The Big Euro Road Trip Part 2

Today we ride from Assen in the Netherlands to Osnabruck in Germany to visit my old Army Barracks, then South Towards Wurzburg. And Camping for the 1st time on this trip.

When we wake, hear the birds and see the sun. [Music] Side our fears are done. All the good times just beun. [Music] Good morning and welcome back to the channel. This is Just Live a Little and I’m Mike. Well, as you can see, excuse me, it’s early. There’s a map here and uh I’m in Asen in Northern Netherlands and I’m going to be heading across towards Osnbrook uh where you can see Osen Brook Zoo there. I will be there. That’s not where I was based with the British army. Not in the zoo anyway. So I was based in Osen from 1986 to 1992. So, we’re going to go and find what’s left of Robert’s Barracks where I was based and going to have a little look around Osborrook and then we’re going to continue south toward Vertsburg. So, right at the bottom of the map there, that’s Vertsburg down the bottom. I’m not going to get that far, but that’s the direction I’m taking. None of it on motorways. So, uh hope you enjoyed the ride. Uh I’ll see you on the bike. I’m a net hider. I’m a net hider. Here we go. Okay. Thank you very much. Enjoy it. And I’ll see you when I see you. Yeah. See you. Take it easy. See you. [Music] Well, welcome back. And I’m thinking this is probably going to be part two, but I’ve got a lot of film to edit. Um, so I’ve just said goodbye to my friends and uh he’s given me advice on what route and this time I’m not going to use the beline to navigate. The beline was going to take me three and a half hours, which is fine. But uh but Nigel told me, yeah, this route that this carpio ride is taking me is the best route. He knows the route to Osen very well. Um well well that asent has closed my route off and no matter what I do is taking me back to the same place. So uh I’ve had to sort of follow my nose. Uh the map has now changed. I’m hoping it’s not going to take me back there cuz uh yeah, the road’s closed and they’re just pushing me. They see a motorcycle and they’re just no no. They’re waving me into the parking for the S&T and I had to stop and say, “Oh, I don’t want to go that way.” They just direct me back towards the town center. So, yeah, it is what it is, right? [Music] A lot of Dutch cobbled streets, but that’s all right. We’re almost uh Yeah, from what I can from what I can see, we’re definitely heading in the uh the right direction. Just turn my house and stuff. [Music] I know that you’re trying to fix me, but I don’t want to be like you. If you want to take it back to the 50s, baby, I’m not the guy for you. You’re dying to work. Work until you die. You know that’s true. Have you thought it through? Cuz you love to tell me what to do. Say no heat. So, I’ve just pulled over twice now in the space of a few meters. Um, uh, right. Firstly, the bike, it was like I’d hit the kill switch. The bike cut out while I was riding. Uh, didn’t worry me and it it sort of cut back in. I thought it was going to have to pull over. It come back in and then I thought maybe I did accidentally kill the uh the kill switch with my thumb, but then it did it again while some I knew I definitely didn’t kill the kill switch. So, I pulled over in one of the there’s a little sort of lay thing on on on the road and uh I thought it must be the spark plugs because it’s single cylinder. Sometimes spark plug and work loose. It has happened once before in the past and it did seem to be on all right, but I’ve pushed it down another couple of little clicks and uh seems to be okay now. But we’ll uh we’ll have to see how that progresses. Yeah. So, we’re now in Germany. I saw that sign at the last second. So, uh yeah, here we are. So, we are now just outside. We’re actually on the outskirts of now. This is the route I used to always take in. I kind of recognize it. We’re trying to Yeah. Uh BP is now an SOP. So the barracks I remember is just in here. So you should see the fence that went on the other side of the shore. And the fitness test or basic fitness test run route is to have Oh my god. I think that you’re looking looking at here in front of us is the gymnasium from fourth field artillery. I think I don’t know. Copy. [Music] [Music] Heat. So this this was the barracks. Wow. So this was a parade square. This was Forfield Artilleries uh gymnasium. I recognize it. And these are old SS Second World War SS. This was an SS cam. Wow. So, these have obviously the external part of the building is the same. The windows have changed, the doors have changed. Um, this wasn’t here. There was another building here. And the main entrance for the barracks was here. This was the main entrance. Oh, so you still can get through there. But in here, none of these buildings were here. This was the um [Music] I forget what do they call it? The YMCA YMCA building. But there was all these barracks, these buildings here. Right on the end of this building was our guard room with our little prison cells and things. This was here. And this is exactly as it was, but it’s looking rusty. There was a a gate and obviously the W road was wider. Um, and this half behind me was the Royal Artillery Barracks. This is Robert’s Kazerna, Robert’s barracks. Um, and this half, so the road is the same. This half was 25 engineer regimen. And where the gymno, the the building saw that end with all the glass on it was here. And this was a a gap between the buildings. There was no uh whatever this is obviously didn’t exist. But what you can see in front of you was the officer’s mess. Ah, and there’s still one of the barrack buildings there. That’s the Barrett building. I think that was the RHQ building. And uh this was the officer’s mess. I think pretty sure there was no road coming in from the barracks here. So this is the area where the gymnasium was and where you can see that modern building here that was um so this is now police but this was the RHQ building and directly behind it is the officer’s mess in the corner where you can see this car that was our parade square or our car park if you like and probably a little bit closer than that building was our HQ building uh our uh squadron building and probably where that building is that was our fun car park. So I’m going to go and see if I can look around the back. So this was our parade square. Now, interesting story. Underneath that, underneath that was uh I apparently a a a flooded German Second World War German uh tank park. [Music] Okay, so that’s Robert’s Barracks. I’m so glad I came. This was obviously the exit from the barracks. So that obviously doesn’t go up there. [Music] Can’t go around the back. So this was the officer’s mess. That’s exactly the same as it was. Um and the officer’s accommodation outside of the officer’s mess was in here as well. This building [Music] police now. [Music] So, there used to be a fence line all the way here. My bar lock was here. [Music] So, I kind of recall this. I think this was still here, but this was our basic fitness test route and came around this road and turned left and went along the path. But this is exactly as it was. [Music] [Music] So these were all So my Barrett block was the other side there. And this was the military police building. I’m so glad that some of this is still here. This is as it as it was. So these were stores. They weren’t really anything to do with our regiment, but we still had to sometimes come down there. But the road across this, this is obviously used a bit more now than it was. This none of this was here. Wow. Um. Oh, can’t go straight on. Have to work my way around. [Music] So, [Music] [Music] this is the main road going into the town center where we used to stagger back from the night out or get a taxi if we record it. [Music] Try and get around. [Music] So, this is Ambulang and for some reason it rings a bell. It doesn’t seem to have changed much. Um, I’m sure it was one of these, [Music] but maybe the next one. [Music] I don’t know what Anvogel Zang number it was, but I’m sure it went through a bit further than that, but [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Say no. [Music] suck. Am I the only one who’s outside of this box? Okay. cares about your I know they’re only fake. Show us what you know. [Music] Yeah. Not yourself. Next time you stop, clean your visor. Yeah, it’s getting pretty hot now. Just over 30°. This guy flew past me a minute ago. I’m just sat behind rubbing. Heat. Heat. Yeah. Whilst the camera’s off actually nice rolling hills, forest, twisty roads. It’s rather nice like this. Right. Okay. Um, I’ve just stopped to put some new batteries in my GoPro and to uh clean my visor uh and also look for a campsite. Now I’ve headed towards Vertsburg. I’ve probably got another something like two hours to get to there. I’m not going to do it. There’s no point in me pushing too hard. What I’m going to do now is head for a campsite which is 30 minutes away. There’s quite a few campsites around there. So hopefully I’ll get to one that will yeah have some space for me. Um so I’m not going to call up. I’m just going to turn up and see what can happen. Um bike’s doing all right. Where are we? bikes over there. Um, I got to be honest, uh, I’ve really enjoyed today, but my bike is absolutely filthy after that dirty ride, uh, through the rain. But there we go. There she is, all fully loaded up. Only just enough room for me to get on. I think I’ve over over overdone the uh packing, but I’m away for two weeks. So, Osen Brook, I’ll be honest, I’m really glad that I went and I saw the barracks and uh there was actually more there than I expected. Um but going into Osmuk Town Center, I wish I hadn’t really cuz uh that was a bit of a let down. It was definitely uh not as good as it was back in the 80s. Um yeah, I don’t know what the reason for that is, but uh I wish I had more time to have a look around and uh and go and see some other other places, but um the intention is that I’m going to try and get into Slovenia and into Italy, Tuskanyany, all the rest of it. And uh if I don’t push on a little bit, then I’m never going to make that in the two weeks that I’ve got just over two weeks. So yeah, everything’s cleaned. Uh got me bag down there as well, by the way. All that stuff on there and there’s a rucks sack on my back. So uh I hope you’re enjoying it. Um I’m going to get to the campsite, get set up. They do have a restaurant this one. So, I’m hoping there’s space. So, we got 12 miles to go to the campsite and it’s starting to look dark. Well, it’s been very warm and um bright a lot of the day, so Let’s see if I can find somewhere for cash. ATM. Any ATMs? Let’s have a look. I remember when I was in Germany in the 80s, ATMs are a new thing really, you know, cash points and uh and now they’re becoming less frequent cuz everybody uses a car, right? No way. Look at that. 10,0002 miles we’ve done on this bike now. Well done, little Herald. 10,02 I think there’s about four campsites around these lakes. Again, the Europeans do it way better than we Oh, look at that. They do it way better than we do. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Cracking road. Sun lost the trees over. [Music] Let’s just hope they got some space. I I could ride for a while longer. What’s it 6:00 p.m.? So, I guess I’ve been riding 8 and 1/2 hours, something like that. Oh, there’s not a lot of water in that lake. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat up here. [Music] Hello. Uh moment. Hello. [Music] Hello. [Applause] Can I spit the card talent here or cash cash only? Uh automat cash automat here cash automat in VC or VC 10 kilometers from here. Okay. Do you have no cash money though? No, only I I don’t. I’ve just come from uh Holland. Yes. Um let me just check. Oh, it’s not there. Okay. So, what’s the name of the place? Camping Plats Sophia. No, the for the automat cash. Have you No, no cash or a little bit of cash. Uh maybe€ 10 at all. 10. 11. I need you have one. Let me know. [Music] Okay, so uh I can’t believe it. The first campsite I came to, I just thought, “No, I couldn’t find the reception. It looked like a permanent anyway.” I thought, “No.” So, I I just followed my nose and came down. I saw this one, but I did see one earlier on that said um cash only and I was looking for a cash point as you know. Uh so, I got here and um unfortunately this is the one that is cash only. So, I spoke to a lady in reception really friendly. She said, “Do you have any money and with you?” And I went, “Oh, maybe maybe €10.” and she goes, “I need 11.” Um, but all I had was 10. And rather than me drive 10 km and 10 km back, 20 km, which I would have done, um, she said that’s fine. They got showers. There’s only one other tent in this little area. So, um, yeah, time to get the tent up.