Hopefully this will be a quick ride report for a trip undertaken by Rick (Pendle of this parish) and myself, dipping a toe into eastern Europe. I’ll try not to repeat too much that many of you will already know.
Day 1. Ferry at Zeebrugge to Beverungen in Germany. We hit the motorway for the first chunk, just to get well into Germany though this backfired a bit with roadworks and football traffic combining to slow us down. After Dortmund we had a run through the Mohne valley and hills/forests above the Ruhr. The roads were generally good, but with only short open stretches between towns. We found fairly cheap accommodation and good food in Beverungen.
Day 2 was from Beverungen to Colditz. We headed northeast to Bad Grund and had a bit of a play through the Harz Mountains. To be honest I was a bit disappointed, not helped by the weather and the fact that there were a lot of road repairs going on, with hot tar and chippings being the order of the day.
From Harz we went south and visited the camp at Buchenwald. Perhaps not as famous or as big as Aushwitz, but I imagine with many of the same emotions. There’s a huge memorial with views across green rolling hills. That view must have seemed a very cruel contrast to those trapped in the camp. The road to the camp was built by the inmates and is known as the Blood Road. There’s also a railway line leading to the camp built by the prisoners.
From there we jumped a short stretch of motorway in the rain. Certain areas provided a big contrast with western Germany, with the drab tower blocks and heavy industry of the former East Germany being apparent. Eventually we struck cross country to Colditz and a cheap b & b near the castle. Unfortunately, being a Sunday night the whole town was closed after 10pm, but a short walk led to a good view of the castle.
Day three started with a look at the castle. We had a quick look into the outer and inner courtyards of the castle, though decided against waiting for it to open and going in for a long look round. It’s an impressive building, but hard to conceive of being imprisoned there and trying to dream up a way out.
From there we pressed on eastwards. The roads in this part of Germany do not lead to particularly fast travel, with a lot of towns and villages. There were also lots of road closures for roadworks, with badly signposted detours. This is the first part of any trip where I’ve wished for GPS, but the trusty maps worked in the end. We jumped onto the motorway at Cottbus to cross the border into Poland, and off at the first exit. The exit slip was cobbled. And rough. I’m glad it was dry.
After filling up at Zary we pushed onto Zagan and Stalag III. The signing is not great, with a tiny fingerboard pointing to ‘Tunel Harry’ and an unofficial sign stating Stalag Luft III 1km. Its 1km down a dirt track to the memorial and the first signs of Harry. On arrival we were met by Polish TV! They were interviewing the Museum boss but then wanted to interview us. Fame at last.
It’s an impressive place to visit, even without much remaining. The path of Harry is marked with stones, and the entrance and exit marked. A hundred plus metres long and ten metres underground, it’s an incredible feat. Foundations of the original camp are still there, but you do need to use your imagination a bit. I felt a long way from home and wondered how the hell anybody could expect to get out of the camp and complete a home run. I had a GS, a credit card, hotels, roads, no borders cross and no bastards trying to track me down and kill me, and I felt a long way from home. Three of the seventy six got home. Fifty were executed.
If you’re visiting, it may be easier to travel north on the 296 from the motorway. That road will take you past the POW Musuem on the right hand side (closed on Mondays and it was a Monday) with the turn to the camp about half a mile past the Museum. The Museum has a replica watchtower, replica cabin and a tunnel that you can try out, if it’s not Monday.
Polish roads vary from fantastic and smooth, to quite possibly the worst metalled roads I’ve ever used, but I didn’t find the driving all that scary. There’s slow movers, dodgy overtakers and horse and carts, but nothing to put anyone off visiting.
Travelling south towards the Czech Rep we found great roads into the mountains and stopped at a ski resort Szklarska Poreba, again we found cheap digs and beer. We had no problem using credit cards and only needed currency for a couple of brews. Unfortunately it all closed at 10pm, apart from the local Jazz-Punk bar, where some merkin screacher had the mistaken belief that he could sing. Cock.
Day four started badly when I broke a tooth. That was to slow my drinking for the rest of the trip, but otherwise we just cracked on. We pushed on through the mountains, over the border into the Czech Rep. First bloke we spoke to was a Czech working in Liverpool but on holiday visiting his mum.
The northern half of Czech, from Nachod to Hradec Kralove was busy and the roads not so hot, but south of that the roads got more interesting and fun, if a bit bumpy. Passing through Kutna Hora I saw a small tourist sign saying Kostnice and had a look. Oh well, on a silver GS and in a tw@ jacket, I suppose we had to look at the church full of bones. And Rick wanted to pose with MCN to get his picture in the paper. So I won’t put it in here.
From Kutna Hora we pushed on south to Trebon, a nice little place with cheap digs, cheap beer and its own brewery. Nobody wanted to take credit cards, but the cash machines worked, and everything shut at 10pm.
Day five was over the border into Austria. And after two and a bit days of former eastern block countries Austria looked very prosperous. We managed to dodge the farmers and their tractor protest and got to Berchtesgarten, half thinking of visiting the Eagle’s Nest. The car parks there were heaving and there were queues for the buses that you need to take to get up to the building itself. We asked some Germans, but they didn’t think we could get the bikes up there, so we pressed on.
The Deutsche Alpenstrasse (B305 and B172 was what we did) was a cracking road. Bit busy in places but some fabulous stretches and with great views towards the mountains. When we stopped for a coffee and cake there were a group of Czechs on hired GSs finishing a long lunch. It was about 3pm. How many miles they expected to do in a day I don’t know, but they were surprised that we had come from the Czech Rep that day. One of the 1200 riders had the spanners out.
Pressing on we found an even better road, the RO52 and B307 from Oberaudorf to Bayrischzell was one of the best I’ve ridden for a while. If it had been earlier in the day, and not threatening rain I’d have turned round and done it again. Digs in Schliersee, not so cheap this time as would be expected. Everything shut at 10pm, as would also be expected by now.
Day 6 was wet. We pressed on across southern Germany and then northwards to the Black Forest, eventually stopping at Freudenstadt. The second café of the day, just when we wanted coffee and cake served ice-cream, no cake, and the only biscuits were those tiny things you get with fancy cups of coffee. Still, Freudenstadt has a brewery and it would have been rude not to visit. It shut at 10pm. But we got Jagermeister in a little bar around the corner.
Day 7 dawned misty. Unfortunately cos we were in the Black Forest. Shortly after turning onto the 500 it cleared. Second time I’ve ridden this road and it’s a corker. Sorry Harz fans, but the Black Forest wins for me, and I don’t like the cake.
We carried on over the Rhine, nipped a bit of France and then found another fantastic road. From north of Wissembourg we took the 48 northwards to Kaiserslautern. The part after Rinnthal was brilliant, a bit like the A686 near Haydon Bridge, but with a better surface and longer. Bugger for overtaking, so if there’s something slow ahead of you, stop for a piccy and let it get away. The road was too good to stop and take pictures for us, but there’s a big biker café in the middle of the forest, at least that’s what it looked like as we whizzed past. After that, a bit of the Sure Valley and the Gorge du Loup through Luxembourg got us to Bastogne and an explore of the American Memorial and the Bois Jacques.
On the last day we played in southern Belgium for a bit, then hit the boring roads back to Zeebrugge and a bar that stays open till 1am!
Day 1. Ferry at Zeebrugge to Beverungen in Germany. We hit the motorway for the first chunk, just to get well into Germany though this backfired a bit with roadworks and football traffic combining to slow us down. After Dortmund we had a run through the Mohne valley and hills/forests above the Ruhr. The roads were generally good, but with only short open stretches between towns. We found fairly cheap accommodation and good food in Beverungen.
Day 2 was from Beverungen to Colditz. We headed northeast to Bad Grund and had a bit of a play through the Harz Mountains. To be honest I was a bit disappointed, not helped by the weather and the fact that there were a lot of road repairs going on, with hot tar and chippings being the order of the day.
From Harz we went south and visited the camp at Buchenwald. Perhaps not as famous or as big as Aushwitz, but I imagine with many of the same emotions. There’s a huge memorial with views across green rolling hills. That view must have seemed a very cruel contrast to those trapped in the camp. The road to the camp was built by the inmates and is known as the Blood Road. There’s also a railway line leading to the camp built by the prisoners.
From there we jumped a short stretch of motorway in the rain. Certain areas provided a big contrast with western Germany, with the drab tower blocks and heavy industry of the former East Germany being apparent. Eventually we struck cross country to Colditz and a cheap b & b near the castle. Unfortunately, being a Sunday night the whole town was closed after 10pm, but a short walk led to a good view of the castle.
Day three started with a look at the castle. We had a quick look into the outer and inner courtyards of the castle, though decided against waiting for it to open and going in for a long look round. It’s an impressive building, but hard to conceive of being imprisoned there and trying to dream up a way out.
From there we pressed on eastwards. The roads in this part of Germany do not lead to particularly fast travel, with a lot of towns and villages. There were also lots of road closures for roadworks, with badly signposted detours. This is the first part of any trip where I’ve wished for GPS, but the trusty maps worked in the end. We jumped onto the motorway at Cottbus to cross the border into Poland, and off at the first exit. The exit slip was cobbled. And rough. I’m glad it was dry.
After filling up at Zary we pushed onto Zagan and Stalag III. The signing is not great, with a tiny fingerboard pointing to ‘Tunel Harry’ and an unofficial sign stating Stalag Luft III 1km. Its 1km down a dirt track to the memorial and the first signs of Harry. On arrival we were met by Polish TV! They were interviewing the Museum boss but then wanted to interview us. Fame at last.
It’s an impressive place to visit, even without much remaining. The path of Harry is marked with stones, and the entrance and exit marked. A hundred plus metres long and ten metres underground, it’s an incredible feat. Foundations of the original camp are still there, but you do need to use your imagination a bit. I felt a long way from home and wondered how the hell anybody could expect to get out of the camp and complete a home run. I had a GS, a credit card, hotels, roads, no borders cross and no bastards trying to track me down and kill me, and I felt a long way from home. Three of the seventy six got home. Fifty were executed.
If you’re visiting, it may be easier to travel north on the 296 from the motorway. That road will take you past the POW Musuem on the right hand side (closed on Mondays and it was a Monday) with the turn to the camp about half a mile past the Museum. The Museum has a replica watchtower, replica cabin and a tunnel that you can try out, if it’s not Monday.
Polish roads vary from fantastic and smooth, to quite possibly the worst metalled roads I’ve ever used, but I didn’t find the driving all that scary. There’s slow movers, dodgy overtakers and horse and carts, but nothing to put anyone off visiting.
Travelling south towards the Czech Rep we found great roads into the mountains and stopped at a ski resort Szklarska Poreba, again we found cheap digs and beer. We had no problem using credit cards and only needed currency for a couple of brews. Unfortunately it all closed at 10pm, apart from the local Jazz-Punk bar, where some merkin screacher had the mistaken belief that he could sing. Cock.
Day four started badly when I broke a tooth. That was to slow my drinking for the rest of the trip, but otherwise we just cracked on. We pushed on through the mountains, over the border into the Czech Rep. First bloke we spoke to was a Czech working in Liverpool but on holiday visiting his mum.
The northern half of Czech, from Nachod to Hradec Kralove was busy and the roads not so hot, but south of that the roads got more interesting and fun, if a bit bumpy. Passing through Kutna Hora I saw a small tourist sign saying Kostnice and had a look. Oh well, on a silver GS and in a tw@ jacket, I suppose we had to look at the church full of bones. And Rick wanted to pose with MCN to get his picture in the paper. So I won’t put it in here.
From Kutna Hora we pushed on south to Trebon, a nice little place with cheap digs, cheap beer and its own brewery. Nobody wanted to take credit cards, but the cash machines worked, and everything shut at 10pm.
Day five was over the border into Austria. And after two and a bit days of former eastern block countries Austria looked very prosperous. We managed to dodge the farmers and their tractor protest and got to Berchtesgarten, half thinking of visiting the Eagle’s Nest. The car parks there were heaving and there were queues for the buses that you need to take to get up to the building itself. We asked some Germans, but they didn’t think we could get the bikes up there, so we pressed on.
The Deutsche Alpenstrasse (B305 and B172 was what we did) was a cracking road. Bit busy in places but some fabulous stretches and with great views towards the mountains. When we stopped for a coffee and cake there were a group of Czechs on hired GSs finishing a long lunch. It was about 3pm. How many miles they expected to do in a day I don’t know, but they were surprised that we had come from the Czech Rep that day. One of the 1200 riders had the spanners out.
Pressing on we found an even better road, the RO52 and B307 from Oberaudorf to Bayrischzell was one of the best I’ve ridden for a while. If it had been earlier in the day, and not threatening rain I’d have turned round and done it again. Digs in Schliersee, not so cheap this time as would be expected. Everything shut at 10pm, as would also be expected by now.
Day 6 was wet. We pressed on across southern Germany and then northwards to the Black Forest, eventually stopping at Freudenstadt. The second café of the day, just when we wanted coffee and cake served ice-cream, no cake, and the only biscuits were those tiny things you get with fancy cups of coffee. Still, Freudenstadt has a brewery and it would have been rude not to visit. It shut at 10pm. But we got Jagermeister in a little bar around the corner.
Day 7 dawned misty. Unfortunately cos we were in the Black Forest. Shortly after turning onto the 500 it cleared. Second time I’ve ridden this road and it’s a corker. Sorry Harz fans, but the Black Forest wins for me, and I don’t like the cake.
We carried on over the Rhine, nipped a bit of France and then found another fantastic road. From north of Wissembourg we took the 48 northwards to Kaiserslautern. The part after Rinnthal was brilliant, a bit like the A686 near Haydon Bridge, but with a better surface and longer. Bugger for overtaking, so if there’s something slow ahead of you, stop for a piccy and let it get away. The road was too good to stop and take pictures for us, but there’s a big biker café in the middle of the forest, at least that’s what it looked like as we whizzed past. After that, a bit of the Sure Valley and the Gorge du Loup through Luxembourg got us to Bastogne and an explore of the American Memorial and the Bois Jacques.
On the last day we played in southern Belgium for a bit, then hit the boring roads back to Zeebrugge and a bar that stays open till 1am!
