Tuesday evening / Wednesday daytime Cold evening in Arabba - and wet / rain soon after we arrived Hotel in Arabba In the morning it was pouring with rain again, so after a late breakfast we headed out via the Pass du Pordoi - as we climbed the rain soon turned to snow and there was plnety of snow either side of the road. At the top of the pass it was thick / heavy snow but road stayed clear. Once over the top and you drop a few hundred feet the snow turns to rain. We dropped down the pass and paid almost €1.80 a litre for fuel - our leader does not look out for cheap fuel - just buys it wherever needed. Continuing down we got to the Autostrada between Bolzano and Brixen and stoppd to discuss route - it was about 12:30 and we were in sun now. We had all said 'we want an easy day and good time to arrive' - we had two options on route, one via autostrada and busy single carriageway for 30 mins then through nature park into Livigno, or another route which we were told was 'A roads but not much further' Leader decided to take orginal route - I did not check map I was carrying which while it covers whole of Europe has heights of passes and arrows etc. to show how steep they are. We did the first pass (think its the Tonnel) which was tight, Em's front pads ran out on the R6 - we did not stop at top where there were loads of bars / restaurants but triedthe last hotel in town on teh way out - and it was dead. By the time everyone off bikes, lids off walk in turns round its 20 mins gone. I know everyone is different but sometimes a can of coke and a sandwich / pastry in teh town square is so much quicker / easier. On the next pass (which took ages to get to) we hit the bad weather Def a picture for RiDE magazine I think Click on image below to open video of the top of the mountain pass / snow storm! The road was just starting to go white in a few sheltered places so we were lucky - but its a tight pass and progress slow - they are also hard work. Snow gives way to rain and we have to stop for a bite to eat - lucky find as most of the town was empty. We then found that the intended pass to take to get to Livigno was closed, so we had to go another route (longer) and take another pass - everyone at this point just saying 'we want an easy, quick route to the hotel, its late we are tired. View at top of next pass Shows amount of fresh snow The R6 had by now totally run out of front brakes so we stopped to ask for help at local garage He could not help but gave the address of a small dealer in next town who could help - 3 bikes went there, 2 (inc. me) headed for hotel. Steve on the Triumph was really fed up with the passes and did not want to do another - showed him map and said 'sorry mate, there is one more we must do - no option' so we took our time Heading into Lovigno the main bridge was out, but 'Hacked off Steve' found a detour in as per this video We arrived at about 19:00 as snow started to fall Others arrived about 20:30 in whiteout and were covered in snow on jackets etc. Very quiet dinner - everyone just tired, fed up with weather and another long and tough day - too long a route when people have asked for an easy day
Thursday morning We awoke to the final flakes of heavy overnight snowfall - town had been turned to look like the ski resort it is as below: Depth of snow from car roof One good thing about Livigno is that petrol is cheap €1.12 a litre - the bad thing was we filled up 50 miles before at €1.85 - I checked computer at previous stop and t almost did not fil up but thought I'd better not risk it, and we did not know petrol was cheap. What was not cheap was the €10 toll to ride over this dam to leave the province On leaving Livigno we split - 4 were to be away for a full 2 weeks and head to Mugello then home the second week. Me and Em on the R6 were to take 4 days via Switzerland, Germany and the Black forrest to get home Sunday. In Switzerland we took a pass into Davos - clear at bottom but like before snow , loads of snow on top - visor iced up on inside and out, white out and cloud and almost no vis at top section. Road at top was only clear through tyre tracks of cars in places - not good. From Davos it was through Klosters to Vaduz and Gams - had stopped raining finally. We were too tight to pay €40 for 1 day of motorway use so used A roads all the way through Switzerland into Germany - no satnav, just trusty maps and placenames on road signs - works well. Stopped in Titisee off the b500 for Thursday night - warm dry sunny evening so really hoped for a good day on the Friday to take the B500 to Baden Baden, then some autobahn up to Trier.
Friday After great previous evening weather woke to pouring rain - after a steady breakfast we decided to try the B500 in the hope it may lift / pass but weather got worse and cloud decended (or we went up hills...) Checked maps and decided to break for Autobhan at Offenbach and head up towards Trier. Felt it took ages to get to motorway and once on it just did 80 - 90 in constant heavy rain. Pulled into Services to warm up and found ourselves parked up wtih 2 Dakar riders with even more luggage than me - they spoke no English so could not speak with thim ColinBR has checked the entry number and it matches bike type You may joke about carrying Hi-Vis jacket but I throw one in the luggage - knowing the tail lights on the R6 did not like the wet Em used it and it really helps - will def. carry it in future as you simply never know - also think of the Triumph breakdown, that could have happened in the dark on unlit autobahn... By Kaiserslauten the rain had stopped so we did B roads into Trier and got in at about 18:00 to stay at a good quality Youth Hostel - def. cheaper than hotel Trier is most northerly town the Romans setttled / built in and these are the ruins Parked up in Hostel
Saturday Finally, a dry / sunny morning - great as almost home.... With not such a huge distance we headed to the local Heine Gerik to see what they had and found the following bike Had some interesting crash bobbins / sliders which I have not seen before - anyone seen these before / verdict? Headed out of Trier and after both doing 165 miles on a tank of juice and a refill headed to Bastogne - very historic site Quick coffee there and then some cracking D roads over to Carigan near Sedan and had a bike of cake! From Carigan / Sedan headed towards Cambrai up a fast but arrow straight D road - good progress but a bit dull The Pre-Booked hotel cheap but a bit dull - managed to get fuel at €1.51 a litre from supermarket ready for the morning run to the tunnel (knowing that services fuel is mega € and it was not so far. Sunday Really good weather for ride up to tunnel and soon on the 09:00 crossing to wobble over to Folkstone - Holiday plate removed for UK leg... always depressing moment Called into Kev's for a bike swap - for an old bike with a dodgy past and zero prep. it had done well, never failed to start / conk out and only needed brake pads and some oil and once fully topped up the consumption dropped so it only used a litre in 2,500 miles - also pants weather = not ragged as much as you would expect. Leaving after top breakfast The M25 is always pants after riding in France, but managed to make it Milton Keynes for 14:00 and called in at mates house to watch the GP from Mugello, and managed to stop my mates on the start / finish straight in the Tuscan sunshine. Had heard reports of the partying with the Italians we had met previous year and a good weekend had by all. Home via Cat and Fiddle Then direct to jet wash after unloading luggage to get the first blast of crap off bike - it was minging but apart from head bearings never missed a beat and used almost no oil. It needs the air filter cleaned (K&N) now and maybe an oil change but that's it - will get them done when head bearings done perhaps as it must have done almost 6,000 miles this year since oil change in March.
Overall Thoughts / Review This was not the best trip - all really caused by the weather which impacted onto other things. Breakdowns before the tunnel gave us late start next day, rain from hell on Sunday = breakdown and even later arrival Sunday night at hotel drenched Trying to dry out kit in hotel room Sunday night With a group you always get different ideas / thoughts on start times etc. - to me having breakfast at 09:00 is too late, you don't hit the road till 10:00 - 10:30 and I feel half the morning done. We then suffered with late arrivals at Hotels - I think you really need to aim to arrive by 18:00 latest I was not involved in the planning of this trip and joined a 2 week trip for first week - as it worked out moving on each day was tiring as I know from previous trips - the other part of the group had 3 days at Mugello to recover (and sunshine) while we kept moving. Pre-booked hotels via booking.com are good as its by far the cheapest but does leave you with fixed locations, however we should have had 'backup' routes for bad weather days and used them. I've not worked out full cost but think its around £800 for the trip - maybe a bit more and think we had 2 maybe 3 good days - I don't count the final day of motorway in sun as a decent ride. The group who did it over 2 weeks have had perfect weather since we split on the Thursday morning with amazing pictures - they spend 3 nights at campsite in a cabin in Brienz in Switzerland with BBQ's under blue skies / sunsets then b500 in perfect weather up to ferry from Holland to Newcastle on the Saturday night. I'd be interested in what they have spent mind in total as I know everyone felt we going through Euros at a rate of just over €100 a day. You have prob. seen reports about the flooding in Germany etc. - that is the weather we went through This is Titisee on Thursday evening how it should have been the next day but was terrible How could it have been better You can't change the weather and date was set by the Mugello MotoGP race - normally that week is perfect - passes all open, warm / hot and good weather. Checking with group they are OK with route when you pull of Autobahn etc. in pouring rain I'd have said 'lets get back on Motorway and just stick it out' - best way to make progress and safer. Had we had 2 or 3 nights in Zell am See we could have done a couple of day trips over GrossGlokner - also then eaten in / enjoyed town. I think its a great base for a bike trip with bike dealers if needed and good roads / historical sites near by. For money saving there is a great camp site on the lake shore with washing machines etc. and bar / cafe. (don't laugh but being able to refresh the contents of your luggage in one hit while having a beer is priceless!) Keeping costs down - There is a willingness and ability to pay for stuff and a line where the willingness is crossed - €3.50 for a glass of post mix coke is over that line. few minutes spent in a supermarket and carrying a few supplies saves loads and does add up. Also fuel up in large towns ideally at supermarkets as like the UK this is cheapest fuel. Beer in bars / with meals was daft price €5.60 for a 500ml glass of beer at a 'Harvester' type place is crazy Heated Grips kept me sane - I think we all either had them or heated gloves and without it not sure we'd have got through the bad days You see some amazing sights in Europe - and some shocking ones too This register was still in use! Carrying some tools is really handy - this is a £6.99 Aldi 'Motorcyclists toolkit' and other than a 90' driver is brilliant. We used my £8.99 Boyz Toyz multitool as the driver with this kit. Breakdown cover - you must have this - you just never know what 'could' happen Use maps to plan - I'll try and add some routes in a bit but I kick myself for not getting the map out of Europe to see the route we took over the snow pass into Livigno - we could have avoided that, had a much quicker and easier route in, spent some time in Livigno before the snow came down. Having a 'fixer' in the UK to contact / text to ask for things like main dealer addresses / book hotels is dead handy Cleaning bike (or starting to) and end of trip When people are tired tempers get frayed! We had one fall out on the Wednesday evening (not me involved) but you just need to know its people fed up, short tempered, frustrated But you get some amazing views: GrossGlokner was a highlight Gerlos pass also great - not as tight and twisty as others and empty
Wow! Amazing trip and great write-up, Al. Love the pics, too! It's events like the ones you had that make trips into adventures and you'll have some good stories to swap and look back on. Deffo get the snow pic into RiDE mag too! We did Davos-Stelvio the same week a few years ago and had snow but thankfully the road was clear and it wasn't snowing at the time: Thankfully we headed south on our trip this time so dodged a bullet, but was surprised to see some of the Cols between Turin and Briançon closed last week as didn't see snow apart from looking up towards the higher elevations. Worth looking at late June to start Euro roadtrips in future!
Also empathise with you on the price of petrol in Italy. France was €1.54-€1.59 but Italy was €1.74-€1.85. Couple that with the stupid prepay machines at the usually-unmanned petrol stations in Italy meant that you either had to underfill or overpay. Makes no wonder their economy is in such a sh-t state if they can't even be arsed to man a kiosk!
Added the review of the final days to previous posts so have a re-read through - may add maps / routes some time as know people will be interested in how route worked out. Total mileage was just shy of 2,700 miles in 9 days Also meant to add - wish I had put the baffle back in before trip - its only when you pull the clutch in a coast at say 80 - 90 for a few seconds you know just how annoying / buzzing it becomes.
Interesting thoughts on costs and plans, Al. It's always going to be harder sorting things out between a group of you, probably a bit like herding cats at times..!? re: hotels and plans, booking.com are pretty good at offering free cancellation options (more so than hotels.com, Expedia et al, I've found), and it's usually for the same price or just a little more to give you the flexibility to tweak your route after you've set off. Alternatively don't book anything other than a couple of key ones and then wing it, which is very liberating but needs buy-in from the whole group. As you know France is great for doing that as there's thousands of Accor group hotels so you're never far from a cheap, comfortable, clean room (unless you've found an F1 hotel!!) France is also the best for supermarket petrol - something we've never really found in Italy or Germany. Another great use of a Garmin: finding supermarket petrol!
I know - was a hotel in centre of Titisee about a really good little cafe - did not spot the horror within till paid for, but was clean so just laughed about it. The others are just on the ferry and the Triumph (or Cripple as its now known) has broken down - run out of electricity so prob. regulator / rectifier or battery gone, they pushed it onto ferry and have recovery booked for Newcastle to meet them and get them home!
Great write and a hell of an adventure. Lots of good pics and advice given. Thanks for sharing, such a pity re the weather/breakdowns
Cheers all - hopefully others can remember a few things from it - I don't there was one thing (other than a can of tyre weld) that I took that I did not need on that trip Power feed under seat once again invaluable with outlet fed into bag side pocket, as phones ran low in rain at garage topped them up.
Just seen that my mate on his S1000r crashed into a road closed barrier mid week - makes my £800 for 2 days look 'fair' His bike almost looks better now mind!
Rider is fine - he knew the pass was closed and was just having a run to the barrier, turn round and back down, rounded corner and momentary lapse / barrier had bright snow behind it meant he did not see till last moment - major ABS moment and hit at 10mph - gaffer tape and he rode back , just a bit more wind blast. Tried to be honest with write up - its more to highlight the 'what can happen' so folk who are maybe planning a trip can get pointers being the 'new' BMW getting 2nd hand parts is not easy - bike is stripped and its just plastics - nothing marked so with new plastics will never know and insurance not involved. He left quite a dent in the barrier mind!
Thats kept me busy Al. I have never done a euro road trip but very much enjoyed reading that. Quite a test of character at times too.
