YoungMan
21-08-07, 07:10 PM
Euro-toured 14 countries alone this summer on my SV650S.Got back two weeks ago after 7500 miles and 13 countries. The aim was to swim in the Black Sea, but whilst England flooded the East sweltered. Temperatures in the 40’s eventually drove me back into West.
Through France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany (see previous posts) I entered the old Soviet block via the Czech Republic and spent some days in the spa towns of Carlsbad and Mariansbad (Karlov Vary and Marians Lasky). A bit full of elderly Germans off coaches, but beautiful fin-de-siecle architecture and countryside.
A quick trip down the motorway to Prague to get hopelessly drunk with some Brits on Bechyrovia (made in Carlsbad). Then down to Slovakia, turning of at Malanky to get some curvy road relief after all the motorway bashing. Being a Sunday, all the Bratislava bikers were out on the ‘mountain’ so a bit of a social before pressing on to Trnava (where?).
Thought it would be a good idea to cross into Hungary and ride down the Southern bank of the Danube to Esztergom. Bad idea, its all industrial estates; but the ancient capital of Hungary is pretty once you get there. Met a bunch of cyclists riding from Paris to Istanbul and the oldest was 71.
Only 60 kilometres away is Budapest. Very dangerous to ride around in the city. The drivers are OK, but the talent on the pavements … Definitely the most beautiful city on my route. The local schnapps is called Unum and, like most of the dodgy drink I came across, it justifies its existence to some obscure medicinal property. This can only be reversed in the morning by greasy food, aspirin, and lots of water.
Skirted Timisoara once into Romania, and got tangled up in a traditional wedding in Lukoj which went on until 3am. South into the Carpathians to where the Danube cuts through them, romantically named ‘The Iron Gates’. Some shocking roads with miles of road works where the surface is just dirt. Not sports bike territory, but stunning scenery. Played havoc with my chain and had to adjust it. Take a 24mm socket with you if you go or see the tyre repair people. Don’t let them use an air spanner or else the axle nut will weld itself to the indicator (how do I know this?).
North to Deva and West into the Saxon settled towns of Sibui and Brasov. The latter is a very good base but don’t expect any urgent spares to take less than 15 days to arrive. One of my front indicator bulbs had gone and a rear indicator had fallen off. I had to wait until Germany, but I did meet a lot of nice Suzuki and Honda garage people along the way.
Stayed a few days in Brasov at Pension Luisa who have the best looking receptionist in the world, and nice with it. TV there is all subtitles, so people learn English whilst vegging out. Surrounded by impenetrable Serbo-Croat and Russian speakers, surprisingly the Romanians actually speak something that is very close to Italian and Spanish. A Romantic language indeed.
The forecast for Bucharest was temperatures over 45 which is not just unpleasant but dangerous, so the Black Sea swim was put on hold for another day and I decided to stay in the mountains and Transylvanian plateau.
The best road in the country is from Brasov to Sigisoara (home of Vlad the Impaler, forget Bran Castle). Hairpins, long sweepers, but look out for the wasps if you dump your leathers in the heat. They hit your throat, burrow down the front of your T-Shirt before taking chunks out of your belly.
North again to the Ukraine border and back into Hungary’s wine growing area round Tokaj. When you see a sign for Mad, you just have to go there. Craziest thing was bears paws on the menu. I checked to make sure they weren’t an American pastry which shares the same name. Nope, bears feet. Loads of them sh*tting in the woods apparently. Thinking about having their paws cut off I suppose.
Went high into the Tatras mountains of Slovakia to escape the heat at a ski resort. Then headed North to the ‘High Tatras’ and crossed the border into Poland. Now the Poles may have a reputation for hard work, but their 95 Ron petrol doesn’t. If you don’t want misfires and cut-outs, leave it out of your tank. Theirs was the only bad gas I came across.
A few nights in Krakow, number two in the ‘pretty city’ stakes, and then onto Wroclaw. Up to Jelena Goria and over the mountains to Liberec, back in the Czech Republic. Cutting along the Northern mountains I stopped at Becov for a warm bed and the biggest haxen I have ever attempted.
Back to friends at Nuremburg where I finally got my indicator bulb, before throwing a squash-induced stiff leg over the saddle and heading off to Dinant in Belgium. From there is was a short hop to the Channel Tunnel and back onto the incredibly busy roads of Southern England. A couple of days seeing friends and finally back up to Stamford with a chain way past its elastic limit.
Lessons learned and my tips for Euro touring?
1) Take some spare bulbs if you are venturing East.
2) TESCO will change Romanian Lei into Hungarian Forints. The banks won’t.
3) Bechyrovia, Unum and Palinka schnapps should be avoided unless you are within crawling distance of your bed.
4) Beer and fags are roughly a quid a pop.
5) You can budget about 50 quid a day all found once you get out of Germany.
6) Use the Tourist Information people to secure accommodation, though I just banged on doors mostly.
7) Swiss speed cameras snap you head on, so go for it!
8) Austrian police are miserable ****s and soak tourists for their motorway carnets. Just ask the Germans, they hate them.
9) Wait 5 years before taking a sports bike to Romania. You will pull admiring crowds – but the roads are pretty bad!
10) Make a plan to do the Dolomites before you die.
11) You will need your registration papers if you need to get repairs done at a dealer.
12) Take two money cards, credit and debit – and know their Pins, especially the credit card. I left my debit card in a cash machine in Brasov (they don’t make a noise and insist you take the card back before the money comes out).
13) If you go in summer, light armoured fabric is better than leathers. My jeans were a health hazard when I got back.
Errr – that’s about it. Any questions, I’ll try and answer them!
Through France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Germany (see previous posts) I entered the old Soviet block via the Czech Republic and spent some days in the spa towns of Carlsbad and Mariansbad (Karlov Vary and Marians Lasky). A bit full of elderly Germans off coaches, but beautiful fin-de-siecle architecture and countryside.
A quick trip down the motorway to Prague to get hopelessly drunk with some Brits on Bechyrovia (made in Carlsbad). Then down to Slovakia, turning of at Malanky to get some curvy road relief after all the motorway bashing. Being a Sunday, all the Bratislava bikers were out on the ‘mountain’ so a bit of a social before pressing on to Trnava (where?).
Thought it would be a good idea to cross into Hungary and ride down the Southern bank of the Danube to Esztergom. Bad idea, its all industrial estates; but the ancient capital of Hungary is pretty once you get there. Met a bunch of cyclists riding from Paris to Istanbul and the oldest was 71.
Only 60 kilometres away is Budapest. Very dangerous to ride around in the city. The drivers are OK, but the talent on the pavements … Definitely the most beautiful city on my route. The local schnapps is called Unum and, like most of the dodgy drink I came across, it justifies its existence to some obscure medicinal property. This can only be reversed in the morning by greasy food, aspirin, and lots of water.
Skirted Timisoara once into Romania, and got tangled up in a traditional wedding in Lukoj which went on until 3am. South into the Carpathians to where the Danube cuts through them, romantically named ‘The Iron Gates’. Some shocking roads with miles of road works where the surface is just dirt. Not sports bike territory, but stunning scenery. Played havoc with my chain and had to adjust it. Take a 24mm socket with you if you go or see the tyre repair people. Don’t let them use an air spanner or else the axle nut will weld itself to the indicator (how do I know this?).
North to Deva and West into the Saxon settled towns of Sibui and Brasov. The latter is a very good base but don’t expect any urgent spares to take less than 15 days to arrive. One of my front indicator bulbs had gone and a rear indicator had fallen off. I had to wait until Germany, but I did meet a lot of nice Suzuki and Honda garage people along the way.
Stayed a few days in Brasov at Pension Luisa who have the best looking receptionist in the world, and nice with it. TV there is all subtitles, so people learn English whilst vegging out. Surrounded by impenetrable Serbo-Croat and Russian speakers, surprisingly the Romanians actually speak something that is very close to Italian and Spanish. A Romantic language indeed.
The forecast for Bucharest was temperatures over 45 which is not just unpleasant but dangerous, so the Black Sea swim was put on hold for another day and I decided to stay in the mountains and Transylvanian plateau.
The best road in the country is from Brasov to Sigisoara (home of Vlad the Impaler, forget Bran Castle). Hairpins, long sweepers, but look out for the wasps if you dump your leathers in the heat. They hit your throat, burrow down the front of your T-Shirt before taking chunks out of your belly.
North again to the Ukraine border and back into Hungary’s wine growing area round Tokaj. When you see a sign for Mad, you just have to go there. Craziest thing was bears paws on the menu. I checked to make sure they weren’t an American pastry which shares the same name. Nope, bears feet. Loads of them sh*tting in the woods apparently. Thinking about having their paws cut off I suppose.
Went high into the Tatras mountains of Slovakia to escape the heat at a ski resort. Then headed North to the ‘High Tatras’ and crossed the border into Poland. Now the Poles may have a reputation for hard work, but their 95 Ron petrol doesn’t. If you don’t want misfires and cut-outs, leave it out of your tank. Theirs was the only bad gas I came across.
A few nights in Krakow, number two in the ‘pretty city’ stakes, and then onto Wroclaw. Up to Jelena Goria and over the mountains to Liberec, back in the Czech Republic. Cutting along the Northern mountains I stopped at Becov for a warm bed and the biggest haxen I have ever attempted.
Back to friends at Nuremburg where I finally got my indicator bulb, before throwing a squash-induced stiff leg over the saddle and heading off to Dinant in Belgium. From there is was a short hop to the Channel Tunnel and back onto the incredibly busy roads of Southern England. A couple of days seeing friends and finally back up to Stamford with a chain way past its elastic limit.
Lessons learned and my tips for Euro touring?
1) Take some spare bulbs if you are venturing East.
2) TESCO will change Romanian Lei into Hungarian Forints. The banks won’t.
3) Bechyrovia, Unum and Palinka schnapps should be avoided unless you are within crawling distance of your bed.
4) Beer and fags are roughly a quid a pop.
5) You can budget about 50 quid a day all found once you get out of Germany.
6) Use the Tourist Information people to secure accommodation, though I just banged on doors mostly.
7) Swiss speed cameras snap you head on, so go for it!
8) Austrian police are miserable ****s and soak tourists for their motorway carnets. Just ask the Germans, they hate them.
9) Wait 5 years before taking a sports bike to Romania. You will pull admiring crowds – but the roads are pretty bad!
10) Make a plan to do the Dolomites before you die.
11) You will need your registration papers if you need to get repairs done at a dealer.
12) Take two money cards, credit and debit – and know their Pins, especially the credit card. I left my debit card in a cash machine in Brasov (they don’t make a noise and insist you take the card back before the money comes out).
13) If you go in summer, light armoured fabric is better than leathers. My jeans were a health hazard when I got back.
Errr – that’s about it. Any questions, I’ll try and answer them!