Trev's Motorcyle Travels

I came up with the idea of riding East across Europe to visit the 4 Danube capitals of Vienna, Bratislava, Budapest and Belgrade. Going East I would take the German castle route which starts around Heidelburg and continues on to Nuremburg and into the Czech Republic. Returning West I would come South a bit and cross the Alps as I travelled through Austria, Italy and Switzerland. This would allow me to visit the Grossglockner and Stelvio passes. This would mean visiting around a dozen countries with Serbia being the only country not in the EU.

The referendum on whether the UK should stay in the EU was held Thursday 23rd June 2016. I had planned to go the following Monday but with time on my hands I decided to go before the referendum. I registered my proxy vote with Chris my wife and planned to go Monday 13th June. When that Monday came around the weather forecast for the week was dismal so I delayed a week and booked Eurotunnel for Monday 20th June at 13:20. (There were huge storms in Europe that week as it turned out.) When Monday 20th came around it was raining heavily and expected to continue all day so I changed my Eurotunnel booking for the following day. I eventually set off Tuesday 21st June. I booked accommodation for the first night in Reims using airbnb.

The airbnb worked out well and I stayed at a very reasonably priced and comfortable B&B in the centre of Reims. It did rain a bit on the way there but not too much. The next day I headed for Heildelburg to do part of the German castle route from Heidelburg to Nuremburg. Wednesday was a hot sunny day at around 30C and this was how the weather stayed going East although it did get somewhat hotter. I took the scenic route and starting at Heidelburg I visited several other castles along the way. Fortunately I met a German motorcycling couple who gave me some good advice about finding accommodation. They told me that the gasthaus' and pensions were good value places to stay at. Avoid any town whose name starts with Bad, e.g. Bad Rappenau, as this means a town is famous for its thermal baths and typically the price of accommodation is at least double.

I let my satnav find me a gasthaus at Waldenburg, a little town with its own castle high up on a hill overlooking the surrounding area. Lovely views from the gasthaus and it was comfortable enough. I had dinner of goulash at the local Hungarian restaurant. Very cheap and very good. Had a good chat with a Hungarian guy who spent a lot of his time on Lidl construction sites in the UK. His last site was Goole. A bit different from this pretty little village I thought.

The next day, Thursday, was even hotter at around 35C. I continued on the castle route stopping off here and there on the way to Nuremburg castle. I went through the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a really fairy tale place. The main road through the town was closed which was lucky as I was diverted through the cobble streets of the old town. Like something out of a Hans Christian Andersen story.

When I got to Nuremburg I parked up in the shade of some trees and, in the heat with bike trousers and boots on, I made my way to the top of Nuremburg castle. It was a bit of a construction site at the time and overrun with coach loads of foreign students. Great views of the city but I didn't stay too long. The German castle route runs on into the Czech Republic but on such a hot day I figured I had seen enough castles and pushed on to Pilsen in the Czech Republic. They use the Koruna as the currency in the Czech republic but that wasn't a problem as I was able to use my credit card whilst I was there. I stayed at the Pilsen (the home of Pilsner beer) Ibis which was the usual hotel chain expeience. Dinner there wasn't so good. Unfortunately I couldn't resist checking on how the EU referendum was going back home and around 4:30 on Friday morning I checked on the BBC web site. I honestly couldn't believe what I was seeing, the UK was voting to leave the EU. Didn't sleep after that and I was gutted when the result finaly came in. It seems that some turkeys do vote for Christmas after all.

Vienna and Bratislava (briefly)

From Pilsen I rode South East through South Bohemia into Austria avoiding motorways. My overriding memory of riding through the Czech Republic was villages whose roads were bordered by the rusty chain linked fences of people's gardens. Austria was very different and after a scenic ride I ended up at the town of Langenzersdorf just north of Vienna (Wien) where using my satnav I located a pension. A comfortable room at a very reasonable price. The guy running the pension helpfully showed me how to take the train into central Vienna and I spent a steamy (35C) evening walking around Vienna taking in the sights. Vienna was everything I thought it would be, sophisticated (read expensive) and full of elegant buildings. People gathered to watch the spectacle of women wearing fashionable and expensive evening gowns with their men in cummerbund'd penguin suits arriving at the theatre in a procession of smart horse drawn carriages. That seemed normal for Vienna but something I didn't expect was to be so close to a minor riot involving a group of protesting Kurds being closely watched by a troop of Austrian riot police. The Kurds weren't happy with Turkey's Kurdish stance. I swear the police took my mug shot. I did a lot of walking that night.

After Vienna it was on to Bratislava and Budapest. Saturday was another very hot day. I rode through Slovakia, again staying off motorways. When I got to Bratislava I only stopped to take some photos of the palace there. Further on I stopped at what's best described as a cantina to get a drink. The place was a bit rough and one of the locals, who was a bit worse for wear, hung around me trying to converse with me in Slovakian. They were friendly enough though and welcomed me to Slovakia.

Budapest

Slovakia and Hungary are separated by the Danube at the point I crossed the border into Hungary. As I rode across the bridge over the Danube I caught sight of an impressive Cathedral and fort on the Hungarian side. I was so impressed by the view that I turned around on the Hungarian side and rode back across the bridge into Slovakia just so I could take some photos.

The Florint is the Hungarian currency and back in Hungary I stopped at an ATM to take out some cash. I had to think about it a bit, 19,000 Florints = 50 pounds. By the time I got to Budapest I was totally addled by the heat. I stopped on the outskirts and let the satnav take me to the Radisson hotel. A night at the Radisson was less than the price of an average Premier Inn. It was very comfortable and my room was blessed with air conditioning. A bonus was the bike being tucked away safely in an underground garage that could only be accessed by a lift. As anyone knows who tours on a motorcycle, space is limited and the Radisson is where I started washing out my sweaty T shirts. I took the train and metro to Pest after the helpful Radisson staff explained to me how to get there. I had a good walk around Pest which although not quite as opulent as Vienna is impressive in its own right. I liked Budapest. I finished off with dinner at a table outside an authentic Chinese place chatting to a Australian couple. A very nice evening.

Belgrade

Sunday morning and the plan was to get to Belgrade and Serbia riding on their motorways. The motorways weren't great but I had had enough of slow and poorly surfaced minor roads. Serbia was the only non-EU country I visited and the Serbian border was painful. When I arrived at the border there was a sea of cars and trucks organised in several lines waiting to cross the border. It was very hot and the lines were moving very slowly. Eventually I arrived at the border and a surly Serbian demanded my passport. After seeing my passport he pointed at my bike and grunted something in Serbian. After a while I twigged he wanted to go through the bike's documents which I dutifully handed over to him. Several minutes of checking the documents later and he let me through. Nothing spectacular had caught my attention whilst riding along the Serbian motorway and I soon arrived at Belgrade. I checked my satnav for somewhere to stay and, as luck would have it, I was right next to another Radisson. I rode to it, checked in, stashed the bike in the indeground garage and retired to my air conditioned room to shower and cool down. Lovely!

For me Belgrade was a place to be a bit wary of. I was given advice on which taxis I should and shouldn't use. Never get in one with black letters on a white background I was told. I'm not sure what the consequences would have been? The hotel arranged a reputable taxi for my trip into Belgrade centre. When I got there the first thing I did was to change some of my Euros into the Serbia Dinar currency. All the currency exchange places were at the end of narrow passageways off the main street which was a bit spooky. I'm not sure whether I got a good rate but I only changed 30 Euros? There were about 140 dinars to the pound so like Hungary it was big number transactions again. After a walk around the centre, including the old Fortress overlooking the Danube, I asked for and got an apparently traditional Serbian meal of hamburger served to me by a slightly idocentric waiter. He expressed his love of all things UK by showing me his "I love GB" keyring. I bet he had a set of them, one for each country. Dinner over, I needed a taxi to get back to the hotel but I couldn't see one from the txi firm the hotel had chosen for me on my trip in. Eventually I chose a taxi with a red sign and guess what? He ripped me off. Not too much but I think you do need to be wary in a place like Belgrade. The Radisson was a very good choice and cost no more than your average Premier Inn.

I departed the Belgrade Radisson Monday 27th June and headed for Croatia and Zagreb. I stuck to the motorways again because I wanted to make good progress by avoiding the dodgy minor roads. A warning, the portaloos at Croatian motorway service stops are evil. I opened the door to two and decided I could wait. As I rode along the Croatian motorway the sky turned darker and darker until around Zagreb a huge storm errupted. Strong winds, heavy rain and lightning strikes on either side of the motorway. The rain was so heavy that it was difficult to see and I considered pulling over to shelter under a fly over. Trouble was that the Croatians had stopped and parked their cars under these so I had to keep going. I had planned to stop at Zagreb but with the weather and all I decided to keep going for Slovenia. There were passport checks at the Croatia/Slovenia border which I thought odd as both are signed up to the Schengen agreement. Maybe something to do with the recent migration crisis? There were also what I refer to as the 'vignette vultures' waiting on the Solvenia side of the border. You see a lot of countries make you buy vignettes for the privilege of using their motorways (dual carriageways really) and little Slovenia is one of these.

Vopovlje

I had just passed the Slovenian capital Ljubljana when I decided to use the satnav to find a place to stay the night. It found me a pension in a little village called Vopovlje. It was basic but well equipped and comfortable. Best of all it cost 26 Euros (30 Euros with breakfast) for the night. The view from my balcony of snow capped mountains was fantastic. The guy who runs the pension arranged for me to have dinner at a small family run hotel a short walk away. An enjoyable 4 course dinner for 9 Euros. The only thing that marred my stay in Slovenia was the England football team. Back in my room I made the mistake of turning on my TV to watch the England - Iceland game. Now I'm not a football fan but to see an England team perform so dismally was really depressing. The following morning I got chatting with a French couple staying at the pension who were travelling to Romania on a Honda Crosstourer. Turned out they were from Besancon, a place I had visited regularly for business. The French guy thought it funny to see me adjusting the chain on my Varadero as of course Croasstourers are shaft drive. I really liked Slovenia. It seeemed to have much more in common with Austria than its Balkan neighbours.

Grossglockner High Apline Pass

Tuesday 28th June and I'm back to lovely sunny days again which was great as I planned to ride the Grossglockner high Apline pass. A nice ride through glorious Alpine scenery and I was there. The Austrians charged a 25 Euro entry toll to get in to what's branded as the Grossglockner National Park. After entering I took the road on the left which climbs up to a view point of the Grossglockner which at 3,800 metres is the highest mountain in Austria. The view point has free biker lockers to stow your crash helmet, etc which is a nice thought.

After seeing the Grossglockner I backtracked and rode the Alpine pass. There was lots of snow piled up alongside the road but apart from the numerous coaches, mobile homes and cars the road presented little challenge. It's all about the scenery which is pretty incredible. There were loads of bikers, mainly German. At the top there's a short ride up a cobbled road to a signposted Bikers Point which has a cafe and shop. The views were amazing. What did I think of the Grossglockner? Magnificient Alpine scenery definitely but the roads are full of coaches, mobile homes, cars and 'herds' of walkers which somewhat diminishes the riding experience. A bit too commercialised for my liking.

After the Grossglockner I headed towards Innsbruck looking for a place to stay for the night. I found a cosy pension called the Tirolerhof about 50 miles East of Innsbruck in the village of Ellmau. It's run by a welcoming Irish family. The centre of the village had been cordoned off for a festival planned that evening. On a beautiful evening and with Tyrolean music blasting out I wandered up to see what was going on. There were stalls selling food and drink and loads of people were out enjoying a drink and something to eat at long tables set out in the streets. I grabbed a beer and a kebab, and listend to Austria's version of the Wurzels. Just my thing. (Plenty of lederhosen and yodelling.)

Stelvio Pass

When Wednesday 29th June came around I was wondering whether to drop South into Italy to visit the Stelvio Pass as planned or keep going West into Germany. I did want to do the Stelvio but it was a bit out of the way. My indecision in part stemmed from my disappointment of the Grossglockner as a riding experience. In the end I decided on the Stelvio Pass and I'm glad I did. Another lovely day and it was a nice ride to Stelvio.

The Stelvio Pass was a challenging ride. I climbed up the pass from the South and with its endless switchbacks it took about 20 minutes of hard riding to get to Bormio at the top. What a buzz? Loads of bikes (and cyclists). There were a few fallers but nothing serious. Bormio was full of posers so I didn't hang around too long. The descent down going North was less stenuous but nice all the same.

After Stelvio I kept going North into Switzerland keeping off motorways to avoid paying the 40 Euros the Swiss demand for riding on their motorways (dual carriageways). That went well at first as I rode through perhaps the most stunning Alpine scenery yet. It got a bit tricky as I approached Lake Konstanz where Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Austria and Germany all come together. I seemed to be riding through an endless town as first I crossed from Switzerland into Lichtenstein, then back into Switzerland, then into Austria and finally into Germany.

I took the road which runs along the German North side of Lake Konstanz to the small town of Meersburg. Chris and I had stayed there before in 2010 on our way to the Dolomites. It had been a long day by the time I reached Meersburg. I found a reasonably priced pension and after settling into my room I walked down into Meersburg centre. It's a pretty little town which sits on the North shore of Lake Konstanz. On a beautiful evening I sat outside having a pizza with my litre of beer while I watched the cruise boats come and go. I was glad to see that Meersburg is still a nice place.

Thursday 30th June and Friday 1st July were travelling days. On Thursday the weather was again good and I travelled West through Germany and onto France passing through the Black Forest (Frieburg) and Strasbourg. I stopped for the night at the Reims Ibis which although a bit souless was cheap and comfortable enough. On Friday the weather wasn't looking so good and sure enough it was raining by the time I got to Calais. At Calais, I hopped on Eurotunnel and I was back in the UK by around noon which was goood. It went downhill after that. It was cool and raining, and the M25 was a car park for miles. The motorway signs were telling me there were big delays on the A3 so I took the M3 which has roadworks on it for miles. A bit further on and the traffic was all backed up at Cadnam where the M27 turns into the A31 so I took to the New Forest for some respite. It's true to say that I had not encountered traffic like it in all the miles I had done. I evenrually arrived home around 4 am.

Summary

I rode 3,152 miles in 11 days and visited 12 countries:

Austria
Cezch Republic
Croatia
France
Germany
Hungary
Italy
Lichtenstein
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Switzerland

It's a ride I always wanted to do and I'm glad I had the opportunity to do it. It was a great trip and I really enjoyed visiting the Danube capitals and the Alps. The countries of Europe are different and Europe's diversity is what makes it interesting. The Varadero gave me no problems. Some people asked me if I was OK with doing it alone? It would have been nice if Chris could have come along but it's a lot to ask of her and I don't think she would have got on well with the very high temperatures. To be honest I'm happy enough on my own. The weather was very good and riding 300 miles each day on mostly scenic roads was a pleasure. The cooler evenings taking in the sights and meeting people were also enjoyable. The only disappointing thing about it all for me was to return to a UK hell bent on leaving Europe.