We did not have great sleep being stressed out from the previous day where the motorcycle was now stuck in the garage over the weekend, brains active and also just physically exhausted. Thankfully we didn’t need to check out of the apartment we were in until 1pm so managed to doze for a while whilst also having coffee in bed. We had forgotten to buy anything for breakfast the day before so at 11 went for a walk to the nearest Lidl to grab some breakfast pastries. Another coffee whilst we packed up all our stuff and then we checked out, ready to walk the 20 mins to the station with our backpacks, panniers and motorcycle boots on. It was not enjoyable and very hot but at least it was only 20 mins. From here we had to get the train to the main station and then change to another train to go to the opposite side of the city to move to our airbnb in Elmshorn. Luckily this all went smoothly and we arrived an hour later, our airbnb being a minute from the Elmshorn train station.
The apartment was not located in the nicest area, especially compared to where we had just been staying, but it gave us our own space for a few days with separate kitchen, lounge, bedroom and bathroom. It was also only a short train ride to the garage for if we heard anything on Monday. We aired the place out, did some washing and had another coffee. We then spent an hour or so looking at potential options for routes depending on the day we might get the motorcycle back- cut off points for still trying to get to Dave’s friend Lauren’s in Sittard, Netherlands, cut off for latest we would be able to get to the house sit for 5th May and the cut off for if I needed to travel there independently as well as options of how to do this- train/ flix bus. Rough potential plans in place we felt a little better. We couldn’t do anything else until we heard the verdict on Monday. So we went out and bought food for the next couple of days and wine to make us feel better (plus it being Germany it was only 3 euros for the bottle!). We gave ourselves the rest of the evening to relax, eat pizza, drink wine and watch some shows. Unfortunately the first pizzas we bought though didn’t cook so we had to venture out again to buy better ones- shows us for being cheapskates!
Neither of us had a particularly restful night, the bed was very hard and kept waking us up when our bodies went numb from it. So at 7.30am we gave up and laid on the sofa with duvets instead. We had a lazy morning watching shows, drinking coffee and having breakfast before doing more washing and playing games/reading. We could have explored more of Hamburg but that would have meant paying for more train tickets, as well as things to do and it was also a Sunday so not a lot tends to be open. Needing to get out of the flat though we headed out into nearby Elmshorn town to find something for lunch. As it was a Sunday and a bank holiday there was not loads open but we did manage to find a very busy Junge die Bakeri near a local demonstration/ small festival happening in the square. We ordered some good looking sandwiches and cakes, not a bad lunch and cost us what the train tickets to Hamburg would have! Refuelled, we headed back to the flat to have a more productive afternoon of editing, writing blogs and sorting photos- making the most of not a lot being open and having time to kill. In the evening we made the most of having a bath and tried to soak out all the aches before sleeping on the sofa for the night instead of the uncomfortable bed.
Thankfully the sofa was a bit better and we managed to get some sleep. After another lazy morning of watching TV shows on the sofa and having coffee we had showers and breakfast ready for a day of waiting around. We were keen to hear about the motorcycle, and to know whether we would be staying another night in Hamburg or not but we just had to wait it out. To distract ourselves and get out the flat we went for a wander around a nearby lake, which was pretty but small so we wandered to 3 consecutive supermarkets to look for some lunch and to kill some time. We ended up just with some cheap pot noodles, neither of us really feeling in the mood for much so took them back to the flat to eat. It was lunchtime now and we still hadn’t heard from the garage. We tried to call them but they were on lunch so we watch some more of the Moonknight show before call back. When we spoke to them they still hadn’t had a chance to look at the bike but they were hoping to get it in shortly and hoping it would be ready by the end of the day but couldn’t give any promises. We sat around watching more stuff, waiting for them to call as if the motorcycle was ready by the end of the day we wanted to get on the road that evening. We went out to the shop again to get drinks but at 4pm gave in and called the garage after not hearing anything as we would have to get the train shortly if we were going to be able to walk 25mins from the train station to the garage before they shut.
Fabien (the nice guy at the garage we had been liaising with) said it had been a struggle to take one of the calipers/pistons off and needed replacing and they were hoping the other one would be quicker and they would be done by the end of the day. Hoping he was right we quickly packed up all our stuff and tidied the apartment so we could head straight off if the bike was ready. Then with only a few minutes to spare we jumped on the train to Tornesch and walked to the garage. Our motorcycle was outside….Woooooo! We were back on the road, well we were back on the road after a HUGE bill but we were still both ecstatic. We rode 20 minutes back to Elmshorn, where we picked up all our stuff and got back on the road.
Thanks
Alex
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