion, which has a airbrushed Poppy on its back. We held a small ceremony to lay a wreath and individual crosses before having a few minutes silence. We then moved around to the original memorial done by the POW’s which has the dates of the war “1939-194” as they did not know when the war would end when they produced it. We laid a cross there.
Back to the camp to pack the cars ready for the split tomorrow before it was off to the barracks with Chris for tea and at the end, he said a thank you to us before making a presentation of two books and some Polish alcohol. We had our photos done with him before we said our farewells.
Tomorrow – we splitup. Cookie
Bravenet Blog 
Blog Community
Get a Free Blog
Manage your Blog
bravenet.com