Rob's Great Alpine Adventure

No WiFi in Pension Williams and couldn't get a reliable 3G connection hence the late report.

Day 3 - Nancy to the Black Forest

There are definitely shorter routes to Munchen, but being that the Black Forest was there it just felt like it had to be done. I have never been there before so wasn't really sure what to expect. I had visions of rough tracks and Irish style roads - boy was I wrong.

Anyway the day started off with the now assumed sunshine. I've given up on weather reports, I planned for rain for three days and almost got sunstroke. What the hell do they know.

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After the feast in Bleriots the continental attempt seemed terribly feeble, but probably better for the heart (I tell myself unconvincingly).

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Before I head off I take a spin down to Place Stanislas to have a look in the daylight. I only got the end of the light show last night and the atmosphere was thin. The place is still fairly empty today, but it looks stunning, and its always a good place to stop when you can just drop the bike at the gate.

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Thankfully the cobbles were dry.

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So the roads open up and the sun is shining. The temperature is up to 19 already and it looks like the decision to take the liner out of the Armas jacket was a good one. 22 degrees with the liner in yesterday was a little hot - not overly so, but liner out seems like a better idea.

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There are very few cars about and the motorway is about as good as motorways get. Straights with good views and long high speed bends. The builders ignored topology and went up hill and down dale. Not as good as a twisty B road but its a hell of a way to make progress. There are no cars to judge the local speed enforcement policies from, so I hope there are no surprises waiting when I get home.

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Lovely long bends to test the new tyres (memo to self - must do a tyre report)

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For the first time since the start of the trip I spot some dark clouds. Nothing to worry about it'll blow over. [Nothing to do with the ride report but will somebody tell the drunk Canadian cnut at the bar trying to talk to me that I have work to do! I really don't give a fcuk that the Russian he flew over to see turned out to be a bitch, and even his promise to shave will not get me to go out on the town with him - I kid you not :eek:]

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Soon enough its off the motorway towards Alsace. I have the images in my mind from a brief trip long ago and I hope it is as nice as I remember.

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Cafe des Vosges has seen better days, but a good marketing manager could sell its character.

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Beautiful towns in Alsace. Makes you want to stop at every one.

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I stopped at the side of the road for a while and pondered on what life is like in Alsace. I wondered for example what the local industry is. While pondering I took a photo.

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Out of Alsace then and some more motorway.

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Across the border into Switzerland seems a little excessive, but it gets me deep south of the Black forest at Basel and I get to go the whole way north on the B500 then.

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Crap, crap, crap, I forgot about the vignette. How would you like to pay sir, pounds, euro or credit cards. Well actually now you mention it I wouldn't like to pay at all, but as I will be back in August in the car it might just work OK (I said to myself). So, CHF 40 for the vignettes, tucked safely in the tank bag and off I go.

Through the tunnel maze in Basel and its Swiss motorway. The temperature has really risen now and the digital readout says 25.5C. This is the life, I'll store some heat and bring it home.

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Then back across the border into Germany. Black Forest here I come. Good job the checkpoint isn't manned, I could be done for transporting a million carcasses across the border. There are a few on the camera lens.

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...and a lot on the screen (it's actually making me ill looking at it - must find water somewhere)

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So its up into the forest and I take plenty of bikes coming out as a good sign.

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The clouds in the distance look ominous, but what the hell, it'll blow over.

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My impression of the roads before I got here (based on absolutely nothing) were that it would be similar to Irish B roads. Well what the hell do I know. These road surfaces are immaculate and an absolute pleasure to drive on.

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I have a decision to make now. The clouds up north are getting dark and I am in 22 degrees having a ball.

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Rather than risk the showers I decided to play locally and head north a little later.

This was a great decision to start with - and it got even better as the day went on. I found some proper tosser territory.

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Some great views.

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and then a little shady spot for lunch. How much better can this get. A little spot to stop and stretch the legs.

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What a country.

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There is still that little issue of dark clouds up north and they are getting darker.

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I have two hours to Pension-Williams and decide to make off now. Hopefully, I will get there before the rain. Unfortunately it's not long before the first few drops hit and cars with lights on heading south don't fill me with confidence.

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I was right to worry. 10 minutes later the bloody heavens open.

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So that's the end of the photos for day 3. Awww I hear you say. Well the reason is that the story of the remaining two hours is best told through the medium of film. Allright, HD high speed digital video, but you know what I mean. What the video doesn't capture with any great clarity is the pain of the hailstones hitting my face when I make a mistake and open the visor, or the bum clenching moments when the thunder and lightning strikes. It does do a reasonable job of showing what the Black Forest can do when it decides to piss on you with a vengeance. It also does a reasonable job of showing how well behaved the Tourance Next tyres were in the wet (I swear I 'm not on commission). They were absolutely bloody outstanding. I'll do an equipment report later and report properly on all the kit that worked and didn't.

So here you go, the last 2 hours of Day 3. Torrential fcuking rain all the bloody way. TORRENTIAL that is.

It starts off wet.

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Then it gets wetter and the tyres are tested out. It's down to 9 degrees, from a high of 25 earlier.

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It stays wet all through the twisties.

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I finally made it Pension Williams. The Rukka did a fantastic job (as it bloody well should). The Dainese boots let a drop onto one toe. The Dainese gloves I didn't get on with, but more on that elsewhere.

I arrived in to the guest house and David was waiting, actually he came out in the rain because John, who arrived earlier had left his tail light on. We tried to turn it off and couldn't. No key in it, alarm on, and light on. Go figure. Bet you can't guess what make it is?

So a quick shower and David drops John and to the local steakhouse. Some nice beer, good fillet steak, and excellent company makes the night fly in. John as it turns out is a research chemist. Boring night? No, he was a research chemist for Drambuie. So we talked whiskey, bollox, bikes, bollox, cars, bollox, life bollox, then just bollox until the owner drove us home.

Don't remember much after that. I think I slept well.
 
Day 4 - Pension Williams to Munich

This will count as the worst ride report of all time. Largely because it may count as the worse ride of all time. All the gods left me today.

First sight out the window is not good. Crap the Black Forest is on fire, we're all gonna die!!!

Turns out it's a mist rising from the damp forest. Damp. Damp. Damp doesn't come close.

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So now comes the interesting bit (the only interesting bit in this report so pay attention). Remember John from last night. The research chemist from Drambuie. A really lovely bloke. Loves cars, loves bikes, loves life and even a few women. He's on his way to meet Mrs John mark 2 in France (she has him for two whole days). I thought 5,000KM was good going for me. Well kitted out GS, heated Sargent seat (well it was heated until later today), pannier, box, airflow screen, heated vest, etc etc. Remember John's light problem last night? He is driving a





























Well of course its a Ducati. An absolutely MINT specimen. He's done 247 miles on it in the last year. This year it is on the way to the South of Spain via France, Italy, Germany, stopping at Mugello and then bringing it to see its birth mother (or the mechanical equivalent) in the Ducati factory. He is going to do 5,000 miles on it :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Look at the seat on this thing. He said its fab cos its gel. I have more cushion under my left bollock.

So here is to hero John :bow:bow:bow:bow:bow:bow:bow:bow:bow:bow:bow:bow

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See that tail pack - his wardrobe is in that. He also has a tank bag that would take a sandwich. But as his camera, GoPro, and waterproofs live there the sandwich got left behind.

So John heads off.

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...and I'm left looking at the rain. Oh well nothing for it. Kit up and move off.

Well that is pretty much the end of the report.
It rained.
It rained,
It rained some more.
It dried up for 10K.
It rained some more.

Then came the traffic jam on the motorway. I'm mot sure of the protocol in Germany on filtering so I'll site her. 0.5K later I decide to filter. 9KM later and I'm still filtering! Truck drivers are standing in the middle of the two lanes drinking coffee and waving me by.

It rained like I have never seen rain before. Well I have, but only for two minutes not two hours.

Then about, 100K from Munchen the roads dried up. Dry Autobahn - really - really - REALLY. Well you have to don't you.

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A fully loaded GS at 210KMPH :eek:

200KMPH was OK, but at 210KMPH a wobble set in that frightened the hell out of me. If its not there at 200 and it is at 210, the when I get it back to 200 it will go. WRONG. It's like the hysteresis loop from my electrics days, its slow to set in and it hangs on on the way down. It was 160 before it settled down again. God I aged in that time. I am not sure what the bike could have reached, but it was more than my sphincter could handle.


So what about the vids and pics I hear you say.

Well the camera stayed in the tank bag all day. No way I was taking the rain cover of the bag. The USB ports got wet last night, some tosser forgot to put the cap on, so the GoPro wouldn't charge (I'll explain the kit in a different report). Switched to the second port and it ran for a while then fogged up (due to the set up which I'll explain...)

So landed in KK Al Hammas (super place - great location - secure garage)

Day off tomorrow - we'll see.

The best thing - I haven't got to the Alps yet :bounce1:bounce1:bounce1

Ride reports may very well get shorter though.
 
Kit report

A quick kit report - what's working what isn't

Ruckka Armas - 2 hours in torrential rain yesterday, 3 1/2 hours today. Bone dry. However, it did take a hot bath to reverse the sex change. More anon.

Dainese gloves with D-Dry lining - technically just damp but shite nevertheless.

Dainese boots. Pretty good. Damp toe after two hours, but would have been worse after more than that.

Zega pro boxes. Not even a single drop of water let in.

Garmin 550 - 100% reliable.

The surprise good report. Weiss overboots and shoes - outstanding. I wore the summer gloves under them today and stayed dry and warm. The overboots never let a drop in either. That was in 3 1/2 hours of the most torrential rain that you could imagine. Why the hell, if they can do this with a 20 quid overglove, can a 100 quid plus pair of gloves not work.

The surprise bad report. The GoPro. Well first off the USB socket which some muppet let get wet last night. One of them died, so lets hope it comes back to life when dry. The GoPro (fed permanently from the USB) didn't like the damp and gave up. After an hour in a dry hotel room it came back to life.

The other major bad report is the death of the Sargent heated seat. Just the heated bit that is. The controller is gone mad and not providing heat. Hopefully it will work again when dry. But as a bad weather piece of kit this is disappointing.
 
great stuff, other than the weather..............:blast
 
interesting report is this from this year?

filtering in the Fatherland is illegal,if the police stop you dont argue they just raise the on the spot fine there is no way out of it.
 
Nice report Rob. Having only got back from there on Tuesday, its good to relive some of it through your report.:thumb I think we were slightly luckier with the weather!:D
 
interesting report is this from this year?

filtering in the Fatherland is illegal,if the police stop you dont argue they just raise the on the spot fine there is no way out of it.

It's a "live" report. The weather on May 30 is currently overcast in Munich with more rain forecast :blast

Given the looks I got from some citizens I thought filtering may have been dodgy all right. But it probably saved me several hours :aidan. I won't do it again officer, I promise.

Reports may not be quite as regular from now on as I meet up with a crowd tonight and things get more social.

Off to the BMW museum today. Tomorrow the Alps :JB
 
Rob-we got soaked yesterday from Ring to Switzerland. Non stop deluge!

Try Daytona boots- I was bone dry when I got here. Rukka gloves too. Regretted taking out the liners though after the previous days21* we got 7* for the first 3 hours !

We took 12 hours to get to our accommodation just south of bologna. 639 miles in total :eek:

Slept well last night :D

Keep on trucking.

Trev
 
Ah, the Black Forrest, been there twice on the bike(pissed down) and once in the car(bright and clear) soddes law at work........
 
It's a "live" report. The weather on May 30 is currently overcast in Munich with more rain forecast :blast

Given the looks I got from some citizens I thought filtering may have been dodgy all right. But it probably saved me several hours :aidan. I won't do it again officer, I promise.

Reports may not be quite as regular from now on as I meet up with a crowd tonight and things get more social.

Off to the BMW museum today. Tomorrow the Alps :JB

some Germans get aggresive if you do it and open doors as you approach plus you dont have a claim if in a accident.
just saying, i find it hard not to do it when i am there as its just natural for us.
 
We took 12 hours to get to our accommodation just south of bologna. 639 miles in total :eek:

:bow:bow:bow Respect. That's serious mileage concentrating in the rain. Well done for sticking with it.

Try Daytona boots- I was bone dry when I got here. Rukka gloves too. Regretted taking out the liners though after the previous days21* we got 7* for the first 3 hours !

Crazy swings. On day 3 I had 25.5C in Basel and it was down to 8C by the time I reached Pension Williams. Those bloody Dainese gloves were useless. In fairness they didn't leak at all, but the outers got so sodden that it felt like wearing latex gloves in a bucket of cold water. The heated grips had no effect. For the next run I wore light summer gloves with €20 Weiss over gloves and was toasty and warm! Also wore cheap Weiss over boots and they performed brilliantly. Anyway, hopefully it soon turns to a sunny spin rather than the extreme weather gear test that it is at the moment.

Grossglockner is in the cards for tomorrow but I hear its snowing this evening. May have to pass on it and have another shot next week.



Ride safe!
 
I did. BIG time. This was jinx 3.

Sorry about that :toungincheek

But I found it for you. It was sitting over Geneva ;)

After leaving the house at stupid o'clock this morning we were met at Geneva airport with the bike (motorcycling for gentlemen, dontcha know :D)
Rode the southern coast of Lac Leman (alright then, Lake Geneva !) in glorious sunshine & on as far as Monthey where we decided that it had been a long enough day. Booked a hotel in Morgins up in the hills & by the time we got there 15 minutes later it was snowing :eek: Not for long but long enough ! Temp dropped from 16c to 5c in the space of 10km.....
Chilled for the afternoon in readyness for tomorrow.

Hijack over, as you were :thumb
 
Interesting stuff.
We hit major tailbacks going into the Gotthard Tunnel today, 10-15 miles of stood still traffic.
We were heading for Florence and didn't have time to join the party so I filtered. Ironically everyone, including the Germans, actively moved across so we could get past.
Everyone that is except the flucking Swiss who did their very very best to block our way.
A quick blast of Daniel O'Donnell on the RT speakers soon had them relenting though.:rob
 
I had the same view from pension Williams last year when I woke up in the morning and it rained all day very heavy and never stopped:blast
Great report waiting for next instalment:thumb
 
Day 6 Ismaning (Munich) to Lienz (Austria)

Bloody hell. What can I say!

First off, not much, because this is keeping me from beer with (from the left) Ollie, Stephan, Ed and Mirko.[see attached can't embed]

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Summary of the day

8.00AM breakfast (raining)
8.30AM briefing (heavy rain)
9.00AM on the road (heavy rain)
10.00AM on the road (torrential rain)
11.00AM coffee (torrential rain)

Well you get the bloody idea.

Arrived in the hotel at 6.30PM having only been dry at coffee, lunch in tunnels and in the train. :blast

A few pictures are attached if you are bothered. Flickr not playing ball with the slow internet and they all look the same anyway - WET

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Grossglockner open but deemed impassable. Frost line at 2,200 and snowing.

So the train it is.

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If I don't get some twisties soon the new tyres will be squared. :eek:
 


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