Germany – German Beer, 16 September 2015

Posted on Thursday, 17-September-2015 by Chris Desmond

Germany – Beer lovers Heaven

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Germany – Dortmund, Eisenach, Erfurt, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, …1 – 16 September 2015

Posted on Wednesday, 16-September-2015 by Chris Desmond

From Kanerkinden I rode to Dortmund in Germany, 6 hours on the autobahn, the last 1.5 hours in pouring rain. Low sided on a slow right hand bend just before I arrived at my destination, one slightly damaged pannier (later, fixed with a hammer), no bruises, a couple of guys stopped and helped me pick the bike up, carried on, wet weather and oily city streets the bane of all motorcyclists.

Dortmund – The Green City, population 600,000 a part of the Ruhr urban area with a population of 5.1 million. Almost completely destroyed during the WW II it was rebuilt with nearly half the municipal territory consisting of waterways, woodland, agriculture and green spaces with beautiful parks such as Westfalenpark.

Eisenach – A large town in what used to be East Germany, birth place of Johann Sebastian Bach and also where Martin Luther translated the bible into German. Surrounded by forests, a good place to go hiking.

Erfurt – Situated at the geographical centre of Germany, a historic place with a beautiful intact old town, quite a rare sight in Germany.

Dusseldorf – located on the banks of the river Rhine is an  international business and financial centre, busy airport with lots of cheap flights out of here.

Hamburg – Second largest city in Germany with a population of over 5 million and another one of these places that makes you wonder what country you are in. I arrived when there was a Turkish demonstration going on and the police had all their vehicles circling the city in convoys with lights flashing and sirens blaring continuously, very disturbing.

 

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Switzerland, Kanerkinden, 29 – 31 August 2015

Posted on Monday, 31-August-2015 by Chris Desmond

I rode from Domodossola to Kanerkinden, a small village in the north of Switzerland. The route I planned took me over the Simplon pass and then followed the back roads and some one lane roads through the mountains. To use the freeways in this country you have to pay a 40 Swiss franc toll that is valid for one year but you still have to pay it even if you are only in the country for a day, this year I stayed away from the freeways. Every motorcyclist in Switzerland was on the road, bikes everywhere enjoying a beautiful sunny day, definitely a bucket list ride.

Kanerkinden, a place to sleep, from there I visited Jungfrau.

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Italy, Lillianes and Domodossola, 26 – 29 August 2015

Posted on Sunday, 30-August-2015 by Chris Desmond

From Albertville in France I rode to Lillianes in Italy. Instead of using the freeway and going through the Mont Blanc tunnel I went over the mountains past Mont Blanc and after a million hairpin bends back down the other side into Italy .

Next way point was Breuil-Cervinia at the base of the Matterhorn on the Italian side, both these mountains are part of the range that forms the Swiss / Italian border. Great ride all the way, not a moments rest and I did not feel tired, 267 km in 6 hours. The graph shows my ride profile, green line is the height and blue line the speed.

Just as I was getting used to saying Bonjour and Merci instead of Buenos dias and Gracias, I now have to get used to saying Buongiorno and Grazie.

Lillianes – small picturesque village in the Italian Alps

Domodossola – fairly large town in the Ossola valley, hot and humid.

The ride from Lillianes to Domodossola was uneventful, flat, many small villages and tunnels while going around Lake Maggiore and quite warm. The last 50 k’s was a toll free 4 lane road.

 

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France, Pont du Vaux and Albertville, 19 – 25 August 2015

Posted on Wednesday, 26-August-2015 by Chris Desmond

From Marseille I rode to Pont du Vaux a small town in the middle of France. I used the freeway because this part of France is very congested and would have taken twice as long on the back roads. On the way there was an accident somewhere up ahead and traffic slowed to a crawl so I had to take an exit and rejoin the the freeway further down the road. The biggest nuisance with this is having to take a ticket at the start of a section and then pay at the end of the section or when you exit, not so easy when you have gloves on and your wallet is buried inside your jacket . You also have to do this when you get close to a city, the toll ends and starts again on the other side of the city even though you are still on the same road.

Pont du Vaux – There happened to be a Quad racing festival on which livened things up a little but otherwise I was taking it easy.

Albertville – I took the back roads for this ride through the mountains and it should have been a good one but about 30 minutes after I started it rained and rained the rest of the way and I got wet. My waterproof jacket and pants are 2 years old and not so waterproof anymore hahaha. The following day it was fine.

 

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France, Marseille, 15 – 18 August 2015

Posted on Tuesday, 18-August-2015 by Chris Desmond

I decided to take the freeway / toll road from Arles to Marseille thinking that it would be faster. It was fine until I got to a toll plaza where you take a ticket, 3 lanes open out into 20 booths and then narrow back down to 3 lanes when you get past, huge backup of traffic and worse at the other end of section when you have to pay the toll, it took 30 min to get through paying the toll and back onto the freeway.

Marseille is the second largest city in France with a population of 1.8 million. The population comes from diverse backgrounds and sometimes it does not feel like you are even in France hahaha. It has a good public transport system and there is rubbish lying on the streets everywhere.

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France, Arles, 12 – 14 August 2015

Posted on Sunday, 16-August-2015 by Chris Desmond

Short ride to Arles from Millau, traffic jams at the roundabouts along the coast road, this part of France is very crowded during the school holidays.

Arles (pronounced Arl) an ancient city where Van Gogh did some painting and it also has Roman ruins. The nicest place in France I have been to so far, it has a small town feel to it, many narrow winding streets, small cafe’s everywhere interspersed with monuments and museums.

The Van Gogh Trail

I bought a Monument and Museum pass for 12 euro, well worth it. Everything is within walking distance which is a good thing because public transport consists of buses which turn up whenever they feel like it, cost 1 euro a ride.

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France, Millau Viaduct, 11 August 2015

Posted on Wednesday, 12-August-2015 by Chris Desmond

I rode to Millau for one reason only, to see the Viaduct. To get here I used back roads through the mountains, best ride so far, 178 km in 3 hours. One and a bit lane roads, no traffic and non stop corners. The A75 is not a toll road but the Viaduct has a toll E4.70 for bikes and double that for cars E9.40. I rode around for 2 hours over, under, around and across the bridge looking for viewpoints for photos.

Millau Viaduct – View the complete video

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France, Carcassonne, 08 – 10 August 2015

Posted on Wednesday, 12-August-2015 by Chris Desmond

Short ride from Toulouse to Carcassonne but there was a traffic jam (Saturday) starting about 20 km out of the town. I was staying in a village nearby  so I took to the back roads and bypassed the mess.

My first day in the area was a Sunday, I went for a ride through the countryside and got to see a Country Fair with Jousting Boats.

Lastours

Lac de la Cavayere – created by a Dam

Ville de Trebes

Carcassone – Le Cite

Do not visit this place on a weekend or in July and August and avoid the millions of tourist and their kids. You could stay in Toulouse and take the train and the earlier you get here the better. Entrance to the Medieval city is free but you have to buy a ticket E8.50 for the Chateau and the Ramparts , buy the tickets online and you won’t have to queue.

There is nothing to see in the town of Carcassone itself, shops are closed on Sunday and Monday.

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France, Toulouse, 05 – 07 August 2015

Posted on Sunday, 9-August-2015 by Chris Desmond

Followed the Route des Vins for a part of the way to Toulouse, non stop Chateaux, beautiful countryside, very little traffic and no trucks, last 70 km into Toulouse was a 4 lane road.

Toulouse, population 1.3 million also known as the Pink City apparently because of all the red brick (not pink) buildings. It is the centre of the European aerospace industry, Airbus headquarters and final assembly plant and the 4th largest university campus in France with 103,000 students.

I went on a tour of the Airbus A380 final assembly plant, no photos allowed, not a soul in sight, they close for 2 weeks in July for holidays and plant maintenance. If you try to book online it says you have to book 2 days in advance but if you call them they book you in straight away ?

Some useless facts for you to forget, cost of an A380 is $428,000,000, it takes 2 years to make one and they make 30 a year, bits are made all over the EU and shipped to Toulouse for final assembly. There were two A380’s covered in brown camouflage waiting to be repainted and refitted, orders that fell through, the biggest customer is Emirates with orders in for 140 A380’s. It can seat 853 in an all economy configuration but typically seats 525 in a 3 class configuration. There are plans to make a stretched version.

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