Europe India trip: Day 1 - London to Leuven [Mar 30, 2023]
The first day of the ride, filled with excitement & fear of unknown
This post is part of my Europe - India solo motorbike trip . You may like to read that post first for context
I had booked a flight to India from Brussels on Mar 31 morning. So I need to be in Brussels by Mar 30 night latest. There were a few hiccups (mentioned in the previous blog post) around my motorbike readiness but thankfully, everything got sorted by Mar 29. So Mar 30, I was ready to leave to Leuven where a friend of mine, Sreeman lives. I intend to leave the bike at his place before taking a quick trip to India.
I was up early as I wanted to give enough time to tie up luggage on my motorbike. This was my first time doing so & I did not want to rush it. I remember that once I was ready, I wanted to offer a farewell treat to Bhavul & Kashish (I was staying at their place) & bought some breakfast & coffee from the place downstairs. We ate together & they came down to see me off. With a feeling of nervousness & excitement, I left the place at around 10 AM. I have not booked a ferry because I did not want to rush. I had decided to book it once I reach Dover town.
I reached Dover by like 12 PM. I looked for a place to stop by so that I can book ferry ticket to Calais. When I stopped, I heard a bit of clunky noise from back side of the bike & figured that it is come from the back brakes. The brakes were pretty hot & then I realized that the brakes were in a applied state. I remember asking for a brake pad change when the MOT failed & it seemed like we have ‘binding brake’ problem.
I called Les at Kingray & he asked to roll the bike to check if the brakes are binding. Bike rolled fine. I looked up a mechanic nearby, spoke to them on phone & took the bike to them. He also inspected & said it all looks fine. It seemed like the whole assembly is a bit ‘displaced’ & that left very little play in the brake pedal. So a slight press on the pedal gets the brake applied. As Les has told me on phone, I guess I need to ride with the my foot away from the brake pedal & it seemed the like it would solve the problem.
I did have a feeling that this does not seem like a great start, but then, I accepted the situation & moved on. While I came out of garage, I parked on the road side, booked a ferry & then rode to the ferry boarding point.
Unlike the last time when I did the journey with my car, all the stuff tied on my bike created a bit of paranoia for custom folks & French customs decided to frisk my stuff. On telling the guy that I intend to ride to India (& after knowing that I am from India), the customs guys was convinced that I am not a bad guy who is importing something illegal & bade me farewell.
I remember the ferry lady on the counter did ask me where I am going & on telling that I would probably ride to India, jokingly asked, if my rear seat is free :). She was an elderly lady but was very much fun to talk to.
As soon as I entered France & started to ride, I felt the sudden & strong side winds that literally threw me off the road. I panicked & took the very first exit from the motorway. I remember stopping on the roadside in a town & putting the option ‘avoid motorway’ for my destination. The countryside roads were much more pleasant & I could ride at my own place.
I happen to have a very delicious sandwich at this place. The owner could not speak English but with my initials ‘je ne kone parle franchise (sorry I dont know French), can I speak English’, I was able to get a chicken sandwich & the bread was yum. I sat at the bench outside (from where I clicked the pic) & quite a few people who passed by ended up having a quick conversation (only to realize I cant speak French) but the best was one person wishing me ‘Bon Appetit’. I love small towns :)
Soon I started on my onward journey. I dont know when I entered Belgium but much more prominent cycle tracks suggested I have left France. After riding for like 2 hours, I suddenly noticed that I am on residual fuel (I guess I wasnt used to riding the bike) & I stopped on the side & looked up petrol pumps nearby. Since I was not on a highway & it was well beyond 6 pm, I got suggestions for pumps which were at significant detour. I added one of them as a stop & started riding to it.
Just before reaching the pump, I noticed a nice coffee shop & I took a point to come back after filling in the petrol. I came back, parked my bike & went in. Two guys were playing darts & it took me a bit of time to figure out, one of them is owner. I again asked the same thing ‘je ne kone parle franchise .. can I speak English’ & the guy said ‘little’. I asked for coffee & was served the same promptly.
When it came to payment, problem arose. I dint have Euros & their card machine isnt working. On knowing that I intend to ride the bike to India, the owner said - coffee is on the house. As a way to return favour, I decided to take a pic with them & publish it here :).
I then started to ride towards Leuven. Sreeman, my friend from Leuven, called & told me that he is meeting friends at a restaurant & asked me to come there. It turned out to be one of the most fancy Indian restaurant that I have seen outside India. The owner Liton, is a guy from Bangladesh & had setup this really exquisite restaurant in Leuven. The place is called World Kitchen .
I parked my bike at Sreeman’s place, took bath & Sreeman graciously dropped me to the Charleroi airport, which was pretty far from his home in Tielt-Winge. I suggested to Sreeman that I could either take a train in the night or in the morning, but he suggested its best to go in the night itself. By 2 AM, I was at the airport.
I was off to India for a week before coming back & continuing the ride.
All the best for this adventure.
Would be looking forward to more posts :)