Away with the Vikings

After many months of planning we set off on the 1600 mile round trip to Denmark, We followed the same route as the infamous 2002 Scrumpies trip (ask me about it) but this time there was only the 2 of us.

We left Wiltshire dodging the rain storms only to find once over the plain the roads were bone dry. A late evening ferry meant we had time to visit the Battle of Britain memorial just outside Dover.

The first stop was an overnight stay in Dunkirk giving us an early start for the 400 miles to Hamburg Germany. On arrival in Germany we set out for dinner a bit apprehensive as it was only the week before that the area was the centre of the ‘cucumber scare’. It was noticeable in the restaurant the lack of ‘salads’ people were eating and we were both glad when our meal turned up less any greenery!

Friday midmorning we entered Denmark the roads remarkable empty for this time of day we arrived at the rally site just after lunch

The main contingency of Brits, who came by boat, had arrived the day before and had settled into the central camping area. We were greeted by Tyson and some of the Vultures a few were amazed we had ridden all the way from the UK (Tyson it seemed wished he had).

And every where Vikings!

The rally was sited in the local sports centre with a motel attached. Once set up it was off to the local shop – a Spar shop! Just like home! For the usual supplies and beverages. Their trade had increased ten fold it seemed and they were busy stocking the shelves??

The rally had an out side bar and an interesting after use for cable drums! Their was a sofa area with bonfires pits. Later in the day a dyno test rig turned up which was very popular although I struggle to see why you would want to thrash a 1992 XV535!! on it to see what power you had?

Wandering around we bumped into many old faces we had not seen for a while including the Outriders and a contingency from Devon and Cornwall. During the afternoon it was games times smashing cans of beer with a big hammer although the Dutch thought it was better to drink them first and so lost. And a push the bike race (not push bike race) the contingency of Columbians, who had arrive in Finland and hired bikes to ride to the rally, seemed to be much more competitive than the Europeans (most of who were pissed by this time) and seemed to win every thing.

 (And no Dave I did not upset them this time)

A real Virago (check your dictionaries) courtesy of the Danes frequented the show on the Friday.

The evenings entertainment was a young Danish band whose lead singer spoke perfect English with a strong Anglo Saxon influence (ad verbs F***K) which seemed to upset a few people?

As the evening drew in the temperature dropped significantly making for a very cold night.

Saturday morning the local town was dead more like a Sunday than a Saturday we walked around the lake opposite the rally where locals were taking an early morning swim.

The ride out the following day was to the oldest town in Denmark Ribe we took the option to visit the Viking Museum which was a good move as the showers had started.

The Saturday evening saw every one sitting around the huge fires on the old sofas listening to a one man band play many old favorites including Danish, which most people seem to know the words, as the evening got later. This was regularly drowned out by the sound of screaming viragos and Stars on the dyno test and tyre burn outs.

A spectacular firework display took place later on in the evening and Viking fighting!.

Sunday after an even colder night saw the usual break camp, the majority of Brits going on to Copenhagen and staying at the Danish Yamaha custom clubhouse. We had opted for the return ride home again stopping off over night near Hamburg,

On the final leg we stopped of at Varuslacht to visit the famous Roman Museum and see the silver Cavalry mask, this was the site of the Roman Legion massacre by the Germanic peoples and many believe a major influence to what has happened in History – To our surprise there was a Roman Army reenactment weekend taking place Almost 200 people dressed as Romans doing their thing. Many from all across Europe. You thought Bike rallies were crazy?

The remainder of the trip was uneventful and we arrived home Tuesday afternoon surprisingly, other than when we left, we had a dry trip.

Mark & Sandra