London To Berlin Trip

[tony_tony]

I am planning a trip to berlin in a couple of weeks to visit my gf who will be there already on a course. We plan sightseeing and good food and drink in the evenings. During the day when she is at the course i may pop over the border on the bike into Poland/ Czechoslovakia for a look around. The plan is to leave early on sat 25th june and to arrive in berlin sometime on sun 26th or mon 27th, hopefully finding some nice roads on route. Then heading back to the uk on sat 2nd july arriving late sunday/ early monday. Camping and b & b are the options when travelling and a b & b will be found for Berlin If anyone fancies joining in on any part of this trip or is in that neck of the woods at that time then feel free to get in touch. Like wise if you have been in that direction and have any tips/advice.
cheers,
tony

 

[100WattWarlock]

Visit Hamburg on the way through, I used to live there, and it's a beautiful City.

Oh and as for tips and advice, just remember to ride on the right!

 

[Taff]

Having had bikes tampered with on previous trips (admittedly not in Germany), I am now paranoid about bikes being left out overnight in open air car parks. I stayed at the Ibis Hotel in Berlin - just 15 mins walk from the Brandenburg Gate. Very swish - with the cleanest & most secure underground car park I've ever used - only accessible via a lift and a personal swipe card. In fact it was probably more secure than my office. I have their number and address at home, if you need it just PM me. The cost was pretty good too - about £40 per night. Especially if you are interested in history, Berlin is superb - you could easily spend your entire trip there.

Unless you are a map reading God, I would take the GPS. The SP3 took me straight to the hotel, along roads which I doubt I would have found if I was constantly reading a map. The problem is that you would need to stop regularly with detailed maps, just to get the relevant section in the map holder. Generally, the Germans seem more patient and tolerant of driving - even when I did something dull, I wasn't honked once.

The Autobahns are ok if you need to cover big mileage in a short time, but are boring. Keep a very careful eye on your mirrors (especially if changing into their equivalent of lane 3) as some of them are travelling at 120 mph +, which doesn't give a good margin of error. I saw about 6 very very near misses in just 1 week. Be particularly observant around Antwerp - they are doing major road works there - I ended up in the city, but just could not get back onto the road needed for over an hour. In fairness the GPS was pointing me in the right direction, but all the access roads were blocked off. Some of the best roads I went on was in the Harz region (mentioned by Dave Hall in this thread: http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31256&highlight=german ).

I'm very tempted to go back again - I'm sure you will love it. If you think I can help, just drop me a PM.

 

[100WattWarlock]

Be particularly observant around Antwerp - they are doing major road works there - I ended up in the city, but just could not get back onto the road needed for over an hour. In fairness the GPS was pointing me in the right direction, but all the access roads were blocked off.

LOL Every time I ride through Antwerp I get lost, I don't GPS, but it should be fairly straighforward, the last time, I ended going right the way round, only to come up to the Toll booth by the Kennedy tunnel (or whatever it's called), and upon seeing me a second time, the toll booth attendent beamed at me, ahhh you got lost he said, yes I replied, I've just been all around your beautiful City, which seems to be in a permanent state of development... so do I have to pay the toll again?

Oh yes he beamed at me again.....

Some words about family heritage sprang to mind, but I thought it was better left alone!

 

[andres]

....and I thought I was just stupid. Went round the Antwerp ring road twice three weeks ago on the way back from Amsterdam, got to the toll booth, the attendant beamed and said.................

 

[theschoning]

london - berlin

ever considered taking the GS on the ferry from Harwich to Cuxhaven overnight, rather than driving all the way thru' holland etc?! From Cuxhaven follow the ELbe (river) to Hamburg then follow the B5 all the way to Berlin - nice roads! takes about 5-6 hrs, or if you're in a hurry pop on the motorway: Bremerhaven-Hamburg-Berlin and see how fast yor GS is...... 2 Month ago I paid £80 return with shared cabin & saved a bit on petrol money as its only about 1/2 the milage this way...enjoy Berlin!

Jonathan.

 

[100WattWarlock]

Although this is an idea, it might be worth mentioning that the ferry takes around 21 hours!

Never did it myself, thought about it as an option when I first bought my bike over to the UK, but then decided to ride. Took me two days, but I had loads of gear on the bike and it snowed south of Bremen (well ice rain anyway, just as much fun!).

Also you'll avoid Antwerp! Actually maybe it is a good idea after all!

 

[Taff]

ever considered taking the GS on the ferry from Harwich to Cuxhaven overnight, rather than driving all the way thru' holland etc?!

Funnily enough that was my first plan, but it meant I would be missing out on some of the WW2 sites inc Son Bridge, Grave, Eindhoven, Arnhem, Hertenstein museum in Oosterbeek, Belsen etc; which seemed to defeat the whole point of going. Mind you, if you just want to get there, "see" the girlfriend and get back with minimum hassle, then the ferry is worth considering - but if you just wanted an easy life, bearing in mind you live in London, you may as well just get a cheap return flight to Berlin, but I'm guessing that taking the bike is going to be half the fun.

 

[theschoning]

if you just wanted an easy life, bearing in mind you live in London, you may as well just get a cheap return flight to Berlin, but I'm guessing that taking the bike is going to be half the fun.

Well, yes, I think I got the best of both worlds; short afternoon ride to Harwich, loooong nights sleep on the ferry (well, not all of the 21hrs!!), and a leasurely ride on mostly deserted (and quite pretty) country roads in Germany. on top of it all I think it was the cheapest option (not including flying).

2 years ago I rode all the way (admittedly I 'just wanted to get there') and got bored on the dutch and german motorways, but only took about 12hrs or so each way....

Perhaps the best is a combination of both: ride all the way thru holland, etc. see what you want to see on the way and return via cuxhaven, so you wont backtrack and can have a rest on the boat (from the girlfriend perhaps?).

BTW: Berlin is amazing in summer!!!


Jonathan.

 

[tony_tony]

thanks folks thats lots of useful tips and comments there!
It's my first trip to europe, been biking only since last august and been round the uk, ireland and scotland so far. i dont have gps on my f650gs as of yet and have looked at the routes suggested on the rac website. ferries to holland then avoiding motorways seems to take around 25 hours according to the rac, going via calais then through northern france takes in the region of 12 to 14 hours, I will be booking in the next day or 2 and bearing in mind what i read here. i am allowing a couple of days riding to get there and the same on the way back so i can enjoy the scenery and am in no particular rush, once there in the day time i am free to bike around on my own so looking at popping into gdansk or prague as they seem not too far. also i have a feeling the german beer will be sampled and i'd like to sample some black forest gateau in the black forest
cheers

 

[Taff]

Tony - Ive tried to PM you but can't. I'm sure you will enjoy your trip, but do your sums carefully and make sure that you don't fall into the trap of setting yourself "over ambitous" daily distances - especially if you want to take the scenic and relaxing route. Everyone does it at some time - heck many local rideouts have had to be cut short, simply because they have run out of time, and they weren't heading half way to Berlin. I reckon that I had to cut approx 25% of what I wanted to see, simply because I had underestimated the time needed to do everything. If you dont allow yourself plenty of time (make sure to allocate time for petrol / toilet / coffee / food / map reading etc breaks), you could well put yourself under too much unecessary pressure - especially if you've agreed to meet your girlfriend by a set time - making you ride either faster or for longer than you're comfortable with, and that's when things go wrong. Hell; I've just realised I sound like my Dad.

This is just a suggestion, but work out your total average on similar "scenic routes" 2 up, on a 650cc bike, with camping gear, in this country (you will probably be shocked to see how low it is - I know I was with mine) lower the average a bit as you will be riding in unfamiliar countries, and work out how long your suggested route to Berlin would take using this average speed. I think you will find that it will vary from what a computer works out.

Make sure the bike is in good order, enjoy the German beer and make sure you post some photos here once you've done it.

 

[tony_tony]

thanks a lot EJ, that's some really good practical advice there.