Germany - August 2017

DAY ONE

As we had differing starting points the daily log starts from Calais

Thursday, August 17, 2017 9:50 AM CEST

Distance: 7.1 miles

Duration: 11 minutes and 26 seconds

Average Speed: 37.1 mph

Minimum Elevation: 10 feet

Maximum Elevation: 188 feet

Total climb: 264 feet

Total descent: 86 feet

Stu & Elaine from Brigstock to Folkestone : Distance: +153.2 miles

Peter, Caroline & Toby from North Wales to Folkestone: +293.2 miles

Starting out from Wales, P C & T leave from Strathalyn going to meet S&E in Kettering.

Time; 8:41am arriving at the hotel at 6:20 pm

Weather; beautiful sunshine Miles covered 341 miles

Due to a late start the route was changed to go down the M6 instead of the A50 Traffic good, cars behaving themselves all in all a good trip down. Meeting S&E at McDonalds on the A1 A14 junction after P's Petrol light had been on for the last 30 bum squeaking miles!!!!

Leaving for the Eurotunnel down the A14 and M11 we visited the busiest service station known to man before arriving at the channel tunnel 10 mins before check in. Excellent timing!!!!

Eurotunnel....it was warm, sunny and we only waited for about 10 mins prior to joining the train.

A very happy bunch of people looking forward to many miles in the saddle. Blink and the crossing is over, such a great gateway to Europe and in under an hour we were riding on the right hand side of the road!!

Good crossing through the tunnel and for a 15 minute ride to the hotel, which was excellent. Typically French, charming, great host and we enjoyed a few beers on the terrace with the host.

We were met by a very enthusiastic host, who owned the property with her husband. It appeared to be empty of guests, but there were some old aged people living next door we think, which seems to be a reoccurring theme throughout the holiday.

Elaine made an instant friend in the resident donkey and he seems very pleased to see her - maybe doesn't get many visitors.

Beer and wine and a home cooked meal of goats cheese on toast with salad, pork medallions and pudding. Coffee, couple more beers and bed early!!

DAY TWO

Distance: 185.4 miles

Duration: 4 hours, 19 minutes,

Average Speed: 38 mph

Minimum Elevation: 54 feet

Maximum Elevation: 1434 feet

Total climb: 2346 feet

Total descent: 2267 feet

Destination;

Hotel: Hotel La Ferronniere

Voie Jocquée, 44, Bouillon, 6830, Belgium

Starting off in the rain but soon drying up.

We headed off down the back roads, although as luck would have it we did a fair stint of highway roads to make the distance up through the flat lands of northern France. This wasn't what was planned, but it did not matter as the roads were great anyway.

Stopping in Charleroi for lunch in a very nice tea room before heading south out of the city to Bouillon. We eventually hit some excellent roads through the Ardennes, travelling through forests and along excellent roads.

We had gone off route somewhere along the way as we should have been further South in the Ardennes, but it wasn't a worry!

Reaching the hotel we were immediately impressed and this was certainly a very good choice. Pretty posh great rooms (especially P & C's suite)

Armed with our entry code for the hotel, suitably placed on Stu's head, we decided to have tea in town and found Chez Betty's and what a great local place. None of the formality of the other restaurants, just a good cafe bar serving great fresh cooked food and full of locals, which is always a good sign.

The local Moules were recommended to us and everyone seemed to be eating them so, in Caroline and Peter went and were not disappointed. All the food was great actually, plentiful, home made and very lovely.

The heavens opened so we took refuge inside and drank more beer and wine until the rain went. Oh cocktails to start for E & C.

Gentle walk home up a very steep hill before retiring to bed without any more beer due to the beer police not serving any more after hours.

Some views from the hotel lounge...

On reflection, it was actually a really good day, despite going to the unplanned route and the weather in the evening.

Off to bed for some rest!!

Looking forward to another good days' ride tomorrow.

DAY THREE

Distance: 206 miles

Duration: 5 hours, 22 minutes, and 49 seconds

Average Speed: 41.5 mph

Minimum Elevation: 520 feet

Maximum Elevation: 1410 feet

Total climb: 4276 feet

Total descent: 4249 feet

Destination;

Hotel; Hotel Rebstock

Schlossackerweg 3, 76534 Baden-Baden, Germany

Prior to leaving we enjoyed a lovely breakfast in the hotel... Here's what we looked like after a magnificent breakfast that Stu had a strop about the night before 😀 Apparently as they had shut the bar early and wouldn't serve us any more beer Stu though it would be a much better idea if we took our Euros to another establishment for breakfast - not that he was in a strop!!! 😀 😀 😀

That was a very posh place and well worth staying in.

We set out from Boillon at 9:45 with full wet suites on, as it promised heavy rain. However the heavy rain did not come and we had a fabulous ride out through forests and windy roads with absolutely no traffic on them.

The Sat Nav played nicely and we covered the 206 miles as previously planned out. This is what we were looking for. Long roads windy roads forests no traffic and we were not disappointed.

This was a little lake that we stopped at for a photo shoot and appeared to be a camping area and a fishing hot spot. The clouds were looming in the background so we thought it best to leave quickly before the heavens opened on us. The clouds seemed to chase but to no avail as we were just too damned quick.

Riding through the Alsace Region which was very beautiful. Rain still holding off for now but can see the black clouds following us.

Arrived in Baden Barden and the gorgeous hotel.

A little place to eat a magnificent Rumpypumpsteaken😀😀😀😀

Voted as the one of the best meals of the tour - a really good steak!!

The Patio of the Hotel, sheltering us from the torrential rain in the evening and the bright hot sun in the morning....

So the end of a lovely day's ride and a wonderful meal in a little village outside Baden Baden.

DAY FOUR

Distance: 85.7 miles

Duration: 2 hours, 44 minutes, and 21 seconds

Average Speed: 31.3 mph

Minimum Elevation: 725 feet

Maximum Elevation: 3403 feet

Total climb: 4489 feet

Total descent: 5361 feet

Destination;

Hotel; Dorint An den Thermen

An den Heilquellen 8, 79111 Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

Having just finished the best breakfast in the world, yes it was better than the one in Bouillon, we have just packed for the trip through the Black Forest and Bavarian mountains. The weather has eventually turned and is beautiful, with blue skies.

Drying the bike out in the sun after the previous night of rain.

Overlooking the vineyards of the Alsace Region where apparently the wine made from the grapes of these fields is superb. This was a very beautiful hotel and the owners proud of their 12 months old establishment.

Setting off from the Baden Baden, we were immediately rewarded with a fantastic day riding in heat, zig zag roads up hills and down dales, hair pin and sweeping bends. One of the best days' riding even though it was quite short.

Stunning views looking back over Alsace. We could actually see the village that we had stayed in the previous night far away in the valley.

Making our way out of Baden Baden up in to the hills and came across a lovely Black Forrest cuckoo factory and shop. Lots of bikers around and some with dogs on their bikes!!!

Elaine making friends with the locals! Believe it or not these dogs had just RIDDEN 120 kilometers (with their owners)!

Absolutely spectacular scenery and great riding routes in the black forest - I could ride these all day, every day and not get bored!

Jessie filling up the bikes at the greatest little petrol station right in the middle of nowhere.

Stopping off at a little coffee shop, which appeared to be the only one open in miles!!!! Only just making it before a strict closure at 12 noon!!

Yes it's a food orientated trip! Oh and a beerfest!

At last the weather has turned from overcast to bright blue sunny skies which means a dry road and great riding!! Lovely picture apart from the knob right in the front of the picture!

Needed to buy a new helmet for Elaine so we found a shop in Freiberg and bought one along with new comms.

So Elaine and Stu are back to chatty riding, missed this yesterday so much. And have to say the audio quality is so much better. Definitely money well spent. :-)

Sat Nav Stu took us to the wrong address but why should we even be mentioning this regular occurrence. - Oh my days!!! Sat Nav hell!!! Sometimes words fail me :-(

Cindy Sat Nav on Peter's phone got us to the hotel which is beautiful but no swimming pool which is a bit of a disappointment. Not to worry more time for beer.

It was a little chilly at about 1 in the morning so Caroline decided a blanket was in order. We thought we'd have a relaxing night and be sensible by getting to bed early but oh no!!!!!! It turned out to be a brill night, no movement from the chairs, plenty of drinks and some weird curried sausages that just kept repeating on us, I say they just kept repeating on us.

It turned into a great night chatting with a group of Germans that insisted they were on a five week sabbatical from work to recover from stress and its state paid. I think the meaning in the translation got lost somewhere, it all sounded way too good to be true. Plenty of laughs and the beer flowed until the early hours!

DAY FIVE

Well the pool wasn't open which was a disappointment but we will obviously find something else to do.

Fantastic breakfast (best so far) bucks fizz for breaky along with huge omelette.

Just chilling all morning with Stu hard at work reading instructions to pair all his tools!!!!

Decided to get the bikes out and ride the L124 which is a must road for bikers. Switchbacks galore!!!!! And then some!!!

What a day’s ride, we have never ridden such beautiful challenging fantastic unbelievable roads ever (full stop thanks for turning up) OMG what a day!!!!

Out of Freiburg and up to the hills - it was a beautiful hot sunny day. This was our practice day for the bends of the mountain passes and yep they were excellent bends. Dry roads no potholes in site and just stunning views.

Stopping off for coke and cake at a little mountain shack...

Elaine's 1st sight of the illusive Black Forrest Gateaux!!!!

En-route to find the longest Bobsleigh we took a little detour up a road to peruse the views...

We headed further south until we found the best biker Cafe - Probably in the world!!!!

It was called Gaststatte Pfeffermuhle in Todtnau and was just below one of the longest bobsleigh runs. Run by a very eccentric Southerner who had moved to Germany 20 years previously.

www.motorraderlebnis-schwarzwald.de

Not sure which of the following photos is the most menacing!!!!

Love a little bit of wales!!

A great ride back over the hills, through the forests and back to have a spot of lunch in the center of Freiberg. A charming cafe called Altstadt-cafe, based on the side of the canal on the street - Gerberau. the Heritage Barber shop was opposite and had several oldy world shaving chairs in - Stu and Toby were very intrigued by the place!!

Finished the day off back at Dinant and thinking that we were so lucky the pool was closed as we wouldn't have just experienced the brilliant ride out -

Thank you for being closed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and not a bad bar bill too boot!

DAY SIX

Destination;

Hotel; Hotel Garni Friedheim

St. Jakober Dorfstraße 29, Sankt Anton am Arlberg, 6580, Austria

Ok this is the big one. Our aspiration is to go through Switzerland and ride some mountain passes before heading to Austria for the night.

Ambitious to say the least, however off we track smashing some distance on the 5 motorway all the way through the South of Germany and crossing the border into Switzerland at Basel.

Making our way towards Interlaken before turning Noth East to take in the Susten Pass

The 1st pass is the Susten Pass rising high into the Alps. Unbelievable!!!!!!! No words can describe how fantastic this road is for a motor bike rider. The bends just keep on coming time after time after time!!

Parking the bikes up for a view with a Glacier in the background was a little weird!! Fantastic, going a bit chilly, but well worth the stop over for these amazing views.

Back down in the valley with the Klaussen Pass looming for our continued journey- a spot of lunch "Rosti-mit Eie"

Having successfully negotiated the Susten Pass we head off for a little but of lunch before attempting the Klausen Pass. Having seen some if the photos of the Pass previously it didn't quite set us up for the reality.

We navigated along cliff edges with shear drops to the right as far as the eye can see. The switchbacks were almost doubling back on themselves like a figure of eight and it was like an imaginative young child had just put together the most amazing Scalextric track from a warped imagination!!!

It was just so much fun although there was very little chatter in the helmets due to complete concentration. Cows with bells just wandered the roads so having to keep a beady eye out for those as well as not looking over the edge.

Next stop crossing the border into Austria, briefly touching Liechtenstein and finding even more winding hairpin bends that challenged us.

The last coffee stop before even more windy roads to St Anton.

We eventually landed in St Anton after 11 hours and 311 miles. It was truly a big ride and without doubt for all of us the most spectacular and challenging and enjoyable ride EVER😀😀😀😀😀😀 very happy bikers.

We did have a bit of fun at an Italian restaurant called Tenne on Schongrabenweg. No bar in the Pension, so several beers across the road and a nice meal were enjoyed.

DAY SEVEN

Tuesday, August 22, 2017 9:56 AM CEST

Distance: 116.5 miles

Duration: 2 hours, 55 minutes, and 35 seconds

Average Speed: 39.8 mph

Minimum Elevation: 1703 feet

Maximum Elevation: 4319 feet

Total climb: 3326 feet

Total descent: 5660 feet

Destination;

Hotel; Hotel Regent

Seidlstr. 2, Maxvorstadt, München, 80335, Germany

Prior to setting off to Munich, some time to reflect in the early morning sun at St Anton

So on the road again.

Stopping for a well earned cool down at a very popular cafe called Raststatte in Fernsteinsee, located on the E532.

This was a strange looking but beautiful hotel called Schloss on the opposite side of the road to the cafe. It was a very popular place for tourists to stop and extremely busy!!

We got to Munich early, which was caused because of Sat Nav problems. It wasn't necessarily Sat Nav issues, rather road closures which caused the Sat Nav to misfunction and send us on to a Motorway to get to Munch.

As it happened it worked out well as we arrived early and went in to the city to have a look around.

Kids will always have a bit of fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We found this excellent Student Cafe on the corner of Elisenstrabe and Luisenstrabe and enjoyed an evening of excellent music and good beer.

Which means 5 in the lift when only 4 were allowed - that doesn't include Stu accounting for 2 people so actually there were 6 of us!!!

Not much beer so off to bed and looking forward to day of rest from the bikes tomorrow :) :) :) :) :)

DAY EIGHT

Day off the bikes - apply talc to bottom

Had a lovely trip out to a Andechs Abbey which had a couple of beer gardens in. The Benedictine priory and erstwhile abbey of Andechs is a place of pilgrimage on a hill east of the Ammersee in the Landkreis of Starnberg in Germany, in the municipality Andechs.

The monastery’s largest business enterprise is the Andechs monastery brewery. It is the exclusive property of the Benedictine monks of St Boniface in Munich and Andechs. Brewed and bottled exclusively in Andechs.

The beer was ecellent and the heat was incredible so needed several to cool us down!!!

Took the S8 out from the Hauptahnhof to the end of the line and then an air conditioned taxi ride up the hill. Spent a really nice couple if hours there drinking a number of very large beers and eating pork knuckles and visiting this very ancient and impressive place.

Andechs Abbey

The views from the top of the tower were excellent – several flights of stairs to negotiate and the further you go up the tighter it got. At the very top, there were two of us that had to go in sideways as the shoulders wouldn’t actually fit through the gap. Anyone with claustrophobia needs to consider if the trip and views are worth the extremely tight space!!

Views across Ammersee lake, where you can see as far as Herrsching and Seeholz and over the village of Andechs.

Apparently, this is what a few beers do to old men - they swell up and go to sleep whenever the occasion allows them and a 50-minute train trip is the perfect place!!!

Checking out of the Regent Hotel, which would have been very good other than the fecking diggers and workers right outside the bedroom window which started at 6 am. Also the bar was being worked on so no beer (a good thing). However we did get 1/2 price parking for the bikes!!!!

DAY NINE

Destination;

Hotel; Roter Lowe

Weinheimer Str. 2, Heiligkreuzsteinach, 69253, Germany

We started our day off to Heiligkreuz-de-blah-blah with spirits good and very rested. However it turned out to be a real strage ride with no less than 6 road closures en-route. When we say closures we mean closures - the Germans do not do it in half measures; if they want to repair a road, they close it completely. In consequence the Sat Nav was tested to its limits and so was the patience of the Intrepidbikerguys!!

Below, one of the many pit stops to re-route the group to the next destination!

Stopping at a Chinese Restaurant, where all you could eat for €7.50 was abused to the limit and when we left the place everyone was stuffed to say the least! They even threw in a complimentary shot of something......

The last straw was when we were 3 kilometers from the hotel and the road across had barriers to close it, apparently due to repairs!!! Stu, almost out of petrol was getting whiter and whiter by the minute as we had to take a detour to find juice - so glad the road was closed as the alternative route was brilliant!!!!

Landed at the excellent and possibly the best place that we stayed all holiday - The Roter Lowe. Hosted by Heidi and Romeo, an odd couple with and age difference of probably 100. Nonetheless very congenial hosts who, quite frankly couldn't shut the f@ck up, but it was all good fun!!!

The whole experience was well worth the wittering on of Romeo and the reminiscence of his songs that he recorded, including the playing of them!!!

Heidi whipped up a great evening meal and the breakfast was really good - they will definitely get a positive Trip Advisor!!!

DAY TEN

Destination;

Hotel; Diana Garni

Kurfürstenstr. 5, Bad Bertrich, 56864, Germany

Started off very well, with a little pit stop in Heidelberg, obviously Peter with his special Sat Nav and personal nav skills finding the perfect bike stop!!!!

Wording a little harsh on the signs, but hey hum had to buy one anyway!!!

Guess what, more route planning en-route as the Sat Nav once again played up due to road closures!!!!! Jeez what was it with the Germans and their road closing!! The girls patiently waiting and obviously trying not to laugh at the 3 of us trying to sort where the hell we were!

Stopping off in Morbach for a little bit of lunch at the 4-way cafe and restaurant before carrying on to our last hotel.

We followed the Moselle valley, but had to cut the lower end out due to timing and the threatening weather - not to worry it was still a good ride up.

The weather eventually went crazy and we were travelling past the vineyards around Piesport and the Moselle River, Moselle Valley. This road would have been brilliant to rice up but the lightening came and the torrential rain. We too k refuse under some trees and put on the rain suites!

Image result for piesporter wine vineyard moselle valley

We eventually found the hotel, after some bum clenching maneuvers to turn the bikes around on a very steep hill (due to Sat Nav error), which was a fecking (guess what) yes you have it, a recuperation and rehabilitation center for the old and ancient and quite frankly crippled!!!!!

Self service bar from a fridge, no receptionist; however on the bright side the rooms were big and beds very comfortable!!!!! Stu's ironic face gives it all away! Not one of Peter's best booking.com hotels!!

Maybe Toby’s look might be better? – Ah that’ll be a no then!!

We did manage to get out into the town and have a look around, although the rain had eventually hit us!!.

We found La Dolce Vita - Pizzeria/Eiscafe on Baderstrabe and had the most amazing food! P&C would say the best (by far) Penne Arrabiata ever tasted, including their own and the ones in Sorrento!!

On to a very nice litte bar called Zum Stern, where Rum and Cokes, Cointreau, Amaretto's and other cocktails were enjoyed for some time! I think this is where the beer map flipping challenge was entered and Peter flipped 27 beating his previous record of 21!!!!!!!! Yes folks, 27 and was witnessed by all, although Stu was quick to point out that 87 was the record (by Mickey Mouse with his enormous hands probably)

A quiet chill out before bed in the orthopedic room with a matching "walk in and sit down" shower!!

Nite nite from the worst hotel on tour.......

DAY ELEVEN

We had all day to get to the ferry so weren't too worried about the time. Sat Nav started off very well and we enjoyed a very good couple of hours riding some excellent roads. Very twisty and turny and lovely scenery.

Once again we got hit by a dreaded road closure, which sent us miles out of our way and cocked the Sat Nav up again.

Enough was enough - we hit the motorway and decided to stop in Breda, which is a beautiful little town.

Negotiating our way up no entries and pedestrian zones with Stu and Toby's descreet exhaust pipes was a bit tricky, but eventually we found Cafe De Kleine Werald in the center of Breda right next to Grote Kerk Breda - Onze Lieve Vrowe

Onward to the ferry in Rotterdam, arriving early so we can enjoy a few beers and a relax before the night sailing.

Strapping the bikes down for a smooth crossing to Hull.....(Capital City of Culture 2017 apparently - looked like a bag of shite to me!)

After a good night's sleep in the squished cabin, we met up early and disembarked for our next and final trip back.

Final selfie of the 2017 Germany Tour at Ferrybridge Service Station (where the worst and most expensive breakfast was eaten) - Many more tours to be continued..........................

DAY TWELVE - SUMMARY

The full tour route followed pretty closely our intended routes with a couple of changes and amends. Clicking on the map , top right square , you can get the full data ie stops, timed distances when you click on the blue route and a few wrong turns!