Dolomites and more-or less.....

As it’s not my turn to do a ride report this is just my edited highlights with accompanying pics to give you, dear readers a sample of our trip until the trip report proper is delivered...............

DAY 0 250 ish miles very little of it motorway-no mean feat from mine and Gerry’s location (Barry and Hereford respectively...)

Meet at Folkestone, stop overnight and get an early Eurotunnel train to Calais, not much to report, aside from a punch up in the local pub opposite our Hotel for the night, a Best Western Hotel called The Clifton, pleasant enough, cannot comment on the food as we ate at a local restaurant and left too early to sample the breakfast.

Awaiting the 07.20



DAY 1-Calais to Harzé 227 miles
Mark, Jon, Richard, Adrian, Gerry and myself set off from Calais, Gerry has arranged a detour to Mons for a lunch stop-he was stationed here during the Great War apparently-but it’s all changed now.......they allow bikes to park in the main square-a spot that proved elusive for our companions from Ireland





Don't knock it it's a work of art


There's always one isn't there?


We press on, get split up and arrive eventually at Hotel Harze, which looks very agreeable


There is some confusion over whether the Hotel can accommodate such a large group for dinner (we are joined tonight by cookie & angi who have travelled via a ferry from Le Harve and Tony & Tras and Connor & Tracy who have travelled from Ireland) and whether or not they have sufficient cool beer, happily they can and they have, we dine quite late but it was worth the wait, pics from the dining table......

cookie & Wessie


Wessie, Connor & Tracy, Tras & Tony and Jon 12A


Gerry


Dinner is served


Oscar, Mark & Angi viewed through a wine glass lens......


DAY 2-Chateau de Harzé to Haus Am Weinberg 268 mi
Early risers will have noted the day started bright enough and all was well in Bambi's world

Soon the sky grew darker and darker and we treated to a storm with spectacular lightning and rain on a biblical scale, once the storm had abaited we commenced our journey on wet roads, I stopped for a breather and to take a pic overlooking the Mosel


Although not the first to arrive (Jon12A on the 6 cylinder K1600 and Oscar had arrived before me) Adrian arrived soon after.....


I was relieved to arrive at the Hotel and after checking in and taking a refreshing shower watched from my balcony as the others arrived



Secure parking? It's right under my balcony


Refreshing beers in the late afternoon Sun on the terrace


Evening dinner


The less cultured end of the table


DAY 3-Sankt Martin to Berg 19 208 mi

An early start and the temperature outside is climbing-it's going to be another warm day, I congratulate myself (again) for electing to take my BMW Trailguard suit instead of the Streetguard, tha ability to remove the liner and open the vents of the suit have been very welcome
Gerry and I set off together and we were making good progress until we encountered roadworks and diversions
Soon we were on the excellent pass (the name of which escapes me......Schwarzwoldhockstrasse? ) to Mummelsee where we stopped for a snack and to re-group


Coffee and cake were the order of the day, Black Forest Gateau-in the Black Forest? That'll do nicely


There was "Tat" aplenty in the "Tat" shop


Mark and a big cock......


Tony spotted a photo opportunity.....


At this point Tony's partner Tras borrowed my camera after she voluteered to try and get some "on the move" pics from her pillion seat, the results were great (well, I though they were......)


Gerry's now departed bike


Yours truly


Gerry, myself and Jon;


Me again.......


We stopped to re-group and awaited news of Conor & Tracy's progress, they advised us to go on


I spotted this old boy sat outside his house, he looked very absorbed in his work


We pressed on and inevitably were split up again and arrived at Guesthouse Hubertus


We were joined by Neil23, Rivedell (David) and Norm (Kev) who were en-route to Croatia but would stay with our group for 3 nights, the "yellow" end of the car park got a little busy.....


As we sat down for dinner a storm lit up the night sky and it rained and rained and then it rained some more, when I arrived I had left my neck buff and gloves on the seat of the bike for an airing after the hot and humid weather of the afternoon


Pre dinner beers on the terrace;


Pics from the dinner table;











DAY 4-Berg to La Villa in Badia 20 274 mi

Garmin suggested 6 hours 34 mins for today's route, Oscar and I made a fairly early start and made good progress escaping the towns and exploited the opportunities to pass slower moving commuter traffic where possible, we stopped for a pic or two and probably lost most of our gains


The temperature was climbing and the dark grey cloud was slowly disappearing


We stopped for coffee at he charming Via Salina Hotel on the shores of Lake Constance (Bodensee)




Coffee and apple strudel with vanilla sauce was served


By a waitress with ample charm


Passes today included the Oetztal, Fernpass, Obrjoch, Jaufenpass, Timmelsjoch and more- a great day's riding and not enough pics-must have been good
The cash collector at this toll road was straight out of charm school


The views were worth the Euro, I let my fellow travellers do their own thing and stopped many times to take lots of pics;














Our next hotel was the Hotel Cristallo, recommended by fellow tosser JB


End of part one-more tomorrow

Very thorough for "edited highlights"

cookie said:

Very thorough for "edited highlights"

Click to expand...

+1
And great pics too -well done Steve!

Don't make me

Looks great

Nice photos, looks like a fantastic trip.

Good report so far. Bike looks good, especially with those black panniers, and it's about time Gerry had some decent panniers .

Excellent. can't wait for part 2

I have to ask are the black Adv panniers painted or wrapped and who did them. They finish of the triple black perfectly.

cookie said:

Very thorough for "edited highlights"

Click to expand...

You're probably right, I'll end by saying we rode some more,drunk a lot more and talked even more shite, The End.

timeandtide said:

+1
And great pics too -well done Steve!

Click to expand...

Cheers

JohnnyBoxer said:

Don't make me

Looks great

Click to expand...

You would have loved every minute

Trippy said:

Nice photos, looks like a fantastic trip.

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It was

madmikey said:

Good report so far. Bike looks good, especially with those black panniers, and it's about time Gerry had some decent panniers .

Click to expand...

Thanks Mike, Gerry's bike is no more and the luggage is now up for sale-I think

franco said:

Excellent. can't wait for part 2

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Working myself up to it

stevekdavis said:

I have to ask are the black Adv panniers painted or wrapped and who did them. They finish of the triple black perfectly.

Click to expand...

Wrapped, done by a friend in the trade, I'm quite happy with the result but they are by no means perfect, my (in the trade) friend is/was not happy with the finish and knew it would not be an easy job, needless to say he doesn't want to see another set of GSA Ali luggage anytime soon

Looks like a great trip. The quadruple black is looking good

2 wheel humvee said:

Thanks Mike, Gerry's bike is no more and the luggage is now up for sale-I think

Click to expand...

What's he done now?

New Bike

Got one of these

Quadruple Black

cheers

Gerry H.

great report steve brilliant photo,s so want to be back there

come on part two

Looks like you had a Grand Tour. Lovely photos. Next instalment eagerly awaited.

DAY 5-Rideout 1 21 140 mi (optional or suggested route)
Most of us spent 4 days and nights at the Hotel Cristallo, Jon 12A spent only 2 as did team Croatia (Neil, Kev and David) we were joined by Gary (Snow White) for a couple of days and most evening meals and social gatherings, rather than document each day I’ll attempt to summarise with pics and the odd caption.
The suggested rideout took in some great passes including Valparola, Falzarego, Passo Di Giau, Pordoi, Sellajoch and more besides, possibly one of the best day’s rides so far, the weather was great with clear blue skies and temps in the mid to high 20’s, Cristallo is located about 3km from the little town of Corvarro and is ideally located for rideouts in different directions on a daily basis.

Groednerjoch








Sellajoch





Passo Pordoi




I recall 5 of us riding down from Selva Di Cadore line astern at a fairly brisk pace in the high midday temperatures darting in and out of the shade offered by the trees as we neared the valley floor, hairpin after hairpin, my mirrors always filled by the following bikes headlights at varying distances-there were times I thought someone had pinned a target to the back of my jacket, a great ride and one I’ll remember for a long time

We stopped at a little cafe for a cool drink, to allow the bikes to cool down and to watch the world go by.....



More views from the passes...........

Oscar-the "Lone rider"


Plenty of "stickering" opportunities.......





Mark, bringing Joy to the Dolomites


cookie & angie










More about Hotel Cristallo, it has a great wellness centre with pool




Jacuzzi.....


Sauna,steam room and offers full body masages at a reasonable rate-I'm told

The terrace was perfect for post ride de-briefs and tales of the day including Garmin "starburst" discussions...........the Gazebo proved a popular post meal drinking haunt


A Garmin de-brief in full swing...


Nah......I never went there you must've been off route


The evening dress code was casual, neckerchiefs and cravats were optional.......


Tony (Flash of the gap) entertaining the troops-rather good he was too


Days 6 & 7 were also optional and suggested as rideouts, most did their own thing and did as much or as little as they pleased, a small group of us walked (yes really-walked...) to Corvarro through the forest trail


There were many 1 make car and bike clubs in the area, we happened opon a group of Lancia Delta Integrale's




Our little group took the cable car......


To the top of the mountain....



Where we were faced with a long walk to the chair lift


This pic of Mark & Gerry makes me chuckle, I guess you had to be there


Gerry tripped over a "giant boulder" en-route and turned the ankle of his "bad leg" so after cussing loudly he tried a penalty kick on the offending boulder-with his bad leg
Oscar, whilst laughing uncontrollably is trying to capture the image of the offending "boulder"


We got the chair lift to the top


And sat down for lunch, whilst we waited I messed about with my camera's self timer function


Lunch was served, various forms of Schnitzel arrived whilst Gerry had a Euro breakfast meddley with some pickled penis shaped mushrooms


It was a tough walk back to the cable car but the views were almost worth the effort


Back to the riding................
A small group of us set off to do Day 7's suggested route on day 7 or it might have been day 6
A suggested route of 128 miles at a leisurely 4 hours seemed ideal, taking in the passes; Campolongo, Arraba5, Pordoi, Fadeia, Valparola & Falzarego en route to a recommended photograph stop at Lake Misurina,
Views along the way;




This pic reminded me of David (Rivendell) can't think why.........


The briefest of excursions off road....


To get a pic


On to Lake Misurina for lunch, our first pizza of the trip, lunch was adequate, the views across the lake were anything but.........


Team Croatia (Neil, Kev & David) had departed on their own trip on day 7, Jon12A had been asked to leave the hotel as his midnight serenades in the hotel corridors had scared away local wolf packs*.......home-home on the Ray-hainge-arrrrrr...........
*Jon had to leave us early due to work commitments but his early morning singing really was heard on neighbouring continents

We're off to Austria next, I was trying to keep this brief-what happened?
I need a break

More great pics

Not seen that one of mark and Gerry skipping down the path before. That is funny


...and rather

cookie said:

More great pics

Not seen that one of mark and Gerry skipping down the path before. That is funny


...and rather

Click to expand...

They make a lovely couple

Gerry Huxtable said:

Got one of these

Quadruple Black

cheers

Gerry H.

Click to expand...

Very nice too, I like it

DAY 8 - La Villa in Badia to Nauders 24 199 mi
Near enough 200 miles, Garmin suggested 5 hours 45 minutes, with lunch, coffee and photo stops it was going to be a fairly long day on these roads, most made an early start........
Passes today include; Campolongo, Caprile, Forcello Aurine, Strada statale Del Monte Grappa E Del Passo Rolle 10 (fairly trips from the tongue doesn't it ) and the Mendelpass and Reschenpass, a tough but enjoyable day.
I remember feeling "out of sorts" with the bike and couldn't find my rythm, I was braking unnecessarily and waived Richard, Jon and Adrian by preferring not to slow these guys down and find a fix for myself, my ride improved and I was content with a moderately fast pace, I made as few gearchanges as possible and avoided heavy braking and harsh acceleration where possible-very satisfying and as an added bonus my fuel consumption average rose to a new high of 54 mpg according to the computer from an average of 48mpg
I had been soundly beaten on the "post a sticker on the pass sign" game..........

Temps in the high 20's made the Hotel Hochland a welcome site, I knew from a previous stay here during the 09 Swiss trip that the hotel had a great pool & Jacuzzi in the basement so as soon as I had checked in I went to cool off in the pool and then joined the others for a beer and a chat upstairs;





After dinner Oscar & Tony took turns to whack Gerry about the head


Day 9 choice of 2 routes 201 miles via Fuelapass or 226 miles via Albulapass

Over breakfast it was decided we would meet up "at the first petrol station en-route" a surefire recipe for a solo ride
I stopped for a pic close to the "first petrol station en-route" and didn't see or hear another bike for 10 minutes


Thinking the rest of the group must now be ahead of me I "made progress" along cold and wet roads toward the Fluelapass, the road had many sections of roadworks with temporary traffic lights, I pushed my way down to the front of the queue at every red light in an effort to "catch up"
I stopped to add air to my front tyre which had lost a little pressure was feeling increasingly vague and headed up the pass-it was cold! Single figures Celsius cold-not what we had become used to
There was still a lot of snow around and the lakes at the top of the pass were frozen




After a cold and damp start to the day the temperatures climbed steadily into the high 20's by mid afternoon, once again I was glad I had worn my Trailguard suit, the ability to remove the Gore Tex liner and open the ventilation zips in the warm afternoons had been a god send, I crossed the Rhine and enjoyed the final 30 miles or so toward Tuttlingen and Hotel Huhnerhof or The Hen House, I arrived and checked in around 2.30pm only Oscar had arrived before me, the rest of the group arrived over the next 5 hours, I had skipped the Lichtenstein detour though whether by design or poor navigation I'm not letting on



We were booked for 2 nights at the Huhnerhof but our fellow travellers from Ireland had decided to change their travel plans and head for the ferry tomorrow at Roscoff bound for Rosslaire, last supper then............pre-dinner drinks




Fast forward to dessert;


Jon


Flash (Tony) & Tras


Post Dessert drinks




DAY 10-Rideout RHINE FALLS

We bade farewell to Tony & Tras and Connor & Tracy as they leave for Roscoff and their ferry home.

A suggested rideout to the Rhinefalls at Schauffhausen was one alternative the other being a ride to the Touratech emporioum of Tat, the Rheinfalls one the majority vote and we set off as one group for the first time in days.........of course, even on such a short journey there was a parting of the ways but we all arrived at the same destination and parked up.

A fast flowing river, hmmmmmm with pleasure boat rides hmmmmmm


The roar of the water grew louder as we got nearer-impressive


From the cantilever viewing platform


We took a boat ride, destination-the pinnacle of rock in the centre of the falls


Someone commited an act of petty vandalism by "stickering" the boat with a tour sticker, he's staying tight lipped about it.....


Approaching the landing jetty, the steps to the top are clearly visible


We make it to the top, in the viewing box seen by Oscar's right ear are cookie & angie waving to us


See them?


Following the obligatory visit to the Tat err souvenir shop where, at great expense I added to my wife's fridge magnet collection we left, destination the Touratech emporium, we managed to ride as a group for another 5 minutes......

Whilst waiting at a Traffic light Oscar and I spotted a riverside cafe where we thought we would lunch, we ordered coffee and requested a menu, the views across the Rhine were very nice but the menu was breathtaking-we left

We caught up with the others here


We lunched on hot dogs and fizzy water and other culinary delights, we all resisted the urge to spend money and left without so much as a touratech fridge magnet.

This was quite nice-in a slightly overdone throw the entire touratech catalogue at it kind of way



Your suffering is nearly at an end dear reader, tomorrow I will tell you of the tales of days 11, 12 & 13

night night

mor plz