So here the tale begins......
So the GS is an offroad bike, right? Well not really its a bike for roads of any surface. But what it does do is allow you to go quite a long way and ride trails.
That was the plan for the 2nd European AdvRider Raid to Italy. The rally was organised by Giorgio, who has a summer house in the Cadore region of the Dolomites. Sort of north east Italy. East of Cortina, north of Venice...you get the idea.
Giorgio (why we are in a tunnel explained later...)
So, packed up and ready to go I departed from Dover a few weeks ago heading for Dunkirk, then hoping to make it down to Kaiserslautern in Germany that eve.
The route (sort of)
There was to stay with Walrond (Wade). Walrond is a US red cross director who is attached to the US Army for active service. So he's lucky enough to holiday in Bosnia, Iraq (twice the lucky fellow) and Afghanistan. Cool.....
After a great meal with the family and a sleep courtesy of the US Rhine Army we repacked and set off bound for ITALIA!
Packing with Wade
Rhine Army?
So a quick ride south on autobahn took us down to Austria and then at the end of the motorway towards Italy via the Fernpass.
There we hit total gridlock. The passes are just normal roads clogged with weekend traffic. I didnt find out later its very wrong to do virtually anything on a motorcycle in Austria so my third session (once this year twice last) of crossing the white line to beat the jams fortunately went unnoticed by the police
. We got to Pieve di Cadore (basecamp) by eve and pitched up.
I must however confess to a minor incident. Just after entering Italy we were stuck in a traffic jam exciting a toll. We nudges our way forward...Donk!....
I felt something a little funny. I turned to the woman in the car alongside and said 'Did I hit you?' 'No, go, go, ok' she said. I turned to the other car I was wedged alongside. 'Did I hit you?'....'No, you didnt hit me' he said. I looked back to Wade. 'Did you just ram me?' 'Errr, no....' he said. Back to the woman 'I think I hit you'. 'No, ok, go' she said, The little kid in the back looked petrified. So on we rode. When we go to the campsite Wade said 'You did hit her, you know'. Inspection of the panniers showed a lot of blue paint and a long scratch/dent. Ooooppps.......
Home
