Posted on 19th November 2023, for 12th to 28th July

2:30pm on 12th July saw Misa and me head off to Kent and an overnight stay in a lovely old B&B in Tenterden, just half an hour from Eurotunnel from where we’d leave for continental Europe the next day.  With the running-in service completed but the bike with just 650 miles / 1050 km under its wheels from brand new and often busy traffic, the ride was a gentle one, soaking up the beginning of what we were going to do, and thankfully under dry skies.  A delicious steak dinner was followed by an early night and a 6:30am breakfast and the expectation of our 10:00am train.

All went to plan, and in seemingly no time we were on our way to Chaumont-Gistoux in Belgium to meet our lovely friend of 51 years, Loulou.  All to plan that is, apart from torrential rain for most of the ride, but this did nothing to dampen the pleasure of what we were doing. 

The next day saw us reprise the year before and ride through the Ardennes and Eiffel mountains on excellent motorcycling roads to meet my German friend Stephan and his family near Frankfurt, before continuing to Amberg and a very comfortable hotel for the night – and another steak dinner! 

Refreshed after good sleep and to maximise time with Rennie and Emi before they left Krnov for the UK, we decided to make the remaining long ride in one day, so we did, the new motorcycle making it relatively speaking effortless. 

Time in Czech of course passed far too quickly, and in seemingly no time it was a week later, 22nd July, and time to head home. This started at 08:20am with a ride across country and taking in some of our favourite Czech motorcycling roads to Passau, ove the border in Germany.  This was a nightstop in an old castle before riding to Munich where we’d meet another German friend, Stefan, and visit the 100 years of BMW motorcyles exhibition at the company HQ.  Stefan sent me a file with the most perfect route mapped out that I imported to my GPS and that saw us ride across lovely undulating countryside under windless blue sky, with barely another soul (three vehicles in over an hour), before traffic started to build as we approached the city.

Stefan drove his immaculate 1965 Sunbeam Tiger with 5 litre V8 conversion that later on was to cause the only problem of the day when a jubilee clip came loose and he returned to the car park to find all the engine coolant on the ground.  Thankfully easily solved with no issue other than time taken.  The exhibition was fabulous, even if we were surprised to find motorcycles banned from the underground car park and the expectation that I leave a very expensive machine next to a metro station, which with no other choice nearby, I did.  Nothing untoward happened, but we still felt like second class citizens at a premier event that was all about 100 years of BMW motorcycles.

Stefan gave Misa a lift back to his village in order to experience his very characterful car, me following on the bike, unusually without a pillion passenger!  It was my turn for a passenger ride later when we drove round the Stamberger See (a lake with circumference of about 30 miles / 50km) on a beautiful evening before enjoying an alfresco dinner together.

The next morning, 24th July, saw us ride to Austria’s Sankt Anton im Arlberg, but by a different route to last year.  Both wet and dry on and off, it was all fun but with one very twisty, narrow, rutted and often off-camber section away from the main roads very challenging – with big drops if got wrong.  We took dinner at the same restaurant where I dined with Rennie in 2018 and were served by the same kind and attentive waitress.  The restaurant was supposed to be residents only on the evening that Misa and I turned up, but on hearing why we’d chosen this establishment she welcomed us in and ensured we were very well cared-for.

A breakfast discussion resulted in us deciding to take a dog-leg from Sankt Anton and head to one of BBC Top Gear’s favourite roads; the Fluela pass.  If one section the day before had been an aventure, it was nothing compared to what was to come.  With rain hammering down and wind buffeting us, we started the steep climb of hairpin after hairpin to find that often there was no safety barrier (replacement under way), and that the bends were often so tight that a car would need both sides of the road to get round (so Misa would keep an eye several bends ahead where he could whilst I kept us safe).  In one section it was a slippery, muddy and stony track as the tarmac had been lifted; far slipperier than the brief section of similar repair we’d had the day before and that you can see in one of the photos.  By the time we reached the summit, it was only just above freezing (I had my heated handlebar grips on for the first time) and with less wind, but thick mist!  All part of the adventure, but not quite what we had in mind!

At the summit cafe we enjoyed hot food and drink and I put on one of Emi’s jackets that she had left behind in Krnov.  Far too small for me, it was none-the-less to make all the difference to warmth on the sinuous ride down the lee slope but caused much hilarity whilst I togged-up as you can see in one of the photos!  Whilst enjoying our meal we saw a moped (a proper one where bicycle pedal power augments the 49cc engine) emerge out of the mist, the rider looking elderly and with supermarket plastic bags to keep his fee t dry.  A few seconds later, a second moped appeared, this one ridden by an elderly lady also with plastic bags to keep her feet dry.  They were to come in to the cafe, where we had a chat with them and learned that they were from The Netherlands, each in their Eighties, and touring Europe on these tiny machines.  Wow!  We might have been having an adventure on a sports touring machine with 165 horsepower and ballistic performance just a twist of the wrist away, dry as a bone in our riding gear, and with more technology than you could shake a stick at,  but theirs was the true adventure.  Hats off to them!

Baden was our overnight stop, before riding to Verdun for the night and then riding the Voie Sacrée, with thought for the horrors of war and what the sacrifices of so many allowed us to be enjoying in peace.  Our final night was to be at an incredible one bedroom guesthouse in the middle of nowhere in Wismes, Pas-de-Calais, but after another test of adventure.  The weather after leaving a stop at the old Reims-Gueux motor raciong circuit was horrendous, with driving rain, poor visibility, and miles and miles of minor roads with no drainage – just floodwater, mud and gravel.  We were mentally and physically exhausted when we arrived, and for the first time, glad to be off the bike.

After being welcomed by the very convivial owner, we were shown to our aforementioned spotlessly clean room (I mean surgically clean, not just clean) but dripping mud and water on to the marble floor.  Add to this two filty panniers and an equally filty top box because the rain was so heavy that we preferred not to open them outside and lift out the inner bags for the night like we usually do.  He tried to put us at ease by explaining that it was a stone floor for a reason and his job to clean it, but this didn’t make us feel any more comfortable about turning up as drowned rats, if dry inside!  After an amazing hot power shower from every direction, we joined the owner for a drink and lovely conversation in a mixture of French and English language.

It was during this conversation that he mentioned the table and chairs in our room, and would we like some cutlery and crockery?  Yup, B&B remember – and this was dinner time.  Only then did we realise that we hadn’t shopped for food, were miles from the nearest shop or eatery, and had zero appetite to get back on the bike.  What did we do?  Well, necessity is the mother of invention so we accepted his offer – and then dined on our solitary block of chocolate! Thankfully, breakfast was to be plentiful, fresh local produce, so we didn’t leave feeling hungry as we headed to City Europe for as much food as we could cram in to luggage (a surprising amount, with creativity!), Eurotunnel, home, and then after handing over a precious Czech sausage (we all love it) as a gift from Rennie’s Mum, the task of cleaning the bike.  As Misa knows, nothing comes free!

Almpst exactly 3,000 miles / 5,000 km under the wheels, and so much pleasure.  Now to plan next year’s holiday.

Steve