Loooong Euro Trip - Dribblers on Tour

[MartinK]

Just back from a marathon 4730 mile tour of Europe over 24 days. I thought I would share some of it here in case it interests or helps anyone...

It's the same group of 4 that have enjoyed quite a few Euro trips in the past - for those in the BMW Club, we were also in the Sept 2022 magazine for our Spain and Portugal tour last year.

Three of the guys are from Central Scotland, and I'm Cumbria area...

We met at Burger King, Morpeth on Friday 21st April 2023, and made off to join the ferry (Newcastle to Amsterdam)...

We had allocated 10 days to get from Amsterdam to Bari (our route was approx 1750 miles)...This was our approximate planned route:

Waiting to board Ferry in Newcastle

 

[MartinK]

The first day "on the Continent" was really about getting clear of the urban sprawl, and flat countryside of Holland and Belgium, and getting to the good motorcycling roads of North Germany. Our ferry docked in Amsterdam. It was a fairly uneventful ride to Koblenz. I had tried to find accommodation in Cochem but struggled to find rooms. We all had NAV6, and I had pre-prepared routes on basecamp before we left. Sometimes we used the pre-built routes, sometimes we varied them. The four NAV6's, even on the same settings and the same basecamp routes often varied considerably "on the day".

We arrived in Koblenz for our first beer. From memory about 250 miles We had pre-booked the City-Hotel Kurfürst Balduin because it was central, and had secure parking. The bar we selected had blankets for old tossers like us

 

[MartinK]

Now the proper motorcycling started. We packed up, and headed off on damp roads, but the overnight rain had fortunately stopped.

Today's route had a selection of "best biking roads" and some awesome scenery:

The roads were drying as we passed the beautiful Cochem. Some fabulous roads, and lovely villages on the way to Freiburg:

We had a nice mooch around Freiburg that evening, and found some busy bars with a great atmosphere. There had been a football game that day and the supporters were out in force, but it all felt so friendly...

 

[MartinK]

It was now Monday 24th April, and our 3rd day "on the Continent". Today's plan was Freiburg to Fussen:

More great roads. We had quite a big day in terms of motorcycling. As we started out from Freiburg towards Todtnau, the road was spectacular, but still damp under the trees. A car wanted to "play" and kept trying to push us into chasing-on faster and faster. Further on, a road closure sent the NAV6's into meltdown. We were using MESH2 for group comms, and constantly comparing the madness of the NAV6 route recalculations!!! However the roads in Germany were fabulous. Away from towns and cities we could make "good progress" once the tarmac dried.

That night we arrived as planned in Fussen. None of us had visited before. It's a very pretty town, a bit touristy. Well worth a visit though. We stayed at the Best Western there. Again, centrally located and underground secure parking for the bikes.

Some random pics of Fussen:

and the Gothic castle, Hohes Schloss from the other side:

 

[MartinK]

It was now Tuesday 25th April, and our 4th "on the Continent" day. Our plan was to leave Fussen, cross into Italy, and to Rive del Garda on the Italian Lakes...

The Route:

I would heartily recommend this route, especially the latter end. It was a lovely day in the saddle, with great views and some cracking roads.

I snipped a bit of GoPro footage just after we left Fussen. It was always cool in the mornings, and occasionally we woke to see fresh snow on the summits of the higher mountains.

My bike at the Italy Border:

Some famous and fascinating places in the mountains:

The famous bell tower in the Lake of Reschen - Lago di Resia in South Tyrol, Italy​

We had not pre-booked accommodation, but we found a fabulous small hotel "Albergo alle Porte" in the middle of Riva - https://www.albergoalleporte.it/en - they had secure parking for the bikes, but it was a couple of streets away...

 

[MartinK]

We had made good progress. We had always planned a "contingency day" in case of awful weather or mechanical issues. So far so good. We are about halfway to Bari, and our planned Ferry on Monday 1st May.

So we had a day off, with no motorcycling, and enjoyed the beautiful Riva del Garda

 

[MartinK]

Feeling mostly revived after our rest day, we headed off again. It gets harder to plan good routes as you head South through Italy - especially as we wanted to continue to avoid motorways. This one worked out OK, but we found there was a lot of boring flat, industrial countryside between the Italian Lakes and Tuscany. Trying to make the most of the best tarmac, we followed this route:

From memory this was the first hot day. The midday sun made it pretty warm in the protective motorcycle kit, and stopping and walking about laden with bike clothing and helmets was a sweaty affair!

That night we had very odd accommodation. It was a Hostel! "The Antica Filanda di Santa Sofia Hostel is located in the heart of the Casentinesi and Campigna Forests National Park, in the center of a charming village in the Romagna hills rich in history and popular traditions." If you want more details: https://www.ostelloanticafilanda.it/antica_filanda_hostel-77.html

The staff opened up the hostel just for us, but later there were another 2 or 3 guests arrived. It was basic accommodation but that was OK with us! There was no food onsite, but the proprietor arranged for us to have breakfast in the bar next door. That evening we found a lovely traditional Italian restaurant (we were quite a way off the ain tourist trails) and ate lovely pizza and pasta cheaply! The proprietor made their own Limoncello on the premises, served almost frozen it was gorgeous!

 

[Monsieur]

Sounds a fantastic trip! Great photos and maps - thanks

 

[MartinK]

Now we had just 3.5 days to get to Bari, but wanted to make the most of it...

Today we planned to see some of the pretty towns of Tuscany. We chose Cortona and Montepulciano.

This was the planned route:

Again we followed some lovely quiet rural roads, but still able to maintain a decent average speed.

As none of our pictures do justice to Montepulciano, I have pinched this web pic:

Montepulciano is the Tuscany village you would imagine. Very pretty, but also very much a tourist trap. By the time we got there, the heat of the day was upon us, so walking around was a sweaty affair. We made a bad decision on food at lunchtime, and ordered 4 lasagne in a touristy restaurant - it was expensive and awful. We still devoured it as we were hungry! After an ice cream we were back on the road.

Only about 150 miles today, but we did spend some considerable time exploring Cortona and Montepulciano.

We ended the day's riding in Orvieto. It proved to be a pretty town too! We used the Hotel Picchio - http://www.hotelpicchio.it/ - which proved well-located and a fair price. That evening we had a mooch around Orvieto, and a nice steak meal...

Typical Montepulciano street:

Good Feed! Evening dinner in Orvieto

Is this faster than a GS? Maybe it felt so after a few beers

 

[MartinK]

We were now getting a long way South in Italy. If you want to avoid motorways and see some lovely scenery it is a long way! Today we left Orvieto, but travelled through two amazing National Parks. Some of the roads were first class, with awesome scenery.

The route:

We stopped at the Roman Amphitheatre of Amiternum, next to L'Aquila

Group Shot:


The National Parks had amazing biking roads. Some of the best we had on the whole trip.

Eventually we arrived in Castel di Sangro. There was a big motorcycle trials event taking place, and the main town was busy. They had some sort of presentation but none of us spoke enough Italian...



Again our accommodation was a Hostel. No breakfast in the hostel, but we were given a voucher for breakfast in a cafe across the road... This was the place: https://bebilpostale.it/

 

[Khulu]

Looks a great trip and so early in the season too!

I've been caught in snow in the Dolomites at the end of May before so you did really well.

 

[MartinK]

Bari (and our Ferry to Greece) were only a day's ride away now.

However we had time in hand, and preferred not to stay in a large port town, so instead we decided to have a short motorcycle tour to an Italian seaside town. Manfredonia is only about 3 hours North of Bari, so we headed there, leaving a short morning's ride for the subsequent day. We just set the NAV6's to Manfredonia using "avoid Motorways"...



It turned out to be a good location. A pretty little seaside town. As soon as we arrived on the sea shore, the phones were out as we hunter for accommodation...


Looking the other way to the Castello Svevo Angioino Aragonese (Manfredonia Castle) which dates back in some form to the 11th Century apparently!


We stayed at the Divino Bed and Breakfast - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063519914668

 

[MartinK]

Now it was the day for the Ferry - Monday 1st May. We had pre-booked (before leaving UK) the ANEK superfast to Igoumenitsa in Greece.

A short-ish ride of 3-4 hours (again avoiding motorways) to the ferry terminal. We arrived pretty early, but that gave us time for lunch.

Whilst waiting, the heavens opened, hard rain ensued, fortunately there was a sheltered area for the bike and ourselves. In addition the Moto Guzzi Club of Greece were there in force on their Guzzi's. We had a good chat...

Thanks to the help of this forum, we all carried ratchet straps. I'm glad we did as the only option provided by ANEK was a few bits of wet rope. We boarded on time, we got the bikes tied down well


The ferry was better than expected. The cabins were clean and roomy, the on board catering was OK.

We met the Guzzi club again.



They turned out to be great guys. They brought a drink over so we could share a "dram". One of the guys spent a while drawing-up a list of things we should see on our way. Top guys!

In the morning, we were woken sometime just after 4. The ferry stops at Igoumenitsa and then sails onwards to another location further South. We were off the ferry quickly, it was still dark as we did our first miles in Greece

 

[MartinK]

Now we had completed the first leg of the trip.... This was the plan for the second leg (high level route), although we did end up making a few modifications en route...


The plan was to see the Aegean sea, the Black Sea, the famous Buzludzha Monument, the Shipka Pass, Transylvania (and the Carpathian Mountains), Lake Balaton and some of the pretty countryside on the way. We planned to avoid motorways, and build-in as many "best biking roads" as possible... It would be at least 2,500 miles from here, it ended up being 2,700 because we added Czech Republic and the Harz forest in N Germany...

 

[MartinK]

...to be continued...

 

[MartinK]

So, leaving the ferry in the dark felt like a REAL ADVENTURE! The smells of the early morning in Igoumenitsa filled our nostrils. Barely a car on the road approx 0530. We had planned a route which turned out to be divine. Lovely mountain scenery, quiet roads. I was really pleased with the investment in extra Denali lighting on my GS, riding in the dark on unknown roads with "variable" road surfaces! Fabulous motorcycling through the whole day. Our whole team felt a huge sense of adventure, probably more than any other trip we've done. This was our route:

The route follows close to the Albanian border for much of the early distance. We kept seeing signs for Albania. After a couple of hours we were deep in the mountains as the sun came up.


It had not been cold at all this morning. This was the reason for leaving UK in April - we did not want the stifling heat in our protective bike gear. It turned out to be a good decision. Mornings were always cool, but by midday it was generally pretty warm.

This route was a winner. It took about 8 hours (with stops) to get to Thessaloniki on the Aegean Sea. Pic of a random break in the mountains



On arrival we stopped right on the sea shore of the Aegean sea at Thessaloniki - another goal of the trip ticked...



It was not so easy to find accommodation, giving up on the booking.com etc, I went off on foot, and within 5 mins found two choices for hotels, good prices and nice accommodation!

Thessaloniki was a pretty place in the old town. Nice bars and restaurants. Good value too! Much cheaper beer and food than Germany/Austria/Italy for instance.

 

[MartinK]

We had a lovely evening in Thessaloniki. Good beer and food. The hotel was comfortable and quiet. Sadly we awoke to awful weather. It was lashing down. Added to our misery, the road surfaces were very polished, and provided little grip. It was not going to be good motorcycling.

Our plan had been to explore some of the central Greek mountains again, and visit Lachanas Military Museum which seemed centred on some lovely "best biking roads", but in this weather none of us had the stomach for it.

We left Thessaloniki. on the main roads and motorways, following the Aegean coastline East. We crossed the Border to Bulgaria at Makaza (obligatory Border picture ).


One of the Border guards saw us queueing in the rain, and waved us forwards, telling us to park under the canopy of the Border whilst they checked the documents! Another example of wonderful Greek hospitality!

It was mixed feelings leaving Greece. It would have been great to spend more time there, but we had a long way to go, and on a limited timescale.

It was another long day in the saddle, and sadly because of the weather we had seen too little of the Greek countryside. Fortunately after crossing into Bulgaria, the weather improved as we left the Greek mountains. The latter half of the days ride was in lovely Bulgarian sunshine.

Tired, we started looking for hotels along the route, eventually finding another real gem, the Hotel Diamant in Kazanlak (borrowed pic)

 

[MartinK]

For years, I had wanted to see the Buzludzha. Pictures of it had stirred my imagination. It was a "bucket list" thing to go there on a motorcycle tour.

This is what it SHOULD look like:

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This is what we saw!


Indeed it took some finding in the mist! We only saw it when about 100 metres away! Ah well, maybe an excuse to go back another day!

So, the next reason for going this way was the Shipka Pass. Altho we could have cut a corner, and reduced the days miles by a fair bit, we decided to descend from the Buzludzha the same way we had come up, and then get the full Shipka Pass experience. What a road!!! Even in misty conditions we had a fabulous ride, lovely predictable corners. Definitely recommended.

Whilst I remember, this was the route:


After the Shipka, the rest of the day's route was pretty uneventful. One of the goals of the trip was to visit the Black Sea. In hindsight, Varna may not have been the best venue for that. Probably most of the Black Sea seaside places would have been pretty well closed for winter anyway (just as UK). We used the Aqua Hotel (https://varna.aquahotels.com/) which was well priced, central, and provided secure parking.

 

[MartinK]

Our initial goal was to visit another Black Sea "resort" in Romania. But a unanimous decision was made and we missed that out. Instead, we made a more direct route towards Transylvania, and the Carpathian Mountains.

This was our route:


I really didn't expect we would manage this in a day, especially with the Border crossing, and - as we found out - a Ferry crossing to get across the River Danube! The NAV6 never warned us of a ferry, I had assumed it was a bridge.

Leaving Bulgaria into Romania


And the wee ferry over the Danube!


The ferry cost us at least an hour. It was midday and pretty warm.

The roads turned out to be better than expected. Varna to the border had some nice fast sweeping tarmac, and some good views. Some of the Romanian roads less interesting but we still made good time.

We finished the day on the Bratocea Pass into Brasov. What a road! Switchbacks and sweepers - the pass had it all!

And into Brasov!



Left to Right: Jamie, Martin (me), Donny, William

If you've not been. Brasov is lovely! Beautiful square with cafe's and restaurants. Clean and very pretty. A lovely destination to kick back and enjoy a beer after a hard days ride...

 

[MartinK]

Another pic of the Square at Brasov...


Leaving Brasov the next morning, it's a fairly short ride to visit Bran Castle. Bran Castle of Dracula fame. Manu of you will know that Vlad the Impaler lived at Bran Castle. he was supposedly a real character. He impaled his enemies, and apparently drank their blood. This became the inspiration for Bram Stoker's book... We had a quick photo stop there...

Moving on again, we headed for a road that had been recommended further South, as it was supposed to feature a lovely gorge. The road was bumpy and slow which was a shame, because the alternative would have been better (via Sigisoara). We stopped and ate a traditional Romanian lunch, called Mici (pronounced Mitch).


Mici are basically sausages, made with Beef and Pork, but heavily seasoned with garlic. Served usually with mustard at roadside cafe's. We bought about 15 Mici, with a dollop of mustard, and 4 cans of juice for about 10 euros and it kept us going will dinner time.

The famous Transfargarasan was closed for winter. Apparently there was more than 2 metres of snow on the North side, and a considerable avalanche risk. We couldn't go past and miss a chance so we had a spin on the lower slopes.

The proof on the NAV6



The dam wall made famous by Top gear as they slept under it in the sports cars...



And a group shot. You can see the road also above the bikes as it zig-zag's up the hill


That night we arrived in Sibiu. Another super-pretty town with a lovely town square like Brasov. Tomorrow was to be a rest day, so we booked into a self-catering place for 2 nights. It was called Casa Banu...well recommended! Lots of secure space for the bikes, and an outside sink so we did a wee bike cleaning session the next morning. It also had a washing machine so we could clean all our scruffy gear...