After driving in Europe in trucks for ten years, and never having been on the bike, SWMBO (Mandy) and I decided to give it a go this year.
On Monday 11th of July we left home bound for France, Germany and Switzerland.
On the way to Rosslare to catch the ferry to Cherbourg we stopped off at Curraghcloe beach near Gorey in Co Wexford. This lovely beach is two or three miles long and was the setting for the D-Day landing scenes in the film Saving Private Ryan.
View to the left;
And to the right;
The temperature in Ireland that day was an almost unheard of 28C, and the sunset viewed from the MV Normandy was wonderful as we enjoyed a drink out on the open deck.
Day 2 saw us ride from Cherbourg to Tournoisis (near Orleans), where we stayed in a great little Logis de France hotel.
Next morning we visited the Chateau at Sully sur Loire. Preparations were well under way for a fireworks display to be held at the Chateau to mark Bastille Day.
Front of the Chateau;
And the view from the rear;
We finished day 3 in Combeaufontaine near Vesoul in eastern France at another Logis hotel, ready to head into Germany the following day.
Thursday July 14 saw us have a pretty uneventful run through Mulhouse, Lorrach and on to Friedrichshaven. We did encounter some difficulty in getting petrol in France that morning though. It being Bastille Day most stations were closed, so we made our way to an automatic supermarket facility. As several others on this site have discovered, these stations do not accept non-national bank or credit cards, so we were lucky that a friendly local accepted €20 cash from us and fuelled the bike.
We rounded off the day with a nice short ferry trip from Constance to Meersburg across the waters where Lake Uberlinger becomes Lake Constance, or as the locals call it, the Bodensee.
The church in the centre of Friedrichshaven;
On day 5 we travelled on some stunning roads (308 and 310) through the German Alps to Neuschwanstein, the castle of Ludwig II.
Looking out from the castle;
The Marienbrucke as seen from the castle;
We had another chance to enjoy the 308 & 310 roads as we made our way back to Friedrichshaven for the ferry across the Bodensee to Romanshorn in Switzerland, from where we headed to Zug to our hotel. Mandy took some early evening sun on the 45 minute crossing.
Saturday morning we set off for Brunnen, a little village by a lake. Its actually where two lakes meet, the Vierwaldstatter See and the Umer See. The view that greets you as you exit a short tunnel is this;
When I first travelled through Switzerland by truck in 1990 this was the first place that really brought home the beauty of the country to me and has remained special to me ever since.
On our way from Brunnen to the Furka Pass we were unfortunate to see a German rider have a very nasty incident. After passing Andermatt we approached this level crossing, which some of you no doubt will know;
As we approached the crossing (riding towards the camera) we were overtaken by two Germans, the first guy on a Suzuki and the second on an 1100 Kawasaki, who passed me just before the track. Unbelieveably, he made no effort to take the slight left curve and went off the road here (arrowed);
hit the track and was thrown over the bars only to land in front of me just through the crossing. With a lot to do, I narrowly avoided hitting him as he lay in the road in front of me. Meanwhile, his bike tumbled along the railway line landing just beside where my bike is parked. The little red reflector at the roadside (foreground) gives some perspective to the distance his bike travelled.
Luckily and surprisingly he was completely unhurt, but we had to stifle a laugh as his mate on the Suzuki came back down the road and gave him a real tongue lashing. His bike however did not fare so well and was a candidate for a trailer ride back to Germany.
Somewhat sobered by what we had just witnessed we set of for the Furka Pass on wet and greasy roads. Mandy does not like mountainous roads, so needed a lot of reassurance as we made our way through the pass. She did however enjoy the views from the top.
But was not so sure about the road down...
Sunday, therefore, was spent in the slightly more relaxing environs of Geneva. Although, at 36C and 8SFr (£4) for two bottles of water, I found it as uncomfortable as Mandy had found the Furka. Obligatory tourist picture was taken though;
Monday July 18th was the eighth day of our tour and was a pretty straightforward run from Geneva to Nuits St George where we planned to spend a day or two quaffing fine wines. For those of you who may ever travel the D72 (a damn good road) from Pontarlier to Salins- les-Bains, may I suggest the small town of Levier as a good stopping place for lunch. This restaurant served up two gut-bursting portions of roast jambon with fried potatoes and drinks for €18. Top spot.
Fine chateau spotted at Chamblay;
After Nuits St Georges a straight run west took us to the town of St Aignan on the river Cher a quiet place to stay before the Loire Valley the following day.
An old grape press
Temptation
St Aignan. Our hotel was alongside the river.
The one regret I have of the holiday is missing the Chateau Chenonceau while in the Cher area, but I didn't find any information on it until the next day. it's on the list for the next time though.
We did visit a grand Chateau at Villandry
but left it wondering if the Master Baker from Andover is of French descent?
The moat around the chateau would probably be of great interest to the Shuck Raider...
GS by the Loire
Our last night in France was spent at a hotel in Avrille, near Angers, and initially appeared to be a normal traditional French hotel, but with a gourmet restaurant situated under this...
Sitting in the restaurant you can look up at the workings of the windmill. A novel idea.
Friday had us heading towards Roscoff for the return Irish Ferries sailing to Rosslare. After Rennes we took the boring N12 dual carriageway to Morlaix then on via St-Pol-de-Leon to the port.
In the whole 12 days we encountered rain only twice, for about half an hour on our way to the Furka Pass in Switzerland, and again very briefly near Chamblay. That was to change on our way home from Rosslare, as we rode in persistent rain for an hour or more, although it did stay dry from just south of Dublin until we got home. Bloody typical.
All in all we had a great time, apart maybe from the German incident, but are already looking forward to next year and another foray abroad on the GS.
On Monday 11th of July we left home bound for France, Germany and Switzerland.
On the way to Rosslare to catch the ferry to Cherbourg we stopped off at Curraghcloe beach near Gorey in Co Wexford. This lovely beach is two or three miles long and was the setting for the D-Day landing scenes in the film Saving Private Ryan.
View to the left;
And to the right;
The temperature in Ireland that day was an almost unheard of 28C, and the sunset viewed from the MV Normandy was wonderful as we enjoyed a drink out on the open deck.
Day 2 saw us ride from Cherbourg to Tournoisis (near Orleans), where we stayed in a great little Logis de France hotel.
Next morning we visited the Chateau at Sully sur Loire. Preparations were well under way for a fireworks display to be held at the Chateau to mark Bastille Day.
Front of the Chateau;
And the view from the rear;
We finished day 3 in Combeaufontaine near Vesoul in eastern France at another Logis hotel, ready to head into Germany the following day.
Thursday July 14 saw us have a pretty uneventful run through Mulhouse, Lorrach and on to Friedrichshaven. We did encounter some difficulty in getting petrol in France that morning though. It being Bastille Day most stations were closed, so we made our way to an automatic supermarket facility. As several others on this site have discovered, these stations do not accept non-national bank or credit cards, so we were lucky that a friendly local accepted €20 cash from us and fuelled the bike.
We rounded off the day with a nice short ferry trip from Constance to Meersburg across the waters where Lake Uberlinger becomes Lake Constance, or as the locals call it, the Bodensee.
The church in the centre of Friedrichshaven;
On day 5 we travelled on some stunning roads (308 and 310) through the German Alps to Neuschwanstein, the castle of Ludwig II.
Looking out from the castle;
The Marienbrucke as seen from the castle;
We had another chance to enjoy the 308 & 310 roads as we made our way back to Friedrichshaven for the ferry across the Bodensee to Romanshorn in Switzerland, from where we headed to Zug to our hotel. Mandy took some early evening sun on the 45 minute crossing.
Saturday morning we set off for Brunnen, a little village by a lake. Its actually where two lakes meet, the Vierwaldstatter See and the Umer See. The view that greets you as you exit a short tunnel is this;
When I first travelled through Switzerland by truck in 1990 this was the first place that really brought home the beauty of the country to me and has remained special to me ever since.
On our way from Brunnen to the Furka Pass we were unfortunate to see a German rider have a very nasty incident. After passing Andermatt we approached this level crossing, which some of you no doubt will know;
As we approached the crossing (riding towards the camera) we were overtaken by two Germans, the first guy on a Suzuki and the second on an 1100 Kawasaki, who passed me just before the track. Unbelieveably, he made no effort to take the slight left curve and went off the road here (arrowed);
hit the track and was thrown over the bars only to land in front of me just through the crossing. With a lot to do, I narrowly avoided hitting him as he lay in the road in front of me. Meanwhile, his bike tumbled along the railway line landing just beside where my bike is parked. The little red reflector at the roadside (foreground) gives some perspective to the distance his bike travelled.
Luckily and surprisingly he was completely unhurt, but we had to stifle a laugh as his mate on the Suzuki came back down the road and gave him a real tongue lashing. His bike however did not fare so well and was a candidate for a trailer ride back to Germany.
Somewhat sobered by what we had just witnessed we set of for the Furka Pass on wet and greasy roads. Mandy does not like mountainous roads, so needed a lot of reassurance as we made our way through the pass. She did however enjoy the views from the top.
But was not so sure about the road down...
Sunday, therefore, was spent in the slightly more relaxing environs of Geneva. Although, at 36C and 8SFr (£4) for two bottles of water, I found it as uncomfortable as Mandy had found the Furka. Obligatory tourist picture was taken though;
Monday July 18th was the eighth day of our tour and was a pretty straightforward run from Geneva to Nuits St George where we planned to spend a day or two quaffing fine wines. For those of you who may ever travel the D72 (a damn good road) from Pontarlier to Salins- les-Bains, may I suggest the small town of Levier as a good stopping place for lunch. This restaurant served up two gut-bursting portions of roast jambon with fried potatoes and drinks for €18. Top spot.
Fine chateau spotted at Chamblay;
After Nuits St Georges a straight run west took us to the town of St Aignan on the river Cher a quiet place to stay before the Loire Valley the following day.
An old grape press
Temptation
St Aignan. Our hotel was alongside the river.
The one regret I have of the holiday is missing the Chateau Chenonceau while in the Cher area, but I didn't find any information on it until the next day. it's on the list for the next time though.
We did visit a grand Chateau at Villandry
but left it wondering if the Master Baker from Andover is of French descent?
The moat around the chateau would probably be of great interest to the Shuck Raider...
GS by the Loire
Our last night in France was spent at a hotel in Avrille, near Angers, and initially appeared to be a normal traditional French hotel, but with a gourmet restaurant situated under this...
Sitting in the restaurant you can look up at the workings of the windmill. A novel idea.
Friday had us heading towards Roscoff for the return Irish Ferries sailing to Rosslare. After Rennes we took the boring N12 dual carriageway to Morlaix then on via St-Pol-de-Leon to the port.
In the whole 12 days we encountered rain only twice, for about half an hour on our way to the Furka Pass in Switzerland, and again very briefly near Chamblay. That was to change on our way home from Rosslare, as we rode in persistent rain for an hour or more, although it did stay dry from just south of Dublin until we got home. Bloody typical.
All in all we had a great time, apart maybe from the German incident, but are already looking forward to next year and another foray abroad on the GS.
