Jon's adventure blog

We're back!

2008-05-24T17:12:00.004Z

Jon says: yesterday we took the plunge and decided to drive back from the B&B to home in one go. We had an hour and a half of amazing roads and scenery, through picturesque French villages that possibly haven't changed much in a hundred years, all the way to the motorway. Once on the A26 the GPS said "continue for 240km" - boo, that's a long hike along one road. But even though the Pan is at around 196,000km it was excellent as usual, giving a steady 140kph with plenty to spare. (140kph = 86mph, fast enough for good progress, not too fast to worry about getting pulled over.) Toni definitely started feeling a little saddle sore during this stretch, but luckily we knew the great British road network would make for an easy ride once back in England for the second half of the return journey. (Ha ha.)

After crossing into England via the tunnel we had an easy blast up to the M25. Then we stopped, along with every other tortured soul on that godforsaken open prison that encircles London. Even filtering didn't make life that much easier, as I only tend to filter in slow traffic (below around 50kph). After what seemed like two hours (but was probably one) we decided to change route and take the M4. The first services we stopped at had a few other bikers who'd made the same decision, including a guy with a push bike bungeed to the rear of his seat - coolio!

The picture here shows the entire route we took, around 3,600km (2,235 miles)...

Toni says: can't wait for the next one.

Toni's highlights:

Asparagus
Black Forest Gateaux
German (White) Beer
Biker B&B (in France)
The campsite in the Black Forest
Playing in the snow (in the Austrian Alps)
Great company to share it with ;-)

Toni's low lights:

Aqua-planing in a thunderstorm (we didn't but it felt like it)
Saddle sores :-(

Jon's highlights:

The Austrian Alps
The Nurburgring (watching, not riding!)
The Black Forest
France (because I wasn't expecting to like it)
The people we met
The B258 from Monschau towards Koblenz.

Jon's low lights:

Buy the Daily Mirror in a brief moment of insanity, then reading it with the expectation it might contain some news. Le Monde was more insightful (and I don't read French).

Hopefully we'll get a trip over to Scotland later this year, and Jon's hoping to join a local RoSPA group so he can finally learn how to drive the beast.

That's all folks :-)

J & T

Vive la France!

2008-05-22T16:19:00.005Z

Yesterday we drove through the Vosges Mountain range in France. We left the campsite at around 10.45am for our journey. I felt rather deflated! Our holiday seemed to be at a close. Travelling to France was the least eagerly anticipated part of our trip, in my mind. However I was hoping for a reasonable stay at our next destination; the Biker b&b in Dun-sur-Meuse in Mid-Eastern France. I saw the advert for this place, run by a British couple, in 'Ride' Magazine (Two Wheel Moorings) and thought that perhaps we could use it for our return journey, without any real expectations other than the hope for a reasonable bed for a couple of nights. This was a considerable understatement!!

Our hosts Carol and Ian are fantastic! Carol heard our bike pull up in the typical rural French village and instantly ran across the road, cup of tea in hand to greet us! She directed Jon to the garage to store the bike and virtually dragged me inside to be confronted by 8 other British bikers having a beer on the terrace outside overlooking the banks of the Meuse canal. I did feel slightly overwhelmed by the hospitality! A cold beer was literally thrust into my hand and questioning began by the others as to where we'd been and what we'd seen so far! Over a couple more beers (and a hilarious evening at the lcoal Pizzeria!) several biking stories were exchanged.
We got information on the local area from Carol and Ian and decided to spend the next day exploring the surrounding countryside and the numerous local war memorials and cemeteries in the vicinity...

Ian's customised Vmax - an awesome machine he rebuilt after a car driver decided to play chicken with him - the result is astounding and has won awards!

The view from the terrace at the B&B - on an evening a bag of bread is left outside to use for feeding the ducks while watching the bats fly by.

The American Cemetery, 10km from the B&B, at Romagne-sous-Montfaucon.

One of the many thousands of headstones at the cemetery.

A view from the observation platform at the top of the American Memorial in Montfaucon-d'Argonne.

While touring around the WWI sites in the region we were held up by a huge bike race. So we hung around for around an hour until the head of the vehicle convoy arrived - tens of Gendarme on RT1150 motorcycles leading the way, followed by cars with wheels mounted on roofs, and finally the cyclists. Toni made use of a free hat to spur on the riders.

The number two at this stage of the race - up hill - and still fast.

More cyclists.

The final few cyclists power up the hill.

---

We've decided to head back a day early, since we can't find anything interesting to do for a night aroung the Calais area. So we're going to blast back all the way tomorrow - around 800km - Toni will earn her half-Iron Butt certificate for this!

A final post tomorrow with a route map and other technical nitbits.

That's all for now folks, stay cool ;-)

J & T

Squirrels, waterfalls and asparagus

2008-05-20T17:35:00.005Z

A day trip out of the campsite to Triberg waterfalls, the highest in Germany. We have a nice drive through lots of twisty roads and picturesque villages, passing by the largest cuckoo clock in the world on the way. Triberg is a very tourist oriented town, popular with bikers (hooray!), but the people were very friendly and hospitable. We drove to the halfway point for the waterfalls and took a walk through the nature trails in the forest...

J & T in the forest, looking out for local wildlife.

There were several bridges giving the opportunity for the best vantage point for the falls. The above shot was taken by balancing the camera on the bridge rail and, with a bit of help from a polarising lens, exposed for around 0.8 seconds at f/22.

A hot blonde looks over the Wasserfalle ;-)

An amazing cuckoo clock shop with fantastic characters beavering away above the shop front.

We bought some Erdnusse (peanuts) for feeding the wildlife. Once Jon was full the squirrels had a go. Toni managed to hand feed this squirrel - they have become accustomed to human contact over the years.

Yum yum...!

No more peanuts - time to scurry away.

The largest cuckoo clock in the worlds - actually quite boring! We found a small one further down the road with amazing carved figures that sang and danced and chopped wood.

We'd had a fabulous time at the campsite (Campingplatz Kinzigtal) - great bar and restaurant and they had a table tennis table!!! The staff were really friendly and helpful and we've really enjoyed having a break and chilling here.

Now planning the escape to France with only 8 minutes of battery life left on the laptop - a blast through the mountains is looking likely. Another long day beckons but it should be worth it.

Hoping internet access in France is good - otherwise see you Saturday.

j & t

PS: Toni is cooking a delicious meal in the tent tonight - sausages (for Jon) and white asapargus (for Toni) - yummy scrummy!

We're in the Black Forest

2008-05-18T18:35:00.005Z

Jon says:

We're at the campsite near Steinach in the Black Forest! After unpacking Toni made some scrummy tuna melts, in our kitchen, and is now catching up with some sewing (really) and other household chores, as a good wife should. So I get to write some words today.

Even though it's raining heavily outside this is undoubtedly the most luxurious place we've been. We have two bedrooms, a lounge, a kitchen, 6 chairs, a table, a bbq and a table, all to ourselves. The campsite has WiFi (can’t access from tent tho) which oddly is the only place we’ve stayed so far with free internet access. We expected to find Germany easier than Poland for hotspots, but it hasn’t been the case. (Not free ones, at least). (Toni is sat at the table complaining that she needs her mum to do the sewing as she keeps pricking her fingers – lol!).

We had excellent driving today, even given the poor weather. We stopped at Titisee, a small lake and tourist trap, on the way from Constance – very nice, lots of bikers. Then we popped into Freiberg for some lunch – what a contrast with Constance where we found ourselves very disappointed. On the way back from dinner last night there was a gang fight outside our hotel which both surprised and disappointed us. But Constance wasn’t the town we’d expected from research on the Internet. Freiberg, however, was very pretty – typically European with a Dom in the centre and a tram system that wasn’t hacked together as a transportation afterthought.

The roads from Freiberg to the campsite were awesome – just a pity about the rain. Toni found the site on the Internet before we left – Canvas Holidays. It’s working out at about £33 per night and we totally love it here. Hopefully over the next 3 days we’ll get to wander around the Black Forest area, either on foot or with the bike. So more pictures and ramblings to follow soon.

That’s all for now, folks.

Jon & Toni.

Toni looking over Lake Titisee - very touristy but worth a visit all the same.

The fire brigade practising...?

Look at the bread! Man alive - it's amazing! So we bought some for tea tonight - very scrumptious ;-)

Popular place for bikers - some of these bikes are nearly as cool as ours!!!

A service in the Dom in Freiburg - who say's we never attend!?

Chillin' in the new lodgings - the best so far. Driver on the left, chef and navigator on the right :-)

The alps, the alps!

2008-05-18T08:43:00.004Z

Toni says: Wow! What an utterly incredible and amazing day we had yesterday. We talked over dinner last night an agreed that it feels like we've been through several time zones. We left Fussen in Germany about 10:30 yesterday morning and within 10 minutes we'd crossed the border into Austria. The plan was to travel to Lake Konstanz via a valley through the alps. This was a part of our journey that Jon was particulary looking forward to. "Don't worry!" he said, "this is going to be so cool and so much easier in the saddle than yesterday's trip." Famous last words!

Fussen town centre, looking up the the Alps.

Can you spot the excavators high up on the quarry!

Jon standing by the river Lech. Lech means milk (in several languages) and perfectly describes the opaque colour of the river.

Elbingenalp: amazing roads through the alps, as usual.

A handsome man stands by a bike in Austria :-)

Toni's excellent shot of a waterfall near Warth.

Jon's excellent shot of a biker on the way to Warth.

As we crept above 1,500m the snow was at road level. So Toni hopped off to have a quick snowball fight.

Avalanche risk, opposite the bike where we had lunch!

Little duck family about to emigrate to Switzerland.

Above pictures - on the ferry over to Switzerland. We drove all the way to Constance and found a hotel with a crappy Wifi - hence we're now in McDonaldns having breakfast on Sunday morning with no external poower - hence can't spell check or write more as only 2 mins of power left.

Off to Frieberg now - see you all later... love Jon and Toni :-)

Fussen - hooray!

2008-05-16T17:19:00.000Z

Dinkelbuhl - one of the many beautiful towns on the romantic road - Toni got her Spargel (asparagus) fix here!

Coming into Fussen - magnificent!

Toni says: This morning we left the strange town that was Bad Konig! Our hotel must have had at least 20 rooms but it was run by an old couple who looked in their 70's. In, fact everyone in the town looked in their 70's and we counted a minimum of three retirement homes! But they were very sweet and the old man even struggled to carry our top box out to the car-park. (Although I think it was because we hadn't paid at that stage and maybe he though we might 'do a runner'!!!) The weather was kind to us today, despite another massive thunderstorm the night before which got us soaked walking back from the restaurant last night. But today was dry and the skies clear again and the roads relatively free of heavy traffic. In fact despite the occasional tractor it was just a perfect driving day! We decided that we would head to the 'Romantic Road', which was in our original plan. So our first waypoint was a town on that road called 'Dinkelsbuhl' (My idea 'cos I thought it sounded funny! Child!) We were so glad we had stuck to the plan! The town was wonderful. Very old medieval buildings and cobbled streets. There was a lovely little cafe and we treated ourselves to some lunch to give us some sustenance for the onward journey.

Jon says: A long driving day, 10am until around 6pm, with a few minor stops and 45 mins for lunch. But worth it for the roads, especially the last 20-30km towards Fussen as we approached the alps – the Pan once again in its element. Tomorrow we hope to head into the Alps and Austria, albeit briefly, and then back into German and Lake Constance. We may even visit Switzerland for half an hour for a spot of lunch – awesome!

Leaving Koblenz

2008-05-15T21:11:00.000Z

Toni says: We still had not decided where we were going today. A local had told us that there was a chance of some thunder, so we were waiting to see the skies before deciding whether we were going for the slower scenic routes. (Bit of a misconception actually as even the motorways are fairly pretty roads!) Getting out onto the balcony from the hotel room the blue was again present so we counted ourselves lucky once more! We debated following the Rhine all the way south to Lake Constance on the German/Swiss/Austrian borders. And although that wasn't in our original plan, we decided to 'wing it' a bit and take the Rhine roads as far as the city of Mainz. We stopped for some lunch, boiling ourselves again in our bike gear sat outside a little cafe. We chatted then and decided to get out of the city and head for a forested area and a little town called Bad Kong - sorry, Bad Konig! Approximately 15 minutes later we were on the city ring road in the middle of the worst thunderstorm I have ever seen - let alone been out on a bike in!!! There was incredible lightening (apparently!) but for the most part, we couldn't see it as there was too much water running off our helmets. How Jon stopped the bike from aquaplaning down the road I shall never know! We were still heading for the little town and still in the pouring rain. I have a feeling it will take the rest of the night for the gear to dry out! Thank god it's still warm at least!

Jon says:

Sat: The chunnel is the functional alternative to the ferry, the latter inciting a sense of adventure that underground sea-train cannot (although LCD screens with fish and other sea life would be much better than windows into an otherwise blacked out tunnel). Bike doing very well though.

Sun: Motorways over to Monschau. Toni said the bike deserved a Belgian-flag sticker, but we were only there for 2 hours so it doesn't count. We have also found that the rear suspension has a small problem, mainly in that it doesn't work properly. Every time we corner fast, and/or go over a big bump, the centre stand seems to hit the ground and make a terrible scraping noise. (We've checked - the part we suspected is slowly being ground down to a shiny flat surface - hopefully there's enough metal to last another week or two).

Mon: The drive to the Nurburg ring, along the 258 from Monschau, rivals and probably betters the A82 through Scotland. I didn't want to do the ring itself, partly because of the suspension problems, but mainly because I've no experience driving fast on a circuit. Stopping to watch the bikes and cars confirmed my decision.

Tue: Driving the 258 to Koblenz was amazing. The variety of roads including hair-pins, sweeping meadows, fast bends and lush scenery made the first 7-800km worthwhile.

Wed: The Rhine cruise inspired us to change route and follow the river roads on Thursday.

Thur: beautiful roads along the Rhine. At various points we had: on our right trains, on the road other bikes, on the paths walkers and cyclists, and on the river barges full of coal and cruisers full of tourists. On the road to Bad Konig we had very heavy rain laying itself down over very dry roads - the surface water was deep and the bike's brakes lost all sense of purpose. A little courage and lots of perseverance got us though a rather close lightning storm - I ducked down leaving Toni as the main lightning conductor, better to have the pillion full of volts than the driver. We were obviously a bit bogged down with water and mist when we e missed the hotels around the main street and instead found the highest hotel in the town - bugger - built up a good appetite walking up and down a couple of times though.

(No photos today - too wet!)

In Koblenz

2008-05-13T21:00:00.001Z

Another wonderfully substantial and hearty German brekkie this morning - bread, cheese, meat and egg. We were ready to set off again. Bidding 'Auf Wiedersehen' to our friendly hosts, we left Monshau, bound for the city of Koblenz. I visited this city and Rhein region 20 years ago and I was curious and excited to be returning again. My first impression upon entering the city again was one of disappointment. It seemed to be tired looking, industrial and at least three times the size I remembered it. After the rural villages we've seen so far, it didn't compare favourably. However, it IS a city and growth and progress happens. It's not such a bad place. We found a hotel, quite easily and not far from the Moselle river and we took a stroll down to 'Die Deutches Eck', the point where the Moselle and the Rhein rivers meet. It's still fairly impressive! We are staying at The 'Kompforte Hotel' for two nights and hopefully we are off in the morning for a Rhein cruise down to St Goarshousen further down river for the day. Fingers crossed for another fabulous day's weather on our first full day off the bike!

Jesuitplatz in Koblenz - good spot for a beer.

Stolzenfels Castle as seen from the Rhine.

Our schiff, the Goethe, a paddleboat!!

Burg Katz ist geschlossen - boo hoo!

Still in Monschau

2008-05-12T21:53:00.001Z

We like this place! So we've decided to stay another night. In my best German, I ask the proprietor if this will be at all possible. With a very perplexed look, he replied; ' Keine problem!' (No problem!).

After breakfast then we set off for the town of Nurburg - home of the famous 'Nurburgring'. After another sweltering journey there, (temperature today must have hit 30, not good at all in my new trousers!) we arrive at what only be described as the most unbelievably flash car-park I've ever seen! Not only were there the most bikes I've ever seen in one place, but Porsches, Lamborghinis and Lotuses - all crammed into a very small car-park. It was scary! Even if you have no interest whatsoever in motor sport, you could not fail to be amazed by the sight! The best part however turned out to be 2 miles up the road in a illegal parking spot on the edge of the forest. Hopping off the bike afforded us a fabulous view of the drivers speeding past on the track. We headed back to Monshau - considerably slower than some of the hundreds of bikes we saw on the roads that day!

Arriving back there, we found a fairly empty town. By the time we had showered and headed out again for dinner, there was barely anyone around in this ghost town! Maybe this was why the hotel owner was happy for us to stay another night - there was no-one else in the village!! After a delicious pizza, (German food is not entirely geared up for a vegetarian - thank god I eat fish - last night's trout with almonds was scrummy!) we wandered back to the hotel. Then at the really late 9pm we had to persuade the staff to sell us a final beer before they closed the bar - and the hotel for the night. We had to take cushions and glasses inside and then lock the front door after us!!! Everywhere was deserted and we were truly on our own!

Toni by the bike on the way to the Nurburgring.

Crazy bikes on the ring - can you see Jon on there??!!

Vogelsang - a disused Belgian military site we visitied on the way back from the ring - fabulous views.

Here we are again - coolio!

Monschau

2008-05-11T21:00:00.002Z

(Words by Toni, pics by Jon).

This morning we left Dunkirk - today we must slog down the motorway to reach today's destination, Monschau. This is just across the Belgian border into Germany. We have visited this place before - every year it holds a wonderfully seasonal crisp and cold xmas market. However lovely in the snow I was looking forward to seeing it in the summer sunshine. It is just as pretty. Lucious green forests and woodland. The first hotel we stopped at was a bit of a concrete jungle so I thought it probably wouldn't be so expensive. Got that wrong. At 110 Euros per night for the ugly monstrosity on the outskirts of town we'd thought we'd try somewhere else. So we took the bike as far as we could go before the narrow and cobbled pedestrian area took over. We tried another but there was no room at the inn. On we went, ever hotter in the 30 degree heat (in our bike gear) until we tried another cafe/hotel - Der Eifeler Hof. Oh joy - they had a room! But oh no, the shower wasn't working, there were problems with the plumbing which meant we had to shower in a room on the floor above. But the room was only 20 Euros each per night, including breakfast, and the staff were friendly so we ate their that night. Delicious food. Today is a bank holiday weekend in Germany so it is very busy here. But even so the crowds were dissapearing and staff were closing cafes by 9pm.

Off on the adventure

2008-05-10T22:00:00.003Z

(Words by Toni, pics by Jon)

After an early start of packing and repacking and changing our minds about taking the tent for what seemed like the millionth time we finally left the good old spa around 11:30. Our plan, so far, is to take the EuroTunnel from Folkestone to Calais, and drive to Dunkirk to stay there for the night. All good so far. We got to the hotel room (smelt more like a cabin actually) and immediately had a row over who was getting the top bunk. (Just kidding!) But it did only cost 35 Euros for the night. Like Jon said, it's actually quite satisfying to get exactly what you've paid for, without any pretensions. The only real hitch was that it was about 4km out of town - no problem we thought. It would be good to ignore the travel restaurent next door and walk to town and work up an appetite for dinner. I will enjoy moulesfrites even more. After trudging through a dreary industrial estate for nearly an hour the intrepid exploreres were foiled by a motorway bypass that was inpenitrable. Thus there voyage on foot thrawted they returned weary and hungry to their cabin. However, all was not lost - they got their dinner and a wonderful desert as their reward. Sadly at a price - Jon balked at the cost of the beer - £2.50 for a half. I'll leave you, dear reader, to imagine the price of the rest.

PS: left a vital piece of equipment at home - the travel adaptor. Without this, no computer or blogging, or phone charger. Make mental note to selves to buy one asap.

Rust and electrics

2007-06-10T14:30:00.000Z

Little post, since no trips at the moment. Stripped the bike a week ago and tried to sort out some rusty patches and the electrics. Here's the bike all naked...

And another....

And here it is with its clothes back on and the pannier with the stickers from the Tatras trip...

Off to the Lakes in a few weeks on the push bike (Thorn Nomad) to do a few days cycling and camping. And then off to Scotland on the Pan for a few days camping and noodling around the highlands. Not a bad life!!!

The long trip home

2007-05-19T18:48:00.000Z

The long bad Friday

This was written last night...

Today was a mistake, from start to finish. I'd toyed with the idea of going straight home from Prague or of going back to Austria and coming back via the Alps. Somehow I decided that going to Amsterdam for a night, via Northern Germany, would be a good idea as it would mean I'd done a loop (of sorts). But the drive was terrible. I left Toni at 08:30 this morning and rode Over 900km through crappy traffic, dead ends (the GPS didn't know that some roads haven't yet been built), along brick-lined tracks, over a river on a ferry, and into the hell the is Amsterdam. I can't even remember why I thought this would be a good idea.

The river crossing!!!

(The silly GPS said 1.6 km to Ferry, which I presumed was a German town or village. But it actually was a ferry across a small river. The roads to and from the river were bascially dirt tracks with some bricks thrown on top. First gear all the way in the searing heat.. so BMW... if you're reading this, lend me a GS1200 Adventure for my next trip!).

It turns out that there was a national holiday on Thursday (in Holland, possibly around Europe), and subsequently every man and his dog is in Amsterdam for a long weekend. The only accommodation I could find was business class in a 5* hotel (the Hotel de L'Europe) in the center. The doorman walked up to me to ask me to move my bike, and then offered to help me out when I showed him my reservation. This place was so posh even the maids were scowling at me, although I was covered in sweat and wearing the same clothes I'd been wearing for the previous 3 weeks ;-)

This all sounds quite neat, but it goes completely against the essence of the trip. The adventure should be about discovery, and while there's nothing wrong with luxury it needs to be in the correct context. I've been to Amsterdam a few times before and it's great in the right context. In the same way that a stag do wouldn't really work in a quiet mountain hotel on the Polish/Czech border, a bike trip doesn't work by taking in Amsterdam.

But anyways, it was a good endurance day - it took around eleven and a half hours to get there, plus another hour to sort the hotel - very tiring!

Tomorrow I plan to eat breakfast, pack the bike, and go home - the place I wish I'd been tonight. It's a long ride but is split with the ferry crossing, and I can't wait. Then I'll have Sunday off to clean the bike and recuperate, and then I can start planning the next trip, sans Amsterdam!

The ride home!

I'm back in Droitwich, England :-)

Today was another long slog but was made easy by knowing that I didn't have to find accommodation and prepare a trip for tomorrow. The day started with a buzz on the door - the maid was letting me know my copy of the Times was hanging in a bag on my door - but it's not the same when someone delivers to paper to you. I eat breakfast, packed the bike and set off - the GPS programmed for Calais.

Here's me this morning...

And as a comparison, here's me three weeks ago in Germany...

The beard has grown and, I think, I look a little more tired. On the way to Calais I decided to try the Eurotunnel, having not been on it with the bike. And so it was that 40 minutes after leaving France I was back in England. It took me roughly 8 hours to get from the hotel in Amsterdam to home - not a bad day's work.

On the Eurotunnel train...

Final thoughts

Around 5 or 6 days or go I was asking Toni whether she'd fancy doing a longer trip - around the world, or to Africa or Russia or ex-Yugoslavia or Sweden/Norway. But it then occurred to me, and this may seem obvious, that to do such a trip requires a particular sort of desire. On Horizons Unlimited, amongst other traveler's web sites, you can read about people who work for a few years and then quit work, sell the house and car and dog, buy a couple of bikes and set off to travel the world. One or two years later, when they get back, they get jobs and a house and another dog and start saving and planning for the next trip. I don't believe that seeing the world is the primary objective. Rather, I think that traveling itself is the goal. Most people can take a nice holiday here and there and see many nice places, drink good wine, meet friendly people and experience difference cultures. But if that was all that was required for fulfillment then why not use a car, which will take more belongings, or do more 1-2 week holidays flying from place to place. No - I believe that traveling by motorcycle lies at the heart of the motivation. The particular destinations allow the traveler to set his objectives from day to day, to set goals to achieve and places to see. But on a motorcycle the journey is the adventure. There isn't really a final destination (in terms of a town, city or country).

So if was to travel further and longer why would I do it...? For the reasons mentioned above - because traveling is the adventure. It probably won't matter if I go to Scotland or more-Eastern Europe or Asia, etc. As long as there's a rough plan in place, a bike to take me, some good company, the possibility of an English newspaper, at least one beer per day, and plenty of fine, dry, smooth and twisty roads, I'll be up for it.

On that note, I'll say adieu, and leave you with my overall route map and travel stats.

Thanks for reading,

Jon.

Total distance: 4,984 km (3,096 miles)
Average speed: 92 kph (57 mph)
Maximum speed: 168kph (104 mph) not too bad for for around 400kg of man and machine, and I wasn't trying to max it out!
Hours spent in motion on the bike: 60.75.

Our Last Day Together in Prague

2007-05-17T13:33:00.000Z

Toni

Hi again! Well, this is our last day together in Prague and it feels very strange indeed! We got up (late!) this morning and had a leisurely breakfast. That was odd in itself because we had no running around to do - no packing up the panniers and running around the room to find where Jon had flung everything the night before, trying to make sure we hadn't left anything behind!!
So here it was, a whole day stretched out before us without a specific plan of action. Consequently today has felt weird! We had a few things we had thought about doing, such as a couple of tiny (sorry!!) gifts that I could manage to fit in my hand-luggage. Then Jon wanted to go and see the Prague Communist Museum. That was quite incredible. We were both still amazed that again we had glimpsed a life situation so far removed from our experiences that actually happened within our life time.

I am sitting here (with a beer, of course!) and writing this blog and although this seems perfectly natural to me now, we have begun to appreciate how very lucky we have been to undertake this trip. Compared to other travel stories that you may read about, this has been quite a small adventure to some, but for us it has been quite a big thing. Although we have had a plan of where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see, we have also had the freedom to choose and change the plans as we saw fit. For the most part, we have started the day with an idea of where we were going, but never been certain where we will end up and how it will work out! That has been the greatest and most fabulous part of this journey.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this adventure, and I am sure that it will only lead to even bigger and better ones!! It has helped to have shared this with Jon, someone who is so laid back even when things get a little 'stressy' for me!! We have shared the experience of the journey together and I think we have both got so much out of it.

So, goodbye from me from 'Praha', and hope to see you all soon!! xxx

P.S Have a look at the following picture - I too can do an Iron- Butt!!! (1781 km.... !!!!)

Jon

The bike is parked about 3 meters from the entrance to the hotel. This is always one of my pre-occupations... where will be be able to leave the bike? But it generally seems to pan out ok - we haven't managed to drive it into the foyer of a hotel (yet) but we've come pretty close.

I've started reading a book on the history of the Gulag camps (Gulag, a History by Anne Applebaum) which won the Pulitzer prize in 2004 - already the introduction fills me with sadness. As Toni mentioned, we went to the Communist Museum in the centre a couple of hours ago and this also made me sad. I sat there wondering what I would have done if I'd found myself in Wenceslas square as the tanks and troops rolled in. I'd like to think that I'd have got out my camera and tried to document it... perhaps too passive a role, or perhaps too brave given the conditions. In my lifetime, in my country, I've never come close to anything like that - perhaps I never will...?

Tomorrow I'm going to drive to Amsterdam - this will be interesting for two reasons. First, it's around 900km (around 560 miles), and secondly I haven't found digs yet. On their own neither is a problem - but put together it will be another challenge as I'll be quite tired and shaky by the time I get there. (I sometimes get shaky after a long haul on the bike, probably due to the road/engine vibration, noise and fatigue). But then I'll give myself a day off on Saturday and hit the road for the return journey to Droitwich (another 750km, or 470 miles). The ferry will make a welcome break.

I think this trip has shown us both that we can be as resourceful as we want. The idea of just turning up in a foreign town (and country) without accommodation or local knowledge holds no fear for us (not that it really did, but it's easy to say something will be easy without having actually done it). Language barriers can be broken down with a smile and ample use of mime. For example, asking an Austrian shop keeper if he had any Austrian country stickers for my pannier involved me saying... "Haben Sie eine Schticker fur meine Motorrad mit Osteriech?" and miming the act of peeling back a sticker and placing it on my helmet, then trying to mime that it's not for my helmet but for my bike. After a couple of seconds he said, "Ja, hier, I think this is vot you are looking vor." As usual, even the people that haven't formally learnt English still speak it. It makes the English foreign language education policy look especially embarrassing.

So that's all for the joint trip folks... hopefully I'll post something tomorrow or on Saturday, and then a final entry on Sunday when I return to bonnie England.

Thanks for reading, take it easy,
Jon & Toni.

PS.. here's a couple of piccies from today...

Street life in Prague:

Toni performing the daily newspaper ritual:

Scene from the communist museum:

Back in Prague (via Austria)

2007-05-16T17:44:00.000Z

Hallo - we're now back in a posh (for us) hotel smack bang in the center of Prague. Yesterday we drove from Bratislava to a place called Krems an der Donau, in Lower Austria. There wasn't much to photograph or write about the journey - the roads we very good, fairly twisty, and surrounded by vineyards and fields of crops. Krems was nice - very typical of a lot of Europeans towns with an old town (the Alter Stadt) in the center hidden away from the view of the traffic.

Last night we decided to go the Prague today, rather than stopping somewhere intermediate in the Czech Republic, because we wanted to have a chilled day on Thursday without traveling. So here we are - it was tiring today, not that many miles but a lot of road. Today was actually a typical of a travelling day...

Get up - don't want to - still tired..!
Have breakfast - bread, meat, coffee, maybe yogurt, always scrummy.
Pack two side panniers, top box, a bundle of clothes for the top box, Toni's bag.
Get bike gear on - start sweating almost immediately.
Grab helmets, gloves, panniers, top box + bundle, pay for hotel, find bike, remove bike lock (if not, bike clunks after about 1 foot and sounds unhappy), fit panniers, top box and bundle.
Program GPS, fit ear plugs, put on helmets, put on gloves, start bike, grin grin grin and we're off.
Drive to destination - stopping at least once per hour.
Get to destination - try to find cheap looking hotel or tourist info.
Unpack - remove bike gear - very smelly now - shower - get on normal clothes.
Go out - usually between 3 and 5 pm by now - start the daily hunt for the Independent (or Guardian/Times/Telegraph if necessary) - usually this takes around half an hour. Toni can get quite tired at this point, but is used to it.
Having found newspaper, find beer place, and if not too late get something to munch on - best to do this in Germany or Austria.
Sip beer, read paper, celebrate another cool day of travel.
Go back to hotel - try to find some kind of Internet access for blog, etc.
Copy photographs to computer - edit photographs - upload to Flickr, copy from Flickr to the blog, add some words to the blog.
Figure out destination for the following day - use computer to program waypoints into GPS.
Go out, find restaurant, eat food, drink too much, go back, sleep.

It's not a bad life :-)

So... for today we're just going to add a couple of piccies, and tomorrow we're going to add some more words about our thoughts on the trip (and maybe thoughts for the next one!!!).

Toni's route - Prague, around the Tatras, and back again...

The altitude profile of Toni's route...

The hotel last night in Krems...

Another handsome man stands in the hotel in Krems... :-)

On the route from Krems to the border... Toni spotted a castle and nice little river...

In our posh hotel in Prague... job done!

Trip to Vienna

2007-05-14T18:32:00.000Z

Hallo from Bratislava! Today we decided to take a trip down the Danube to Vienna, home of Mozart. We found a place around 5 minutes walk from our apartment that had a hydrofoil service, taking around 75 minutes each way, for around £40 all together. So off we trod, and here are some piccies...

Here's the hydrofoil - coolio!

Bratislava castle...

Our first sighting of Vienna from the Danube...

Awesome architecture...

Vienna Dom - lens corrected in Photoshop!

Mozart, or at least his statue...

Monument square... very hot - 30 degrees today!!!

A handsome man stands by some cherubs...

A law student making some extra money - very good, great passion for Bach, Vivaldi, and Mozart...

Inside the Dom...

More inside the Dom...

Ok - so when we got back to the Danube for the hydrofoil back we were told it had broken down - boo! So we were bussed home, and given a refund for the return journey - hooray!

Bratislava baby!

2007-05-13T17:47:00.000Z

We are here, in Bratislava. No battery left on laptop so not much text... today's drive was great, lots of blue sky, hot sun and smooth roads. Off to Vienna tomorrow by hydrofoil!!!

More in the next few days...

Jon & Toni... xx

Sat outside the apartment...

Just been up here...

And this is the view from up there!

And another one... the Blue Danube...

Here's me and Toni and the top..

2007-05-12T19:59:00.000Z

Toni

Morning from Zakopane! Got up (reasonably) early to take this before we hit the road. Town was typically touristy, but you could forgive it because of the scenery!!

This is the road from Zakopane to the Slovakia border.... again beautiful countryside that we were driving through - we were stopping every 10 minutes or so, and in the end, Jon slung the camera around his neck to save having to get off!!

Great fun at the border crossing! We were approached by this old guy, (seen on the right in the picture) who wanted a light for his cigarette. He then proceeded to 'chat' for 10 minutes. Using a combination of Polish, German, English and sign language, it was very strange indeed!! At least the British are not the only ones who think that they have to shout to make themselves understood!!!!

Sat chillin' out on a log, approx 10 miles into Slovakia!!!

Stopping for a 'comfort break' (!!!!) even further down the same road....

Jon's photo did not do this Pension justice. This is without doubt the best hotel we have stopped in, and yet the rest of them have been fab! Just had a great meal in the restaurant with a very nice bottle of Slovak red wine! Again, we cannot get over the amazing prices. We are being charged virtually next to nothing in most places.
We though ourselves very lucky arriving at this place in the middle of nowhere but a few miles from a very run down industrial town. We weren't sure what we would do and then saw a sign for the 'Rendez-Vous' approx 5 Km away. Was the best decision (hotel wise) we have made!!

Jon

Awesome, amazing, exhilarating, twisty and scenic roads today. The bike is, I'm sure, loving it as much as I am. Today's riding was very much a continuation of yesterday's, this time crossing the Tatra mountains over into Slovakia. From the border, through Stary Smokovec, and onto Liptovsky Trnovek - all great roads.

Tomorrow we'll much more miles as we blast over to Bratislava. From there we may dip into Hungary and/or Austria before heading back for Prague on Thursday... we'll keep y'all posted.

Jon & Toni

Krakow, Auschwitz & Zakopane

2007-05-12T07:26:00.000Z

10/05/2007

Toni

Greetings (Part II) from Kracow!! Today we got off to a great start in our centrally located apartment. The reception girl had asked us what time we wanted breakfast and we found it in the kitchen outside our room at just the right time. We had a bag full of bread rolls, cheese, pate, yoghurts and a yummy brioche-type roll with an almond paste filling. MMMmmm!!!

Feeling very contented, we set off for a morning walk, only getting as far as the Internet Cafe! Well, otherwise we would never get this blog sent!! We then headed for The Jewish Quarter. I was really looking forward to seeing this area. I read the book (and subsequently saw the film, The Pianist) based on the true story of of a musician by the name of Spilzman. I was fascinated by his story of survival in the Jewish walled ghetto in Kracow. It was very interesting to see the history in the architecture of this area of the city and impossible to understand the persecution and danger they faced. Unfortunately, if anything remains of the walls that the Nazis' built to separate the Jewish community, we did not find any sign of it.

We then dashed back to the other side of the city to pick up the bus for our trip to Auschwitz and Birkenau. The camps are situated approx 60 Km from the centre of Kracow, just outside of a town called Oscwiecim. I find it difficult to describe the museum. They have done a very good job in preserving what was left of the camps over the last 60 years. Of course, now all that is left is technically a tourist attraction, all the buildings are intact as they originally were, and a feeling of sadness seems to permeate the whole place. The staff, including the guides seemed genuinely determined to be as reverent as possible, advising the tourists to remain silent in some areas as a mark of respect. Upon visiting the Birkenau camp, some 3 Km away, it is impossible to describe the sheer size of the place and the operation that took place there. The remains of the destroyed barracks in which the prisoners were housed stretches for as far as the eye can see. Much of it was razed by the camp commanders to try to obliterate evidence of their crimes. I left with mixed feelings; glad that I had gone to see it and yet incredible that horrors such as had occurred there happened a mere 60 years ago. How could so much have gone on without more done to stop it in a civilized world?

I know everyone will experience this place in an entirely different way, and for some it will have a more personal and direct connection, but I really feel that it is something that everyone visiting this part of the world should see, without question.

11/05/2007

Jon

Kraokow - the new Prague. The English photographer we met said so, and judging by the reasonable amount of English groups we saw last night it is probably true. That said, it seems a little more authentic than Prague, with Wroclaw even more so. We've both decided that we would like to visit again for several days. The Jewish quarter would best be understood and appreciated with some prior research and reading and there are so many beautiful buildings that we barely had time to see.

Auschwitz was, in retrospect, about what I expected. When you turn up to a museum car park full of coaches and tourists with cameras (like me) you know that the chances of an empathetic experience are low. The guide was good and did add to the captions of the photographs on the walls inside the buildings, but there wasn't much tangible sense of suffering. I can image reading a good book on Auschwitz (or the soviet oppression in the Gulag camps, or the Muslim killings in Bosnia, or the suffering in Iraq, etc) and then going back without a guide and making the association between the buildings and locations and railway lines and the people involved. Perhaps next time.

Anyhows, time to hit the road... we're off to Zakopane, the Tatras, and the border with Slovakia - not a bad life.

(Later that day...!)

We're in Zakopane - we had a crappy start getting out of Krakow (around 1 hour to to 9 km) but once we escaped the roads got better and better. We'd programmed the GPS to take us on a detour before hitting Zakopane - and it was so worth it. After coming around one particular hairpin we suddenly saw the Tatras in the distance, still covered in snow. It reminded me of Austria, but also of the Malverns. (When you approach the Malverns you can usually see the entire range with one sweep of the eye. The same applies to the Tratras, being around 60km long by 15km wide. Not very big but apparently still classified as Alpine).

Tonight we escaped another thunderstorm, as seems to be usual on this trip, and found an excellent restaurant - full of meat! After eating and downing a couple of three beers we started talking about the plan for the second half. (Zakopane is really the end of the first half of the trip, and the only stretch we'd had given much consideration to). We talked about Budapest, Bratislava and Vienna. So now Toni is sat on the hotel Internet computer (hotel - pension, Ł20 for both of us for the night - marvelous!) and is researching hotels and things to do in Budapest. I have a feeling we'll be in Hungary on Sunday - coolio!

Take it easy all,

Jon & Toni.

Wroclaw to Krakow

2007-05-10T09:13:00.000Z

09/05/2007

Toni

So, our last night in Wroclaw was relatively uneventful! We were both so tired that we thought we ought to have an early (ish) night!! We went back to a cool bar on the main square for a couple of drinks and we tried out some more Polish as the staff there didn't speak much English. Jon was having difficulties remembering the phrase for "large glass of red wine please" (Red was apparently the problem - pronounced 'sher-von-yeh'!) I told him to think of 'That old French actor who was in 'Gigi'' I was sure he was going to ask for ' A Maurice Chevalier please!'

This morning we packed up reasonably quickly (we're getting better and quicker at this!) and after breakfast we headed for the road. It seemed a bit of a slog today - we knew that we had to get a push on so that we could get to our next destination, Krakow, in time to enjoy a bit of the afternoon. We booked an apartment yesterday here for two nights and it's right in the centre of the main city square. The GPS navigated us straight to the address with no hesitation at all. In fact it took us longer to find it!! The 'Zumo' said we were at the location - it took us at least 10 minutes to realise that it was right!! (The apartment building wasn't signposted with the name we were looking for!!)

Jon

A day of mile munching... some would say that that's what the Pan European does best but anyone who's ridden one knows different. From the twists of Scotland's A82 to the autobahns of Germany, up the mountains of the Krkonossky park and back down again into Poland - fully loaded and with a Pillion. Even at almost half a ton of weight (mainly my fat belly, computer and camera equipment!) the bike is remarkable. Only the pot-holed back roads and cobble-stoned streets of Poland have challenged it, possibly to the extent that a trail-style bike (such as the BMW GS1200 Adventure, on my birthday list) may be better. I almost regret buying it when I did since it is only my second bike and I'm sure most people experience many different bikes before they find -the one-. But it continues do to well and I'm sure it will happily take us to Slovakia and home again.

Before Toni started writing her part of the post we were discussing what we'd been up to yesterday in Wroclaw. We suddenly found ourselves unable to remember where we'd been (within Wroclaw), and then when one of us mentioned the botanical gardens it seems like a distant memory, not one only a day old. Initially this worried me - I was wondering if we're doing too much to take in properly and experience. But then later we were talking to my parents who walked the coast-to-coast a couple of years ago and they said the same thing. So perhaps the blog will be more than just of passing interest to other people who read it - perhaps this is what Toni and I will use to cement the memories of the trip. But the main thought the occurred to me was that, unlike a conventional package holiday, we are seeing and doing a lot more than we normally do, and that we're not used to this degree of variation. For myself, the last few years have consisted of a lot of Monday to Friday trips up and down the motorway, with the occasional flurry of great software (my job). Most of my best memories of the last few years do not occur within the confines of the 9-5 grind, and that's a pity. However, I think you (or I at least) need to do a trip like this to find out -how- to do a trip like this. Already my memories of Monschau and the Nurburgring are faded and perhaps it would be better to travel a little less and stop a little more. It will be interesting to see how I look back on the trip after I get back... perhaps I'll rely on the blog to inform me!

We had a brief, but great, photo day today. As soon as we arrived in Krakow we picked up a vibe that Prague and Wroclaw only really hinted at. The street by the apartment was full of people and trams and cars (and one cool motorbike!). Only two or three minutes walk from the apartment we found ourselves in the main square - totally fabulous. Hopefully there'll be more useful information to write about Krakow tomorrow, and also Auschwitz. For the moment here's some of the piccies from today... take it easy...

Jon & Toni.

10/05/2007

Small update - the Canon 5D (a full-frame digital SLR) and 17-40 L-series lens are now on my wish list! We tentatively went to find some food last night, having both had minor food poisoning from some badly cooked fish the night before (in Wroclaw). On the way through the main square we saw groups of firemen lining up in the square. Wondering whether they were really paranoid about the likely hood of a hire spontaneously starting, or about to be shot for insubordination, I decided to ask someone if they knew what was going on. In my broken Polish I asked the guy next to me he if spoke English. It turned out he was from Liverpool - about as English as a Northerner like me :-) And he had a Canon 5D - one of the best pro / semi-pro digital SLRs, plus an L-series pro lens. After resisting the temptation to set Toni on him while I nicked his camera and lens we had a natter about photography - he was a semi-pro in Liverpool. His shots from Auschwitz were inspiring - one in particular, of the railway lines leading to the Birkennau camp, was beautiful and slightly chilling. He said that his entire trip had really been dedicated to getting that one shot. Job done.

We're off the Jewish quarter today, then Auschwitz this afternoon. Slightly oddly we (or the guy we were talking to last night) mentioned that it would be better if the weather wasn't too nice for the Auschwitz trip. It would probably be a bit disconcerting to be in such a place of misery on a beautiful day - I think this makes sense, but perhaps I'm a worried that I won't be affected by the place. Should I be...? Probably - the suffering of the many at the hands of the few is a centuries-old affliction and shouldn't be forgotten.

Pec Pod Snezkou to Wroclaw

2007-05-08T17:08:00.000Z

Jon

This is now our second day in Wroclaw - we can't connect to the hotel's WiFi for some reason - apparantly a problem with Vista (running on my laptop - what a mistake!!!). So here's the write up on the travelling from yesterday onwards...

After another meat-laden breakfast (for me, Toni is a fish-veggie) we headed up the mountain towards the Polish border. The process of packing the panniers, getting changed, setting up the bike and then setting off has now become routine. It still helps when you can park the bike outside the hotel though.

We started at around 750m altitude and blasted up the mountain side towards to border.

Then we zig-zagged all the way down... the bike was happy until the GPS tried to take us on a back road which was full of the infamous Polish pot-holes. The picture below shows the profile of the bulk of yesterday's driving:

As we hadn't booked digs in advance we navigated to the tourist info. Well, the GSP did it really, to within about 25 meters. This is probably a good time comment on the GPS. I've the Garmin Zumo 550, which comes pre-loaded with European mapping including street level maps for nearly all of Western Europe. Part of the Czech Republic and Slovakia don't have that much detail, but certainly enough for our needs. With the unit comes a copy of MapSource which also contains the same maps. Both the GPS and the software allow planning of routes, waypoints, searching of addresses and features, etc. Due to the cost, around £480, I had felt guilty about buying it, until I hit Germany. Since then it has allowed me, and then both of us, to get wherever we want without worrying about getting lost. We can also pre-plan a scenic day's driving and, if we so decide, re-route using the fastest roads in a couple of seconds. Without the unit we'd have undoubtably lost a lot of time trying to use the European road map (which we've brought with us) to get around. From past experience it's often difficult to keep tabs on where in the world you are, especially if the weather turns bad. I now believe that the GPS, along with the weather and relaxed attitude we both have to the trip, has helped make it what it is. Interestingly the GPS now has me around 1000 miles from home by the quickest route!

Toni

So, we left Pec Pod and headed for the Polish border and Wroclaw. The journey was fabulous. Blue sky and sunshine all the way! Crossing the border and weaving down the mountain was amazing. We really enjoyed the ride. Then we arrived in Wroclaw, hot and tired. After (finally) sorting out the parking for the bike (none at the hotel!) we headed into town for a well earnt "kawa" - coffee. Starting to pick up a little of the language now. We are recognizing things on menus, street signs and how to say thank you and goodbye - more importantly I can ask for 2 beers and ask if it possible for me to smoke!!! Even better, the Polish can understand me - even if they do answer in English!!

Last night (Mon 07/05/07) we went to a pizza place, had two very large wood-fired pizzas, couple of beers each and a salad for roughly £15. (That is expensive compared to meals so far, but we are in a city now!!) Funny thing is that beer here is much cheaper than coffee or coke!
This afternoon (Tues 08/05) we crossed the Odra river to the Old Town and spent some time looking at the Cathedral "Katedra sw. Jana Chrzciciela" and other surrounding churches - very beautiful! Then we went to the Botanical Gardens. This was amazing, whilst the sun was shining, then we got caught in a huge thunderstorm. Not a good place to be with all those massive trees!!! We sheltered for a while with a coffee (and Jon had to have cake of course!) Thinking it was sweet to feed the tiny birds cake, it swiftly turned into scene from the Hitchcock film as the damn things swooped at our heads!

We mooched our way back towards hotel to try and dry out a bit, stopping off briefly to look at what we thought was the railway station. Turned out to be a huge indoor market hall, full of amazing fruit and veg and food stalls. If only we still had markets like that at home!!

PS: more piccies on blog site but only 3 mins of battery left! Byee all!!!

Prague to Pec Pod Snezkou to Wroclaw

2007-05-07T14:55:00.000Z

Prague to Pec Pod Snezkou: 06/05/2007

What a day...! Hopefully Toni will add a post-Prague section to this, but I'm just going to blog about the 10:00 til 11:00 part of the journey...

Flash-back to Thursday when I arrived in Prague - the guy that took me to the apartment managed to find me some secure parking at a restaurent ran by his friend. But, he wanted to charge me 450 Kr (around ?2 per day) for three days, which I didn't fancy. He said that Prague was fairly safe but that for 3 days parked (illegally!) outside the apartment someone may try and steal it, etc. So I decided to leave it there - around 2 metres from our front door! Of course when Toni suggested (last night) that I put the bike cover on it to protect it from the rain I said, no no no, it will be fine. So this morning, at around 10, around 5 minutes before we were due to set off, I tried to start the bike.

The bike didn't start the first time, nor the second or third. So I decided I'd turn the lights off (they already were, I didn't remember doing that), and to push the bike up our little hill to bump start it. So I pushed and puffed and pushed again until I reached the top of the hill, and then I pushed it down and tried to start it. It didn't. Toni wasn't pleased when I told her I'd killed the bike.

Toni helped me push the bike back up the hill and back down - it didn't start. We pushed it back up with the help of a local who took pity on us - it didn't start. We went back in for some water and oxygen and then pushed it back up the hill. Figuring the hill had failed us several times we decided to push it up another couple of hills. Towards the end of the last hill we spotted the best hill of all... no traffic, even steeper than the others, and with dry asphalt. SO we pushed it up, and then pushed it nearly all the way down.. it didn't start.

Another flash back to Thursday when Toni sorted AA European breakdown cover... we figured that we'd free-wheel the bike back to the apartment, book another night, and call the AA. I glanced down at the bike... choke off, second gear engaged, lights off... then something struck me. Why were the lights off - I really didn't remember switching them off. Then I noticed the Run/Off switch - essentially an on/off switch for the bike. It was in the off position. Then it made sense... someone had, either for a joke or out of concern for the battery life of the bike, turned my lights off (which weren't on without the key) and the Run/Off switch to off. The bike would have started first time at 10:00. I turned it to Run and hit the starter... the dashboard lights dimmed and I heard a relay click - I'd drained the battery in trying to start the unstartable bike. But I knew it would work with just the slightest push (having done this before). With a final push the bike started after 5 meters. I screamed and yelped, so much so that a family across the road stopped in their tracks, but I didn't care and shouted again... back on track, the Pan European never fails, only the driver.

In five minutes we'd packed the bike, got changed, dropped off the key, set the GPS, and with ear-to-ear grins, were back on the road.

Hi from Toni!!! Well once on the road at last, we set off for our first destination, Kutna Hora. It is the home of the infamous Church of Bones. (As 'immortalized' - no pun intended! - in the programme, The Long Way Round.)

This church was once a monastery, but after the Great Plague and some 30,000 deaths this tiny final resting place started to accumulate skeletons, piling up outside the church walls. The bones were then interred within the church. As a tribute some 200 years later, a czech craftsman carved the bones into ornate decorations for the church interior, after disinfecting and whitewashing them! THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE SIGHT!!! Entire chandelliers made up from human corpses! As it is quite overwhelming upon first entering, it is odd but it doesn't immediately strike you as freaky, but after a while I mentioned to Jon that I couldn't see what the bits of 'chain' were that was holding up the chandellier. It was only when we realised that it was either jaw bones or the pelvic bone that we started to comprehend quite how gruesome this was!!! That said, they charge tourists to enter the church so that it can be maintained and preserved, and they appear quite insistent about the protection and respect aspects - ie. don't mess with the dead!!!

After a refreshing coke and a spot of lunch at a nearby cafe, we went to leave. Whilst in the church, we'd spotted a couple of very large hairy bikers who turned out to be Russians on Harleys. (Put it this way, I wouldn't have wanted to bump into them in the church of Bones any where near dark!!!)They were gathered around outside, waiting to leave when we saw another (Russian) Honda Pan ST1100, parked next to ours. This one was driven by Vladimir and Olrika from Moscow! In very broken English, we exchanged the pro's of Pans and the con's of Harleys, we commented on how good their English was compared to our Russian, and wished them a happy and safe journey!!

With the weather looking gloomy, we headed for our next overnight destination, Pod Pec Snezkou. It was a beautiful drive through the countryside, on 'twisty turnys', through some very pretty villages and I thought at last that this was what we had so wanted to see. The only downside was that it had started raining and the temperature had also dropped quite remarkably. We were both freezing. We arrived at Pec Pod at around 1700hrs and looked for the (only) hotel in the village that had boasted Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, we found it but access was up the side of the mountain! We got the bike roughly halfway up, but had to abandon the idea. It was just too steep and the road/track was pretty broken up. Eventually we got the bike back down and settled on a comfortable place in the centre of the village. Those beds were soooo comfy and I think we just fell asleep within seconds!!

-------

We are posting from an internet cafe - minus the cafe - and will post todays (cant find apostrophy on keyboard!) later if we can get hotels WiFi to work. In the meantime heres a couple more piccies from zersterdaz..

Toni just after we arrived in Kutna Hora

Kostnice (the Church of Bones) in Kutna Hora

Coming back down the side of the hill after bottling it trying to find the hotel!

View from our hotel window in Pec Pod Snezkou

Toni arrives in Prague

2007-05-05T16:38:00.000Z

So here we are on our last day in Prague, struggling once again with Czech keyboards, and planning tomorrows travelling. The plan is to head for the Church of Bones in Kutna Hora, as seen on the Long Way Round. From there we'll head for Pec Pod Snezkou in the North West of the Czech Republic, on the border with Poland.

Toni arrived yesterday afternoon and we both think Prague is really beautiful. Last night we found the most amazing restaurant with a live Jazz Band, although as we were the only people watching it was a little weird.

Anyhow, here's a couple of pictures from Prague, and as usual there are more on the Flickr set...

Chilling out before climbing up to the castle...

Swapping hats...

Pavel Charapov, maker of the most incredible wooden Pinnochio marionettes. In this photo he is manipulating the puppet and making it dip a paint brush into water and then paint, and then making the puppet paint a girls face.

Overlooking Prague from the Castle

Oops, I did it again!

2007-05-04T10:52:00.000Z

My debit card has fallen out of my bum bag and onto the streets of Prague. I asked the guy in the internet cafe if there was a lost and found and he just laughed and recommended I get back on the computer and cancel it. Bugger!

Good job Toni turns up in a couple of hours with fresh funds... luckily I've stashed my credit card and some Koruna in the apartment... as long as no-one breaks in I'll be fine... :-(

Neunburg to Prague

2007-05-03T15:51:00.000Z

Another great day's riding! I reached the Czech border at around 10:00 and then started criss-crossing the country to get to Prague. After about half an hour I came to another border point, so I showed my passport and pull over shortly afterwards to nip to the toilet. When I'd stopped I noticed all the shop and road signs were in German. I figured that was nice of the Czechs, giving the German's a chance to find their way. Then I realised I'd gone back to Germany - bugger!

Around three hours later I finally arrived in Prague. SO here I am, sitting in my apartment, trying to cool down (it's hot) and getting ready to go find an internet cafe to send this. Toni will be here in less than 24 hours so I better get some beers in.

Just to summerise the roads for any motorcyclists reading this - they're all awesome! Even the main roads are interesting, when compared to those in England. Scotland still rocks tho :-)

'Till later,
Jon.

PS... here§s some piccies bracket..i cant get this czech kezboard working end bracket

Yesterday... on the road...

Last night... working in my room .. exclamation mark ¨.. cant ¨get the key working...

Entering Czeck .. the first time...

Driving through Czëch = awesome roads... exclamation again...

PS... lith print in PS2... open piccie, add hue-sat layer and select colorise.. then choose nice brownish hue.. then add another blank layer on top, fill with 50p.c. grey, change blend to overlay, add 25p.c. noise, then a little gaussian blur.. all done... excalamation

Rothenburg ob der Tauber to Neunburg vorm Wald

2007-05-02T14:46:00.000Z

(I'm writing this in an internet cafe in Neunburg with a German keyboard so there'll probably be many typos!)

So today started with another huge German breakfast - scrambled eggs with meaty bits on top, bread, cheese, more meaty bits, coffee, and orange juice. Add an excellent room and even better location and get the whole lot for 48 Euros (about 33 pounds) - UK hotels have a lot of improving to do.

I decided that I'd try and do as much driving as possible without the GPS for direction and without using the autobahns... after consulting the map I spotted the B470 heading North East from Rothenburg. I did use the GPS to get me onto the road itself but from then on I just followed the road (apart from when I lost the road - boo!) When I reached Auerbach der Oberpfalz I then took the 85 to Amberg and then on to Neunburg vorm Wald. Nearly all of the roads today have been amazing - the views of the country side were also fantastic. (I'll post pictures when I get can to a WiFi hotspot.. probably in Prague).

So now it's off to the hotel - (35 Euros, or 24 pounds!!!) - to do some work on the laptop. Otherwise I'll site here and drink more beer than is good for me and get nothing done!

Prague tomorrow, Toni flies in on Friday, Poland around Monday.. then off to the Tatras! How cool is this :-) If I could get mobile internet access I could be a wandering programmer - that would be cool...

Till later, Tschuss.

Monschau to Rothenburg

2007-05-01T19:34:00.000Z

My alarm clock awoke me at 07:00 and I spent the next 30 minutes hitting snooze and having amazing lucid dreams. Breakfast was excellent, as is always the case in Germany, and by 8:30 I was packed on off to the Nurburgring. The B258 is enough to convert the likes of Jeremy Clarkeson to the ways of the motorbike - it was on a par with the A82 in Scotland. Here's a couple or three shots from the trip to the ring:

When I arrived at the main visitor's car park (which also houses an amazing museum of vehicles that have raced on the ring) I learned that you had to go to the town of Nurburg to get a free view of the track. After a while I found another visitor's area - it turned out to be the place where people go to actually race. But, alas, no ring-side view. Since I wanted to get to Rothenburg reasonably early I left Nurburg and headed East to hit the main roads. After a mile or so I spotted bikes and cars parked along the side of the road; on the other side was some patchy forest, and then... the ring! So I parked the bike, grabbed the camera, jumped the crash barrier, walked through the trees, and followed my ears to the roaring sound of bikes and cars, new and old, screaming along a bend of the ring. There were still hand rails here, even though the area was not official, and a handful of people were sat around. It was so amazing standing there with my camera and I managed to get a couple of shots...

(There's a couple of others on the Blog set on Flickr).

After half an hour or so I set off once again for Rothenburg ob der Tabuer.

Rothenburg is essentially a tourist town, or at least the alter stadt (old town). But it is nevertheless fully of wonderful buildings and tens of bikers (probably hundreds in summer).

The town is (I believe) encircled by a wall, an entrance through which is shown above. My only hassle is that the bike is parked about half a mile away, and it takes me at least two journeys to get all of the panniers to and from the hotel. More exercise in the morning (unless I can sneak the bike past the barrier!)

I've found an excellent hotel, right in the center, and more excellent German food. More pig, but just the one this time! And so, with the clock tower striking ten, I must sign out and hit the sack - it's hard work all this holidaying.

Stay cool all.

Jon.

Droitwich-Monschau

2007-05-01T18:39:00.000Z

The adventure begins! Here's the route so far...

I left Droitwich at 06:00 yesterday and blasted South to Dover, managing to catch to 10:55 crossing to Calais.

For a bike with over 100,000 miles on the clock it's doing remarkably well. The girl in the background was riding pillion on her way home to Italy on a 1200GS Adventure - those bikes, especially when fitted with all the expandable luggage, are awesome! There was also a Polish guy on a push-bike who asked me if I knew how to get to Spain without too many hills - I advised him to avoid the Pyrenees but that was about it! He told me he cycled from town to town, and country to country, sleeping and working where he could, and that Poland was a great place to visit - good omens, I like :-)

The blast over to Monschau was, thankfully, uneventful. Apart from the last town where I started driving up a closed-off road - I really must [re-]learn some German :-(

When I arrived at the hotel there was a sign from the owner giving just a telephone number for hotel guests. I phoned and he said, "One second," or something similar. So I hung up and waited for him to come downstairs to let me in. Then he phoned back and explained that there was no-one in the hotel and that I could find a key hidden behind a plant-pot. About five sweaty minutes later (it was very hot) I found my key, and my room, and unloaded the bike. This was followed by another difficult German conversation with an old lady who lived across the street from the hotel. She kept saying "Motorrad" and "Gestolen", and I eventually grasped that she was trying to tell me my bike would be stolen if I left it there. To verify the meaning of "Gestolen" I said the word and mimicked stealing her handbag which didn't go down to well, but we both got the point. Luckily the hotel key also opened the garage so I stuffed the bike in, safe and sound.

The hotel was very nice and after a quick shower I wandered into town - down the very steep valley - and found a bar. As if rubbing it in that my German is bad (or, Mein Deustch ist Kerput, as I keep saying), I ordered what sounded like salad with 2 small pigs. I figured that there'd be salad and something pig-like in there, so I was disappointed when the waitress brought me a meat-free salad. Due to extreme hunger pangs I eat the lot - including the tomatoes which I generally hate. Figuring I'd ordered the wrong item I decided to finish my beer and head home. Then the waitress came back with the main course. Duh! I think it was, zwei kleine SchweinSchnitzel (two small pig-shreds according to Google Translate) but whatever it was it was yummy.

The walk back took about an hour since I walked back up the wrong side of the valley. Still, it probably burnt off the pig-calories.

Then sleep.

:-)

A mini-Zumo adventure

2007-04-21T16:04:00.000Z

I've got the Zumo 550 installed! Due to my absolute technical incompetence it took about 3 hours when it should have taken half an hour. I'd wired a switched auxiliary supply last year which has slowly stopped working and I think it's because the negative wire has essentially decomposed. This probably explains why the heated grips no longer work. (My cigarette lighter point is full of copper rust as well - maybe water got in and shorted it?)

Since I had the side panels and false fuel tank off I decided to find a new place to connect a new negative line - and found a nice little unused bolt hole. It was only after I'd put nearly everything back together that I then realised that this hole was for the false fuel tank :-( Since I couldn't be bothered to take everything apart again I just left it - so that's another bit of the bike not connected properly - but it didn't fall off so we'll just have to see!

Here's a piccie of the Zumo...

I should really get a different installation kit so that I could centre it above the dash area but it's not too bad there.

So today was my first test of the Zumo... I planned a route on MapSource at home, downloaded to the device, and set off. 150 miles later and no wrong turns I'm very impressed with it. Here's a couple of more piccies from the trip...

Glangrwyney (above) and on the road to Abergavenny (below).

Iron butt UK website!

2007-04-20T14:05:00.000Z

Wish I'd found this earlier!

The web site is: http://www.ironbuttuk.org/.

They're doing a group Saddlesore 1000 (trying to go for the record). The details are here: http://www.ironbuttuk.org/id24.html

I've got my Zumo 550 now and am off to try and fit it to the bike. If it works I'll post a picture (as I can't find any reference images or instructions for an ST1100). It seems like there's a whole worlds of things to learn and discover regarding the latest Sat Nav devices. For example I think people can post and upload routes via the Web and share them, and also POIs (which will be cool if I can find POIs for campsites in Europe!).

I've also just watched the end of the Long Way Round DVD and am feeling particularly insipred! So I'm going to start planning some places to visit on my Poland trip (which I'll comment on in a post this weekend).

Great adventures all,
Jon.

The day after the Saddlesore

2007-04-15T08:33:00.000Z

sad·dle·sore
[sad-l-sawr, -sohr]

1.	feeling sore or stiff from horseback riding.

2.	irritated or having sores produced by a saddle.

We did it! Before the write up here's the schedule of events... (note that Steve left earlier than me and finished earlier as he started from near Oxford)...

05:45: left the house, drove the mile into town to get cash and a receipt to prove time and location.
06:05: arrived at Frankly services (M5). Steve already there having driven from Abingdon.
07:15, 84.5 miles: Knutsford services (M6)
09:15, 222.5 miles, Gretna services (M6)
11:30, 339.3 miles, Luss (by Loch Lomand)
13:00, 403.9 miles, Onich Services (near Fort William)
15:00, 481.6 miles, Inverness
18:30, 641.3 miles, Edinburgh services
00:45, 988.6 miles, Northampton Services (M1)
01:55, 1036.5 miles, Warwick Services
02:30, 1072.5 miles, Home (!!!)

The drive to Scotland was as expected - little traffic, steady speed, not too boring since we were excited in anticipation of the drive through Scotland. Since I'd got lost the last time I drove though Glasgow I was glad that Steve had a [couple!] of GPS units mounted to his Africa Twin. (BTW - the Honda XRV750, aka Africa Twin, is awesome!).

After leaving Glasgow via the Erskine Bridge we joined the A82 for the trip to Inverness. I've ridden this road, as far as Fort Augustus, once before and it's amazing. Since our last stop had been at Gretna services we decided to have a quick break at Luss (by Loch Lomand). After a few minutes we set off, Steve offering to lead. I wasn't sure what to expect, me being on a big old Pan, and Steve on his Africa Twin, both of us spending the next few hours on single carriageway twisties. What I wasn't expecting at all though was for Steve to show me how well a bike can be driven through these sort of roads. The last time I followed anyone riding like this was a couple of years ago on a BikeSafe weekend with West Mercia police. It's the kind of riding where you realise it's got little to do with the bike and nearly everything to do with the rider. Since I spend more than 90% of my riding time on the motorways I figured I better start focusing and thinking about my vanishing points and overtaking opportunities, etc. But I did struggle to keep the same pace for quite a while.

Shortly before Fort William we stopped at Onich services - we knew the Gods were smiling when we spotted a bacon-butty van at the end of the forecourt and, to the left, a magnificent view of Loch Linnhe. Then it was my turn to lead. Ever since I fell off the Pan in Germany on a hairpin bend I've probably been over-cautious when it comes to fast twisties. But having spent an hour or so watching Steve do it I knew I had to up my pace. One of the great things about biking - I took my test about 2.5 years ago - is that I'm always learning and trying to improve. Driving along the A82 in Scotland is nothing like the M40 twice a day, and so it was that I started trying to develop a better awareness of my vanishing points and potential overtaking places. The next hour or so to Inverness was undoubtedly the most exhilarating time I've ever had; I think it's a little easier leading through the twisties than following as I find myself occasionally following the line of the lead rider rather than picking my own.

Sleepy, sleepy...
Between Inverness and Edinburgh, mainly down the A9, I got my first attack of tiredness. After an hour or so we started passing regular laybys - the A9 is mainly single carriageway and there are many road signs advising people to let other drivers overtake. As my focus started to diminish I tried singing Beatles songs, and then shouting to Steve as loud as I could to pull over. Steve, being 50m in front, didn't hear me. Since I knew I couldn't stay awake for much longer I decided to pull in front of Steve and get him to pull over with me. But then, as if reading my mind (or trying to keep his own awake), Steve indicated left. Never before has a left-hand indicator filled one man with so much joy! I could see the layby with plenty of grass to lie on, beckoning me like a King size bed filled with desperate housewives. After only 10 minutes or so chilling out we set off again, fully refreshed. I hadn't appreciated, until then, just how important these stops could be.

In Edinburgh we encountered our first (and only) heavy traffic, at the Queensferry bridge. This only took around 10 minutes of filtering to get through and then it was off to Scotch Corner for some fresh coffee and cheese sarnies. I'd phoned my parents earlier and arranged to meet them at Scotch Corner at around 21:35 (the ETA from the GPS). At 21:32 we arrive and there were my parents with strong, fresh coffee, sandwiches and biscuits. Coffee has rarely tasted so good and I can't even describe the gap that the sandwiches filled. But after 15 minutes we were off again - full tanks and stomaches and less than 300 miles to go (!!).

The stretch to Northampton services was the hardest of the trip. At one point I tried sitting on the pillion seat to try and re-circulate the blood in my backside but I found it better to be in pain than too comfortable. Punching my left leg didn't help either as I managed to deaden it for about 5 minutes - no gear changes luckily. But, once we reached the services we knew it was essentially cracked. Steve already had his 1000 miles under his belt and I wasn't far off. A quick blast cross-country to the M40 took us to Cherwell Valley services and the end of the joint riding. Job done. No accidents, near misses, empty petrol tanks or falling asleep. With only around 70 miles to home I was sorted. With a wave goodbye Steve headed for Abingdon and I for the Droitwich.

Who turned out the lights?
After a couple of miles on the M40 I decided to speed up to see if it helped focus my mind. I knew I was around the 1000m mark and was perking up when, at 01:30 on Sunday morning, someone turned off the lights. At first I thought there'd been a power cut and that the motorway street lights had gone off. Then I realised that there weren't any street lights. Then I realised that the motorway was dark - very dark. Slowly and surely it dawned on my that I couldn't see anything because my headlight bulb had popped. Again. This is the fourth or fifth time it's happened on my bike in the last 2 years. (I've got a Portuguese import with only one of the two headlights used for normal use. The twin lights only kick in when I have full-beam on). Although I was tired I quickly realised that a lack of lights on the motorway in the dark was a bad thing and decided to pull over. As there were some cars around I mainly used the indicators to provide a slow-motion strobe lighting display of the hard shoulder. Luckily I had two spare bulbs in my panniers - but I had forgotten to bring a torch so there was no hope of fitting one. Deciding to try and think laterally I found some tape and an oily rag in one of the panniers and managed to fashion a very dodgy filter over the headlight unit, then flicked on the full-beam. This provided a 1 foot wide strip of fairly dim light onto the road, but only around 20 meters in front. I found that by riding close to the cats eyes I could make out enough of the motorway to drive safely. At Warwick services I pondered trying to change the bulb, but with only 30 minutes to go I couldn't muster the energy. So off it was on the final stretch, grinning from ear-to-ear every time I passed through a lit section of motorway.

Arriving home at around 02:30 I took the final odometer reading, had a glass of wine, and fell to sleep. Thoughts of a bun-burner (1,500m in 36 hours) drifted slowly by - thankfully I didn't wake in time to give it a try.

The day before the Saddlesore

2007-04-13T18:32:00.000Z

Tomorrow Steve (a friend from work) and I will attempt an IronButt Saddlesore - 1000 miles in less than 24 hours.

The dodgy map on the left shows the key points on the route...

Droitwich to Inverness (via Fort William), then back south along the A1 and M1, then cutting across to Bicester and then home.

Since Steve lives near Oxford he's going to see off an hour earlier than me and I'll meet him at around 06:15 at Frankley Services. At the end I'll finish around 1 hour after Steve so we'll both end up with a similar mileage.

I've started looking at bike SatNav units - so far the Zumo 550 seems the best (especially since the TomTom Rider appears to have been withdrawn - perhaps not waterproof enough?) The Zumo 550 is rated as IPX7 which means it can be submerged to 1 meter for 30 minutes - of course if you find yourself testing this claim with the unit still attached to your bike it's all gone horribly wrong!

So that is the plan - we're hoping to do this in under 22 hours - but we're also going to take it steady. We cycled a 162km Audax a few weeks back and, at around 10 hours overall, we were both shattered. So 22 hours it going to be very tiring.

Hopefully this will be good practice for my Europe trip in a couple of weeks. The plan at the moment is that I'll meet Toni (my wife) in Prague, having first ambled though some of Germany's national parks the week before. Then we go to Poland, Slovakia and back to Prague where she'll catch a flight back. I'm going to race the plane back on my bike (an ST1100 Honda Pan European).

Fingers crossed I'll write another post on Sunday - no doubt in the afternoon as I don't expect to be home until the early hours of Sunday morning.

Safe driving and great adventures,
Jon.