Well the European Invasion is over again for this year.
It all started back in April. Having done the WOBMW trip to Garmisch last year Mrs Snowman and I decided that maybe a return visit under our own steam was called for. So the project starts...
Two things were resolved quickly, first book the hotel in Garmisch via their local tourist board and second was to book the ferry including ‘Premier Plus Cabins’ (more about these later) using the P&O promo from The Sun (Sorry I mean MCN)
Next steps was to decide
· How long – Settled on same as WOBMW trip so it was out Tuesday back into Hull the following Thursday
· How we were getting there, so armed with mapsource, a route was put together based around avoiding France and Switzerland and including the Black Forest Alpine High Road, Grossglockner and Brenner passes.
Accommodation was selected by breaking down the route into chunks of 200-250 miles then running the nearest location thru the www.booking.com to find a suitable resting place within 30km
So the Day comes & we left home in bright sunshine and arrived Hull in the same, got checked in and joined the bike queue for boarding the Pride of York. After having 20 plus bikes (mainly from a Rainbow organised contingent) last year from the north was surprised only to find 5 this time around. There were also a number of Tupperware Torpedoes on their way the ‘Ring’ to test the size of their gonads.
Boarding commences, Now I will admit I’m not the happiest of boarders but things went well, my big worry was having to go up the ramp to use the mezzanine level, but this time all the bikes were put on the car deck in the bow of the with solid rails to tie down to (Thanks to Jim @ SSB for the tie downs used by BM to tie the bikes down in the crates) Roping was the order of the day for most of the others on board.
Bike tied down it’s off to get the key to the Premier Plus cabin !! Having had a normal cabin last year we thought we’d go for something bigger than a rabbit hutch J The disappointment was it was only marginally bigger !!!
Showered/Shaved and suitably ablated it was off to the bar for beer and mix with the rest of the biking fraternity on board before retiring for some shut-eye.
After breakfasting the ferry arrived Zeebrugge and we set off for the first petrol station a few Kms down the road. Once filled it now felt like the journey had started properly and we were off on the E40 !!!
Route took us out and around Brussels with the mandatory traffic jam, this time caused a big Chevy 4x4 being parked on its roof in the inside lane. Once past Brussels we did a leg stretch stop and were joined by a couple of the WOBMW guys. As we were leaving the thunder and rain came along but fortunately we were soon able to get away from it as we travelled down the E411. We turned off onto the N4 and immediately lost all the traffic and the sunshine was back with us. The next thing to hit while travelling thru the Ardennes was hunger and we made a lunch stop in Bastogne in the Place McAuliffe @ one of the pavement cafes close to a WWII tank & Jeep on display.
Parked up on the square was also an old British reg Morgan unusually with a water-cooled engine & not an air-cooled JAP motor
We continued on towards Trier with a rest stop close Echternacherbruck
We made the hotel above the city of Trier around 4 in the afternoon
After dinner we started to off for a walk but we were greeted with rain and thunder & lightning so a hasty retreat was called for back to the hotel. This was no passing shower and we were glad to be in the hotel and not out in it.
The next day we set out for Lossburg via Baden-Baden and the B500 Black Forest Alpine high road, I would have loved to have shown you some scenic views but this was what we got instead
It was pretty much the same all the way to Lossburg but it did brighten up once we got to the hotel
The Friday was the day we headed for Garmisch we took a less direct route as we wanted to take in Lake Konstanz and stop off in Friedrichshafen via a coffee stop in Ludwigshafen
In Friedrichshafen we were fortunate to see a Zeppelin in the air, but we must have missed the original lake side Zeppelin sheds
The journey from Lindau onwards brought us onto the better roads but this was also where we came across the Looney Swiss on their way to Garmisch blind overtakes on artics going round hairpins, desperate to stick together etc. Eventually we took the decision to sit it out and let them go before they took us out, so we had a blow at Oberjoch before carrying on to Garmisch
After arriving & getting settled in the hotel in Garmisch we spent the evening and following day at BMW Motorrad Days, got the T-shirt the cap etc !! J Met up with Garry & Rachel a couple from Leeds on the WOBMW trip with an R1200RT and bumped into Rob (aka Lord Gawthorpe from these parts) from last year’s trip for beer.
Sunday was Grossglockner day!! We headed off into Austria in bright sunshine, a coffee/lunch stop was already planned for Soll or Scheffau were we go skiing. It was strange to see it not covered in snow with the nursery slope in Soll being covered in 12 inch deep grass.
After the lunch stop we headed off towards Zell-am-see for a petrol stop then start the rise up towards Grossglockner. As with any mountain pass the scenery was spectacular and the temperature was hovering around 28 degrees C. This started to come apart though when we had a photo stop at Fuscher Torl. We knew something was wrong when you see guys coming towards you in waterproofs and the temperature had dropped to 5 degrees. A Hungarian guy on GS did the honours and took a picture of the two of together and we reciprocated with a couple of guys from Kuwait on Gold Wings.
We didn’t have to wait long after Fuscher Torl for the rain & low cloud to hit us, any further photo opportunities were a non-starter and we made our way to the hotel in Sillian on the Austrian – Italian border
Monday brought us into Italy to get over to the Brenner Pass; again we started in bright Sunshine. The original plan was to use the old pass road but as we got onto the autostrasse the heavens opened again and with a change of plan we thought we’d stick on the motorway to try and get ahead of it, but it wasn’t until Innsbruck before we managed to shake it off. We go off the Autobahn and headed towards the Fernpass. Lunch was taken at Fernsteinsee, were the rain caught us up again and cut the viz down again. So we blitzed our way up to Memmingen to the stopover. Where we stayed in Memmingen was in a Gasthof in a small village with one restaurant that was shut!!! So a walk down the road to the next village was called for to be fed!!!!
Tuesday we headed back towards Trier this was the longest mileage we did in a day of the whole trip so it was basically a burn up the Autobahn, Had the cr@p frightened out of me though bumbling along at a steady 80-85 saw this dot in the mirrors in the outside lane closing me down, seconds later he goes howling passed me (It was one of the Audi RS6 estates with the V10 Lambo engine) was doing 140+, passed me like I was stopped, Seconds later he got his own brown trouser moment when he came upon a car in the outside lane and had to rapidly scrub his speed off, looked like his ABS was earning it’s money !!! Found this day to be very windy with some high gusting cross winds, really the number of wind Farms we passed should have give the game away on that though. We arrived in Trier and found the hotel which was on the outskirts of the city the opposite side from we stayed the previous week
Wednesday saw the dash for the boat and some mixed weather, a different route back to Zeebrugge saw us pass by Spa so visit there was called for!! And we needed petrol as well!! As it happened there was Track Day on the go for cars
As we started to approach Brussels the rain started again and yes we hit another traffic jam, I’ve yet to get around Brussels without getting held up somewhere and getting wet. Arrived back at the ferry terminal, still raining.
As I said earlier I don’t like getting on ferries with slippy oily ramps, so you can imagine my joy at finding the ‘Pride of Bruges’ waiting for us to board !!! With the now wet ramps and the daunting mezzanine level as well!! But with a twitching sphincter we were on and tied down again. Cabined and showered, we fed and then beered the night away with Garry & Rachel.
Goodbyes said it was off the ferry and home was some serious power washing and another trip ends
Total mileage 1821
MPG 49.5 Ave Speed 46mph
Enjoyment level – priceless – roll on next year – Mrs Snowman’s talking about going on her F650GS too !!!
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
fficeffice" /><o></o>
Snowman
It all started back in April. Having done the WOBMW trip to Garmisch last year Mrs Snowman and I decided that maybe a return visit under our own steam was called for. So the project starts...
Two things were resolved quickly, first book the hotel in Garmisch via their local tourist board and second was to book the ferry including ‘Premier Plus Cabins’ (more about these later) using the P&O promo from The Sun (Sorry I mean MCN)
Next steps was to decide
· How long – Settled on same as WOBMW trip so it was out Tuesday back into Hull the following Thursday
· How we were getting there, so armed with mapsource, a route was put together based around avoiding France and Switzerland and including the Black Forest Alpine High Road, Grossglockner and Brenner passes.
Accommodation was selected by breaking down the route into chunks of 200-250 miles then running the nearest location thru the www.booking.com to find a suitable resting place within 30km
So the Day comes & we left home in bright sunshine and arrived Hull in the same, got checked in and joined the bike queue for boarding the Pride of York. After having 20 plus bikes (mainly from a Rainbow organised contingent) last year from the north was surprised only to find 5 this time around. There were also a number of Tupperware Torpedoes on their way the ‘Ring’ to test the size of their gonads.
Boarding commences, Now I will admit I’m not the happiest of boarders but things went well, my big worry was having to go up the ramp to use the mezzanine level, but this time all the bikes were put on the car deck in the bow of the with solid rails to tie down to (Thanks to Jim @ SSB for the tie downs used by BM to tie the bikes down in the crates) Roping was the order of the day for most of the others on board.
Bike tied down it’s off to get the key to the Premier Plus cabin !! Having had a normal cabin last year we thought we’d go for something bigger than a rabbit hutch J The disappointment was it was only marginally bigger !!!
Showered/Shaved and suitably ablated it was off to the bar for beer and mix with the rest of the biking fraternity on board before retiring for some shut-eye.
After breakfasting the ferry arrived Zeebrugge and we set off for the first petrol station a few Kms down the road. Once filled it now felt like the journey had started properly and we were off on the E40 !!!
Route took us out and around Brussels with the mandatory traffic jam, this time caused a big Chevy 4x4 being parked on its roof in the inside lane. Once past Brussels we did a leg stretch stop and were joined by a couple of the WOBMW guys. As we were leaving the thunder and rain came along but fortunately we were soon able to get away from it as we travelled down the E411. We turned off onto the N4 and immediately lost all the traffic and the sunshine was back with us. The next thing to hit while travelling thru the Ardennes was hunger and we made a lunch stop in Bastogne in the Place McAuliffe @ one of the pavement cafes close to a WWII tank & Jeep on display.
Parked up on the square was also an old British reg Morgan unusually with a water-cooled engine & not an air-cooled JAP motor
We continued on towards Trier with a rest stop close Echternacherbruck
We made the hotel above the city of Trier around 4 in the afternoon
After dinner we started to off for a walk but we were greeted with rain and thunder & lightning so a hasty retreat was called for back to the hotel. This was no passing shower and we were glad to be in the hotel and not out in it.
The next day we set out for Lossburg via Baden-Baden and the B500 Black Forest Alpine high road, I would have loved to have shown you some scenic views but this was what we got instead
It was pretty much the same all the way to Lossburg but it did brighten up once we got to the hotel
The Friday was the day we headed for Garmisch we took a less direct route as we wanted to take in Lake Konstanz and stop off in Friedrichshafen via a coffee stop in Ludwigshafen
In Friedrichshafen we were fortunate to see a Zeppelin in the air, but we must have missed the original lake side Zeppelin sheds
The journey from Lindau onwards brought us onto the better roads but this was also where we came across the Looney Swiss on their way to Garmisch blind overtakes on artics going round hairpins, desperate to stick together etc. Eventually we took the decision to sit it out and let them go before they took us out, so we had a blow at Oberjoch before carrying on to Garmisch
After arriving & getting settled in the hotel in Garmisch we spent the evening and following day at BMW Motorrad Days, got the T-shirt the cap etc !! J Met up with Garry & Rachel a couple from Leeds on the WOBMW trip with an R1200RT and bumped into Rob (aka Lord Gawthorpe from these parts) from last year’s trip for beer.
Sunday was Grossglockner day!! We headed off into Austria in bright sunshine, a coffee/lunch stop was already planned for Soll or Scheffau were we go skiing. It was strange to see it not covered in snow with the nursery slope in Soll being covered in 12 inch deep grass.
After the lunch stop we headed off towards Zell-am-see for a petrol stop then start the rise up towards Grossglockner. As with any mountain pass the scenery was spectacular and the temperature was hovering around 28 degrees C. This started to come apart though when we had a photo stop at Fuscher Torl. We knew something was wrong when you see guys coming towards you in waterproofs and the temperature had dropped to 5 degrees. A Hungarian guy on GS did the honours and took a picture of the two of together and we reciprocated with a couple of guys from Kuwait on Gold Wings.
We didn’t have to wait long after Fuscher Torl for the rain & low cloud to hit us, any further photo opportunities were a non-starter and we made our way to the hotel in Sillian on the Austrian – Italian border
Monday brought us into Italy to get over to the Brenner Pass; again we started in bright Sunshine. The original plan was to use the old pass road but as we got onto the autostrasse the heavens opened again and with a change of plan we thought we’d stick on the motorway to try and get ahead of it, but it wasn’t until Innsbruck before we managed to shake it off. We go off the Autobahn and headed towards the Fernpass. Lunch was taken at Fernsteinsee, were the rain caught us up again and cut the viz down again. So we blitzed our way up to Memmingen to the stopover. Where we stayed in Memmingen was in a Gasthof in a small village with one restaurant that was shut!!! So a walk down the road to the next village was called for to be fed!!!!
Tuesday we headed back towards Trier this was the longest mileage we did in a day of the whole trip so it was basically a burn up the Autobahn, Had the cr@p frightened out of me though bumbling along at a steady 80-85 saw this dot in the mirrors in the outside lane closing me down, seconds later he goes howling passed me (It was one of the Audi RS6 estates with the V10 Lambo engine) was doing 140+, passed me like I was stopped, Seconds later he got his own brown trouser moment when he came upon a car in the outside lane and had to rapidly scrub his speed off, looked like his ABS was earning it’s money !!! Found this day to be very windy with some high gusting cross winds, really the number of wind Farms we passed should have give the game away on that though. We arrived in Trier and found the hotel which was on the outskirts of the city the opposite side from we stayed the previous week
Wednesday saw the dash for the boat and some mixed weather, a different route back to Zeebrugge saw us pass by Spa so visit there was called for!! And we needed petrol as well!! As it happened there was Track Day on the go for cars
As we started to approach Brussels the rain started again and yes we hit another traffic jam, I’ve yet to get around Brussels without getting held up somewhere and getting wet. Arrived back at the ferry terminal, still raining.
As I said earlier I don’t like getting on ferries with slippy oily ramps, so you can imagine my joy at finding the ‘Pride of Bruges’ waiting for us to board !!! With the now wet ramps and the daunting mezzanine level as well!! But with a twitching sphincter we were on and tied down again. Cabined and showered, we fed and then beered the night away with Garry & Rachel.
Goodbyes said it was off the ferry and home was some serious power washing and another trip ends
Total mileage 1821
MPG 49.5 Ave Speed 46mph
Enjoyment level – priceless – roll on next year – Mrs Snowman’s talking about going on her F650GS too !!!
<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com
fficeffice" /><o></o>Snowman
