To Poland in a Lotus Elan
Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 3:58 pm
To Poland in a Lotus Elan (and elsewhere)
Turtle wax, Auto Glym, Carnauba, we`d been practising our polish vocabulary ready for the Classic Europe 2018. The trip started in Leipzig, headed into the Czech Republic, Poland, then finished in Potsdam near Berlin. It`s a long way away, around 450 miles from Rotterdam and we were in two minds whether to go, especially as the motorway would take nearly 7 hours and non-motorway twice as much.
Around half the group flew there and hired cars and a further quarter went in modern cars. When I asked my glamorous assistant which she would prefer I was rather proud when she asked; ? Are we going on an adventure, or just a holiday?? I booked the ferry that day. Plus it meant we could occupy the moral high ground which is not a place I`m normally familiar with.
As always, the Elan was running sweetly, kept tip-top with anything showing signs of wear replaced. What could possibly go wrong? There`s some discussion whether the tubeless tyres need tubes and Dougal at Longstone Tyres assured me they did. Plenty of french chalk prevents wear, supposedly. Even so I had all the tubes replaced just before we left. Our first puncture was around 300miles from Rotterdam, damn.
We arrived in time for a look around Leipzig then, next day, we were off to Chemnitz taking in, amongst other things, a visit to Colditz. It turns out that, just like the Great Escape, Americans didn`t feature in any derring do and the stories we`ve heard were fiction loosely based on fact. A bit like the Route Book!
Chemnitz was lovely, there was a festival going on with live music on 3 separate stages, stalls, funfair, buskers, you name it. It was all very good humoured, just delightful. One day later, after we left, those riots broke out and Chemnitz has become a draw for psychopathic Neo-Nazis. Appalling.
I`m convinced that there`s a proportion of all religions and races who are drawn to violence, be they right-wingers, Isis, Al Queda, Catholics and Protestants, football hooligans, mods and rockers (you remember, yes you do) and what about Teddy Boys? Don`t call `em terrorists doing horrible things for, supposedly, a cause. They`re psychopaths.
Enough???.. the next day we were off to Dresden taking in the Miessen factory, seeing how they make and hand paint their rather expensive porcelain. The most affordable item was a porcelain teddy bear broach, about 1? high at 89 Euros. The factory tour was fascinating, I love that sort of thing. They`re great these trips.
Dresden was a highlight, beautifully restored, with lots to see and do. We didn`t see any jungle VIPs and the King didn`t live at the Zwinger Palace. There were lots of lovely restaurants but I`m not a big fan of German food. It`s either fried or very rich or both. I see lots of places and streets are named after Friedrich. And what is that grey, foul tasting milk they serve with coffee at breakfast? Carole thought it might be German sheep milk, more likely German Shepherd milk, I reckon.
It was around this time we had the second puncture at Liberec in the Czech republic. Good job I brought my Czech book (Nick) but first we drove in and out of Poland. Before that, (how did we fit it in?) for some sombre visits in the former DDR we went in the actual chambers where, from 1939, disabled German people were ushered supposedly for a shower, but were gassed, then burnt and tipped on a rubbish heap. Then on to Bautzen, the ?yellow hell? where, post war right up to the 90s East German people were imprisoned for years without trial, sometimes for just speaking out against the government in this ?Democratic? Republic.
I was really looking forward to Gorlitz where the river border, only opened around 20 years ago, reflects different levels of prosperity within sight of each other. Road works caused confusion but, coming across others on the trip, Jean assured me she had the route on her sat nav and we should follow them. 10 minutes later we realised, as we left Gorlitz, that they`d already been into town and we were following them to the next destination.
Others on the trip? Well, what can I say? Disappointingly no-one was really annoying so I didn`t have the pleasure of bearing a grudge. I really enjoy that. We were acquainted, already, with quite a number from other Classic Car Journey trips and re-acqaintance was a pleasure. Mostly, everyone was super friendly, especially Lindsey! And early evenings in the hotel bars was great fun. They`re great these trips.
The car was running as sweetly as ever and, one day in particular, we had a smashing drive through alpine-like scenery in the company of Alan and Lindsey in his 400bhp Skyline GTR . Brrrrm. Alan`s a great bloke, I don`t know why Lindsey doesn`t ask him to marry her. Meanwhile my paranoia about punctures reminded me to check the tyres at every stop and every change in road surface makes me question the nuances of the Elan`s handling. As Gordon Murray, another Elan owner, says; he couldn`t quite design the McLaren F1 to steer so beautifully.
And then we were off to Wroclaw, back into Poland, which makes 23 countries that we`ve visited in the Elan, and that`s not including Poundland. Wroclaw, again, was a lovely place to visit and we had time for a good look around and 11 of us piled into a weird long wheelbase golf buggy for a city tour. They`re great these trips. I tried a sample of Cherry Vodka, then so did most of the others, and then we had another, yum! You know how you try something on holiday and like it so much that you buy some? Then, when you get home you hate it? Well, the next door neighbours here presented us with a bottle yesterday and I`ve yet to try it. Maybe tomorrow.
Tomorrow, then, was a drive to Legnica and on the way we went to an amazing, huge wooden church, accommodating 5500 people, was 400 years old and built using no nails, and this pre-dates Superglue. But then we went to Gross Rosen concentration camp, one of the few survivors being Simon Wiesenthal. Prisoners worked in the quarry where the average life expectancy was less than 2 months. There was an official Nazi policy of ?Extermination through labour?. World leaders today, and everyone, should visit these places, should feel the evil, and think on.
Dee di did dee, dee der dee, did duh dee dee der de dee dee dee etc. You know it. For the final, driving day towards Berlin we were visiting Stalag Luft III, scene of the real Great Escape. Tom, Dick and Harry really were there but Steve McQueen wasn`t, nor was his motorbike. Now overgrown and probably of little interest to future generations we were able to stand over tunnel Harry and imagine the 130 odd prisoners crawling through, climbing up, and finding themselves 20` short of the woods and concealment. All but 3 were re-captured, 50 were shot, and escaper 13 went on to befriend a chap called Ian, 20 years his junior and was best man at Ian`s wedding. Ian was on the trip with us. How fantastic? They`re great these trips.
Now, you might think that some of these visits were saddening but it was quite the opposite, uplifting in fact. Today`s world with all its current evils is not so bad in comparison. We were really saddened, though, a little later as the clutch pedal in the Elan felt a little spongey, or was it my imagination? A quick check of the master cylinder showed no sign of leaking and the fluid level was fine. Everything seemed OK and we motored on for another 40 miles and still hadn`t had puncture number 3. Then???.at some traffic lights??..just 1.1 miles from the final hotel, as I went to engage first gear, the clutch pedal went to the floor, no amount of pumping having any effect and I managed to engage first and continue on in 3 lanes of tea-time traffic until I could sneak up onto the pavement. There was a stream of clutch fluid along the road, the master cylinder was fine and the the slave cylinder is inside the bell housing, totally inaccessible with the concentric clutch system on the 5 speed Sierra `box we have fitted. We were broken, well not us actually, we have Continental breakdown insurance. We had the next day looking around Berlin, another day in Potsdam then we were flown home free of charge and spared the miserable motorway drive back to Rotterdam. The car will be re-patriated in due course.
I`m upset that we sort of feel we let the car down, even though the slave cylinder was renewed last year as preventative maintenance and, frankly, if one more person asks me if I know what the letters LOTUS stand for I shall either burst into tears or burst into violence.
Jim & Carole
P.S. They`re great these trips.
Turtle wax, Auto Glym, Carnauba, we`d been practising our polish vocabulary ready for the Classic Europe 2018. The trip started in Leipzig, headed into the Czech Republic, Poland, then finished in Potsdam near Berlin. It`s a long way away, around 450 miles from Rotterdam and we were in two minds whether to go, especially as the motorway would take nearly 7 hours and non-motorway twice as much.
Around half the group flew there and hired cars and a further quarter went in modern cars. When I asked my glamorous assistant which she would prefer I was rather proud when she asked; ? Are we going on an adventure, or just a holiday?? I booked the ferry that day. Plus it meant we could occupy the moral high ground which is not a place I`m normally familiar with.
As always, the Elan was running sweetly, kept tip-top with anything showing signs of wear replaced. What could possibly go wrong? There`s some discussion whether the tubeless tyres need tubes and Dougal at Longstone Tyres assured me they did. Plenty of french chalk prevents wear, supposedly. Even so I had all the tubes replaced just before we left. Our first puncture was around 300miles from Rotterdam, damn.
We arrived in time for a look around Leipzig then, next day, we were off to Chemnitz taking in, amongst other things, a visit to Colditz. It turns out that, just like the Great Escape, Americans didn`t feature in any derring do and the stories we`ve heard were fiction loosely based on fact. A bit like the Route Book!
Chemnitz was lovely, there was a festival going on with live music on 3 separate stages, stalls, funfair, buskers, you name it. It was all very good humoured, just delightful. One day later, after we left, those riots broke out and Chemnitz has become a draw for psychopathic Neo-Nazis. Appalling.
I`m convinced that there`s a proportion of all religions and races who are drawn to violence, be they right-wingers, Isis, Al Queda, Catholics and Protestants, football hooligans, mods and rockers (you remember, yes you do) and what about Teddy Boys? Don`t call `em terrorists doing horrible things for, supposedly, a cause. They`re psychopaths.
Enough???.. the next day we were off to Dresden taking in the Miessen factory, seeing how they make and hand paint their rather expensive porcelain. The most affordable item was a porcelain teddy bear broach, about 1? high at 89 Euros. The factory tour was fascinating, I love that sort of thing. They`re great these trips.
Dresden was a highlight, beautifully restored, with lots to see and do. We didn`t see any jungle VIPs and the King didn`t live at the Zwinger Palace. There were lots of lovely restaurants but I`m not a big fan of German food. It`s either fried or very rich or both. I see lots of places and streets are named after Friedrich. And what is that grey, foul tasting milk they serve with coffee at breakfast? Carole thought it might be German sheep milk, more likely German Shepherd milk, I reckon.
It was around this time we had the second puncture at Liberec in the Czech republic. Good job I brought my Czech book (Nick) but first we drove in and out of Poland. Before that, (how did we fit it in?) for some sombre visits in the former DDR we went in the actual chambers where, from 1939, disabled German people were ushered supposedly for a shower, but were gassed, then burnt and tipped on a rubbish heap. Then on to Bautzen, the ?yellow hell? where, post war right up to the 90s East German people were imprisoned for years without trial, sometimes for just speaking out against the government in this ?Democratic? Republic.
I was really looking forward to Gorlitz where the river border, only opened around 20 years ago, reflects different levels of prosperity within sight of each other. Road works caused confusion but, coming across others on the trip, Jean assured me she had the route on her sat nav and we should follow them. 10 minutes later we realised, as we left Gorlitz, that they`d already been into town and we were following them to the next destination.
Others on the trip? Well, what can I say? Disappointingly no-one was really annoying so I didn`t have the pleasure of bearing a grudge. I really enjoy that. We were acquainted, already, with quite a number from other Classic Car Journey trips and re-acqaintance was a pleasure. Mostly, everyone was super friendly, especially Lindsey! And early evenings in the hotel bars was great fun. They`re great these trips.
The car was running as sweetly as ever and, one day in particular, we had a smashing drive through alpine-like scenery in the company of Alan and Lindsey in his 400bhp Skyline GTR . Brrrrm. Alan`s a great bloke, I don`t know why Lindsey doesn`t ask him to marry her. Meanwhile my paranoia about punctures reminded me to check the tyres at every stop and every change in road surface makes me question the nuances of the Elan`s handling. As Gordon Murray, another Elan owner, says; he couldn`t quite design the McLaren F1 to steer so beautifully.
And then we were off to Wroclaw, back into Poland, which makes 23 countries that we`ve visited in the Elan, and that`s not including Poundland. Wroclaw, again, was a lovely place to visit and we had time for a good look around and 11 of us piled into a weird long wheelbase golf buggy for a city tour. They`re great these trips. I tried a sample of Cherry Vodka, then so did most of the others, and then we had another, yum! You know how you try something on holiday and like it so much that you buy some? Then, when you get home you hate it? Well, the next door neighbours here presented us with a bottle yesterday and I`ve yet to try it. Maybe tomorrow.
Tomorrow, then, was a drive to Legnica and on the way we went to an amazing, huge wooden church, accommodating 5500 people, was 400 years old and built using no nails, and this pre-dates Superglue. But then we went to Gross Rosen concentration camp, one of the few survivors being Simon Wiesenthal. Prisoners worked in the quarry where the average life expectancy was less than 2 months. There was an official Nazi policy of ?Extermination through labour?. World leaders today, and everyone, should visit these places, should feel the evil, and think on.
Dee di did dee, dee der dee, did duh dee dee der de dee dee dee etc. You know it. For the final, driving day towards Berlin we were visiting Stalag Luft III, scene of the real Great Escape. Tom, Dick and Harry really were there but Steve McQueen wasn`t, nor was his motorbike. Now overgrown and probably of little interest to future generations we were able to stand over tunnel Harry and imagine the 130 odd prisoners crawling through, climbing up, and finding themselves 20` short of the woods and concealment. All but 3 were re-captured, 50 were shot, and escaper 13 went on to befriend a chap called Ian, 20 years his junior and was best man at Ian`s wedding. Ian was on the trip with us. How fantastic? They`re great these trips.
Now, you might think that some of these visits were saddening but it was quite the opposite, uplifting in fact. Today`s world with all its current evils is not so bad in comparison. We were really saddened, though, a little later as the clutch pedal in the Elan felt a little spongey, or was it my imagination? A quick check of the master cylinder showed no sign of leaking and the fluid level was fine. Everything seemed OK and we motored on for another 40 miles and still hadn`t had puncture number 3. Then???.at some traffic lights??..just 1.1 miles from the final hotel, as I went to engage first gear, the clutch pedal went to the floor, no amount of pumping having any effect and I managed to engage first and continue on in 3 lanes of tea-time traffic until I could sneak up onto the pavement. There was a stream of clutch fluid along the road, the master cylinder was fine and the the slave cylinder is inside the bell housing, totally inaccessible with the concentric clutch system on the 5 speed Sierra `box we have fitted. We were broken, well not us actually, we have Continental breakdown insurance. We had the next day looking around Berlin, another day in Potsdam then we were flown home free of charge and spared the miserable motorway drive back to Rotterdam. The car will be re-patriated in due course.
I`m upset that we sort of feel we let the car down, even though the slave cylinder was renewed last year as preventative maintenance and, frankly, if one more person asks me if I know what the letters LOTUS stand for I shall either burst into tears or burst into violence.
Jim & Carole
P.S. They`re great these trips.