South Korea, Jeju Island and B.I.F.F., 30 September – 04 October 2015

Posted on Sunday, 4-October-2015 by Chris Desmond

Jeju Island is a self-governing province located in the Korea Strait between Korea and Japan, population 600,000 plus about a million tourists. People from most countries do not need a visa to visit this island even if they need a visa for South Korea, as a result it is very popular with the Chinese.

It is a volcanic island with a huge dormant volcano (Mt.Halla) in the centre and hundreds of smaller cones scattered around the island. The people have their own language and culture and society is matriarchal with the woman being the head of the family especially among the  haenyeo (sea women) divers.

Seomyeon, Busan on the way to the airport for the 1 hour flight to Jeju Island.

Uneventful flight to Jeju, landed in pouring rain that continued into the next day.

Dongmung Market

Haenyeo Museum,  Seongsan Crater Park,  Bijarim Nutmeg forest

Kim Yeung-gap Gallery,  Yeongsil Trail Mt. Halla,  Iho Tewoo beach

Jalgachi Waterfront Market, Lotte Mall Sky Park

B.I.F.F. Busan International Film Festival

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South Korea, Busan, 24 – 29 September 2015

Posted on Tuesday, 29-September-2015 by Chris Desmond

Busan is South Korea’s second largest city with a population of 4.6 million. It is also the 5th busiest port in the world and is set amongst a series of hills so you are always walking either up or downhill. A vibrant port city, full of life with ancient markets alongside the biggest department store in the world Shinsegae Centum City.

I was privileged to spend time with a Korean family and celebrate Chuseok  (Harvest Moon Festival), the most important festival on the Korean calendar and BIFF (Busan International Film Festival) was on at the same time.

I flew China Eastern from Heathrow to Shanghai and then Korean Air to Busan. China Eastern is a budget airline and very basic. Avoid this route because they do not automatically transfer your luggage to the next flight at Shanghai, you have to pickup your luggage and go through immigration where they issue you with a temporary visa and customs which takes 2 hours because they scan everyone’s luggage. I only just made it onto my connecting flight after 3 hours of standing in queues, unbelievable.

Japanese Invasion Monuments and Galmegi Beach

Citizens Park used to be a US Military Base, Busan National Gugak Centre to attend a music and dance performance (no photos) – not to be missed  and Bujeon Market.

Chuseok (Harvest Festival), Beomeosa Temple and Nampo

Busan Museum, UN Cemetery, and Songjeondong Beach

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United Kingdom, Hastings, 17 – 23 September 2015

Posted on Wednesday, 23-September-2015 by Chris Desmond

From Dortmund in Germany I rode to Hastings in East Sussex in the UK, wet and windy on the continent. Got trapped by trucks and traffic into taking an off ramp going through Antwerp and had to turn around and get back onto the freeway hahaha, happens every time I go through this city which is clogged with trucks.

Arrived at Calais in fine weather, I had already booked my train ticket, 63 Euro for the bike and myself, follow the signs, check-in is automated and unattended, EU immigration is deserted ride straight through, stop at the UK immigration booth, present passport and carry on to board the train, painless and quick.

Blue skies welcomed me to the UK, short ride to Hasting through winding back roads of the British countryside, this is a beautiful part of the country.

Romney Marsh Churches etc

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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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