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

Final Preparation

Well I finally finished what I could in the UK and after the birthday party for Claire’s Dad at the weekend, last Tuesday set off for France.


Claire's Dad & Sister Lorna


Doing well for 90!!

Not a bad run down to Folkstone and the Channel Tunnel and a surprise as I filled up at a fuel station just before the train to find Mick McDonald and the whole of this years compass expedition on their first day out. Mick was as surprised to see me and when he asked me where I was going it was nice to be able to say “Same as you mate, Magadan!!” We were going to talk more on the train but I checked in quicker than their large party and I was pushed onto an earlier train. Maybe I’ll catch up with them later on in Mongolia or Siberia?

So I’m now at home number two. Fantastic to be with my wife again and life isn’t slowing down. Yesterday I went to the Mongolian Embassy to put the visa application in. What a mad ride that was. The inner peripherique around Paris is always a bit of a bun fight but first thing in the morning when everyone is trying to get to work it’s madness. I slowed with the rest of the cars and then all the bikes started to wiz past me, a lot of scooters but also Goldwings and big BMW’s!! The trick apparently is to put your hazard lights on and just go down between the outside and middle lanes of cars (at fairly high speed). Most cars will move over and those that obviously do, you thank. You just have to watch the taxis changing lanes and anything else that just isn’t paying attention. It’s pretty frightening.

When I finally got there roads were blocked and traffic crawling as the Embassy was right opposite Roland Garros. The French open starts next week!! Ah well………

The new seat on the bike is good and should be beneficial to us both for comfort. Unfortunately it has caused another problem. Asa it is firmer it does not compress as much when I sit on it. Also it’s wider which spreads my little legs and makes it even more difficult to reach the ground. The result is while the bike is actually no higher it appears to be and I can’t reach the ground with both feet. The side stand is also still too long and has resulted in one topple off the other side in a French service station, much to the amusement of the van drivers who were watching me. Nice that they helped me pick the bike up and jump back on quickly albeit red faced! So I have cut another 12mm off the stand and the foot is being welded back on today.






Hotels are now booked in Basil and Innsbruck, and the Ferry from Tallinn to St Petersburg is now booked. I’ve written to Dean in Russia to ask if he can supply me with knobbly Tyres for Mongolia (which will make the bike even higher!!) And after the BBQ this weekend we can start to seriously think about what we can pack. Next report should be on the road.

Catch Up

Right time for a catch up.

The route we took from Santiago across the top of Spain while scenic was fairly unremarkable. We stayed in a nice biker friendly place just outside San Sebastian where we put the bike in the lift to the upper floor in an old industrial building for safe parking.

The next day was one of this mistake days where while trying to avoid the boring toll motorways we ended up on the coast road through Biarritz. Very hot, with lots of holiday makers going along the coast road in no hurry. Get me outta here!!

Anyway we were back in Fontennay En Parisis a couple of days later and then into full on “lets get married” mode.

The wedding took place in Coventry in September with people coming from as far as Switzerland and France to help us celebrate. The day went off without a hitch and I’m pretty sure that everyone enjoyed themselves. We certainly did and spent a very nice wedding night at Coombe Abbey.

Coombe Abbey

Russia!!

The long awaited trip across Russia, Mongolia and Siberia is on. Since Christmas I’ve been planning for most of the time and getting the Russian visa sorted. That is all done now and it’s just a question of getting the last few bits and pieces sorted out before I fly to the UK again on the 10^th of May (economy again! But finances dictate this time) Unfortunately my mate Mike Haysom has had to pull out of going with me but as I write this I’m in contact with a guy from Sweden who is heading the same way and might be company for some of the way.

Packed for two

The bike is pretty much sorted and since Spain I’ve fitted a single sided Titanium exhaust. It’s made the bike more rideable, got rid of 4.5kg and it sounds like a big single should now. As you can see from the photo Claire has been amazing with the amount of luggage she can manage with on the bike, although we will be slightly overloaded through Europe as I have to carry the camping gear with me this time. That’s OK as it will be all on tarmac roads and we won’t be pushing hard. The seat has also been recovered with better foam which should improve the comfort for both of us.

New Exhaust

 

New Seat

 I’ve still got to fit a decent bash plate and upgrade the front fork springs but nothing that a few days work wont fix.

Bring on the 10th May.........

Santiago de Compostela

Day 9 of the trip saw us crossing over the top of Portugal and into Galicia heading for its capital Santiago de Compostela. Allegedly the remains of St James the Apostol were brought to in 813 AD for burial, and pilgrims have been flocking here ever since.


the back of the cathedral


If you go upstairs you can "embrace" the Apostle??


Lots of carvings and pictures of this fella

35 degrees in Europe can be hard work, the green hills in this area start to give up a lot of the moisture they are holding onto and the humidity goes through the roof!! While we were starting to look for a place for lunch I suddenly caught the smell of BBQ and down below us to the right on a minor road we found this place. All you can eat for 20 euros. The place was packed with locals and tourists alike. Whoever though of stocking the fires so that the smoke drifted across the main highway was a genius !




When we finished this they just asked if we wanted more!!

I had been warned by my sister that access to the area around the cathedral was limited bordering on impossible and it was more by luck and ignoring some no entry signs that we found the entrance to our hotel right opposite the back entrance to the cathedral. We unloaded the bike and registered and for the first time on the trip we had to put the bike into a public car park for safe keeping. Never mind. Our hotel was an old monastery and while the rooms were sparse they were comfortable and cool.


The entrance to the hotel


Inside was nice

The next day was spent wandering around the old city and trying to find not only the religious parts (of which there are many, cathedral etc) but the other interesting places like the meat and fish market we stumbled upon.


fish market in full swing


Lots of interesting places to discover

The early evening nightlife in Santiago is fantastic. Once everyone has woken up from their siesta the street cafes and tapas bars come to life and it’s a great way to people watch while having a drink and some nice nibbles. In fact this was becoming our evening meal as we ate our main meal at lunch time as eating at 10.00 in the evening is not my thing.


Cafe culture in the evening - Great


Good beer, but beware at 8.2%!!!


Octopus tapas, mmmmm!!


Different buskers each night at this place

Zamora "in da hood"

We left Toledo and headed out across the wheat plains of Spain (rain this time of the year was mainly thunder storms at night!) stopping at Zamora which was just a mid point for a nights stopover but is a nice enough Medieval town in its own right. With 24 churches in the old part of town it has the most Romanesque style churches in all of Europe.


Great old streets again



One of the 24 chrches


At the end of the old city is the cathedral number 24

The other thing Zamora is famous for is Holly Week when the Easter brotherhood’s, parade through the streets (I’m sure some of the Zamoran’s have cousins in the deep south of the USA??)


Statue in the main square


The brothers in the hood!!

After a good walk and a beer or two around we raided the supermarket to get some food seeing as the restaurants don’t open until 10.00 and we were both getting very hungry.

Jousting with Windmills

Toledo turned out to be a fantastic place to stay and explore for a couple of days. The hotel was just to one side of the old city and with restaurants and souvenir shops and bars galore we had no problem in amusing ourselves. Like many of the old Medieval towns in Spain the buildings in Toledo are four stories high and very narrow. As a result the sun does not penetrate into these streets so easily and it stays a little cooler. 

On the edge of the old town

The Cathedral

The down side is when you walk into one of the squares at midday and it’s like a scene from the Chronicles of Riddick!! 

Tall buildings = Cool streets

The third day we fired up the bike and headed south to find the windmills around Consuegra. These are the ones that Don Quixote jousted with when he really went off his rocker!! Perched on the hillside just at the back of the town they are quite a sight to see. Even though we didn't set off that early we still beat most of the Spanish tourists and the coaches there. We were on the way back for a siesta by lunch time. 

Right Rocinante, on to battle!!

Great views from the hill top

Next was a run across the hot Spanish plains and north to Santiago de Compostela.

Andorra and into Spain

The ride on the Sunday was an easy 120km down to Carcassone. We stopped for a coffee in Cordes-sur-Ciel and arrived early in Carcassone. Check in time was also thankfully early and after parking the bike around the back of the hotel under lock and key we wandered of to have a look around one of the most “knights and castles” places that you can imagine.

Luckily the majority of the daytime tourists had left and we enjoyed a comfortable evening and dinner before returning to the hotel to find the bike had company of around another seven, or eight bikes from Germany.

Monday’s run into Andorra was another short day but the scenery got better and better as we climbed up into the Pyrenees Mountains. This was my first visit to this Principality and although great if you are looking for duty free alcohol, cigarettes, petrol (around 25 stations along the main road into town) or any other kind of electrical device from camera’s, computers to tazers!! I think other than a winter skiing vacation I won’t be coming back too soon.

Spectacular ride in

Tuesday was another short 120km day into Spain to the Parador in Cardona. During the 1970’s the Spanish government took over a lot of the old castles and grand houses in Spain and converted them into luxury hotels. The one we had chosen was a castle set on to of a hill. Thankfully like most places we parked the bike fairly close to the entrance and enjoyed a huge room and dinner that evening.

The Parador (old castle) set on top of the hill

Very medieval !!

All the Paradors serve a variety of the local dishes of the area. I had the stuffed Guinea Fowl. Very nice.

As we have come down through Spain the temperature has slowly risen to the high thirty’s, as expected. What was a surprise were the roads, especially from Teruel to Cuenca. I think I can safely say that this road would rank with the best motorcycle riding roads in the world. Good road with lots of bends and great scenery. 

Albarracin town start of a great ride through the sierras

By the time we got to Toledo we were baking in the mid afternoon sun and desperate to get to our Hotel. Once again we scored not only with it being in the heart of the old city but when asked where was the best place to park the bike the reply came “just park it outside the door. Perfect!!