Sadly I only had a short time in Bologna but it is worth a revisit. In the morning my objective was pretty simple, to ride to Munich. It was easy to get out of Bologna as it is not too large a city. The motorway was pretty busy but there was reasonable dicipline. It was two lane and I got into a rythm of overtaking the lorries while letting the faster cars pass me and it worked well and we made good progress. It was tempting to go into Verona as I passed but as I still had a long way to go and was not sure how the road would be as we started to climb towards Austria as it can sometimes be jammed up, I gave it a miss.
The views either side of the motorway north of Verona has got to be one of the most scenic stretches of countryside around a major highway. The castles, churches, villages abound and you can feast your eye on them as well as minding the traffic of course. You will have to ride this stretch yourself or use your imagination as photos were not possible on this busy road. We did have a stop at one point for a very unusual reason. There was some repair being done with an electrical cable and both sides of the motorway were stopped, while a helicopter carried a cable from one pilon to the next, right across the motorway. It only took about 10 mins and was handled efficiently and we were soon waved on.*
Soon after this it started to rain a little, and looking ahead at the mountains there were grey clouds, so I put on the dreaded waterproofs again. I oped to go through Garmish instead of staying on the motorway which proved a mistake as the GPS took me down a little twisty road and past a couple of lakes. It was a lovely bikers road, but not in the rain, however I then gon on the autobahn and arriving into Munich. I had a little errand to do just after the motorway finished and then went across the city to the Olympic park as I had a museum to visit. The museum was the BMW museum which seemed an appropriate place to take in on a trip like this. Sadly I was slightly underwhelmed by the museum. I had visited the Porsche museum a few years ago and was impressed with how is was layed out, and it told the story of the marque in a logical way. I found the BMW layout somewhat confusing. Of course the range is more complex with the need to display, 4 wheel, 2 wheel and aero products. I've driven and ridden the BMW products for nearly 30 years but it was not easy to follow the theme of the museum, if there was a theme. The other factor which may have been at play, was that I had been riding one of their products most of the day and was not in the freshest frame of mind to take it all in. Maybe it is worth another visit and as I expect to be back in October this year, I would have a chance to go again.
It rained all night in Munich and the bike was outside, which at least may wash off some of the Turkish pigeon droppings. The rain seemed to ease in the morning and I did not rush to leave. I would soon regret this delay, as when I loaded the bike it started to rain again and soon it was pouring heavily. Just the sort of weather you don't want when negotiating the traffic in a major city, however I just had to get on with it. I was thinking of the towns near Munich who had been flooded recently and that this rain may be a more serious issue for them than for me, just getting wet. I got out of Munich in the end and on to the A8 heading west. I was planning to avoid Stuttgart this time as the traffic and roadworks on that route was awful on the way down. I turned north at Ulm and the GPS worked out a route to take me to Mainz again. I have friends there and hoped to catch up with a few before leaving the next day for the ferry to Dover. As well as being wet on leaving Munich it, was cold and I had kept in my fingreless gloves but covered by waterproof mittens. With riding in the rain my fingers got cold and on one finger on the left hand I lost the feeling at the tip and even massaging it did not recover it. *I think a leak in the waterproof glove may have contributed to this but there was nothing else for it I would have to stop and dig out my warmer gloves. These were a pleasure to put on and my finger recovered quickly.*
It was good to get to Mainz and sit outside my friends pub in the sunshine and warm up, chatting about how the new pub is going and about the trip. Then off to the Ibis Hotel in the city and was offered free underground parking by the manager as I am a regular customer. Once showered I had a walk around the town:-
Mainz is a historic university town and the cathedral, the Dom, dominates the main square.
There are a lot of sculptures in the city and these cupes illustrate the history of the town. This one shows, on the top, the timbers of a Roman boat recovered from the Rhein river which runs through the city and the real boat is in the city museum.
On the side of this cube is a typeface which points to the development of printing in Mainz by Johannes Gutenberg in the 1450s. The big development was the use of movable type and a process for reproducing the wooden hand carved characters in metal. This made printing much quicker and to a consistent high quality.
After a meal with a friend, the evening ended with a visit to an old haunt, the Irish Pub, which I've been visiting for nearly 20 years. The pub is in a basement and a great venue for music, but sadly tonight was Karaoke and I had not brought ear plugs. Over a few Guinness I chatted with a friend running the bar that night and handed over the Iranian fridge magnet he asked me for, as I passed through a month earlier.
As I had a long ride tomorrow the evening had to end and walked back to the hotel.
In the morning I booked my return ferry, using DFDS, on the Dunkerque - Dover route. The ride to the ferry was pretty good with no major delays not even around Brussels. When leaving from Mainz I normally book an 18:00 ferry with the expectation of making the 16:00. This allows me to get home to Hampshire around 19:30. Despite some confusion over the signing to the new Dunkerque ferry terminal, I made it in time for the 16:00. Again the ride home was OK for a Friday evening and I parked the bike with great pleasure on the drive after a very satisfactory trip, my longest ever at 8,152 miles.
After over 8,000 miles the rear Tourance tyre is looking remarkably fresh.
I had been using an Delorme inReach Explorer two-way satellite communicator with GPS for this trip, and I used it to send it's final message that I had arrived safely at my destination for the day.
Having completed the trip and within the estimated time, I'm now delighted that I had chosen Iran as the destination this year. It's distance from the UK provided a sufficient challenge in covering the 8,000 miles particularly on a medium size bike in a month. Iran itself was a fascinating destination and many in the UK though I was mad to think of going there on a bike, and on my own. There were concerns about my security with terrorism and possible problems with official in Iran. Although I did not have these concerns the anxiety of other did weigh on me at times and it was that when I arrived in Iran I found these concerns groundless. In fact the welcome I recieved from the Iranian people was excellent and I felt very relaxed in their country. I believe I was more at risk in Turkey and not long after I left Istanbul a bomb did explode to underline the risk. Of course travelling by bike has inherent risks as well as wonderful advantages. There were 2 occasions where I may have had a problem, one when I encountered gravel on a corner and the other where I attempted a U turn on a busy road, not my wisest decision. The rest of the time I was quite safe on the bike and felt it was a great vehicle for this journey. The next question is where next, if I want to start and finish a significant journey from Hampshire.
As for the ride report, I've enjoyed sharing it with so many of you and getting feedback. Writing in the evening is a way for me to reflect on the day and while travelling on your own helps me to feel less isolated. It can however be an onorous task and I am not the quickest at typing and trying to proofread. I know my proofreading or spelling is not 100% but try not let that get in the way of the flow of my thoughts. I try to be reasonable honest and not to censor myself too much and let the text flow. It seems that approach works for most of you and I'm grateful for the positive comments and for the withholding of the negative ones. I also appreciate that while I was in Iran nothing contentious was posted here, as I was not aware if the authorities were possibly reading this too, as it would not have taken them too long to identify me.
I'll add a technical section on the bike and equipment I used in a few days for those interested.
