Already at the last Süddeutsche Treffen in Schwangau 2018 some of us decided to accept the invitation of our Thuringian friends. The youth hostel in Plothen was still a good memory for some of us from the Wima Rally 2007, a beautiful location in a romantic pond landscape in the Thuringian Forest.
Bärbl and I have decided to stay two days earlier in the Goldenen Hirschen, Hirschbach near Suben, in order to use May 29th for an excursion to Eisenach and a visit to the Wartburg castle.
Arrival with Schüttregen the whole Tuesday – from the departure in Lower Bavaria up to the arrival in Suben – we shorten a part of the distance over the motorway, are then very pleased about the cosy inn, which is managed by a Greek family and led with great kitchen.
Wednesday morning it is 6 degrees Celsius, but the rain has changed, and the winding route via Ohrdruf to Eisenach is not only wonderful to drive, but also the sun shows up more and more often. There is hardly 
anything going on at the Wartburg on this day of the week, for bikers there are even lockers for helmets and other accessories, so that a guided tour of the castle and a visit to the museum can be done without annoying ballast. The 10 Euro entrance fee per person is really more than well invested! For refreshment, there’s a Thuringian grilled sausage in the Landwecken, with cabbage and onion, on the winter garden terrace.
The approximately 100 kilometres to the common meeting in the afternoon of the 30.5. in the youth 
guesthouse Plothen are a relaxed walk, narrow serpentine roads, mostly good to drive, through the gentle hilly landscape of the district Saale Orla or Saale Holzland…slate covered half-timbered houses in small villages, fiery blooming rhododendrons in the front gardens, wonderful views over blooming rape and chamomile fields. The bright blue sky will remain for the following days. Since Father’s Day is celebrated here on this day, we meet again and again small groups of less or rather more beer-loving men, who move through the landscape wandering or sitting on small carts…some already in a strong inclined position…
We are the first to be greeted by the green dressed ladies of the reception committee, receive Goodie Bag, the key to the four-bed room, introduction to the house rules, and for the motorcycles there is a separate parking area near the campfire meadow. The collaboration with the hostel parents Bärbl and Karl Heinz has already been tried and tested and is working very well. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the first-class organisers Sabine, Kathrin, Birgit, Kerstin, Ilka, Kirsten and Gudrun !
We use the afternoon to sharpen our corners a little. In the meantime Hanna has arrived, who came to Munich the day before and drove with the women from the Munich Stammtisch. For dinner at 18.00 the other Viennese women, who have chosen the journey through the Czech Republic, are not there yet. When we negotiated the keeping warm of four portions of dinner with the kitchen at 19.00, Anneliese, Berti, Michaela and Renate arrive just in time.
They are completely shaken by the long ride on the picked up potholes of the Czech roads.
In the evening, of course, you will tell a lot of stories, report on routes, find friends, get to know new faces, greet old hands, beer, wine and disco.
On 31.5. after breakfast there will be games for those who want to stay on the premises. However, Bärbl and I go to Weimar to stroll in the beautiful city of Goethe and Schiller and of course drink at least two coffees. The rest of the Austria delegation decides for the Wartburg…as was to be feared, there’s of course a mass rush on the long weekend, and since waiting for the next free guided tour would have taken too long, the woman is content with visiting the museum and the castle complex. For the barbecue evening we all sit together again on the comfortable wooden benches in the warm light of the setting sun. The planned campfire in the late evening unfortunately has to be cancelled – the motorbike park is too close, and flying sparks doesn’t want to risk it! But Turtelchen puts on again in the disco that the shreds fly.
Saturday is rally day. We organize ourselves as a group “Bösi Ösi” and explore the closer surroundings on the basis of a station plan. At the ticket counter of the Hohenwarter Stauseeschifffahrt a stamp is to be fetched, and also at a gas station cash, however, the highlight is the crossing of the reservoir with the small ferry. Since we are not the only ones who make an “excursion” in this wonderful weather, it gets a little dense at the ferry station, and we first have to agree on the correct vehicle clearing with already waiting cars. Also this challenge is mastered satisfactorily. Finally we can do the Selfies required by the Orga Team with ferry… to prove our honesty!
Award ceremony of the players and ranking of the rally groups will take place in the discotheque after the last dinner together. We can choose from the prizes – everyone wins of course!!! On this evening, the hostel parents will also be bid farewell – they will retire soon.
Well…again a few wonderful days are over much too quickly! Just sit together a little longer, look into the beer glass, tell a few stories, then pack up the biggest things and get ready to go. In the morning of 2.6. we say goodbye not only to the local hospitality, the Orga team and the other bikers, but also to this great landscape – who knows when we will see them again!
The journey back home will take place again in split groups, depending on the hometown…but in any case to the race track at the Schleizer Kreuz ! 
The fact that Anneliese, Michaela, Berti and Renate are going out to the Stockerlplätze the same day before, they wouldn’t have dared to dream! And that in the Bavarian Forest, in the Gasthof Ayrhof, there is still good accommodation for very little money, Bärbl and I are happy. 
In murderous heat, passing countless “closed on Mondays” signs, we all come home safe and sound on June 3