3000 MILES 7 COUNTRIES 1 BREAKDOWN 100 HAIRPINS
My first bike was a Yamaha 250 which I bought circa 1976 , I rode it home from the shop without any previous riding experience. First day out it kept stalling , 'carburetors said the shop easy to fix'. The nightmare continued, gear box problem was next. Anyway I passed my test on it and then got shut. I then went for a reliable Vespa scooter and loved it . It was used for work as well as trips to Scarborough and Brighton . This prompted me years later to buy a scooter for our trip to Sagres .The scooter is now doing great service in Portugal, hence a return to biking for this Europen trip. Bike of choice a 13 year old Kawasaki ZZR 1100 , classed as a straight line tourer, but much more than that .
Ready to go Monday 3rd August 2009
Day 1 was a ride to Dover , we had booked a hotel in Dover so we would be fresh for the morning ferry to Calais , seeing we had all day to get there we opted to avoid the motorway,we picked up the A5 it runs from Holyhead to London a total of 260 miles , it was also the first Roman road to be built in Britain hence its name the Roman Road . I had never heard of it being of the M6/M1 generation . But i have now !
The hotel and the ferry trip were uneventful,it was all about getting into France and arriving at our first campsite.As far as i can remember i have never been to France ,the general advice from bikers was get to Belgium as quick as possible to avoid the Toll roads and the French campsites. Ha Ha we headed straight for the Peage, and after 200 miles of the best driving experience ever and money well spent headed for the campsite in the Champagne region of north west France.
It was a relief to get our first night out of the way, we were new to this and had been nervous about the trip. We shouldn't have worried really , quiet roads and dry warm weather , Ahhhhhh. We were heading for Friedrichshafen on the northern side of Lake Constance in Southern Germany, near the borders of Switzerland and Austria and near the Alps.My sisters partner was born there and we had arranged to spend two nights with his family, visiting relatives or friends in far away places is so good as the local information is invaluable to get the most out of a place . Anyway before imposing ourselves on Ottos brother we had one more night under canvas and took a route via Colmar in the Alcase region of France then on to Freiburg and Friedrichshafen.
We had a great two days in Friedrichafen,fed watered and shown the sights.The local beer was superb , can't find it here.Whenever you finished a bottle you were offered another , there is nothing worse than being sat with an empty glass for half an hour while the host sips theirs.
On Ottos recommendation our next stop should be Fussen in Bavaria, 3 miles from the Austrian border and famous for its castles Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. The former is the most famous having been featured in films and adverts and was the inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle. In a similar way as the Lake District this area has a picture book beauty to it and combined with the fine weather, its simply stunning.We had 2 nights camping here, as the castles were to spectacular to miss.
Lets head for the hills! We were now leaving the relative lowlands and heading for the Alps. We had arranged to meet our friends Sandra and David and the plan was to 'do' the Grossglockner pass, a mecca for bikers, and visit the Berteschgarten national park and the location of the infamous Hitlers retreat.We camped at Zell am See in Austria, each trip being a full day.
This marked the half way point of the journey, and it was on the ride back from Berteschgarten that the bike developed a problem.There was a terrible smell of sulpher, and after packing up in the morning and ready to head into Slovenia the bike would not start. After an hours attempt to get it going we game up and called the break down services.Luckily we had full European cover, the regulator had gone, and a new one would take 5 days to arrive, in the mean time we had use of a hire car. At the time this was a blow it disrupted our plans and meant we had to hang around for 5 days. In the end Sandra and David decided to carry on with their journey and we decided to use the car to go to Innsbruck and then Into Slovenia. After the initial shock things worked out well as the 5 day trip was very enjoyable, and once the bike was fixed we were refreshed for the 2nd part of the journey.
We got our bike back and we are off to the Dolomites!The original bike journey would have taken us into Slovenia and then Italy, but with the 5 days delay we headed for the Italian border.We were now heading towards home and the plan was Italy then into Switzerland via the Stelvio pass 2757m (49 hairpins) and then back through France.We were now in peak holiday time and the Stelvio was a car park, it was unbelivable, bikes, cars , caravans, motor homes. We consulted the map and found an alternative route, at first it was not too busy, then it got worse and worse until it came to a standstill. We sat in traffic for a while then a bike came past on the wrong side of the road, we followed him dodging cars on the way up, in the end it was a game, a rather dangerous one but fun .
Thats it folks we had some hard riding to do to get back, a stop in Switzerland and then Metz and a days ride to Calais. Overall impression ,on a bike Continental Europe is a playground for us Brits, with good weather and amazing roads and scenery its a doddle and i'll be back wanna join me . The problems start at Dover, the journey home is a pig.
