Exhausted... mega Euro-trip over!

Well, it's a tired and slightly sore Mike here...

Just got back today from a 2-week Europe riding holiday. I went with a mate (who's got my old '02 SV650S), but we went a fair old way... It was his first time abroad and since he'd only ridden 800 miles in the previous 12 months I was a bit worried it might be a baptism of fire for him but he did really enjoy it.

We had booked the overnight ferry on Saturday night from Harwich to Hook of Holland, so the first day was a long ride of about 430 miles from the ferryport at Hook of Holland to Berlin, where we spent the next day looking around the city. Mostly we were in the old eastern side, as that's where most of the interesting sites in terms of old buildings etc are. Berlin's a nice city which, unusually, has two centres - a nicely restored older side which was East Berlin, and a shiny modern city which was West Berlin. Anyone going there should take the trip up the TV mast, which at about 200m above the streets gives amazing views of the whole area.

The following day we rode to Prague in the Czech Republic where we had two whole days of sightseeing. Anyone who's been to Prague will surely agree with me that it's a truly beautiful city; it's a very long way but it's well worth the effort, especially if you go via Germany (the obvious route anyway) as those derestricted autobahns are fun and eat up those miles in no time!!!

After Prague we headed to Krakow in Poland where we met up with a mate of Ian (my SV-mounted mate) who was having his stag do there. Obviously, the beer consumption went up another notch!! Anyone thinking of planning a ride in Poland - don't bother, the roads are ****e and the driving standards worse, especially compared with Germany and the Czech Republic. The country itself though is pretty cool and Krakow is a lovely city, and pretty lively at night too. And boy, those Polish girls are *fine* looking young ladies... :P

Whilst in Krakow we visited Auschwitz, which is about 40km away. As you might expect it's a deeply moving place, but it was well worth the visit. It's really not much fun, but maybe the kind of place that you feel you really ought to go and see when the opportunity presents itself. Certainly I don't regret having seen it, and would probably have regretted it if I'd not gone.

We left Krakow after another two whole days of sightseeing (and much eating and drinking!) and went back through the Czech Republic and into Austria, where we got the tent out of it's bag for the first time and camped in the low Alps in the little village of Traisel. The next morning we packed up and got straight back on the road. The road from Traisen to Mariazel is beyond doubt the finest section of tarmac I've ever ridden - I don't think there was a single straight of more than 250 yards, almost no other traffic, no cameras or cops, and stunning springtime Alpine scenery. We stopped that night near the ski resort of Kitzbuhel. Since it's only May it was a bit chilly at night but it was great poking a head out of the tent in the morning and seeing the snow-capped mountains in the morning sunshine.

On with the riding again the next day and this time we camped still in Austria, but only about 5 km from the German border near Neuschwanstein castle in the Bavarian Alps. If anything, this campsite was even better than the previous two - the view out of the tent door was straight across an alpine lake at the snowy peaks above the opposite shore.

That evening was amusing - we went to the restaurant right by the campsite (the only one for a few km, and we fancied a beer anyway), but it turned out they were holding a drill for the local fire and ambulance service. After we'd eaten and were finishing our second or third beer, they filled the restaurant kitchen up with artificial smoke, and then simulated a car crash outside. We were the only customers, and since the owner had gone outside to watch the fun we pretended to stagger out the door choking from the smoke. Much laughter all round from everyone - we had kind of gathered what was going on even though the owner's attempts to explain it beforehand was very much beyond our long-ago-school German. After putting out the 'fire' in the kitchen, the fire service then chopped the roof off the 'crashed' car so the ambulancemen could rescue a (real) child from the back seat. All very interesting, and the speed with which they did it was impressive, and kind of reassuring...

Next morning we visited Neuschwanstein castle, which was well worth going to see. It's Cinderella's castle for real!! Have a look at http://www.neuschwanstein.de/english/index.htm to see what I mean... It's a hard walk up the hill to see it, but if you're a fat and lazy gimp, you can get a horse and cart up and down again.

After the castle visit, it was time to get on the road seriously for some 'autobahnschtorming' to get home. That was the only low point of the trip, the weather was foul (30-40 mph headwinds all the way, and steady rain for much of it) but we eventually reached Luxembourg at about 10ish at night. Since it was far too late for camping, we used the old trick of heading to the airport, as airports are always surrounded by hotels. Next morning was an early start, with less rain but even more headwinds, and we got to Calais (in France, obviously) via Belgium, thus adding two additional countries to our list for the journey home today.

Eventually it was time to get aboard P&O's finest, and the end was near... An hour and half's journey with a distinctly overpriced coffee saw us back on home soil with the M20/M25 to get us home (we both live near Epsom, by the way) which also saw the only police action of the whole trip - I think the whole of Kent's boys in blue were on the M25 today - we saw about 5 cars pulled up on the hard shoulder being ticketed but we made it through unscathed to end a trip featuring 8 countries, two weeks, and about 3500 miles of mixed riding... An awesome trip all-round I think!!


Pics will be posted as soon as I've got them off the camera!!





Mike

pleased to hear your back safe and sound,..

puts this a little bit to shame

http://forums.sv650.org/viewtopic.php?p=555633#555633



Regards
Alex

Sounds like a top trip. Thanks for the write up.

Originally Posted by 454697819

pleased to hear your back safe and sound,..

puts this a little bit to shame

http://forums.sv650.org/viewtopic.php?p=555633#555633



Regards
Alex

thanks... it was reading your post that made me write it up anyway!!!

Yours was a good trip I thought, maybe not so far but it sounded damned good fun! Got to get my Dad to go away on his bike too...

cheers
Mike

Exceelent trip. I intended doing Krakow last year but didnt in the end. Interested in what you say about the roads there.
Ther airport for hotels tip is a giid one, never thought of that for when in need. Perrty much a 24h availability too, Id reckon.

Glad you liked Prague as it is my home city. I would be quite keen to get included in any trips going to Prague. I will sort out the accommodation and the entertainment as my part of the deal.

Ceske Budejovice is worth visiting too. South of Prague 2 hrs riding. That's the town where original Budweiser comes from. Not the american imitation, but the readl deal.

Originally Posted by Dave The Rave

Glad you liked Prague as it is my home city. I would be quite keen to get included in any trips going to Prague. I will sort out the accommodation and the entertainment as my part of the deal.

Ceske Budejovice is worth visiting too. South of Prague 2 hrs riding. That's the town where original Budweiser comes from. Not the american imitation, but the readl deal.

I might be heading down that way later on in the summer if you are interseted?