Living the Dream Solo Around the World Trip

[TVB]

My first bike in 1965 a war model Harley Davidson with a foot clutch and a throttle on the left side to advance or retard the timing. It also had a hand gear lever on the left side on the tank. It had a car tyre at the rear, standard. Here I am at 15 with my "new" 2 nd hand bike on the photo.

Daardie bike gil van karakter, as mens net besef het hoe waardevol dit sou wees  of word om vas te hou aan die ou bikes.
Daardie stukkie wat jou vriend geskryf het is diep maar dis raakvat woorde en ek kan ook daarme assosieer.
Miskien sal ek ook eendag lang ente kan reis, voorwaar n droom!

 

[schalk vd merwe]

My first bike in 1965 a war model Harley Davidson with a foot clutch and a throttle on the left side to advance or retard the timing. It also had a hand gear lever on the left side on the tank. It had a car tyre at the rear, standard. Here I am at 15 with my "new" 2 nd hand bike on the photo.

Daardie bike gil van karakter, as mens net besef het hoe waardevol dit sou wees  of word om vas te hou aan die ou bikes.
Daardie stukkie wat jou vriend geskryf het is diep maar dis raakvat woorde en ek kan ook daarme assosieer.
Miskien sal ek ook eendag lang ente kan reis, voorwaar n droom!

Hi Tom en ja ek het daardie bike vir R 20 verkoop. Maar twintig Rand het toe nog waarde gehad. Toe ek as vakleerling in 1969 begin werk het, het ek R 12-67 'n week verdien.

 

[DrunkenDuncan]

Schalk, what a great trip you are having. I am jealous and envious at this moment and finally completed the read to this point, now waiting for your future story posts.
I hope to see you one of these days on the road and then we can hear all your stories in great detail.
Is the book still available from your Cpt friend. Will definitely add that one to my collection and hopefully assist you for a few km's in your travels.
Ride safe and keep writing.

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Schalk, what a great trip you are having. I am jealous and envious at this moment and finally completed the read to this point, now waiting for your future story posts.
I hope to see you one of these days on the road and then we can hear all your stories in great detail.
Is the book still available from your Cpt friend. Will definitely add that one to my collection and hopefully assist you for a few km's in your travels.
Ride safe and keep writing.

Hi Duncan I can send you a copy of my book at R 250 plus R50 by registered mail and signed or you can buy one from my buddy in Cape Town Eugene for R 250 not signed. You choose. Thanks for the support. Only 60 books left from a 1000 printed.

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Off to Europe and Britten to continue riding. Will report again when I am back. Sorry never had the time to complete the previous leg. Will do when I am back.

 

[TVB]

Off to Europe and Britten to continue riding. Will report again when I am back. Sorry never had the time to complete the previous leg. Will do when I am back.

Enjoy Schalk, I always thought of Britain as cold, wet and grey but my one friend is working there and I am stunned by the beautiful summer pictures she sent me already!
I especially look forward to your Scotland and Ireland visit - why not post a couple of pics weekly on the go...please?

 

[IceCreamMan]

Off to Europe and Britten to continue riding. Will report again when I am back. Sorry never had the time to complete the previous leg. Will do when I am back.

You ever in the Surrey area let me know. Happy to buy you a meal or a room for a night if needed.

In exchange you can tell me bout yr travels

 

[Gerard]

Right nou het ek weer opgevang. Dis darem mooi daar in die beskawing.

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Sorry guys for the long delay. After finishing ordering the bike parts in Vienna Austria I went back to my camp site. The next morning I hit the road toward Czech. Before it was Czech Slovakia but now they have split into two countries. I rode the whole day but only arrive that evening in the Capital of Prague. I was still on the highway and stopped when I saw another biker. I was looking on my cell phone for accommodation when he came walking over. He was a Chinese guy from mainland China. He was so impressed with all the stickers on my bike and the countries I have been to that he started to film me. While he is filming me and the bike he was speaking in their local Mandarin. It then turned out that he was a reporter and he was going to post this clip on their national TV. He was making a documentary on motorcycle travel around the world. Imagine to be seen by over one billion people on National TV in China.
After chatting some more we decided to go and look for accommodation together.  He was not worried about the cost of a room but I was. His accommodation was paid for by the TV station but mine was paid for by poor old Schalk van der Merwe from South Africa. We found a hotel and we shared a room. I suppose he wanted to help me a bit.
The next day we said our koebaais as he wanted to sleep in and I wanted to go and explore the city. The architecture of the buildings in Prague is world renowned. I had a coffee in the center of town in a real state of the art coffee shop. Then I walked the streets of Prague and took lots of photos. 
Next Germany

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Beautiful architecture of Prague 

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Prague

 

[schalk vd merwe]

The coffee shop where I had coffee in Prague.

 

[schalk vd merwe]

More of Prague

 

[schalk vd merwe]

The end of Prague. What a beautiful city.

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Right nou het ek weer opgevang. Dis darem mooi daar in die beskawing.

Hi Gerrard nou kan jy weer opvang.

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Germany.

After my own little tour through Prague I set the Tom Tom rider GPS for my nieces place in Germany. I have never tried to do it in SA but in Europe it works so well. All you put in is the Zip code of the town and the street no. In this instance the address is Hauptstrasse 131, 06493 Neudorf, Harzgerode, Deutschland. So all you put into the GPS is 06493 and 131 and it will take you up to their front door. As there are also more than one Neudorf in Germany it cuts out that confusion.

So I hit the road. I changed many time from one highway to the next and to the next. The roads in Europe are unbelievable. Highways to anywhere with a couple of Autobahns where you can go as fast as you want. I used to stay  in the 2nd lane from the left and if I wanted to overtake a truck I check if something is coming in the left lane. Sometimes you just see a dot in the distance. Then I go in the left lane and open up. By the time I get to the front of the trucks I am doing 160 Kmh and just have enough time to move back to the 2nd lane as a car pass you at 250 Kmh. Some of those Merc’s do over 300 Kmh. Regardless of the speeds they do you never see an accident. The people are so disciplined. You don’t even see brake marks on the road like here in SA and the volume of traffic is so much more. Trucks have to stop after every so many hours of driving. I think they are only allowed to drive for 4 hours and then have to take a break. Everybody complies. There are huge truck stops that can take probably more than a hundred trucks every so often. Also at the fuel stations.

Coming back to driving in the left lane. If I am driving at 160 and a much faster Porch comes from behind he is not allowed to flash me light or hoot or tailgate me. He has to wait till I pass the vehicle in the 2 nd lane and have moved over. The people are just so disciplined there and they keep to all the rules. Obviously her in SA it is the complete opposite.

Eventually I got off the highways as the area became more rural. It was a Saturday and my Niece and her husband were at home. They were so excited to see me again after all these years and we could gooi the taal again. Her husband is South African born from German parents. His father escaped Germany during the war and came to South Africa. My niece went to work in a restaurant in the Alps in Switzerland after her Matric here in South Africa. There she learned to speak German and stayed for two years before coming back to SA. 

After being held up at gun point at his business premises and some hijackings they decided to relocate to Germany to the area where his dad came from originally. Unfortunately the steel company that offered him the job went out of business but they are keeping alive in a very small town far from any big cities. There is so much culture there. Over the next 3 days we went to visit a beautiful small town nearby and went for some walks in the forest and drinking red wine. He drinks only beer but my nice and I had some good red wine.     

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Natasha and I drinking red wine

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Born to be back

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Small town of 1450

 

[schalk vd merwe]

Restaurant