My roadtrip
Tags: roadtrip motorcycle Eifel Mosel Austria Italy Germany Stelvio AlpsBack in april I took my (t)rusty old 1990 Honda CBR600F on a (little) roadtrip which took me through Germany, France, Austria and Italy in four days, adding up to around 2700 km.
Saturday, April 17 Day 1:
Here's my route (520 km) that took me to Eifelhotel Daun, Daun, Germany.
The hotel sits on top of a hill just outside of town and has a number of garages where guests can park their bikes. The hotel is owned by a Dutch couple who're both riders as well (both own a Buell 1125R).
Road conditions on a lot of the country roads were pretty bad because of frost damage after this year's winter, plenty of potholes, bumps and what not, but still a LOT of fun.
It does make me wonder whether or not to invest in replacement front and rear springs/shocks - the engine still appears to be going strong after more than 100k km but the suspension's a bit weak.
Day 2: route (297 km)
Before heading south towards Saarbrücken I first enjoyed the twisties near the Mosel river closeby
I stopped for a late dinner at Auberge du Château in Walschbronn in France (interesting to see all these German town names, but with all other signs in French).
Another guest at the restaurant gave me the number of a hotel in Bitche, a nearby town, but nobody answered (afterall it was already close to 23:00) and because my French is even worse than my German I decided to drive on for a bit and try my luck at Hotel Haus Waldesruh in Eppenbrun, just over te border in Germany.
Made it just in time, they just turned of the outside lights getting ready to call it a night when I pulled up.
There too I could park my bike indoors in a garage.
Day 3: route (436km)
After breakfast I headed off crossing through France towards Baden-Baden where I started up on B500 (Schwarzwalder Hochstrasse) which goes all the way through the Black Forest.
Stopped over for lunch at Schwanenwasen.
Ended up staying at Hotel Austria in Hörbranz, just across the border into Austria from Lindau.
Day 4: route
The plan was to head for the Stelvio pass in northern Italy through country roads in Austria across the Alps.
At some point around 1800m altitude I had to stop to put on a sweater because it was getting too cold.
Later on in Italy it was getting rather warm.
Unfortunately it was still a bit too early in the season for Stelvio/Stilfserjoch roads to be open, so I turned back around 13:30
Next stop was going to be Füssen, just across the Austrian-German border and decide whether or not to head for the autobahn home or find a place for the evening.
At some point I rode into a tunnel under a blue sky, to emerge on the other side of the mountain into pouring rain.
Because my the trip had been eating away at my rear tire's threads more than I had anticipated and the forecast included more rain, I decided to cover as much ground as I could once I had dry road under my tires.
I left Füssen around 19:00 and arrived home around 3:00, doing mostly highways, only stopping for gas
This last day was extreme, even for me, almost enough to qualify for an ironbutt membership
I would love to do more trips like this (300-500km/day), avoiding highways but I don't know anyone that's into that kind of riding, so unless that changes I'll be making more solo trips like this in the future, with the exception to the last day's madness, I won't repeat that anytime soon.
All in all I had a great time.
Here's my route (520 km) that took me to Eifelhotel Daun, Daun, Germany.
The hotel sits on top of a hill just outside of town and has a number of garages where guests can park their bikes. The hotel is owned by a Dutch couple who're both riders as well (both own a Buell 1125R).
Road conditions on a lot of the country roads were pretty bad because of frost damage after this year's winter, plenty of potholes, bumps and what not, but still a LOT of fun.
It does make me wonder whether or not to invest in replacement front and rear springs/shocks - the engine still appears to be going strong after more than 100k km but the suspension's a bit weak.
Day 2: route (297 km)
Before heading south towards Saarbrücken I first enjoyed the twisties near the Mosel river closeby
I stopped for a late dinner at Auberge du Château in Walschbronn in France (interesting to see all these German town names, but with all other signs in French).
Another guest at the restaurant gave me the number of a hotel in Bitche, a nearby town, but nobody answered (afterall it was already close to 23:00) and because my French is even worse than my German I decided to drive on for a bit and try my luck at Hotel Haus Waldesruh in Eppenbrun, just over te border in Germany.
Made it just in time, they just turned of the outside lights getting ready to call it a night when I pulled up.
There too I could park my bike indoors in a garage.
Day 3: route (436km)
After breakfast I headed off crossing through France towards Baden-Baden where I started up on B500 (Schwarzwalder Hochstrasse) which goes all the way through the Black Forest.
Stopped over for lunch at Schwanenwasen.
Ended up staying at Hotel Austria in Hörbranz, just across the border into Austria from Lindau.
Day 4: route
The plan was to head for the Stelvio pass in northern Italy through country roads in Austria across the Alps.
At some point around 1800m altitude I had to stop to put on a sweater because it was getting too cold.
Later on in Italy it was getting rather warm.
Unfortunately it was still a bit too early in the season for Stelvio/Stilfserjoch roads to be open, so I turned back around 13:30
Next stop was going to be Füssen, just across the Austrian-German border and decide whether or not to head for the autobahn home or find a place for the evening.
At some point I rode into a tunnel under a blue sky, to emerge on the other side of the mountain into pouring rain.
Because my the trip had been eating away at my rear tire's threads more than I had anticipated and the forecast included more rain, I decided to cover as much ground as I could once I had dry road under my tires.
I left Füssen around 19:00 and arrived home around 3:00, doing mostly highways, only stopping for gas
This last day was extreme, even for me, almost enough to qualify for an ironbutt membership
I would love to do more trips like this (300-500km/day), avoiding highways but I don't know anyone that's into that kind of riding, so unless that changes I'll be making more solo trips like this in the future, with the exception to the last day's madness, I won't repeat that anytime soon.
All in all I had a great time.
