Eurobimble 2024

[Orinoco]

M’off, well almost, left darkest Dorset travelling to Newhaven to look after daughter’s dog for a few days, then off to Alsace the slow way by Himalayan.

Currently stopped at some uber trendy biker hangout called the Coffee and Machine on the A32/A272 junction near Loomies. Lots of young trendy hipster types, blending in as best I can as a 60 something overweight tosser

Coffee isn’t great, sadly think Loomies coffee was nicer and cheaper!

More to follow, slowly…

 

[Tinytim]

. Enjoy

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

Have a great trip and stay safe. 2 rings when you get home please.

 

[The Other PaulG]

Nice one - I'll follow your report with interest.

 

[Wapping]

Enjoy!

 

[GrinningGSer]

 

[Mr Derek]

Have a brilliant trip. You can tell me all about it over coffee when you get back to sunny Dorset.

 

[adventuredon]

i'm in

 

[richardbd]

Have fun…

 

[Orinoco]

Near France, but not there yet, currently dog sitting this one, small dog, big heart, chases every else no matter what size!



Dogsitting is in Newhaven, went to Seaford yesterday, a lovely little place, seemingly a bikermates hang out.





=====

Edited, just to remove the duplicated picture, once I had discovered it wasn’t a ‘Spot the difference’ competion.

Richard

 

[peepingtom]

its going to be enjoyable on the mighty Himalayan im sure

 

[Doc]

Nice and enjoy your Bimble.

 

[Orinoco]

Made it to St Quentin by 6:30pm, ferry got into Dieppe at 2:45, then border control did there thing…slowly, only took 45 mins to get though, mind the bikes were off quite quickly. The usual fat old bikers on Harleys on the boat and a travel weary looking German guy on a much abused R100GS who’d been to the TT and touring Wales.

It’s bloody hot here, 30 degrees this afternoon and 25 now at 9:30pm. Cocked up dinner, walked into town, realised I’d forgotten my wallet, started walking back and remembered my secretly stashed credit card, excellent, about turn and get to a supermarket, just as it’s about to shut. I thought bugger this too hot to be traipsing about, and I did have an emergency sandwich from lunch… peanut butter and jam in case anyone is interested

Back to tent and remember 2 tins of G&T, more emergency supplies and some mixed nuts and raisins, my day is complete!

Stupid to try and cover the distance late in the day. Mind you lovely small D roads out of Dieppe towards Amiens, I followed parts of the Michelin Maps France a Moto routes, brilliant

And St Quentin Municipal campsite has cost me £5.40, what a bargain

Onwards…

 

[Orinoco]

Looking forward to tomorrows trip, here a bit if the route

 

[Orinoco]

Arrived in Metz, it’s a bit scorchio here, up to 33 degrees through the Ardennes, though lovely roads and scenery, like a combination of the Exe valley and mid Wales. The Zumo XT was mostly fine but did take me well off my planned route later in the day, not really a problem in the Ardennes as so many great roads. The route I highlighted on the map was cracking, more that good enough for me on the Himalayan, with lots of scope for faster riders and bikes as well, the fully loaded Himmi touched down a few times, though my main interest was the scenery. Stopped in Montherme for a coffee, unfortunately no cake available and a baguette with cheese and tomato at a view point at Bouillon Rochaute. It was around 220 miles, which was much too far, at least for me in the heat, especially when the XT wanted to do its own thing. So I’ve decided rather that do what would undoubtedly be great rides on Wednesday and Thursday I’m going to stay in Metz for a day to have a look around.

Metz Municipal Camping is lovely, right next to the Moselle, though far too many Dutch here, the Netherlands must be empty, with a variety of caravans and motor homes, they do seem to be everywhere.

Montherme stop


The view from my tent - still hot at 8:30, I’ll stop meaning soon

 

[Redboots]

Glad you're liking the municipals. Underrated resource.
The Dutch are careful with money

 

[Orinoco]

I took Wednesday off as its was up to 33 degrees again, had a day mooching about Metz, a nice enough place, impressive cathedral and lots of old buildings, love the cafe culture and general vibe of the place. Also went in search of anti mosquito spray, I seem to have been lunch for them. That's what comes of camping by a river.

Opted for Lebanese for dinner, falafel followed by baklava. Wednesday night was noisy, apparently Turkey won their game in the Euros, lots of car horns blaring until the small hours.

 

[Orinoco]

I’ll post a retrospective later, trying to hustle the Himalayan back through France as my father is in hospital and not in the best of health.

 

[MikeS]

I’ll post a retrospective later, trying to hustle the Himalayan back through France as my father is in hospital and not in the best of health.

Sorry to hear that.

 

[Orinoco]

I’m back after pushing the poor Himalayan figuratively through France, it’s really not happy with sustained speed, we’ll, 60-70.

Dad is still with us, but with some complications the doctors are trying to sort, but still very unwell.

Any way, I eventually arrived in Schweigen-Rechtenbach (Germany), close to Wissembourg (France), to the hotel I was meeting my friends, some 40 of us, we’ve been meeting once a year for 28 years. The hotel was OK, but not brilliant, and with a bizarre system for paying for drinks, wouldn’t put anything on a tab. Thursday, lots of hello’s and catch ups over dinner, the food was good with sizeable portions.

Friday a great planned trip organised by Robbie, a German friend who runs bike tours, a really excellent route taking in the German Wine Route and Pfartzewald, or whatever it’s called north of here, lots of high small mountain roads, great scenery and interesting villages, I’ll try and post the GPX track for this.

Friday dinner again a lovely meal with regional dishes and wine tasting, there are apparently 17 vineyards in the village which has just 300 people. Unfortunately it all tasted much the same to me, but others could taste the differences.

The German Wine Gate, which started being built in 1936.



Saturday Robbie had organised another ride south of Wissembourg in the French Vosges area, I opted not to ride, but went by car with friends on the tour. Just as well as someone took a tumble and the car was needed. The scenery and roads around here were as good as the previous day, sweeping bends, mountains, woods and lots of forest tracks, just for fun.