TRIKES 'R' US - EUROPEAN VACATION

As with all great trips, the night before departure always seams to kick up some unforeseen problems and this trip was no different! After a late night visit to Ged's by Lea to get his trailer tyre fixed all was well until the next morning when he found that his clutch cable had frayed! Waiting for GSF to open, then fitting the cable Lea was finally on the road and although he was a little late the group managed to depart on time. 

First fuel stop Cambridge services.

The journey to Nederweert was split, the first leg was to Canterbury. This was achieved even though riding at the front Lea slowed down after joining the M25 cos he could only count 5 trikes and not 6. All was rectified when he remembered to count himself! As soon as everyone checked into the very nice Travel Lodge in the centre of Canterbury it was time to eat then see what the night life was like. A quick walk to a nearby Wetherspoons and the group enjoyed an evening of banter, joke telling and a couple of jugs of Cheeky Vimto! After getting back to the hotel, Griff and Lea were peckish so went in search of a Kebab and to their delight not only did they find a Kebab shop but it was licensed!!!!!!

The next day was a short hop to Dover and onto the ferry, saying farewell to all the blue birds that had gathered above the white cliffs of Dover and waiting with anticipation for the bow doors to open to release the eager trikers on an unsuspecting Europe.

The journey from Dunkirk to Nederweert was only 174 miles but due to some horrendous hold ups around Antwerp in road works compounded by the fact it was also rush hour meant the group arrived in Nederweert fairly late in the evening. This is a Trikes R Us time honored tradition of arriving at rallies in the dark. As soon as the tents were up it was off to the bar for a drink then a well earned rest for the upcoming weekend. 

On the Friday everyone got up and once fed and watered, headed into town for a compulsory shopping trip. Those that didn't need anything from the local supermarket went to a small sports bar to wait for the rest to join up. After a quick beer the group saddled up and returned to the rally site ready for the coming nights of drinking and laughter as well as meeting up with Marleen, a club member from Belgium, and her friend who joined the group for the weekends fun.

As the above pictures show, a great time was had by all on both Friday and Saturday nights. The music on Friday was a little more of an acquired taste (played by some chap from Preston - if you know that joke! )  Saturday nights entertainment was great and after a presentation to 3Wheels President for holding the position for the whole 10 years the party continued into the early hours once more.

Sunday morning saw the group de-camp and make preparations for the journey back to Dunkirk. The journey back was looking uneventful until Mother Nature decided otherwise and after a quick stop to don waterproofs the group continued under black skies. These soon decided to dump their contents on our band of merry trikers! This point of the journey was horrendous, with spray from other vehicles and trikes aqua-plaining led for a difficult 20 or so miles. As quickly as the rain came it went and the group stopped for a brew and food. Only 30km from Dunkirk the group rejoined the motorway, unfortunately Lea was on a different planet at this point and missed the MASSIVE road sign indicating Dunkirk and decided instead to head for Ostend! His mistake was quickly realised and after a quick u-turn round a roundabout all was good and everyone arrived in Dunkirk for an overnight at a F1 Motel. That evening everyone went out for a meal at a Steak Grill house and then all hit the sacks ready for an early start on Monday morning.

Monday arrived and the only slight error was Nicky set her alarm but forgot to change from British time so was a little late getting down. This didn't delay our intrepid trikers too much and after a tour of the Dunkirk petro-chemical factories, gas and fuel terminals (courtesy of Lea's Satnav) they all arrived at the ferry in good time and once boarded everyone was soon tucking into a full English breakfast!

The journey from Dover back up to Lincolnshire (and beyond for some members!) was fairly straight forward. A couple of slight hiccups with Nicky's trike not charging but after a couple of jump starts she managed a safe return home.

In all a great long weekend was had by all and all our thanks go to the 3Wheels club for their welcome, hospitality and support throughout the weekend