patzx12
Registered user
Hi, First day was short due to getting off the ferry in cherbourg at 7pm. we stayed near LeMans.
Next morning was 0.1c on the BMW guage. Progress was rapid until about
150kl from Claremount Ferrand, then it go really bad and started to snow. This was a dodgy situation no joke. The motorway lane was clear in the traffic flow. but the snow had blocked the hard shoulder and any exits. I had to get off and i could only get 50 yards and had to abandon the bike as best I could. We were in a s--t hole of a French town at 5pm in a crap hotel (there was a lot of messing in the snow) We had 6" if snow in less than 2 hours and we were stuck nothing open we could not even buy a bottle of water let alone a meal. bugger all in the hotel not even a TV or a cup of coffee.
We were 80kl from Claremount Farrand with no plan B. The only information we got was from Shenzi, was calling me regular and keeping me updated and my spirits up.
Next day looked bad I rescued the bike and made it back onto the motorway, this was not easy.
I rode at 50kph with the 4X flashers on until we got as far a Issaore. All looked well and we pegged it up a bit temp was 0.0.
We had freezing fog all the way but this got really bad after Issaore we were going into high altitude and it was not good, the cars did not give a f--k and was flying past. It´s luck it did not start snowing again if it did we were buggered.
Things improved after we started to decend a bit, our target was Millau Viaduct we passed every car that passed us out. I went over the Viaduct at 120mph It was quite emotional.
I pressed on to the second service station and stayed there that night. It was a good stop.
Next morning was still snow and -0.5c but in 15mins we were decending and the snow was gone.
Next thing was high winds for 100kl not nice.
After a lunch break I put the boot down all the way to Torrevieja, this was fast and fun.
Next day it was another high speed run to Marbella we took the Autopista so it was back into a slowy landscape but no problem.
It it nice here 19c today.
The cold we encountered was not an issue, we just had normal winter riding gear. The GT is a warm bike anyway.
The bike 07 K1200GT is without peers for this kind of work, it has earned my resect.
I would not recomend this trip to anyone, there is a real risk to life and limb, if you get cought on the motorway in the snow you cannot get off or use the hard shoulder. You cannot get a road bike 10 feet in snow, and slush is worse.
We rode 600kl with the ice warning on, 200 of those with the 4X flashers on.
I will post some pictures when I get sorted.
Next morning was 0.1c on the BMW guage. Progress was rapid until about
150kl from Claremount Ferrand, then it go really bad and started to snow. This was a dodgy situation no joke. The motorway lane was clear in the traffic flow. but the snow had blocked the hard shoulder and any exits. I had to get off and i could only get 50 yards and had to abandon the bike as best I could. We were in a s--t hole of a French town at 5pm in a crap hotel (there was a lot of messing in the snow) We had 6" if snow in less than 2 hours and we were stuck nothing open we could not even buy a bottle of water let alone a meal. bugger all in the hotel not even a TV or a cup of coffee.
We were 80kl from Claremount Farrand with no plan B. The only information we got was from Shenzi, was calling me regular and keeping me updated and my spirits up.
Next day looked bad I rescued the bike and made it back onto the motorway, this was not easy.
I rode at 50kph with the 4X flashers on until we got as far a Issaore. All looked well and we pegged it up a bit temp was 0.0.
We had freezing fog all the way but this got really bad after Issaore we were going into high altitude and it was not good, the cars did not give a f--k and was flying past. It´s luck it did not start snowing again if it did we were buggered.
Things improved after we started to decend a bit, our target was Millau Viaduct we passed every car that passed us out. I went over the Viaduct at 120mph It was quite emotional.
I pressed on to the second service station and stayed there that night. It was a good stop.
Next morning was still snow and -0.5c but in 15mins we were decending and the snow was gone.
Next thing was high winds for 100kl not nice.
After a lunch break I put the boot down all the way to Torrevieja, this was fast and fun.
Next day it was another high speed run to Marbella we took the Autopista so it was back into a slowy landscape but no problem.
It it nice here 19c today.
The cold we encountered was not an issue, we just had normal winter riding gear. The GT is a warm bike anyway.
The bike 07 K1200GT is without peers for this kind of work, it has earned my resect.
I would not recomend this trip to anyone, there is a real risk to life and limb, if you get cought on the motorway in the snow you cannot get off or use the hard shoulder. You cannot get a road bike 10 feet in snow, and slush is worse.
We rode 600kl with the ice warning on, 200 of those with the 4X flashers on.
I will post some pictures when I get sorted.
As he mentioned the only bit of dodgy weather for us was between Clermont-Ferrand and Millau. We hit some quite heavy fog which we subsequently learned was actually cloud. However the snow on the side of the roads (which is what Pat mustve hit) was melting so we we ok in terms of good grip on the road. I did feel really sorry for Pat 
having seen that snow first hand on the sides of the road. It must have been quite a scare. As soon as we were through the cloud/fog we hit sunshine and had that for the entire rest of the trip 
. Met Shenzi not far from Millau in a beautiful French village for a coffee and hot chocolate. Thoroughly nice bloke we are very grateful to have had him watching our backs for us. Had a nice blast with him to the motorway where we tooted like mad and parted company.
A cloud in the sky is enough to put me off but I am a confirmed wuss!
The knock on effect was that the weather has been so bad we wouldnt go now anyway. In fairness to BMW Faro we would have probably hit some bad weather anyway, but there you go. They said they dont order parts until the bike is in as they've had people mess them round before. I tried to explain that had I known that I would have paid a deposit as I'd explained back in October to them that we needed the bike done urgently on the 28th ready for us to leave.
