2026 Tour de l'Amour with Hatcho and Dub24

Jaysus we had serious craic today
Boxes touching down? No thanks. I like some margin for error built in. I've never even touched my pegs or stand down, never seen the need. Anyway it's against my religion to ride like that.
That's why there are many types of biker, just like there are many types of religion. 👍
 
Well aware I'm miles behind on the actual trip report. WiFi here is a bit slow which makes uploading to YT a tad slow.

Tomorrow morning it's an early start at around 6am to go collect Mrs Hatcho from Geneva Airport. Weather forecast isn't great with thunderstorms forecast for most of the return journey back to our base camp. Wet or dry, I'm simply delighted to be biking in mainland Europe, it's been savage every single day. Even @dub 24 seems to be enjoying himself! 🤣🤣 In fairness he played a blinder today taking on some pretty tough and technical trails on the way to the Galleria de Saraceni

 
Have to say my engineering skills and ability to 'think outside the box' are second to none. Did some shopping after our offroad adventures yesterday and ran out of space with the bog roll still not stashed. Here's my solution:
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Worked a treat until a couple of the rolls started to unravel once over 80kph! 😳 . The laughs of dub behind me as things went a bit Priscilla, Queen of the Desert! 😂
 
Have to say my engineering skills and ability to 'think outside the box' are second to none. Did some shopping after our offroad adventures yesterday and ran out of space with the bog roll still not stashed. Here's my solution:
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Worked a treat until a couple of the rolls started to unravel once over 80kph! 😳 . The laughs of dub behind me as things went a bit Priscilla, Queen of the Desert! 😂
Try wiping your arse with road grit embedded in the jacks roll. Makes for a clean tea towel holder
 
Well, I'm back! Bit of a longish spin today to collect Mrs Hatcho from Geneva Airport. She's pretty wrecked after leaving home around 3am to catch her flight. I'm sure she nodded off a few times until we hit the twisties, then she most definitely woke up 😂

Met this bike in a petrol station... Mad looking yoke!
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Right, getting back on track....

Going over the Splügen pass brought us back into Switzerland from Italy. Cracking scenery and great roads and it only got better.
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We continued north on the same route I took last year. Arriving into Splügen we then headed northwest on route 13 towards Sufers. We pulled over to sort out a place to stay and settled on an apartment jobbie in a town called Andeer a little further down the road. The last 15mins of the day were awesome twisties on perfect tarmac. All our tiredness, heat fatigue just faded away as we cruised into Andeer, a very pretty town indeed. Checking in was self service and took only a few minutes. I wanted to register dub as Mr Ball Breaker, a 25 year old Ethiopian, but when it wanted his passport details we had to go back and enter his real name and nationality, Mr. Budgie Smuggler from Uzbekistan. 😅

The very tolerant check in desk...
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My dahling settled in for the night 😍
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So, where were we...?

Ah yes, Andeer where we were greeted by Marcus who sported an artificial leg, very Terminator indeed. Don't have a pic because honestly, that would be quite rude!
Lovely digs again with me getting the proper bed and dub opting for the fold out sofa bed. Only downside was that the two halves of the apartment were separated by a partition not a full wall, so I'd be indulging in earplugs tonight. 🙄😴.

After a quick shower we headed out for dins at the hotel Flavi, recommended by Marcus. I'm pretty sure this is the most expensive meal I've ever eaten (not nearly as high brow as you lot) as the bill came to 220 Swiss francs for both of us. Ouch.

Starter:
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Soup :
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Main course :8a2ddef6-c504-4757-8a0a-7c2025d8eab4-1_all_135836.jpg

and desert :IMG20260814204414~2.jpg

It was nice in fairness, but was it worth it? 😲 I know Switzerland is expensive, but we were nearly hitting 500 euro per day on food and accommodation! A few nights kipping under our bikes was looking more likely than ever! 😅

We wandered back to our home for the night and took some pics of the town along the way...
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The next morning I was awake early as usual. Plus, there's only so much that earplugs can do! 🤣 They're great for sound that travels through the air, but they haven't a hope against seismic rumbles bouncing off the tectonic plates!

After charging various cameras batteries and drones (this is my bedside table)
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I got bored after a while so decided to annoy dub by hitting him with an open umbrella. Worked to a degree, but he just fell back asleep. I could tell because the tea in my cup was hopping about the place! 😅

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Well, I'm back! Bit of a longish spin today to collect Mrs Hatcho from Geneva Airport. She's pretty wrecked after leaving home around 3am to catch her flight. I'm sure she nodded off a few times until we hit the twisties, then she most definitely woke up 😂

Met this bike in a petrol station... Mad looking yoke!
View attachment 531596
Big sword. Just the job to repel campervans.
 
Right so the latest update. My rear brake was fading,probably due to over heating the fluid
So we went off today and got a bottle and myself and Hatcho were in the process of changing/ bleeding the fluid from the rear reservoir to the caliper.

I was at the pedal he was at the bleed nipple. The ham fisted clown swung out of the spanner and snapped the bleed nipple clean off.

So now Hatcho the nipple wrecker has to go and chase one down tomorrow. I was originally offered assistance by this chap ,probably should have said yes
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Just cannot believe that dub went international touring with a defective bleed nipple fitted to his bike. 🙄 Any bleed nipple in good condition would be well able to cope with a two foot extension bar on a standard ratchet. I keep telling him not to be buying parts from AliExpress, but he just won't listen! 🙄😂

Anyhow, now I've to go on a whistlestop tour of motorrad dealers to find a replacement part for his bike. Wonder should I charge mileage? 😂
 


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