Route might be a bit wiggly…
A little bit of route planning.
A little trip to Budapest
- Thread starter adm1
- Start date
Was about to say that my self. The lot of them must be quite lightweight..Judging by the road signs, you haven’t got very far. I’d guess at the petrol station, three minutes off the Chunnel
Shame about the off… hope matey does recover well and soon enough.
Anyway, back on with the trip report.... I am home this afternoon after a fantastic two weeks (bar the little accident), but will continue as it went....
After the Grossglockner, we rode a few more mountain passes then had a lunch stop at Klagenfurt Harley Davidson. They have a lovely restaurant/bar there, so of course Schnitzel was had and plenty of zero alcohol Weiss beer to rehydrate.
One road that really stood out for me was the B69 - the Soboth pass from Lavamund to Ebiswald. What a great road, with a good little biker cafe near the top for a coffee.
The Ancient Mariner in the photo is not me.
We ended up in Graz for the night. Jufa Hotel Graz Sud to be precise. Clean, cheap and relatively well positioned. Dinner was at an American themed restaurant next to the Graz HD dealer. Portion control was obviously not on their minds...
The next day we did the last leg from Graz into Budapest. Did I mention that the weather had been warm for the last few days? 35C at times in bike gear. Hot and sweaty as soon as you stopped moving. We ended up in Slovenia by mistake and had to buy a 3 day vignette at the side of the road just to be on the safe side.
But finally, we got to Budapest. 1,600 miles over five days. One accident, lots of mountains, lots of Schnitzel, lots of beer. Good clean fun at it's finest.
The hotel I had booked was the Ibis Budapest Centrum. Good secure underground parking for the bikes, a great location for public transport and a myriad of bars and restaurants on the doorstep.
With the bikes put to bed it was time for beer again.
After the Grossglockner, we rode a few more mountain passes then had a lunch stop at Klagenfurt Harley Davidson. They have a lovely restaurant/bar there, so of course Schnitzel was had and plenty of zero alcohol Weiss beer to rehydrate.
One road that really stood out for me was the B69 - the Soboth pass from Lavamund to Ebiswald. What a great road, with a good little biker cafe near the top for a coffee.
The Ancient Mariner in the photo is not me.
We ended up in Graz for the night. Jufa Hotel Graz Sud to be precise. Clean, cheap and relatively well positioned. Dinner was at an American themed restaurant next to the Graz HD dealer. Portion control was obviously not on their minds...
The next day we did the last leg from Graz into Budapest. Did I mention that the weather had been warm for the last few days? 35C at times in bike gear. Hot and sweaty as soon as you stopped moving. We ended up in Slovenia by mistake and had to buy a 3 day vignette at the side of the road just to be on the safe side.
But finally, we got to Budapest. 1,600 miles over five days. One accident, lots of mountains, lots of Schnitzel, lots of beer. Good clean fun at it's finest.
The hotel I had booked was the Ibis Budapest Centrum. Good secure underground parking for the bikes, a great location for public transport and a myriad of bars and restaurants on the doorstep.
With the bikes put to bed it was time for beer again.
Yeah, well.....my plan was NOT to stop there, but do about 100 miles and then stop. However one member of the group decided to take an earlier crossing and then join the group as we went past off the train. Of course, the train he was on broke down, so that ended up with the rest of the group stopping there to wait for one cnut who thought he would use his own initiative instead of doing what I fucking told him to do in the first place.
So, now we are all in Budapest. We met up with my mate Peter's ride of another 10 bikes all staying at the same hotel as well as some real lightweights who flew down to Budapest for the HD party weekend.
The local girls don't appear to be overly impressed with us big butch Harley riders though....
Off to the party/rally/festival site, which is the new football stadium Puskas Arena. I have to say, HD have set it up well. 4 stages for bands, shitloads of bars and many, many different food trucks, tat stalls etc...
I met some locals.
We drank more beer in the hot sun. The local sour cherry beer went down a treat.
Bands started sound checking on the main stage. Loud.
Some of our lot were a bit worried about the big city and decided to get some personal protection in.
After a bit of beer drinking at the arena, listening to bands and shit, we went back down town to the "Ruins Bars" area, where a lot of Tequila got consumed
The five says we spent in Budapest all got a bit blurry from here on in, but I saw some good bands. Larkin Poe were excellent, but got curtailed early due to a massive and very welcome thunderstorm that broke the heat a little for the big 6,000 bike parade ride the next day. The Darkness and Airborne were also very good. Other were less good.
Some cultural stuff was done. Vaguely. With beer, from a boat.
The garage at the hotel filled up with more bikes. I have no idea how many bikes were in Budapest for the weekend, but I know there were 6,000 in the parade alone and that was just a small fraction.
The local girls don't appear to be overly impressed with us big butch Harley riders though....
Off to the party/rally/festival site, which is the new football stadium Puskas Arena. I have to say, HD have set it up well. 4 stages for bands, shitloads of bars and many, many different food trucks, tat stalls etc...
I met some locals.
We drank more beer in the hot sun. The local sour cherry beer went down a treat.
Bands started sound checking on the main stage. Loud.
Some of our lot were a bit worried about the big city and decided to get some personal protection in.
After a bit of beer drinking at the arena, listening to bands and shit, we went back down town to the "Ruins Bars" area, where a lot of Tequila got consumed
The five says we spent in Budapest all got a bit blurry from here on in, but I saw some good bands. Larkin Poe were excellent, but got curtailed early due to a massive and very welcome thunderstorm that broke the heat a little for the big 6,000 bike parade ride the next day. The Darkness and Airborne were also very good. Other were less good.
Some cultural stuff was done. Vaguely. With beer, from a boat.
The garage at the hotel filled up with more bikes. I have no idea how many bikes were in Budapest for the weekend, but I know there were 6,000 in the parade alone and that was just a small fraction.
Then some more stuff happened in Budapest, including the Harley parade ride. 6 or 7k bikes all running around the town, which was of course closed off by the Police for the event. I've done a few of these in the past and they can be really awful if it's all stop-start traffic in the heat. This one was pretty good though. I ended up right at the front of all the bikes as I had a big flag on my bike. So I didn't really stop at all on the way around town, then I bailed out before all the bikes were meant to park up at the end as I knew it would be lunacy in 35 degree heat.
Quite what the fuck this thing is meant to be is beyond me, but it was there too....
Anyway. That happened and it was pretty good fun all told. Then there was more beer, tequila, music and food.
Quite what the fuck this thing is meant to be is beyond me, but it was there too....
Anyway. That happened and it was pretty good fun all told. Then there was more beer, tequila, music and food.
We got news that our bloke in hospital in Germany was doing well and had just had an operation on his foot. Some plates and pins inserted to hold it together properly
The Venezuelan and one of his Enforcers...
Impromptu eScooter drag races were held outside out hotel.
The Hippies found their favourite wine from when they were first courting many a year ago...
There was more tequila mayhem in the Ruins bars...
And then, all of a sudden, it was Monday morning and time to go home.
The Venezuelan and one of his Enforcers...
Impromptu eScooter drag races were held outside out hotel.
The Hippies found their favourite wine from when they were first courting many a year ago...
There was more tequila mayhem in the Ruins bars...
And then, all of a sudden, it was Monday morning and time to go home.
First leg was a quick run up to Vienna where we avoided much of the cultural parts of the city as it was so damn hot, but found an HD dealership with attached restaurant for lunch.
Which was an almost healthy Caesar salad of sorts.
And then onwards to Czeske Budejovice, the home of the real Budweiser (Budvar) beer. I kind of had a beer related plan for the trip home which you will see unfold....
We stayed at an excellent hotel here, the Grand Hotel Zvon. Nice big rooms, secure parking (need to take the bikes upstairs in a lift), great location on the main square and Pilsner Urquell beer at £2.50 a go.
Which was an almost healthy Caesar salad of sorts.
And then onwards to Czeske Budejovice, the home of the real Budweiser (Budvar) beer. I kind of had a beer related plan for the trip home which you will see unfold....
We stayed at an excellent hotel here, the Grand Hotel Zvon. Nice big rooms, secure parking (need to take the bikes upstairs in a lift), great location on the main square and Pilsner Urquell beer at £2.50 a go.
The next day, we rode up to Pilsen for lunch. This is the town where lager beer was invented in 1842. And obviously where the "Pilsner" style comes from. We stopped at the brewery for lunch.
After lunch, another hundred and some miles took us to the town of Greiz in what used to be East Germany, near to the Czech border. Tonight's hotel was the Schlossberg Hotel Greiz, which I can also recommend to anyone riding in this area.
The only downside was that the hotel had no restaurant, but I had already planned for this by locating the town's brewery which was about a mile away.
Great fresh beer and lovely local food.
After lunch, another hundred and some miles took us to the town of Greiz in what used to be East Germany, near to the Czech border. Tonight's hotel was the Schlossberg Hotel Greiz, which I can also recommend to anyone riding in this area.
The only downside was that the hotel had no restaurant, but I had already planned for this by locating the town's brewery which was about a mile away.
Great fresh beer and lovely local food.
The next day was a run up to Koblenz where we did some cultural activities in the form of a little wander from our hotel to the "Deutche's Elk", which is the confluence of the Rhine and Mosel rivers. I've been here before and will be in the area again in early September for my Winefest trip.
Then we got hungry and went to another brewery for something to eat. Schnitzel was back on the menu again.
After some beer and some schnapps, the Venezuelan and the Ancient Mariner were happy.
Then we got hungry and went to another brewery for something to eat. Schnitzel was back on the menu again.After some beer and some schnapps, the Venezuelan and the Ancient Mariner were happy.
Just a little note on tyres. Before I left, I had a set of Pirelli Road Angel GT2 tyres fitted to the Pan America. I am going to be doing a lot of European touring this year, with zero off road expected, so I wanted to see how the bike felt with 100% road tyres.
I am now about 3,000 miles into the tyres with all kinds of riding from mountain passes to highway, wet and dry (although luckily mainly dry).
The best thing I can say about these tyres is absolutely nothing. Meaning that I have no issues with them - and never have to worry. It's almost like I don't need to know what they are doing as they are just doing everything well. They are grippy, neutral, tip in well, hold a line, work well both wet and dry and warm up super fast.
Zero issues. Zero pucker factor moments. Absolutely no problems with slippy bits of road like wet white lines or metal in the road.
They still look almost brand new.
All in all, I think they are fantastic tyres and I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a 100% road tyre.
I am now about 3,000 miles into the tyres with all kinds of riding from mountain passes to highway, wet and dry (although luckily mainly dry).
The best thing I can say about these tyres is absolutely nothing. Meaning that I have no issues with them - and never have to worry. It's almost like I don't need to know what they are doing as they are just doing everything well. They are grippy, neutral, tip in well, hold a line, work well both wet and dry and warm up super fast.
Zero issues. Zero pucker factor moments. Absolutely no problems with slippy bits of road like wet white lines or metal in the road.
They still look almost brand new.
All in all, I think they are fantastic tyres and I would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a 100% road tyre.
I need a bigger garage, to accommodate a HD in the first place. However when that happens I will be in the Q to come along. This trip is awesome. Thanks for the write up.
The next morning, the plan was to ride from Koblenz to Mons with a stop in Dinant for lunch.
Breakfast from a local bakery down the street as the hotel wanted €18 for a bit of bread and cheese.
Then we made a tour of some trucker's rest stops as my back marker kept getting lost at road works on the autobahns. No big deal, we just pulled over to let him catch up and I talked him in on the phone.
Dinant was as always a fabulous lunch stop. This was a Thursday, so it wasn't rammed with bikes like it normally is at the weekend.
Then onto the Van der Valk Hotel in Mond for the final night. This pic is some of us reviewing some dash cam footage from one of the bikes after I had got it transferred to my laptop. Conclusion was that we could see the guy in hospital zooming up past the pack of bikes, but we really couldn't make out any detail of the accident as he was too far away.
We met up with some friends from the local Mons HD Chapter for dinner and drinks. Lots of good Belgian beer and excellent food.
The Van der Valk is a really nice hotel and we have used it many times before. I tend to stay there on the last night of a "foreign" trip as it makes the final leg to the tunnel super easy, the beds and showers are excellent, bike parking is secure and the restaurant is very good. It's a bit more pricey than my usual choices, but it's nice to have a bit of luxury on the last night. Our HD chapter is also twinned with the Mons lot, so we have good friends in town.
Don't ask.....it involves a dragon....
Next morning, a bit of a lay in and then a run up to the tunnel. My plan was to stop in at the Abbey of Saint-Sixtus in Westvleteren. In case you don't know, this is a Trappist Monastery that brews what has been voted the best beer in the world - "Westvleteren 12". They have a rather lovely little shop and cafe across the road from the Abbey where you can buy their beer, cheese and pate. I like to stop in here for a bit of lunch and buy some beer and stuff to take back with me.
Sadly, the monks had decided to take a holiday. Never mind, I will be back there in a few weeks.
So lunch was at a random McDonalds instead. A posh one - plastic cups!
Breakfast from a local bakery down the street as the hotel wanted €18 for a bit of bread and cheese.
Then we made a tour of some trucker's rest stops as my back marker kept getting lost at road works on the autobahns. No big deal, we just pulled over to let him catch up and I talked him in on the phone.
Dinant was as always a fabulous lunch stop. This was a Thursday, so it wasn't rammed with bikes like it normally is at the weekend.
Then onto the Van der Valk Hotel in Mond for the final night. This pic is some of us reviewing some dash cam footage from one of the bikes after I had got it transferred to my laptop. Conclusion was that we could see the guy in hospital zooming up past the pack of bikes, but we really couldn't make out any detail of the accident as he was too far away.
We met up with some friends from the local Mons HD Chapter for dinner and drinks. Lots of good Belgian beer and excellent food.
The Van der Valk is a really nice hotel and we have used it many times before. I tend to stay there on the last night of a "foreign" trip as it makes the final leg to the tunnel super easy, the beds and showers are excellent, bike parking is secure and the restaurant is very good. It's a bit more pricey than my usual choices, but it's nice to have a bit of luxury on the last night. Our HD chapter is also twinned with the Mons lot, so we have good friends in town.
Don't ask.....it involves a dragon....
Next morning, a bit of a lay in and then a run up to the tunnel. My plan was to stop in at the Abbey of Saint-Sixtus in Westvleteren. In case you don't know, this is a Trappist Monastery that brews what has been voted the best beer in the world - "Westvleteren 12". They have a rather lovely little shop and cafe across the road from the Abbey where you can buy their beer, cheese and pate. I like to stop in here for a bit of lunch and buy some beer and stuff to take back with me.
Sadly, the monks had decided to take a holiday. Never mind, I will be back there in a few weeks.
So lunch was at a random McDonalds instead. A posh one - plastic cups!
By this point in the proceedings, the Venezuelan was tired
The final bit....obligatory photos of getting on the train home
And that, was that. A quick run down the M20, M25, M23 and home again.
2 weeks, 2700 miles, loads of different countries, scenery and people, some fantastic riding and some great company. Highly enjoyable.
I'm off again at the end of next week. Going down to the Black Forest for a week. Then in August and September I have a trip to Snowdonia, one to visit the three dams in Germany that the RAF blew up in the war, one to Reims for the HD Champagne Rally and one back down to the Mosel for the Winefest in Bernkastel-Kues.
Touring on bikes really is my favourite thing and I can't wait to get rolling again...
The final bit....obligatory photos of getting on the train home
And that, was that. A quick run down the M20, M25, M23 and home again.
2 weeks, 2700 miles, loads of different countries, scenery and people, some fantastic riding and some great company. Highly enjoyable.
I'm off again at the end of next week. Going down to the Black Forest for a week. Then in August and September I have a trip to Snowdonia, one to visit the three dams in Germany that the RAF blew up in the war, one to Reims for the HD Champagne Rally and one back down to the Mosel for the Winefest in Bernkastel-Kues.
Touring on bikes really is my favourite thing and I can't wait to get rolling again...
Thanks. All are welcome, you just need a Harley.
By the way, there are no fees for any of these trips other than you pay your own way for your hotels, food and fuel. Our club does about 20 weekends/weeks away trips every year and they are all put together, organised and led by the Road Crew in their orange jackets just because we like riding bikes and want to share the pleasure with others. We also do around 150 day rides each year and about 10 social events such as Start/End of season parties, BBQs, etc... You can say what you like about Harleys and HOG, but we do a lot of riding and have fun doing it.
How is the fellow without travel insurance getting on?
He's just fine. Home in the UK. All the hospital stuff was covered by his GHIC card, all the bike repatriation was covered by his bike insurance. The only thing he ended up out of pocket for was getting home to the UK, but one of his mates came and picked him up in a car.
He's hobbling about and still in pain, but more or less OK and will be riding a bike again. Maybe not this summer though....
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