Europe III

[jfink]

When do you get to Switzerland ?

Well, here's the deal. We have technically already gone through Switzerland, a little snippet when we went through Liechtenstein. But, we had a route that took us through the Dolomites and then out the western side of Switzerland. That was until this weather front came. It says it is snowing all along the route we planned. This seems to change hour to hour, and it may not be a problem, by the time we get there in two days, but we have decided not to chance it.

Original Route

Modified Route

Weather Prediction for tonight, the blue stuff is snow and ice. By the way, the front is moving south.

... and ... by the way Doug, where have you been???

 

[Countingcoup]

Well, here's the deal. We have technically already gone through Switzerland, a little snippet when we went through Liechtenstein. But, we had a route that took us through the Dolomites and then out the western side of Switzerland. That was until this weather front came. It says it is snowing all along the route we planned. This seems to change hour to hour, and it may not be a problem, by the time we get there in two days, but we have decided not to chance it.

Original Route
View attachment 234586

Modified Route
View attachment 234587

Weather Prediction for tonight, the blue stuff is snow and ice. By the way, the front is moving south.
View attachment 234588

... and ... by the way Doug, where have you been???

I've been sidetracked on other stuff, coaching baseball and messing with horses.
Sounds like a great trip. I understand about the weather through the passes and the twisty roads. I lived and went to school in Switzerland in the mountains on the N. Side of lake Geneva. Looks like your route will take you through the Verona wine growing region of Italy. My favorite wines all come from there.
Have an awesome ride and hope the weather shines for you !

 

[jfink]

I've been sidetracked on other stuff, coaching baseball and messing with horses.
Sounds like a great trip. I understand about the weather through the passes and the twisty roads. I lived and went to school in Switzerland in the mountains on the N. Side of lake Geneva. Looks like your route will take you through the Verona wine growing region of Italy. My favorite wines all come from there.
Have an awesome ride and hope the weather shines for you !

I like wine! I understand about commitments, time with kids goes fast. Hopefully, you can splice in some time occasionally, to hang out with your motorcycle buddies.

 

[Countingcoup]

I like wine! I understand about commitments, time with kids goes fast. Hopefully, you can splice in some time occasionally, to hang out with your motorcycle buddies.

Man I would really like that ! I have this Summer with my Son. We are going to moto trip alot more for a while.
A pic of my younger days in Leysin Switzerland
Bon Voyage Friend !

 

[the one at home]

I wish I had a rich wife that wanted me gone for months on end! I would be willing to walk or hitch hike to make the route!!!
Thanks for the pics. rh

 

[the one at home]

This is the not "rich wife" and I DONT want him gone for months at a time!

 

[jfink]

This is the not "rich wife" and I DONT want him gone for months at a time!

Thanks K, I am sure Chuck appreciates that.

 

[jfink]

Wow! So much snow! We had intended to ride over Stelvio Pass from where we are now but found out it was closed. So now we are trying to find anyway that we can get down towards Milan. Believe we have a pass in Switzerland that isn't closed and we are going to give this a go.

There wasn't this much snow in Norway last year when we went to Nordcap, which is further north then Prudhoe Bay. Even the locals say they are surprised by the amount of snow.

 

[Countingcoup]

Weather is precarious in the alps. The floor of the valley that holds Montreaux and Lausanne is usually snow free by lake Geneva. I could not imagine riding the mountain roads on moto in that weather. We always had Cog trains and trams to get us around. Im checkin every eve for pics. Bon chances

 

[jfink]

Tonight we are in Ganges, France. After changing our route so many times, I am not certain how close we are to our originally intended ride. However, we seem to be still on track and have had some good riding. After missing Stelvio Pass since it was closed due to snow, we rode west through several passes in Switzerland and then down into Italy. There was plenty of evidence of recent snows but the roads were fairly clear.

Eventually the snow gave way to warmer riding as we crossed the border from Switzerland back into Italy. The trip from Sluderno Italy to Zernez, Switzerland then down to Como, Italy was one of prettiest days of riding I have done. Lot's of picturesque scenes of mountains and valleys of snow, then green pastures. I didn't take near enough pictures. We ended the day in Capolago, Italy.

All along this trip, I have had the sense that something wasn't quite right with the suspension on the Wing. At the hotel in Capolago, I asked Chuck to help me 'debug' the problem. Turns out the front wheel bearings were shot. I wasn't going much further with the wheel in that condition. So began the panic, called some local motorcycle shops, but they did not have the bearings. Many of them did not speak English and I speak no Italian. So I enlisted the help of the desk clerk. It probably would have been comical, if I hadn't been so desperate. Here's the desk clerk, who did not understand anything about motorcycles trying to explain to the Honda shops in Italian what I was telling him in English.

Neither of the large Honda shops, one in Milan nor the one in Turin, really sold or maintained Goldwings, so neither had wheel bearings. I got the same answer from them I get from many of the dealers there in the states, "we don't have them, but we can get them in a week." Not a good answer, when you are spending the days in a hotel room. And here is where this story takes an amazing turn. The last dealer parts person suggested calling a place called Goldwing Point in Arcore, about 40 miles from where we were staying. Goldwing Point was not a dealer but specialized in Goldwings.

Goldwing Point had the bearings and could install them that day at 3p. So I found a hotel near there, since by the time we finished with wheel bearings, it was going to be too late to travel anywhere. We arrived at the shop, not knowing what to expect. We were completely blown away.

More Goldwings than any place I have been. They even had four 2018/2019 Goldwings, three of which seemed brand new.

The owner rode my Wing into the shop and the mechanic got to work.

Not my Wing but the shop was huge and immaculate.

In fifteen minutes it was done. Meanwhile, Chuck and I tried to talk with the owner, but the language barrier was just to great. We did get that eventually he would like to travel to the US, may be New York or possibly Texas. We tried to steer him right. Finally, came the time to settle up. I was expecting at least 150 euros but would have been happy to pay 250 given the fact that they dropped everything to get this fixed. When the owner told me "no charge", I was speechless and didn't know how to react. I tried to give him money but he wouldn't take it.

He somehow communicated that I should give the mechanic a 'tip' so when I pulled out a 20 he pushed it back into my wallet. Then said 'no, no too much, he is a communist." and held up a fist. Then pointed at the 10. We were not sure if he was serious but it seemed rather hilarious. After a little more speechless thanks and handshakes we were on the way again.

more to come ...

 

[prhaussies]

It seem like your old worn wing has a good 50K left in it with the euro touch the shops over there have.
So, next round head to the "Stans" and then across Russia to Siberia.

 

[_RG_]

:

 

[jfink]

Let me know when y'all get to Gibraltar. There's a great place for lunch on the way to Europa point.

Hey RG, I am a little behind in my trip report, but we are in Jaen, Spain. We may be here one or two days then head to Gibraltar. What is the name of this restaurant you speak of?

 

[jfink]

After the fiasco with the wheel bearings, we spent the night at La Bergamina hotel near Goldwing Point. It was a very cool older hotel but mostly frequented by the locals. We were VERY out of place, but it was interesting watching the big families, couples and business parties share their time. One interesting icon in the lobby was this! I thought of Chad in the Clear Lake Group.

After Milan, we moved onto Grenoble. We didn't do the route we were planning, since that road was snowed in and closed. But, the ride was nice up to Grenoble, plenty of switchbacks and sweepers, but we are almost to the point of every road now is great riding, but we can't do it all. Some of this might be nice to come back too when it is time to focus on one area. Didn't really stop, just enjoyed the ride. Our Hotel in Grenoble was really not much to write about, but we did have a nice walk out to dinner of Tapas and Wine.

The next day, we took a chance on a little hotel in the city of Ganges, France. It turned out to be a very nice experience. Roads were good, the town was nice and the people enjoyable. Here's our little hotel.

The city center full of people. Our only issue once again was language. French isn't our forte!

For dinner, we wound our way to a small restaurant off the city center. Good food and the teenage daughter did an excellent job translating for us.

The next day we were on our way again. Each day seems to start excellently; the roads enjoyable, the weather perfect. Then we run into some obstruction for which we have to find our way out. It's all part of the adventure.

Roads like these seem to go on and on forever and are located all over Europe. Throw a dart at any place in the Alps or Pyrenees and these roads are there.

A little later on that same road looking back. You can see the road coming up my side of the mountain if you look closely.

And I am not exaggerating when I say, these roads are everywhere. A different road later in the day.

You do have to contend with multiple use byways.

A little higher mountain pass with lots of switchbacks.

We spent the night in Andorra, which it turned out is pretty much a ski resort. The entire country. The hotel was nice, but deserted. Most restaurants and other things were not open or not very well stocked. Pretty country, but mostly geared to the skiers.

Here's a random picture outside a gas station after we entered Spain. For an old bike it still looks pretty good. And by far it gets the most stares and then comments when people realize the plates are from Texas. They don't get much of that over here.

In Spain, the first stop was in the town of Teruel. This was somewhat comical. The town is predominantly a walking town with some consideration for vehicles. This is our Hostal.

I very much enjoyed my stay there. But getting there was no mean feat. Here is a copy of our tracks getting into and out of the Hostal LOL.

I am sure we should not have been in many places we were. We crossed this main plaza to get to the point where the picture of me above was taken.

Today, we ended up in Jaen, Spain. But not without more trials and tribulations. This time it is Chuck's bike ...

 

[StromXTc]

Great report. Thanks!

 

[philipbarrett]

Nice!

 

[cdc]

Beautiful roads.
Glad you were able to fix the Goldwing relatively fast, now we will wait for the follow up story...

 

[prhaussies]

This is the not "rich wife" and I DONT want him gone for months at a time!

Hi Mrs T, after your wayward boy gets home, I hope you come to a Bike Night. We would all like to meet you. I think you are awesome to allow your rascal to roam around like he does.
We are all his knuckleheaded friends, some UN-supervised like me. Yes, I wash engine parts in the kitchen sink. Rick

 

[jfink]

And now, the rest of the story ...

As we got into Jaen (I can't even tell you in writing how to say this name), we stopped for gas. After filling up, Chuck's bike would not start. He tried a number of times and finally it turned over. Once at the Hotel waiting to check in, his motorcycle had reached its limit. It would not start. Fortunately, he was uphill all the way to the parking garage, so he coasted down. He was actually able to jump start it, part way down.

After we got parked we began debugging. Checked the battery charge, it was good. Tried the switches, nothing had any effect. Finally, using his crescent wrench, I jumped the starter solenoid. BANG! It started right up. After a lot more debugging, pushing and prodding we came to the conclusion that the starter solenoid had given up the ghost. So began the look for spare parts.

The next day, we stopped at the KTM dealer almost next door. And while he had a solenoid, it wasn't the right one. Chuck bought it anyway, on the off chance that it was the only one we could find. We kept walking and ended up at the Honda dealer. One of the parts guys actually spoke a little english. After telling him of Chuck's problem, he had one of the other guys go back in the back and take off an old solenoid from a wire harness, they apparently had. Chuck paid him 20E for that, with a 5E tip just for trying so hard. By the way a new solenoid was 93.14E and they didn't have one of those. The solenoid they had wasn't the exact model and year for Chucks bike.

Back at the hotel we began to debug the connections. Finally we went down to the bike and began cutting plastic and breaking off metal pieces to make it fit. After all that, the moment of truth. I stood back ... near the fire extinguisher. Chuck turned it on, no arcing! Good sign. Press of the starter button, and ... it started right up. Success. The trip is BACK ON!

 

[blupupher]

Was wondering what the rest of the story was.

It is not an adventure if it is boring. Seems you have had enough adventure so far.

Looks like some amazing roads to ride on, and they do seem to just go on and on.

 

[jfink]

We left off our report at Chuck repairing his Solenoid in Jaen. Again, I can't tell you how to pronounce this but it involves hocking up a luggie. After this, we rode to Gibraltar. Nice, nice roads. Here are a couple of example photos of Chuck heading riding one of the roads. But again, these roads go on for miles and miles.

We made it to Gibraltar. Ok, let me just say this. Gibraltar is an armpit. There are thousands of mopeds that all sound like killer bees. So many cruise ships and all the shops and restaurants were packed with tourists. Our hotel ... we met a couple who were local and when we mentioned the hotel, they apologize. The air conditioner was there for sound effects. Hotel was dated, like early depression. Life goes on ...

We moved on to Portugal. For every action there is an opposite reaction. The best please we have stayed on the whole trip. We found a little out of the way place, where the owner, his wife and family farm olives for olive oil. He also is an artist and studied with some of the very famous Portuguese artist.

On to the west coast of Portugal. We stayed at a hotel right on an overview of the Atlantic. Nice place, but our trip is now turning into a place to place journey. The next few days will likely be mostly freeways to get through the weather and put us into Le Mans for the final part of our trip.

A few more days and we will be headed home.

 

[jfink]

Some signs that strike us Americans as funny!

Motorcycle Stoppies Required!

Facilities available for using laptop while taking care of business.

An obscenity Chuck and I would yell at each other when we saw one of these.

I am sure these are all pretty common place, just like many of those in the US we take for granted.

 

[philipbarrett]

Missus & I are off to Portugal in July, renting a GS & touring the country. Can't wait!

 

[jfink]

So it it probably time to finishing this ride report. The weather and changes in plans were probably the worst of any trip I have been involved in. Sometimes that makes for the best trips, and perhaps after a little bit there will be some great stories coming out of this ride. Right now, I am just trying to recover.

I am back at Stefans in Heidelberg. Bike is cleaned up, riding suit washed and hanging to dry, getting done packing.

After we left the city of Peniche, Portugal, we had decided that the best course of action was to divide the remaining trip into chunks of days that would get us to Le Mans. Chuck wanted to see the museum. I decided since the ride had experienced so much bad weather and threatening even more, that riding in the Pyrenees was not a good thing. It was a good choice. This was a lot of what we saw on the highway through Spain and France.

Between Bordeaux and Le Mans, France was the worst! Mostly tail winds but some ferocious cross winds threatened to blow us off the road. Chuck said that was the worst riding he had experienced in all his rides. I decided to look up what we were riding through, once we got to Le Mans. It was Hurricane Miguel with winds up to 150kph (93mph). The Wing held its own in the winds, but Chuck's Varadero was not as heavy, a little taller and less wind protection, made his ride much less comfortable. Just another weather notch for this trip.

After leaving Le Mans with Chuck we split up at Utah beach. I would visit the memorial and museum, find a place in Caen and leave from there back to Germany. June 7th was the 75th anniversary of D-Day. And while a VERY appropriate thing to celebrate, there were a TON of people. Miles long backup in traffic, no parking, someone told me there wait to get into the museum was half to an hour long. There were people everywhere and no parking. I appreciate what was done by the men at D-Day, but I didn't want to wage war with the crowds of people there to celebrate. I turned and tucked tail. Perhaps, if I get the chance I can visit when there is a little more solitude.

Pretty much uneventful, wet ride back to Heidelberg and I am done. Less than 2,000 miles on this visit. We will need to do a better job of planning the weather the next time.

Spotwalla.

 

[blupupher]

Sucks about the weather, but you had a trip that many are envious of (me included).
I would bet you could have gone to the D-Day museum 2 days later and nobody would have been there, just bad timing on your part for it (although going on the anniversary would be neat to say).

Is Chuck heading back across to England to store his bike there again?
Are you planning on another European tour? Thought you had mentioned you may be selling your Wing?
Hope to meet up with you at a breakfast and hear about it.