Germany and Italy - A tale of 2 halves

[JohnnyBoxer]

About 6 weeks ago Bryn mentioned coming to Garmisch, so I though - why not?

Ferry was booked from Hull to Zeebrugge, with a view to meeting up with Bryn/Lynne and Casperfelix (Peter) in Bad Peterstal

I set off from Hull on 28th June and next day had a fairly uneventful, albeit damp for part of the way through Belgium towards Metz, but today was my 46th birthday, so what better way to spend it on my bike - starting off on an adventure

Ready for the off from Zeebrugge with 430 miles ahead - clean bike, not for long

The weather improved from Metz and I decided to break off from the A4 and head over the tops towards Strasbourg, via Chateau Salins and Saverne...............now I was in La Belle France proper, on tree lined avenues of roads

First hotel for the night was Hotel Hirsch, 44 Euro for a single room B&B just 30 miles into the Black Forest, situated in the spa town of Bad Peterstal and I was first to arrive, however Bryn and Pete soon pitched up

http://www.hot-hirsch.de/

Quick shower and change and straight down into the cellar bar for happy hour, before dinner

Evening meal was superb, some sort of pork fillet and followed by hot raspberries & icecream for pud and another trip to the bar below.

Heavy rain overnight, gave way to dry roads the next day, albeit with with overcast skies

I had planned a cross-country route avoiding Lake Constance and it's notorious heavy traffic. We lunched at Isny

Saw this interesting airhead GS

After lunch we rode the splendid Deutsche Hohe Alpenstrasse towards Reutte and then took a detour up besides Plansee and past King Ludwig's Linderhof palace, stopping for coffee at an German Imbiss on the way

Whilst at Garmisch, we were staying at Oberammagau (some 12 miles away).

Oberammagau is a religious town, famous for its Passion Plays and consequentially has many religious overtones

We stayed here http://www.firmafux.de/ferienhaus/englisch/index.htm

Even the bath towel, had the sign of the cross

Oberammagau town

We went to the BMW Motorrad Days event on Friday.... the first day of the festival

On arrival we saw this particular familiar 11GS.....................and knew we were amongst friends

The event was really good with loads to see and do, you could ride all the BMW road & enduro bikes, have a go offroad with the German BMW off road school and even go hardcore on a Husqvarna, plus all manner of specialist BMW accessory firms were present, displaying their wares

There were some weird and truly wonderful BMW bikes, which I will cover later in the travelogue

To be continued.......

 

[coyotedave]

More, more , more please John. Im off to Austria next Friday and the pictures have wetted my appetite even more.

Dave.

 

[David Lee]

Great photo's. What a pretty place Oberammergau is.

 

[Micky]

Keep it coming JB

Off down that way next Friday

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Now Garmisch Motorrad Days is all about bikes.......................BMW Bikes, so here's a selection of some that caught my eye

A modern interpretation of a classic Airhead GS

Similar to Sycomoto's 101

One for the bling merchants

I like this...................tasty

Wudo's retro airhead

A real HPN, parked in the bike park......... bloody gorgeous

I thought was interesting, trials style and very neat - Maico front forks

Nice and simple, like BMW intended

Another pukka HPN, very neatly exectuted and particularly like the clock console on the crossbar

Interesting front 12GSA wheel from an Itallian wheel manufacturer

The full bike.........................cool

Rallye HP2e, from Italian specialists MST

Wunderlich's F800GS enduro.......................neat and very svelte

Weird concepts, these Germans love

My own idea of a perfect Airhead GS, the way it should be.................bloody great

A little crazy, but neat

Nice cafe racer

 

[Bryn]

Bikes that caught my eye

This one less practical than the other two... but depends how far up the mountain you live

 

[(RIP) andrewgsadv]

JB,

Thanks for posting . Some excellent bikes on show , good photos as usual. Now you have teased us ..... More more more please.

 

[Twotter]

Good stuff so far JB. That Hotel Hirsch looks familiar, didn't we all stay there on the 2005 Garmisch trip?

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

So for part 2

On the Sunday after Garmisch, Bryn & Lynne and Peter departed for Calais, so bade farewell after breakfast and I left for the next part of my trip solo....destination the Italian Dolomites

Weather was dry, albeit overcast, so I decided to go the most scenic route and retraced my steps from Ettal, past the Plansee to Reutte in Austria

Quick pic of the Lake Plansee

From Reutte it was over the slow, busy and boring Fern Pass and on towards Imst, where there was a crash which closed the road, so I nipped down the m/way (no Vignette) for 1 junction to pick up the Orztzal Valley road that leads to Obergurgl and the Timmeljoch pass

Weather was improving all the time

On the way to the summit, roads were thronged with Italian BMW riders returning homeward bound

On top

I carried on towards San Leonardo and stopped at this cafe, superb views for a lunch of Goulash soup and fresh bread

In San Leonardo, I took the Jaufen pass to Vipiteno (south of the Brenner) and came across a bad smash involving a 12GS rider and a BMW 5 series, ouch and followed the ambulance the rest of the way down the Pass

At Vipiteno I decided to go to Bressenone and enter the Dolomites south of there and take the less well known passo delle Erbe

This proved to be an excellent decision, because it was high up on single track roads with superb views and I was able to see Italian farming families gathering in the hay from the steep mountain fields

Now we were getting into the Dolomites proper......................truly spectacular aren't they?

At the top of this cracking pass

5pm and reached the hotel, this was home for the next 3 nights and Hotel Cristallo is one of my favourite hotels in all of Europe - 80 Euros HalfBoard for a single room

http://www.hotelcristallo-altabadia.it/

View from the room's balcony

Gardens and evening views

Food to die for, everything (including the bread and icecream) is homemade by the Italian chefs in the hotel kitchen and evening dinner is 6 courses

The hotel is 4* top notch, with underground car park, a marble and granite indoor pool and sauna/solarium and a fully equipped spa with treatments (keeps your pillion happy) and they do a whole range of off bike activities too, should you want a few days to chill

However, the weather was hot and sunny @ 35c, so it was time to explore one of the best riding areas in the whole of Europe

I started off doing the Valparola Pass

I stopped of at fort Tre Sassi, a WW1 museum

http://www.dolomiti.org/dengl/cortina/laga5torri/musei/tresassi.html

Well worth the 7 Euros fee

Then onto the Falzarego pass for a coffee stop

Then onto towards Arraba

Lunch at Arraba and then over the Compolonga pass

Looking down at Val Gardena and Corvara

Next day, I did the passo Giau and some of the smaller passes

Val Gardena

I took loads of pics and did all the popular passes like the Pordoi and Sella and some little known ones, the weather was great all the time and after a day's ride it was great to relax in the hotel pool

After the Dolomites, it was homeward bound towards the Black Forest, over the Brenner and then via the Austrian m/way network to Innsbruck and Bregenz, not bad value to 4.5 Euro

Although it's motorway, the mountains are spectacular to not make it too boring.

At Bregenz I swung a right into Germany towards Ravensburg, avoiding Switzerland and it's expensive annual motorway toll

After lunch at Ravensburg I cut across country towards Tuttlingen, to avoid the mega congested Bodensee/Constance area.............the GPS took me down through a unclassified gravel road, probably the only legal offroad in Germany

I was aiming for the south of the Black Forest, near Tittisee however the particular hotel I had in mind was closed, no matter..................I headed back to the Hotel Hirsch @ Bad Peterstal again for 2 nights and still got in @ 6pm after 440 miles

The next day I rode the spectacular B500 Hohe Alpenstrasse again and nipped down to Touratech in the afternoon for a look around

Zega Pro panniers must be cheap to fabricate..................they used them as mailboxes @ TT HQ

Next day, my last in Europe, was a quick dash to Zeebrugge all motorway and at nearly 700kms it was going to be a dash. I set off at 7.45am after an early breakfast and hit Strasbourg in the morning rush hour, with the Sat Nav taking me through the centre, down tree lined boulevards.............pretty but chaotic.

I had a Polish R12RT rider for company who asked if he could follow me through and set him right for Metz

Soon we'd cleared the city and were well on our way to Metz.........relieved of 8 Euros in tolls we cleared Metz and I swung up to Luxembourg, filling up with cheap petrol on the way, arriving at Zeebrugge @ 2.30pm..............so plenty of time for the ferry.

I decided a Croque Monsieur was in order for a late lunch on the beachfront cafe @ Zeebrugge before boarding

So 10 days, 2100 miles and not much rain (only @ Garmisch) and the bike performed well - all in all a good trip

Only bike issue was a slight 'sweating' or misting from the bevelbox gaiter

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Good stuff so far JB. That Hotel Hirsch looks familiar, didn't we all stay there on the 2005 Garmisch trip?

We did

 

[Deleted account Cooperman]

Looks great

Will be doing a Germany/Austria/Dolomites trip in August starting in Rotterdam,

 

[Nutty]

Excellent report JB

Now that's what a GS is all about

 

[cookie]

enjoyed that JB

i must go to the dolomite sometime, and back to garmisch too

 

[2 wheel humvee]

Good stuff so far JB. That Hotel Hirsch looks familiar, didn't we all stay there on the 2005 Garmisch trip?

We did, we arrived very late if I recall and they kept the kitchen staff on just for us,

I checked my pics thinking Lake Plansee looked familiar too, it was;

Brought back fond memories of the "Judgey tours" trip we did in 05, Nice report JB thanks

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

enjoyed that JB

i must go to the dolomite sometime, and back to garmisch too

Well if you want to go in 2012, I'm sure Darkhorse and Humvee could accompany us, About 10 days is perfect

 

[cookie]

Well if you want to go in 2012, I'm sure Darkhorse and Humvee could accompany us, About 10 days is perfect

hmmmmmm

 

[2 wheel humvee]

hmmmmmm

Hmmmm indeed..........
Cosica-the return,
The Alps-the sequel,
Franco's place,
Southern Spain/Andalucia and now The Dolomites all been mentioned recently as possible trips for next year, decisions-decisions

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Hmmmm indeed..........
Cosica-the return,
The Alps-the sequel,
Franco's place,
Southern Spain/Andalucia and now The Dolomites all been mentioned recently as possible trips for next year, decisions-decisions

Central Alps and Dolomites would dovetail, once you've ridden the Dolomites though, anything else is less

 

[cookie]

Hmmmm indeed..........
Cosica-the return,
The Alps-the sequel,
Franco's place,
Southern Spain/Andalucia and now The Dolomites all been mentioned recently as possible trips for next year, decisions-decisions

sounds like a busy year, but we'll have a pup to look after next year so won't be doing quite all of those

probably nipping down to swizzleland in the next few weeks though

 

[Stretchamus]

Excellent, thanks for posting.