Saturday 28th August mileage 6969 100km SW of Olsztyn

Up about 8:00am and away by 9:00am.  Emily was up at 4:00am to go and catch a plane to Croatia. She had gone to book a flight home to Ireland, but at the last minute decided on Croatia on impulse.  Did'n't bother with breakfast and set tomtom for a Suzuki dealership in Friedrichsoen ?? close by.  I wanted to see if they stocked the Cargo bag that I have, beacause the zip has broken on the one I have and I want to see if I can arrange to have it replaced while I am here. 

On the way I passed another section of preserved Berlin Wall, but this one had loads of artistic graffiti.

 Took some photos and then noticed a massive sandcastle just opposite!!

The chap in the Suzuki dealership had never heard of Cargo bags, but suggested I would be better off at a motorcycle accessory shop like Hein Gericke.  He went on the internet and found a shop close by (7km).  I remembered that ther Hein Gericke shop in Bradford sold Cargo bags, so I was feeling with all my Hein Gericke clothing I might get a sympathetic ear !!

On the way to the Hein Gericke shop I passed through a suberb with truly "socialist realism" architecture, and the name on the undergroundf station was Frankfurter.   Also in East Germany there are looads and loads of the russian style apartment blocks.  There must be millions of people living in what was East Berlin

At the Hein Gericke shop a nice chap called Christian informed me that Cargo is a UK firm and only sold in the UK.  He had a look at the problem which was that the small piece of metal that starts the zip and holds it together at the end had come off and now even if you managed to zip the tankbag onto the bike (which is hard without the metal end to start it, it simply unzips itself as you are riding along.  The tank bag, and being able to zip and unzip it are an important part of my security when I park and leave the bike!!

Christain said lets have a go at repairing it.  He found a spare old zip, and I checked that the starting tooth piece fitted my bag, and then carefully removed the long metal tooth piece.  He then melted the fabric section of the zip on my bike and shaped it so that the metal tooth would slide over.  He then fitted the metal piece and clamped it securely with a pair of big tongs and now it looks and feels as good as new.  It works fine and now I am just being very careful when I remove the bag that I don't put any stress on the new tooth.  Good old Christian just saved me 70 euro for a new bag, and also the postage for posting the old one back if I had wanted to claim under the guarantee from Cargo when I get back.
I told them the Hein Gericke suit was working fine, no trouble with the zips.  This made them laugh!!  They fed me with coffee and biscuits whilst I was there. 

Reset tomtom for Olsztyn in Poland and away we go!!   Made good progress in Germany on Autobahn but after about 100km we went into Poland and the contrast between Poland and germany is very stark!!

1) The roads are in much worse condition!
2) The roads are single carraigeway.
3) The drivers in Poland are mad at overtaking!
4) In Poland prostitutes are working the lay-bys and truck stops openly!
5) Houses and property in Poland is very run down.

Nothing else noteworthy on the journey.  Pressed on and as it started to get late I tried a couple of hotels but both the ones I tried were hosting weddings (Saturday night!) and had no rooms.   Eventually found a hotel at roadside (140 zty for room + breakfast).  In room there were about 5-10 mosquiutos so went down and got the insect repellant and sprayed the room.. Down for a meal, Pork stew, potato cakes and the compulsory picked veg.

I have been bitten some time back on my feet, and they are now at the constantly itchy stage !!

More later
TOR