2019 sees some changes to the annual autumn European motorcycle tour, for the first time in many years we are not using the services of Brittany Ferries and we won’t be visiting Spain or the South of France. There is also a new person on the trip and to be fair, she is much more attractive and fragrant than Fordie, so James tells me.
The anticipated highlights are The Swiss Alps and it’s famous mountain passes, Heidelberg, Colmar in the Alsace, Auto & Technik Museum and visiting Kaitlin in Maastricht. Flora is catching the Eurostar to visit Kaitlin in Maastricht the same weekend as we are.
Only 27 days before we leave I picked up the new GSA, plenty of time to run it in, first service at just over 600 miles. As much as I like CW at Dorchester the team at Dick Lovett were significantly more efficient and the bike was ready when they said and serviced much more quickly. Most of the “Farkles” from the old bike such as the seat and mudguard extender were fitted, the only items that remain are the exhaust (too tatty) touring screen (too tall for The Nightjet) and the phone bracket (too gangly). I’m sure there is a better option for the phone, I just haven’t found it.
Flora is looking after the dogs until she leaves for Uni for a few days before she heads to Maastricht for the weekend, then the MiL (favourite) will have Eva and Jess has a holiday at the dog walkers.
During the trip Clare and I will be operating the suicide clothing system, leaving dirty laundry as we go, potentially creating a bit of space for a few produits régionaux along the way.
We had a scheduled departure of 0830, but Clare and I were late and eventually we left about Salisbury at about 0915 heading for the Eurotunnel at Folkestone. We gorged ourselves on the nosh and facilities in the Flexiplus lounge before heading on to the train. At 23.5-mile Wiki states is the longest undersea section of tunnel in the world.
There has been much discussion on UK motorcycle forums on the Gendamerie trying to squeeze the British driver/riders pockets by clamping down on speeders, something the British are already good at, but we don’t know how efficient the UK authorities are at extracting fines from EU motorists. We observed the limits !
Night 1, Fri 13th Hotel Cosmopolite in Nieuwpoort, to be fair (Fordie) this was our second choice hotel, we had hoped to stay at the Ara Dune, which is right on the French/Belgique border and whilst a modest hotel has a good restaurant, which Clare and I used in July 18. We enjoyed a stroll along the impressive promenade eventually stopping for some refreshing beers, on the way back we stopped at ‘t Marmietje, one of the many seafront restaurants and enjoyed typical Belgian cuisine, washed down with a few more beers. This one pictured below is too strong for me, but Suzanne and James enjoyed them. Back to the hotel for an Armagnac nightcap.
Day 2 - Saturday, after a lie in we enjoyed a standard European breakfast and set off fairly late. One of the motorways was closed so we were diverted and instead of a photo opportunity and lunch at Mönchengladbach we stopped for a late lunch at Venlo and then headed for Düsseldorf HBF and the Autozug Nightjet service. After we arrived we parked up and walked to the main station where we bought a few comestibles for the train.
Sat 14th night on the NightJet train - Düsseldorf. The night train saves us over 700 kms of slog down to Southern Austria, it’s probably not much in the cost when you take into account tyre wear, fuel, hotel etc. It’s fairly basic, last year we had a shower, not this time! Clare also awoke in the night to discover a stranger in our cabin. Nothing missing, but door locked afterwards.
Day 3 - Sun 15th Innsbruck HBF to Hasliberg, mainly motorways but stunning views of lakes Lucerne and Zurich along with mountain views. We stopped a few times for fuel, drinks etc, a nice lunch at Feldkirch on the Swiss Austrian border. We popped into Lichtenstein for 5 minutes, so for the third day on the trot we have ridden in three different countries. There were some very long traffic queues, luckily all going the other way. The hotel was very nice, we enjoyed drinks on the veranda before a four course fixed menu. I slept past seven, which was probably mainly due to tiredness, a comfortable bed and quiet environment helped. Breakfast was excellent although no black pudding! The hotel receptionist told us they had seen snow last week, although that was unusual but it was also unusually hot. There was much disappointment when we found that James motorbike had been damaged, 3 of the 4 indicator stalks were snapped. It’s likely we will effect a temporary bodge later.
Day 4 - Mon 16th - after the disappointment of the damaged indicators we eventually left at about 11:00, we headed to Meiringen where James fuelled up before we turned round and followed the signs for the Susten Pass. We stopped briefly to watch the Swiss Air Force land their fighters. Then headed up, stopping for coffee at the Susten Hospiz before going back down the other side to Andermatt. 28 degrees in mid September is probably very lucky ! Later in the afternoon we took a stroll around the town, Clare bought a postcard for Grandpop and I looked at the Victorinox pocket knives, I haven’t completely decided not to buy one yet !
Day 5 - Tues 17th, this is the first of the two night stops which allows us time to explore an area, the hotel Koenige is in Andermatt, ideally located to ride many of the famous passes. The route I picked up from John Herman’s Motorcycle journeys through the alps and beyond. Not an easy read as he is an American and they have odd ideas about Europe (as does the UK it seems) but full of good suggestions for planning a trip. Sadly though due to my map reading skills we went another way ! I should have uploaded the route to my SatNav, but for a change we just used a map. It started off well, with the Furka pass being better than spectacular, unbelievable views. We turned right instead of left and rode the Grimsel pass, which in its self was spectacular, then at Innertkirchen we picked up the Sustenpass to take us back to Andermatt. 123 kms, which was slightly more than planned. After a quick change we took to the cable car and took a ride to the mid station, we couldn’t afford to go all the way. We enjoyed coffee and apple tart on the new restaurant terrace.
Switzerland is in general stunning, sadly it’s the third most expensive place to live in the world, behind Bermuda and New York. Three very small glasses of wine and a vodka tonic cost 37 CHF or £30.00 we are not looking forward to the hotel bill in the morning. I’ve loaded my Revolut card in anticipation.
Day 6 - Weds 18th, James’ birthday, a leisurely 0900 start, Swiss breakfast but with gifts and cards. The hotel bill was eye watering and any future trips to this part of the world might see us finding something less expensive. Today’s grand départ sees us nearly ready to leave at 1030. Heading for Colmar and the much cheaper Hotel Maraichers. We stopped for a dirty Burger King lunch (birthday boys choice) the countryside views were still very good until somewhere near Basel when it became flatter and less scenic. At times the temperature was low as 16°C and in one of the tunnels as high as 25°C. We arrived at our hotel about 1530, by which time the temperature was warm again.
Thurs 19th - day 6, got away sharpish at 0930 for the ride to Sinsheim and the Auto Technik Museum as recommended by Robert Smith, one of the largest exhibitions I’ve personally visited. A great museum with both a Concorde and Tupolev TU-144 (Concordski) mounted above the roof. We should pencil in going to it’s nearby sister museum with a 747 and space shuttle.
After a few cleansing ales we tried to get in to the Schnitzelbank restaurant, but sadly they only had space for three so we walked back to the hotel and enjoyed a sumptuous meal washed down with some local wine.
Fri 20th - after breakfast James and I were getting ready to take Suzanne to Frankfurt Airport as she had to be back home, when my bike stalled, it restarted but a warning message told me it was fine to ride but I should go to a Motorrad dealer. After saying our goodbyes to Suzanne, James and I headed to Fahrzeughaus Stilgenbauer, BMW Motorrad Vertragshändler, not the closest but situated on the way back to Heidelberg and would be open after lunch. We parked, I walked inside and was immediately greeted with can we help, the bike was wheeled in and a few minutes later back out, of the workshop. Apparently a well known fault, which they reset and told me to visit my supplying dealer who will be able to update the software probably after November.
Meanwhile Clare was exploring Heidelberg and it’s Schloss. After we got back to Heidelberg and met with Clare we had lunch and walked onto the towns historic bridge before a cheeky Gelato, the only one of the trip, so far !
In the evening we managed to get into the Schnitzelbank restaurant and shared a table with three Germans and a honeymooning couple from Toronto Canada, also touring on motorcycles. Great food, sorry no photo, except local beer.
Sat 21st - departed about 0900 and started off by avoiding the motorways, but after a few hours and me forgetting which side of the road I should be on we had a short break at a McDonalds we then hit the highways until Mayen where we stopped for Pizza at a street cafe. After lunch we started to see a few fast cars and motorcycles, not surprising as it turned out to be the road passing the Nurburgring, obviously we parked up and wandered in where we watched a bit of classic 24 hour car racing. We then got onto the motorways to get to Maastricht at 1645. A long 399 kms ! We met Flora and Kaitlin and after a shower and quick change we walked to one of the two squares for a few drinks and dinner. Early night for the oldies, the girls went out later.
Sun 22nd - A lazy day in Maastricht, we all walked Flora to the train station, visited the natural History museum, which didn’t open until 1300, so we waited, although I tried to find D’ Artagnan statue, he was killed in the battle of Maastricht of 1673, it was the wrong side of a fence !
Monday 23rd last day, Kaitlin visited before we departed, James and I fetched the motorcycles from the underground car park, loaded up and left about 0930, an uneventful ride to the Eurotunnel, where pre Brexit queues were building with both French and UK border controls being rigidly enforced. To make matters worse we had a trainee officer ! The weather held until a mile from Clacketts Lane service when the rain started, it then rained hard for the rest of the ride. Maastricht to home was 398 miles, the longest ride.
Ten days holiday, 1696 miles covered in 9 days of riding through seven countries not including the UK. We were incredibly lucky with the weather for mid September with dry riding until Clackett Lane.
Probably drive the Land rover tomorrow!
Hope you enjoyed my effort, until next time.