South to the Tirol

Ready to go

We’ve been on the road for four days now. An easy run out of Fontennay and meeting up with friends of Claire’s (Claude and Brigitta) on their BMW1300GT for an eay first day across the French countryside (including a stop in Reims for a glass of champagne) to a lovely hotel in the middle of nowhere in Chaumont sur Aire. The following day down to Basel where Brigitta lives and then on Sunday over some mountain passes to Luzern for a very nice late lunch on an old paddle steamer moored by the lakeside and is now a very nice restaurant.

Champagne to celebrate

The hotel in Chaumont sur Aire


Lake Luzern


Lunch on the William Tell

We had a quick look for a hotel just before we left and picked one around the half way point in Lichtenstein in a small mountain village with a room overlooking the valley. Lovely views as the sun set and also in the mourning to show of the snow capped mountains opposite.

Dusk in Lichtenstein


Even better in the morning

I have to say though the Sunday afternoon drive to get there through the back roads in Switzerland was one of the most painful and frustrating ones I've had with everyone crawling along at an average of 40km/hr !! Nobody likes to break the speed limit and there are a lot of speed cameras around, and one or two of them have a nice photo of my face. The good thing is there is no number plate on the front of the bike!!

I’m also having major problems with the height of the bike. The combination of re-upholstered seat (being wider) stiffer fork springs (keeping the front end higher) and no built up boot on the right hand side make getting back on the bike each time a precarious task. The last hope is that my built up boots are being send out to the hotel in Prague. Let's hope it solves some of the problem.

Today has been sightseeing in Innsbruck. Our hotel is on the other side of the river right opposite the old part of the city. Five minutes and we are right among the biggest attractions the city has to offer. Tomorrow we head for Salzburg and another rest day to see the sights.


The old part of Innsbruck


The Golden Roof


Our hotel is the green one