Spain – Malaga, 21 – 24 May 2025.

Posted on Saturday, 24-May-2025 by Chris Desmond

Benidorm to Malaga – Great ride through the mountains and high plains past Granada cool and non-stop winding roads 519 kms in 4:55 hrs with 2 fuel stops.

Málaga’s history spans about 2,800 years, making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe. According to most scholars, it was founded about 770 BC by the Phoenicians from Tyre as Malaka (Wikipedia). Picasso was born here and there are a couple of museums celebrating his life and works. The old town is a very nice place to wander around and so is the Port area. Everything is clean and organised and there are many tourists.

Picasso House Museum

Malaga Museum, very good and worth a visit.

Malaga Street Art

Malaga Cathedral, The Port, Plazuela Cristo del Amor, Roman Theatre, Markets etc.

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Spain – Benidorm, 18 – 20 May 2025.

Posted on Tuesday, 20-May-2025 by Chris Desmond

Benicassim to Benidorm – Easy ride 221 kms in 2:07 hrs on the freeway.

Benidorm is a Mediterranean city with a population of 75,000 which grows to 400,000 in summer densly packed into a very small area. It has the most skyscrapers in Spain and is second only to New York in the world. It is one of the most well known tourist destinations in the entire Mediterranean thanks to its beaches and nightlife. It is a party town and is very popular with British tourists. Some parts have a carnival atmosphere. I have never seen anything like it anywhere in Europe.

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Spain – Beziers, Benicassim, Castellon – 13 – 17 May 2025.

Posted on Saturday, 17-May-2025 by Chris Desmond

Reims to Beziers – a long ride 869 kms in 8:47 hrs, not something I do very often. I wanted to get to Benicassim to visit a friend before he left. Beziers to Benicassim the following day was a relaxing 542 kms in 5:04 hrs. The French tolls from Calais to the Spanish border were about 90 Euro, no toll roads in Spain they were abolished a couple of years ago. I had problems with 2 Shell petrol stations in France. The normal procedure is to go into the shop and pre-authorise your credit card for 50 euro, then you fill up and leave and only the amount you filled up is debited from your card. But with Shell they took the whole 50 euro. I always take a photo of the pump after I fill up so I have raised a dispute with my Bank. Avoid Shell in France, this does not happen in any other country or with any other brand. This ride was also a milestone for my bike which crossed the 100,000 kms mark. This is the third bike since I retired which should make it around 300,000 kms on a motorcycle.

Benicassim is a seaside tourist town that mainly caters to retirees from Northern Europe, quiet and relaxing. Many come in caravans and motor homes and stay at the caravan parks. The Spanish coast has many similar towns. I was last here 10 years ago and it has expanded significantly during that time. A growing trend as Spain becomes more popular due to its lower cost of living, friendly people and the Sunshine.

Day trip to Castellon de Plana, the nearest city which has big shops.

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France – Reims 09 – 12 May 2025

Posted on Monday, 12-May-2025 by Chris Desmond

Hastings to Reims – I arrived at the Folkestone side of the Channel Tunnel and there was a huge queue with a sign saying 5 hours delay due to a train breakdown in the tunnel. Not nice as I still had a 3 hour ride to Reims after disembarking at the other end in Calais and the Continent is GMT +1 which means I lose another hour. Anyway the delay turned out to be 2:45 hrs and I arrived in Riems at 19:30 and no rain was a bonus, look on the bright side hahaha.

Reims (pronounced Rance as in France without the F, that is how it was explained to me) is know as the Coronation city because many French Kings were crowned in the Reims cathedral.

This area is also where Champagne is produced. I went on a 4 hour champage tour to a couple of small vineyards, very interesting. There are also 2 major champagne houses that are located in Reims itself Veuve Clicquot and Pommery.

Reddition Museum – this is also where the Germans signed the surrender documents after WWII.
 

I went on a self guided tour of the Pommery Cellars in Reims, a fascinating place.

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UK – Hastings 29 April – 08 May 2025

Posted on Thursday, 8-May-2025 by Chris Desmond

Perth to Hastings – The start of my annual journey to Europe. The usual long flight, this time on Qatar Airways (which is an excellent airline) via Doha to Gatwick. I got the train direct from the Airport to Hasting where I was picked up by my friend who also stores my bike in his garage.

My plan this year was to buy an Africa Twin but after some research I discovered that I could only get Comprehensive insurance which cost £2,149 per annum and I was not prepared to pay that much. So back on my trusty 10 year old Suzuki DL650 which has now covered almost 100,000 kms and only costs £162 per annum for 3rd party insurance. All it needed was a set of new tyres, an oil and filter change, the annual MOT and I was set to go.
 

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UK – Hastings and the long flight Home, 07 – 13 Oct 2024

Posted on Sunday, 13-October-2024 by Chris Desmond
Dunkirk to Hastings – this was a short and cold ride 12c to Calais to catch the Tunnel train. There were the not unexpected road works which closed one side of the freeway and resulted in a 20km long traffic jam which I got around in my usual way. I arrived at 09:55 no queues at all for my 11:46 train and was given a boarding pass for an earlier train at 11:16, decided to ignore this and rode to the boarding area and managed to get on the next train departing hahaha, this is going to be my policy in future. French and UK immigration had no queues either and it was just stamp and go. The train turned out to be empty, I was the only bike in a whole carriage. It looks like the morning weekday trains are not busy. In the past I have only ever travelled on the afternoon trains which are busy. Off the train at Folkestone and was greeted by a light drizzle and wet roads which cleared up soon after, easy ride to Hasting through the English countryside. The end of another journey.   .
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France – Dunkirk, 05 – 06 Oct 2024

Posted on Sunday, 6-October-2024 by Chris Desmond

Bonn to Dunkirk – easy ride on the freeway, cold 8c when I left at 1005 and misty, the mist cleared and the sun came out temp went up to 14c, one stop for petrol and the temp went up further to 18c and blue skies. Traffic jams around Brussels and Ghent, went down the emergency lane, after Ghent not much traffic and hardly any trucks, looks like Saturday does not have as many trucks either. Pain in the knuckles of both hands, arrived at 1415.

Dunkirk – the evacuation of over 300,000 troops from France to the UK happened in May/June 1940. If this evacuation had not been successful, that would have been the end of the war and we would all be now speaking German or Japanese hahaha. The town itself was bombed into ruins during the evacuation therefore there are very few old buildings left. There is an excellent museum and a fort.

Dunkirk the Film

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Germany – Großmehringg, Bonn, 02 – 04 Oct 2024

Posted on Friday, 4-October-2024 by Chris Desmond

Palazzolo della Stella to Grossmehring – what should have been a great ride turned out to be a miserable ride, cold and wet through the Italian and Austrian Alps, visor fogging up, 2 stops for fuel where I had the usual struggle to get my wet gloves back on again. The Italian toll to the border was €10.50. Austria now has a one day vignette for €3.40, 10 days was the minimum in the past but then they have additional tolls for their tunnels and there was one that cost €13.50. Big police check point at the German border looking for illegal immigrants, rode down the emergency lane to the front and got through without having to queue. The last half an hour was fine and cold, I did not pack my heated gear so the next couple of rides are going to be fun hahaha. This was just an overnight stop, somewhere to sleep along the route to Bonn.

Grossmehring to Bonn – cold ride 11-14c anything below 18c plus the wind chill factor on a bike is cold and needs heated gear (jacket and gloves) to be comfortable. I had to make do with the heated grips on my bike which can also be a problem because if they are too hot they can cause blisters especially on the throttle which has to be gripped firmly most of the time. There was a hold up for an accident, the usual idiots following too closely and ramming the car in front.

Bonn – another nice German city with excellent facilities. Notably the birthplace of Beethoven and the Capital of West Germany when the East and West were separate countries. Having grown up listening to Beethoven it was fascinating to visit the house he was born in, now a museum and see his music manuscripts. 

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Italy – Palazzolo, Latisana, Treviso, Trieste, Lignano, 25 Sep – 01 Oct 2024

Posted on Tuesday, 1-October-2024 by Chris Desmond

Modena to Palazzolo della Stella – freeway all the way easy ride 2 toll stops €15.20 and €7.10. I stopped here to visit friends and explore the area.

Autostrada
Italian countryside
Toll Stop
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Laundromat
Breakfast
Latisana
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Vineyard B&B
Treviso
Treviso
Galgo Walk
Galgo Walk
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Gelato shop
Queue here
Rice
The Gelato
Lignano
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Italy, Modena, Pagani, 22 – 24 Sep 2024

Posted on Tuesday, 24-September-2024 by Chris Desmond

Corfu, Greece to Modena, Italy – I took the ferry from Corfu to Ancona, Italy. The ferry departed at 17:30 and arrived the following day at 11:00. Cost €133.40 booked directly with Anek Ferries online. I booked a reserved Airline type seat which cost €10 extra and was completely unnecessary as there were about 200 of these seats and only 20 occupied so everyone was sleeping stretched out across the seats or the ones who have done this before came prepared and had sleeping bags. There are cabins available and cost over €250. You will probably have to reserve a seat during the Summer peak season. From Ancona I rode to Modena.

I visited Modena in 2017 to visit Ferrari, Maserati, Lamboghini and Pagani but Pagani was closed for renovations and therefore here I am back again in 2024. The tour of the factory and museum cost €48 for Seniors and 55 for juniors and you have to book in advance, no photos allowed in the factory. Pagani made 50 cars last year and this is after they increased production from 25 cars a year hahaha. Each car starts at €2.5 million and is custom made for  each customer, no robots here hahaha. After the Pagani Factory and museum I wandered around Modena, not a bad spot to spend the day. There is a an art museum in Modena with some very interesting paintings.

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