Von Welle_D	Hallo VILLEr & Friends, das Frühstück vor der Abreise nach Renesse zum DmD-Holland in Düsseldorf, beim Honda-Zentrum Dressen war ein tolles Erlebnis. Nach dem kurzen Aufbau von einem Pavillon und ein paar Biertischgarnituren, trafen auch schon nacheinander alle angesagten Deauvillfreunde ein.
	Das Wetter, war an dem Morgen noch etwas frisch, aber dafür, war der Kaffee heiß und die belegten Brötchen sehr lecker. Das kleine Früstücks-Buffet, war nach Bikermanier, auf drei Ölfässern angerichtet worden. Einen schönen und besonderen Dank, an dieser Stelle an dem  Herr Alexander Stüer und seinem Team, der das Ganze erst durch die ausgesprochene Idee und Einladung zu dem Frühstück ermöglicht hat.
	Auch das Angebot, eine neue 2006er Deauville mal Probe zu fahren, wurde von einigen Gästen sehr gerne angenommen. Übereinstimmend waren dann natürlich auch die positiven Komentare, die auch von den Erfahrungen der Deauvillefahrer, die schon länger eine "NEUE" fahren, bestätigt worden. Die "NEUE DEAUVILLE" ist schon was besonderes.
	Gerade mal angekommen, wurde auch schon wieder an der "Neuen" vom SMITTY herumgeschraubt. Nicht, das da was kaputt war, nein, ganz im Gegenteil. Es war nur eine Schraube locker.
	Das Deauviller DmD Frühstück, war für mich ein freudiges Wiedersehen mit bekannten VILLErn und gleichzeitig ein sehr nettes Kennenlernen der mir noch unbekannten Deauviller/innen & Friends. Die kleine vorbereitete Verlosung, war für mich eine nette Gelegenheit, mich bei allen für das Erscheinen beim Frühstück zu bedanken. Es gewann, der Pavel_CZ und der Ferdi_BM jeweils ein original Honda T-Shirt. Der Hauptpreis, eine sehr gute Griffheizung, bekamen der Markus_PF und die Gabi.
	Obwohl ich leider nicht mit zum DmD nach Holland fahren konnte, freue ich mich besonders, das alle "Frühstücker/innen" gesund und munter in Renesse angekommen sind. Wie es der Heiko_NE auf dem Foto zeigt, hat es mal wieder "tierisch Spass" gemacht. Gruss Welle

From Coops-UK
The ramblings of a DmD virgin -

Thursday 22/6:- I left Derby at 6:45 and headed off down the M1 to meet up with Chris (I’m the white one) Lovatt, arriving a few minutes ahead of him I have time for a comfort break before we depart bang on 8am. The run down M1 was uneventful until we hit the queue of traffic at Toddington to get through to J8 - the start of 12 miles of fast filtering at 35-40mph (following Chris). Interesting is the best description, as I’m used to 25mph under those conditions. Onto the M25 and more filtering round to J27 (M11) then clear off over the Dartford crossing (bikes go free!) and away down M20 to Maidstone services. There Brian Smith (IoM) was waiting for us and Colin Bell (ColinB) who rolled in just as we finished a welcome cuppa. We all filled up with fuel and got down to the chaos that is Euro Tunnel (another first for me). We all bypass the so called duty free shops and head straight for the self service checking in system that is the source of the mayhem. Despite what their web site says you need both the reservation number AND the card you paid for it with AND you have to use un-gloved fingers, not exactly biker friendly.

We queued up for some 20 - 25 minutes, being joined by Des & Pat from near Burton-on-Trent, before being waved through into the boarding lane and onto the train. Bikes are ALWAYS the last on so don’t panic if you are running a few minutes late. You ride on, (best use r/h lane and then, when instructed, turn left and tyre to kerb, park up on side stand and leave it in gear – that’s it. If you want a seat then sit on your bike but more likely, like us, you will be glad of the break and stretch your legs, take on fluid (you did pack some didn’t you?), clean visors, take a few photos, etc… there are loads of recorded safety notices in French & English before you depart with a friendly welcome like that you would get if flying – “this is the first mate… , today your captain is…, no photography, etc., etc., etc…. What surprised me was how slow it went – I’d guess about 30 – 35 mph, possibly slower and certainly no faster.

Some 35 – 40 minutes later and it’s out onto the roads of France where we immediately loose Des & Pat. Following the E40 we are into Belgium (worse road surfaces than UK) then Holland. What a difference from the UK. Motorway riding where they don’t always try and run you off the road. As Rear Gunner I experience the occasional tail gater, 2 foot off the rear wheel, but mostly they respect the motorcyclist and leave room, often with a friendly nod or wave. With an estimated 40 miles left to reach Renesse we make a last and precautionary fuel stop. The roads are now much more like our A and B class roads, in good order and wide open views. The wind has picked up but it’s warm, bright and dry.

Into Renesse and we split up to find our lodgings. Brian & ColinB are in a hotel and Chris & I have opted for B&B in Pension Strik. Having booked in, unpacked and freshened up and us two chill out with a meal and a few beers before wandering off to registration at De Zeeuwse Stromen. Then back to Strik via a bar for a final nightcap (more beer). Somehow we managed to keep missing Brian & Colin, both in the town (small as it is) and on the mobiles which are still registering the fact we are no longer in the UK. The end of a long day on mainly boring roads with a few memorable incidents.

Friday - day 2 for most of us. An 8am breakfast set us up nicely for the day. The four of us decided that we'd not join the main ride to Brugge as we'd done 370+ miles the previous day so Chris made up 5th man on a group with 2005 DmDers while Brian, Colin & I did one of the small island tours unguided. Picturesque villages, wide open countryside and easy riding in great weather conditions – nice and relaxing. We get back to Renesse around 2pm and decide to stroll down to the Zeeuwse Stromen (Hotel) to find out when the evening’s BBQ starts. We meet up with Des and Pat, SteveA and Jenny his missus, before we all stroll down to a beachside bar for a bite to eat and a beer. Then back to Hotel and find that Mark (mid-life crisis) from Orkney has arrived on his BMW R1150RT which is covered in dead flies as evidence of his epic trip to everywhere (and back). Eventually we set off on the walk back to our digs and change for evening, meet in a local bar (for a quick beer) then stroll down to Hotel for BBQ (and more beer). During the evening we meet Duncan & Linda from Kings Lynn and I get talking to people from all across Europe and I wish I could speak more languages. Thankfully their English is better than my French, German, Dutch, etc… I must have enjoyed myself from the way my head hurt the next morning (please note that consuming vast quantities of beer is not a pre-requisite to attending DmD, but, is highly recommended).

Saturday - a scorcher, started out hot and got hotter. Thankfully a good breeze prevailed. Chris and I joined one of the guided long tours round the countryside, 7 bikes in total (1 K1200RT from Switzerland & 6 DVs, 2 Dutch 1 Belgian and 3 from the UK (Chris, myself and Norman & Susan from Newcastle who have attended all DmDs to date). Nice easy riding along the coast, over some of the sea barrages and stopping off at a seafront beach bar/café at Neeltje Jans before heading inland and past a nuclear power station and a field of tarmac where they grow Ford cars. Stopped off in Middelburg for a comfort break and leg stretch before heading back to the photo shoot point. For a number of us this was a major disappointment because we got held up at a lock gate that we had to cross only yards from the photo shoot, but they went ahead and did it anyway without us. Some 25 plus bikes missed out despite the fact that we when did cross we were there for the 5 o’clock deadline originally set for the photo taking. Mind you, the ride back looked pretty impressive at the start with some 200 Deauvilles and assorted other machines (mainly BMWs) strung out 2 abreast along the coast road – all departing just as the Rotterdam Police turned up to investigate our gathering.

We filled up the bikes at the BP station 100 metres from the Strik ready for the ride home then freshened up and walked down to the Hotel for the evening party where I finally get to meet Ron (from Leeds) and his good lady. A good buffet spread (hot & cold) is set out for us, loads of grub (and more beer). I get my photos put up on the repeating “slide show” on the end wall, much to the embarrassment of some. Among the announcements was one that Honda had sent 3 senior technicians to the event to get owner feedback on the new NT700 - hopefully Steve Payne (SteveB) will provide an update on that in another post. After multi-lingual ramblings, presentations and a prize draw I turned in early (10:30) as I'd caught the sun but I gather that the die-hard party goers kept it going into the early hours of Sunday.

Sunday – Chris and I are up and ready for 8am breakfast, then off to meet up with Des & Pat for the long ride home. Chris leads with his Street Pilot GPS taking us of down some weird route until we realised it was heading for the foot ferry, at which point we stick Des & Pat out in front with their Quest which has located the tunnel we know we need from the inbound route. After some sat nav induced wanderings somewhere in Belgium we pull in and agree to let Des follow his nose, so he leads, I follow and Chris plays tail-end Charlie and after a short distance the Quest gets the message and gets us to the E40 which it appeared to have been avoiding. We ride into rain, mainly light but constant showery stuff that stays with us until we are virtually at Euro Tunnel, arriving with minutes to spare for our 12:33 departure, except I get a 12:33 and the others get a 13:03 departure. After a brief con-flab I stick my departure card to the screen and lead the others (who don’t display theirs) all the way through the check points and onto the back of the bike queue, then onto the train – much to our collective delight and relief. Once back in the England we head straight into Maidstone services for lunch and fuel. We decide to avoid the filtering of the outbound trip by heading up the M11 & A14. As we are leaving I spot ColinB just in time to shout a friendly farewell (how did he get there when he was supposedly running an hour behind us?). At Brampton Hut services Des pulls in because riding two up he needs a top up to complete the trip. We are all suffering from the heat so follow suit and then have nice cold milk shake from the McDonalds next door, say our farewells before riding off in convoy. Some 40 miles later Chris peels off up the M6. Des leaves the M1 at J22, at which point I open it right up and gas it for the last 25 miles into Derby – home for 5 o’clock and tea time, 935 miles travelled from start to end.

Was it worth the effort & expense? Yes, I wouldn’t have missed it for the world! Four days of riding and talking bikes, joking, eating and drinking with people who were previously unknown or just names/aliases on the forum, making friends with riders from all across Europe. The camaraderie was fantastic, it’s just a shame that the same cannot be said about the organisation on this particular event (everybody I spoke to praised the organisation of previous events). Everybody we've met is super friendly - they all put us to shame being able to speak English when we can't speak their language. But language is not a barrier when you have something in common and want to share it.

So will I do DMD 2007 in the Dolomites? It will be a different event running Monday to Friday. From Derby it’s a thousand miles each way – nearly 3 times the distance for Renesse and I’d have to do it in 2 days each way. The riding over there will be completely different, hairpin bends and sheer drops just feet from the kerbs. The budget will need to be bigger for accommodation, food and fuel. I want to be there, but, whether I will be is still open to discussion.

From Brian - Isle of Man
Just arrived home, the 3 day event took me 6 days due to the weather in the Irish Sea. Total mileage home to home 1,255 and a very dirty bike. (dont suppose SWMBO will clean it will she, Nah ).
Coops has covered most so will only add a few bits. I agree about the drinks flowing during the Barbeque, could not work out how many I had but I slept well, the following day Colin and I decided to give the main rideouts a miss. Had a good walk around Renesse followed by some lunch. Then set the Satnav up and in the afternoon used it for an explore of the local area and then ended up at the group photo - Sorry Coops but we made it on time

Then to the social evening. It was good to meet everyone from the various countries but even better to meet the members of the Forum and put some faces to the names. Chris and Coops were at one hotel and Colin and myself at another, come the Sunday morning Colin and I left about 30 mins after Chris and Coops. I understand that Chris's Streetpilot has the world upside down as they started the return journey going the wrong way .

Would I go again - definately, not only that my DV now has a superb sculptured seat courtesy of Des selling his, so a stop off at his house on the way home which made a whole lot of difference to comfort on the long return journey and with the original seat 'cargo netted' across the rear of the bike - not too good for stability

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