Mugello 2014, An Eventfull Trip !!!

[rossi46]

We've been travelling abroad for the last 14 years to various MotoGP races. There has been the odd mishap, breakdown or accident but nothing major, that was until this year !!!


Wednesday 28 May

Eurotunnel & Ferry Booked
All Hotels booked
Grandstand tickets packed
Routes sorted
Bike prepped

 

[rossi46]

Thursday 29 May

So making this epic journey will be :
Me ( R1200GS Adventure 90 Yr )
Jono ( R1200GS Adventure TE )
Stuart ( R1200GS Adventure )
Geoff ( Honda Crosstourer )
Carl ( Moto Marini )
Paul ( Suzuki GSX750 )
Keith ( Triumph Tiger )
Harry ( R1200GS TE )
Tony ( Honda Varadero )


So we all meet up at Haydock Island at 7am. As usually on our departure day it's raining. A few hello's and a bit of banter and at 7.30am we are all fuelled up and ready to go.

I set off, but as I look down I have the dreaded lights of doom flashing at me, I am loosing pressure from my rear. We park back up to find a 3" screw sticking out of my back tyre, thanks Mr. Joiner !!! I fill the hole with the liquorice type repair kit and inflate the tyre, it seems to hold ok.

I know there is a National Tyres about 2 miles away so it is decided to have it fixed properly. On arrival I'm told that they won't be able to repair it as all motorbikes have magnesium wheels, I'm on a GSA with spoke wheels FFS !!! However, it seems to be holding pressure ok so I decide to run with it for a bit. As we gear up to go problem number 2 appears, Jono's all singing and dancing GSA WC has the common switchgear problem, he uses both his thumbs on the starter button and it fires into life, off we go.

We stop for fuel at Newport Pagnell Services, next stop Eurotunnel, or so we thought !!!
As we approached the Dartford Bridge the traffic was stop / start, we start to filter travelling at around 10mph, no madness and no heroics, just nice and steady between lanes 3 and 4. As I ride past a large white van who was in the outside lane, the driver decided to move over suddenly, I hear a clatter and think he's hit my pannier, but as I look down and back expecting to see my pannier on the floor, i could see my pannier was ok but instead Stuarts GSA was on its side with Stuart lying next to it. I quickly get off my bike and run the 8yrds back to him, we pick up the bike and get it to the hard shoulder. The bike isn't too bad, but Stuart is complaining about pain in his right wrist. Details are exchanged with the White Van Man and the nearest hospital is found on the Nav, its only a couple of miles away on the other side of the bridge. Stuart decides he's ok to ride the couple of miles so off we go. It's not good news at the hospital, Stuart has a broken wrist and won't be able to continue. We get his bike ready for recovery and say our goodbyes, time is ticking on and we've missed our 12.50 Eurotunnel by a good few hours.

The helpful people at Eurotunnel allowed us on the next available train at no extra cost and at 16.40 we left the UK (and hopefully) our problems behind.

Arriving in France at 6pm it was decided to ditch the "scenic" route we had planned and take a direct route to Reims, our first hotel, it was still 208 miles and 3 hours away.

Sure enough, at 9pm we arrived at Hotel Europe in Reims, a place we had stayed in many times before, nice hotel with secure parking at the rear. The bikes were parked, unloaded and off we went for a shower and change.

An hour later we re grouped in reception. Reims wouldn't be Reims without our usuall first night meal, Filet De Boeuf

Followed by a few Mousstache Beers

We have a few more beers and discuss the events of the day, 1 puncture, 1 dodgy starter button and 1 accident resulting in a broken wrist. Its decided that problems come in 3's and we've had our 3, so that's it, plain sailing from now on.
We retire to our rooms looking forward to a problem free day tomorrow !!!

 

[rossi46]

PS : Please ignore the date stamp on some of the pictures, Geoff had purchased a new camera for the trip but didn't bother reading the set up instructions !!! Doh

 

[rossi46]

Friday 30 May

We rise early to sunshine and an ok breakfast, not up to the usual standard of this hotel but it filled a gap.
Luggaged up and set off for the French / Swiss border. We had some great routes planned for Switzerland taking in quite a few passes before our next hotel in Como.
We reached the border and each purchased a Vignette

We continue about 80 miles and stop for fuel & coffee. As Carl reached for his wallet to pay for his fuel, its not there. He vaguely remembers not putting his wallet away when he paid for his vignette some 80 miles ago, Doh !!!
As the wallet contained all Carl's holiday spends he decides to retrace his steps back to the border crossing while we wait

Wait

And wait some more

Eventually, a few hours later Carl returns but unfortunately still with no wallet. Once again time is ticking on so we scrub all the passes and set a direct route to Hotel Tre Re in Como. Again, we have stayed at this hotel before and chose it again for this trip due to the secure parking. We arrive at around 9pm, park the bikes and go for a shower & change

We re group showered and changed into our best clobber and go in hunt of food. 100yrds outside the hotel and we find a suitable restaurant

Well we are in Italy now

We discuss the days events over a few beers and decide that although Carl is now skint, its been a better day than yesterday !!!

 

[David Nimrod]

Hopefully, things'll get better!

 

[rossi46]

Saturday 31 May

We wake early to sunshine again, take a very nice breakfast and have a wonder around Como.

We stop for a coffee and people watch. It soon becomes apparent that Como is full of old men with young women on their arms, must be the money we decide.

Back to the hotel and load up, next stop Florence.

Around 20 miles from our destination we stop for fuel

Its now 32 degrees, and we are in Italy

We arrive at Hotel Vasari Palace mid afternoon, this will be our base for the next 2 nights. Lovely hotel with lots of interesting décor, each bedroom door has a painting of a different man on it

and the ceilings are stunning

again there is secure parking for the bikes, which is always a relief

We shower, change and go out in search of food and entertainment. We find an Irish bar were we settle in for the night ready to watch the Froch v Groves rematch. A few too many beers were consumed as we celebrated a day without problems or accidents, maybe our luck had changed. Race day tomorrow

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Hopefully, things'll get better!

Let's hope so

Hope it does get better

 

[JayC]

Friday 30 May

We continue about 80 miles and stop for fuel & coffee. As Carl reached for his wallet to pay for his fuel, its not there. He vaguely remembers not putting his wallet away when he paid for his vignette some 80 miles ago, Doh !!!
As the wallet contained all Carl's holiday spends he decides to retrace his steps back to the border crossing while we wait

I know this one very well! 2012 at Pont d'Ain when I realised my Kriega was no longer with me. Unlike Carl , I decided against retracing my passage from its last use, some 60 miles back. Despite having all my vitals in there , cash, cards, passport, license etc , it still hasn't found its way back home, not even so much as an empty Kriega.

I also stuffed my foot in an off road slow speed drop after having the weight of the GS clamping me to the ground.

On the plus for your group , your problems are at least being shared.

 

[rossi46]

Sunday 1 June

We rise early as we want to be at the circuit for all the action, A good breakfast and then off to ride the 20 miles to the circuit

A great ride to the circuit, its only 20 miles but all back roads

We had pre purchased tickets for the grandstand opposite the pits, the view was quite nice

Cracking race were Rossi finished 3rd and the place went nuts

It looks like there was some madness at the circuit the night before

Mugello is one of the only circuits in the world were they allow spectators to invade the circuit after the racing has finished, so it would be rude not to do a lap of the circuit on foot

We geared up again and rode the 20 miles back to our hotel in Florence. Once in the room I chilled for a while before showering and getting ready for another night out in Florence. One of my favourite films is Hannibal which is set in Florence, so it was good to see some of the areas from the film.

We ate a fantastic meal at a restaurant recommended by our hotel owner and went to see the sunset from the river

it was beer time, so we found a bar showing the MotoGP on a large screen and settled in for a few

 

[Sgt Bilco]

Excellent. Brings back good memories of a Mugello trip a few years ago.

Just playing grown up here, I always take 2 wallets. One with most of my stuff in and buried deep in my luggage and one I carry with enough money for the day and a credit card. If it gets knicked or lost, it's not too much bother.

 

[V10SWC]

Slight in house joke,

Does Sylvia actually know where Jeff is going this time

 

[rossi46]

Monday 2 June

Today and tomorrow are the best routes of the trip. Today's ride to Cannes and then onto Annecy via Route Napoleon and the Gouges du Verdon tomorrow.
Another good breakfast at the Vasari Palace before loading the bikes and leaving Florence. We rode for approximately 30 miles on a dual carriageway and stopped for fuel. The Nav was then set for Bagni di Lucca for no other reason than the roads looked ace, it didn't disappoint

The sun was shining, the roads were ace, what could go wrong

We were on (I think) the SP16, it was kind of like the Cat & Fiddle road but 100 miles long, a good time was being had by all.
Until, Keith was entering a sharp left hander when he spotted a rock in the road right on his line, he lifted to avoid the rock, and, smash, bang, wallop, he was off. Jono was first at the scene, keith was lying on his back, his bike was facing the wrong way up a rocky hill. Keith moved his arms, thank god for that !!! We recovered Keith and his bike and commenced repairs in a nearby layby

The damage wasn't too bad. Keiths hands & wrists were sore, but he has had plenty of previous accidents and hopefully it is just the after effects of previous war wounds. The Bike had a few damaged panels, damage to the panniers & top box, but more worryingly the exhaust downpipes were pushed up and touching the oil filter. We managed to bend the downpipes to a point were they weren't touching the filter and after a couple of hours in the lay be we were ready to go again. Keith is a proper soldier, most people would have rode to the nearest town, had their bike recovered and return home courtesy of Easyjet or Jet2, but not keith, we continued on the stunning roads to Chiavari.
Once at Chiavari we decided to munch some miles so jumped onto the toll road around the coast to Monaco and then onto our hotel for the night, Hotel L'Olivier in Cannes

We arrived at 8pm, quick shower, change and then off into town for a Chinese and a few beers. Keiths hands were swelling

 

[David Nimrod]

Ouch!

Sorry to hear about the 'off'

 

[rossi46]

Tuesday 3 June

I knew this day was going to be epic, but i now consider it to be the best day I have ever had on my bike !!!
A lovely breakfast was taken Al Fresco at the hotel, we paid the bill (dearest hotel of the trip) and luggage up.
"Are you Ok to ride Keith"

I'm sure I'll manage

Off we go, Route Napoleon and then the Gorges du Verdon. The roads and the scenery were stunning

Then onto the Gorges

We meet up with the Luxembourg Ferrari Owners Club

We continued, hard to keep your eyes on the road with all this stunning scenery to look at

We stop for a spot of lunch (and to check Keiths still managing)

And then continue with the ride to our next Hotel Adagio Annecy Centre

We stop outside, I go in to sort the rooms and then back outside to park the bikes. Carls Moto Morini refuses to start and the engine management light is illuminated on the dash, sh1t, I thought we'd finished with the bad luck

Carl decides he knows what to do, years of driving diggers has taught him well. He gets a spanner and crosses the terminals on the starter motor. The engine jumps into life and the engine management light goes out, problem solved. We park the bikes and go to our rooms to shower and change

It was only a 5 minute walk into the town centre, so off we went in search of food & beer. A lovely meal of various meat dishes was consumed, along with a few beers, then back to the hotel for some sleep

 

[Dahoum]

Is it just on mine but are a lot of the photos duplicated/ in the wrong place?

Good report tho

 

[rossi46]

Wednesday 4 June

Woke this morning to a bit of drizzle, can't really complain though, we've had it pretty good.
Breakfast was had at the hotel and then outside to luggage up.

Remember 6 days and 2000 miles ago I had an incident with a 3" screw, well its lasted well up to now. I've been checking the pressure on my TPS each morning and all has been well, that was until this morning, I'm down to 20psi.
I put some air in, find the nearest BMW Motorrad dealer on the Nav and set off before everyone else. The dealer is only 3 miles away so I'm there in a few minutes

The dealer takes a look at the tyre and wants to fit a new one, apparently the hole is too close to the edge of the tyre to repair. An hour later my bike comes out with a brand new Tourance fitted and I'm relieved of 195 Euros

Onwards we go heading to our last hotel for the trip, Hotel Europe in Reims, the same hotel as our first night

The weather gets a little worse, its peeing it down but still warm. We stop for fuel in a small town

The owner was a gent. He couldn't speak a word of English and we just get by with very very bad French. But he could see we were soaked so he showed us through to his workshop canteen and made everyone a coffee, it was that strong I thought I wouldn't be able to sleep for days !
He spotted that the Triumph Tiger had suffered some damage and gestured to see if the rider was ok. He could see the exhaust down pipes were damaged and waved Keith to take the bike into his workshop, were with a hammer and a piece of wood he moved the down pipes further from the oil filter

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful but very wet. Another Filet de Boeuf for dinner followed by

 

[Giles]

...The rest of the day was fairly uneventful ........

Fingers crossed .....

 

[rossi46]

Thursday 5 June

Our last day on foreign tarmac.
After the usually breakfast we loaded up and headed for Belgium, we were on the evening Zeebrugge to Hull ferry.
Why does it always seem to rain in Belgium

We had heard a few reports of a place called Fort Breendonk so decided to take a look

Scary place

We ended up spending too long at Breendonk and rushing for the ferry

But, as always we made it !!!!

Thanks to the lads that travelled, this one was a real test of character with that many mishaps and accidents.
Roll on next year !!!!!


This is my first ever ride report, I always read other peoples so thought it was about time I gave something back so to speak.

 

[David Nimrod]

Why does it always seem to rain in Belgium

It's weird, but I reckon that every time I've ever been to Belgium, it's pissed it down...

Bike trips, Land Rover, car... it always feckin' rains!

 

[Ex-Call Centre Chimp]

Excellent RR, thanx for taking the time to post.
If that's the standard you're going to maintain I look forward to reading future RR's from you.