Dutchblog

George & pals head off shortly on a 6 week trans-Canada motorcycling adventure…

With no pre-planned route they intend taking each day as it comes & the whole trip will be recorded on their blog…

The BMW R1200GS’ are already en-route & personnel follow early next week….

Good luck everyone & have a great adventure….!

Now this looks like a whole lot of fun….find out all you need to know here….

Certainly seems to be a ‘little different’ from the average ‘bike trip to Africa….

Not at all sure I’ve got the right ‘bike for this but then again I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing next June….!

Now….I wonder if there are any places left….?

Our first overseas ‘bike trip together in over 2 years saw Gina & I take a leisurely 1282 mile tour to the Vosges region of north eastern France.

A combination of great biking roads, mostly decent weather and interesting overnight stops made this, my 59th overseas bike trip, one of our very best and certainly one to remember.

• Images may be found here.

Day One::Edinburgh to DFDS North Shields 121miles

Day Two::DFDS Ijmuiden (NL) to Pont Sur Sambre (F) 209 miles

We used mainly motorways to clear the Netherlands & Belgium before finding minor roads to end the day at a really nice Logis in Pont Sur Sambre in the Nord department of France. The accommodation itself was situated in a 19th century townhouse made all the more interesting by the current owner’s hand-painted murals and decoration which obviously took many hundreds of hours to complete. The excellent restaurant was a 200 yard stroll to the centre of the village.

Day Three::Pont Sur Sambre (F) to Andelot-Blancheville (F) 192 miles

Our planned route today relied almost totally on local back roads and took us through great scenery & picturesque French towns & villages. Despite deviating more than once due to somewhat dodgy GPS instructions (and operator error!) we arrived at our next pre-booked Logis at Andelot-Blancheville in plenty of time for cold beers on the terrace before having to take shelter from the most torrential downpour we’ve seen for a while.

Day Four::Andelot-Blancheville (F) to Ban De Laveline (F) 221 miles

Having passed through the Vosges region on previous trips to France I remembered that there were loads of great biking roads over numerous Cols. An early start today ensured we had plenty of time to get to tonight’s Logis at Ban De Laveline.

We headed east on local roads, through some great open countryside and picturesque valley towns before ascending Col du Ballon from north to south. This was followed in fairly slow succession by Col du Hunsdruck, Col de Herrenflun & Col du Silberloch before ascending Grand Ballon. The road linking all these peaks together is known as Route des Cretes (road of the peaks).  We then passed over Col de la Schlucht, Col du Wettstein & Col du Bonhomme before descending a little through Ste. Marie Aux Mines before heading westwards to our overnight stop.

Travelling today’s roads was really the purpose of the whole trip & we were not disappointed. The roads were steep & twisty, the views breathtaking and the weather warm and sunny. The bike handled brilliantly under all conditions despite being two-up and fully laden. We stopped a few times for photo’s but none really do justice to the panoramic views and we’ll have to rely on our memories to relive the best of today’s experiences.

Day Five::Ban De Laveline (F) to Givet (F) 207 miles

We began the homeward leg of the trip in heavy rain which eased as we headed through St Die and gave way to warm sunshine as we wound our way along minor roads through the towns and villages en-route to our last night’s Logis in Givet, only a mile or so from the Belgian border. We’d pre-booked Hotel Val St Hillaire right on the banks of the Meuse which proved to be a particularly nice location to spend our last night in France.

We sat on the riverside terrace sampling the Kriek cherry beer (NOT to our taste it has to be said!) before wandering into the town square for dinner.

Day Six::Givet (F) to DFDS Ijmuiden (NL) 210 miles

We’d originally planned to simply return to Ijmuiden by the quickest routes but an early start to the day meant we had about eight hours to get back to catch the ferry home. I devised a route which excluded all but about 20 miles of motorway and took us through Belgium & the Netherlands on the more interesting minor roads.

We crossed the Lek at Schoonhoven via the ferry before stopping at the excellent riverside restaurant for lunch.

We stayed on back roads for the last leg of the trip which ensured we arrived at Ijmuiden just as we were required to board the ferry home.

Day Seven::DFDS North Shields (NL) to Edinburgh 122 miles

Just returned from my 58th overseas motorcycle trip since 1983 which went something like this:

• Images may be found here.

Day One::Edinburgh to DFDS North Shields 121 miles

Day Two::DFDS Ijmuiden (NL) to Herzberg-Sieber (D) 375 miles
After leaving the ferry at Ijmuiden a little after 10am I made use of the extensive Dutch motorway system to head east into Germany as quickly as possible.

My idea was to stay in a pre-booked Gasthaus in the Harz mountains after visiting the famous dams at Mohne, Sorpe & Eder en-route.

However delays caused by roadworks & frequent stops to re-hydrate because of the extremely hot weather meant that I was running about 2 hours late by the time I arrived at the the first dam, Mohne.

The roads in the area were very congested & a fair crowd of visitors meant I didn’t bother to stop for photo’s or at the second dam, Sorpe, some 10 miles away.

I decided to skip Eder altogether as I still had over 170 miles to my first night’s stop at Haus Iris.

Day Three::Herzberg-Sieber (D) to Erding (D) 310 miles

A much better biking day, although still fairly hot, accomplished almost entirely on minor country roads, through great scenery. I’d booked another Gasthous for tonight at Erding, about 20 miles to the east of Munich.

Day Four::Erding (D) to Kahl am Main (D) 238 miles

After an early start I visited BMW Welt & the newly refurbished BMW Museum in the northern suburbs of Munich before heading north & west through Dachau (without revisiting the POW camp memorial site), again mainly on minor country roads to my last overnight stop in Germany at Kahl am Main, a small town to the south east of Frankfurt.

Day Five::Kahl am Main (D) to DFDS Ijmuiden (NL) 307 miles

With over 300 miles to cover in time to catch the afternoon ferry back to Newcastle I relied mainly on the motorways in Germany & the Netherlands to ensure I arrived in Ijmuiden in plenty of time. Again the temperatures were in the mid 30’s(c) and humidy very high.

Day Six::DFDS North Shields-Edinburgh 121 miles

The uneventful return crossing arrived back in the UK on time and I was greeted by damp misty weather which didn’t clear until well into Scotland.

My first overseas trip on the RT ended in brilliant sunshine some 1472 miles & six days after I set off.

The bike proved itself once again as the most versatile long distance tourer and hopefully I’ll be able squeeze in another decent trip before packing Tim off to uni in September, who knows!