Day 1
After more than twelve months of preparation, we are on our way. After saying our goodbyes to friends and family in Cardiff, we finally hit the road just after 10am.
The weather was fantastic and we made rapid progress. On our way to Dover we called in at Centrica's head office in Windsor and the Brooklands Racing Museum, to break up the journey. Despite a slight hiccup from Mike in the Brooklands gravel car park and Ash's panic when he couldn't find his keys, we headed along the road towards Dover.
We rolled in to Dover at just after 6pm and checked into our room for the night at a local hostal.
The staff were fantastic and not only found us a dorm room where we could park our bikes outside the door, but also directed us to the best pub in town! Where we are happily sat writing this drinking a nice cold lager over an extremely slow internet connection – hence no video tonight!. However – as we have a ferry at 6:00am it won't be a late one......Honest!!!!
Mike is looking forward to getting to the beer kellers of Cologne tomorrow – but isn't as keen on sharing a room with Ash tonight as he has consumed a number of eggs over the last 24hrs.
The weather was fantastic and we made rapid progress. On our way to Dover we called in at Centrica's head office in Windsor and the Brooklands Racing Museum, to break up the journey. Despite a slight hiccup from Mike in the Brooklands gravel car park and Ash's panic when he couldn't find his keys, we headed along the road towards Dover.
We rolled in to Dover at just after 6pm and checked into our room for the night at a local hostal.
The staff were fantastic and not only found us a dorm room where we could park our bikes outside the door, but also directed us to the best pub in town! Where we are happily sat writing this drinking a nice cold lager over an extremely slow internet connection – hence no video tonight!. However – as we have a ferry at 6:00am it won't be a late one......Honest!!!!
Mike is looking forward to getting to the beer kellers of Cologne tomorrow – but isn't as keen on sharing a room with Ash tonight as he has consumed a number of eggs over the last 24hrs.
Day 2
As our alarm clock rang out at 4:00am we we're thinking what kind of holiday is this! Despite Ash's attempts to lose his wallet on the way (Can you see the recurring theme here?) two hours later we were tucking into a "Full English" on the Norfolk Line ferry to Dunkerque, the bikes safe and securly strapped down on the car deck.
We used the time to get our first days video edited, which hopefully should be uploaded with this blog.
Arriving in France we headed off with the thoughts of "must keep right, must keep right" running through our minds.
We headed up to Brugge where our bikes joined the many others parked on the pavements, something that I'm sure is frowned on in the UK, and we sat and had a quick coffee while soaking up the atmosphere. A quick spin round the city centre and we were on our way once again.
The Belgian Army tried their hardest to stop us leaving by blocking the route, due to an Army convoy coming through the city, but we managed to fight our way out. We skirted Brussells and on our way to Maastrict we called at a supermarket to get the compulsory Brussells patē which we enjoyed with bread and cheese by the side of the road. At about 3:30pm CET, 10.5 hours and 173 miles after we got up we started to "hit the wall" knowing we had around 100 more miles to go, Red Bull and the German Autobahn came to the rescue. After being limited to around 130 kph all day, the unlimited stretches of the Autobahn were a blessing and we crunched up the miles to Koln.
After tracking down a cash machine, eventually, we headed to the campsite got pitched, showered and changed. With perfect timing a text from Anita, our contact in Cologne, came in and we arranged to meet at the main train station by the Cathedral.
For future reference Koln Cathedral is big........huge.....massive and looks a lot closer than the 4 miles we walked from the campsite.
Anita was a fantastic host and took us to a great Brauhouse for food and Kolsh (the local brew) and then on to a great Latin bar for more drinks. On leaving us, with the clear expectation we were going to head for the Taxi rank to get home, we popped inside the bar for "one for the road" which rapidly became two and three "for the road". Thanks Anita and we look forward to returning the favour sometime soon.
After realising we were now approaching our 22nd hour awake, we gave in and headed for the taxi back to the campsite. Though I don't really have too much of a recollection of getting home.... we obviously did as I am now sitting outside the tent having a my first coffee of day 3.
We used the time to get our first days video edited, which hopefully should be uploaded with this blog.
Arriving in France we headed off with the thoughts of "must keep right, must keep right" running through our minds.
We headed up to Brugge where our bikes joined the many others parked on the pavements, something that I'm sure is frowned on in the UK, and we sat and had a quick coffee while soaking up the atmosphere. A quick spin round the city centre and we were on our way once again.
The Belgian Army tried their hardest to stop us leaving by blocking the route, due to an Army convoy coming through the city, but we managed to fight our way out. We skirted Brussells and on our way to Maastrict we called at a supermarket to get the compulsory Brussells patē which we enjoyed with bread and cheese by the side of the road. At about 3:30pm CET, 10.5 hours and 173 miles after we got up we started to "hit the wall" knowing we had around 100 more miles to go, Red Bull and the German Autobahn came to the rescue. After being limited to around 130 kph all day, the unlimited stretches of the Autobahn were a blessing and we crunched up the miles to Koln.
After tracking down a cash machine, eventually, we headed to the campsite got pitched, showered and changed. With perfect timing a text from Anita, our contact in Cologne, came in and we arranged to meet at the main train station by the Cathedral.
For future reference Koln Cathedral is big........huge.....massive and looks a lot closer than the 4 miles we walked from the campsite.
Anita was a fantastic host and took us to a great Brauhouse for food and Kolsh (the local brew) and then on to a great Latin bar for more drinks. On leaving us, with the clear expectation we were going to head for the Taxi rank to get home, we popped inside the bar for "one for the road" which rapidly became two and three "for the road". Thanks Anita and we look forward to returning the favour sometime soon.
After realising we were now approaching our 22nd hour awake, we gave in and headed for the taxi back to the campsite. Though I don't really have too much of a recollection of getting home.... we obviously did as I am now sitting outside the tent having a my first coffee of day 3.
Day 2 and 3 video
Day 3
We got up on one of our allocated rest days – only feeling slightly worse for wear after our night out in Koln. So we decided to make the next few days a bit easier on ourselves and get a bit of milage in on our way to our next meeting point at Neider Beerbach.
We packed up and just as we got everything on the bikes the rain started, so on with the wet weather gear and off. We took the autobahn all the way to Frankfurt – with the weather situation it was probably the safest place to be but was by no means pleasant.
As we arrived at the campsite the weather broke and the rain cleared away just in time for us to get the tents up and head to the supermarket to source dinner and a couple of bottles of beer.
The campsite had a wifi network so we spent the evening web caming home and uploading our videos.
We packed up and just as we got everything on the bikes the rain started, so on with the wet weather gear and off. We took the autobahn all the way to Frankfurt – with the weather situation it was probably the safest place to be but was by no means pleasant.
As we arrived at the campsite the weather broke and the rain cleared away just in time for us to get the tents up and head to the supermarket to source dinner and a couple of bottles of beer.
The campsite had a wifi network so we spent the evening web caming home and uploading our videos.
Day 4
We made the 30 minute run to Neider Beerbach, after packing up camp, where we met with Elke and Otto, who had offered to take us through the Oderwald on our way down to Constance.
The riding was fantastic and rain held off for most of the trip. The roads and scenery were breath taking and I for one had fixed grin as weaved through the forest at pace.
After a stopping off for a coffee and then carrying on to meet up with autobahn, which came too soon, we said our thank yous and good byes. After a fleeting, but embarrassing 25 metres down the left hand side of the road, luckily it was a quiet street with no other traffic and Ash quickly pointed out my mistake, to his delight.
We made rapid progress down the autobahn, Weather was changeable as we started to approach higher land, with rain turning to beautiful sunshine with some high winds thrown in for good measure.
We arrived in Konstanz set up camp and headed in to the ghost town that is Sunday night Konstanz.
The riding was fantastic and rain held off for most of the trip. The roads and scenery were breath taking and I for one had fixed grin as weaved through the forest at pace.
After a stopping off for a coffee and then carrying on to meet up with autobahn, which came too soon, we said our thank yous and good byes. After a fleeting, but embarrassing 25 metres down the left hand side of the road, luckily it was a quiet street with no other traffic and Ash quickly pointed out my mistake, to his delight.
We made rapid progress down the autobahn, Weather was changeable as we started to approach higher land, with rain turning to beautiful sunshine with some high winds thrown in for good measure.
We arrived in Konstanz set up camp and headed in to the ghost town that is Sunday night Konstanz.
Day 5
Having made arrangements to meet up with our contact in Konstance in the afternoon we headed off to tick off Austria and Liechtenstein. Not wanting to pay for passes for the Austrian or Swiss autobahn's we selected back routes and had a lovely but long ride, calling at Bregenz and then Vaduz.
Heading back to Konstanz, we found some fantastic mountain passes and picturesque villages.
Rolling back into town we met up with Katja and Svetlana for a drink and some insider info on Konstanz. After being introduced to the rotating prostitute statue, that is the symbol for Konstanz, Katja got her first ride on the back of a bike which she appeared to enjoy and we once again said our good byes.
During the day we met up with the first other Brits since we left Dunkerque. We bumped in to Del, a fellow motorcyclist, in Konstanz earlier in the day and again in the Campsite bar, where we spent the next few hours sharing stories and generally keeping the rest of the campsite awake....oops.
Heading back to Konstanz, we found some fantastic mountain passes and picturesque villages.
Rolling back into town we met up with Katja and Svetlana for a drink and some insider info on Konstanz. After being introduced to the rotating prostitute statue, that is the symbol for Konstanz, Katja got her first ride on the back of a bike which she appeared to enjoy and we once again said our good byes.
During the day we met up with the first other Brits since we left Dunkerque. We bumped in to Del, a fellow motorcyclist, in Konstanz earlier in the day and again in the Campsite bar, where we spent the next few hours sharing stories and generally keeping the rest of the campsite awake....oops.
Day 6
We woke up to a very wet day, so had a call to make, did we take an extra day off and then have to push ourselves or did we push on in the rain. Well the weather made our mind up as it the sun broke through. So the tents came down and the bikes were packed.
Before heading off we took a refreshing dip in the lake and then jumping on the bikes we headed off to Altdorf.
The journey was amazing, as we travelled through the Alps over the Klausen pass, as it was late in the day we only had the cows to share it with. We couldn't believe the amount of snow as we got higher on the pass.
As we descended into the valley the weather turned against us and the heavens opened. We tried our best to find a hotel but there was no room at the inn. So we headed for a preplanned campsite (by sneaking on to a Swiss autobahn (we hadn't paid for a permit) and taking a 6 mile tunnel to get away from the rain.
Before heading off we took a refreshing dip in the lake and then jumping on the bikes we headed off to Altdorf.
The journey was amazing, as we travelled through the Alps over the Klausen pass, as it was late in the day we only had the cows to share it with. We couldn't believe the amount of snow as we got higher on the pass.
As we descended into the valley the weather turned against us and the heavens opened. We tried our best to find a hotel but there was no room at the inn. So we headed for a preplanned campsite (by sneaking on to a Swiss autobahn (we hadn't paid for a permit) and taking a 6 mile tunnel to get away from the rain.
Day 7
We woke to the most amazing day. The sun rising over the mountains and glinting off the lake. The great weather gave us the chance to get all our clothes dried from the previous evenings downpour and generally chilled out.
We packed the bikes (again) and headed off into the fantastic scenery around us. We took the mountain passes over the Alps. The snow water falls and ice were stunning and the temperature ranged from 0 degrees to a sweltering 30 degrees as we crossed each pass. The video does not do it justice but please watch it!!
By avoiding all motorways as we crossed Switzerland we have taken an age to get here but everything we have seen along the way has made it worth it.
We are now sat having the biggest beer in the world.......but I do think we deserve it!!!
We packed the bikes (again) and headed off into the fantastic scenery around us. We took the mountain passes over the Alps. The snow water falls and ice were stunning and the temperature ranged from 0 degrees to a sweltering 30 degrees as we crossed each pass. The video does not do it justice but please watch it!!
By avoiding all motorways as we crossed Switzerland we have taken an age to get here but everything we have seen along the way has made it worth it.
We are now sat having the biggest beer in the world.......but I do think we deserve it!!!