Kwaka14
23rd June 2010, 08:43
Well not quite, but almost..... we did 10 :)
Day 1 – Prague to Alpbach Austria
Woke up to some fantastic weather, clear blue skies and the kind of start to a ride you mostly dream about in this part of Europe, Spent a bit longer than anticipated cramming as much as we possibly could in to the new luggage, struggled down four flights of stairs in leathers and loaded the bike – already too hot to think about much else than getting going, or at least I was, Lenka had other ideas – a short spot of photography and that was done a quick goodbye to the mother in law and off we go. Straight south of us, about 60km’s of motorway and on to some interesting roads, lots of nice sweeping corners, a great start apart from the odd bike swallowing potholes we needed to avoid. You can tell when you are getting close to the borders of the Czech republic as the numbers of prostitutes increases dramatically (they’re only on this border) – think pale hippo’s in miniskirts, they suddenly disappear and the roads improve, guess we’re in Germany!!!!! Short sprint down the E56 sees us heading in to Austria and a wrong turn takes us bak to Germany to an oversized duck pond called Obersee (Chimsee) where we photographed the swan with ½ a head. Had a quick bite to eat and on towards Salzburg and towards Innsbruck, stopping on the way for the night at Alpbach (stunning little town in the Austrian Alps we had stayed at in Winter). The scenery for this day was pretty good – loads of mountains and little Austrian villiages
211215211216211221
Day 2 – Alpbach to Lago Di Garda Italy
Awake and it’s another stunner of a day and a fantastic breakfast in the Penzion – variety of meats and cheeses and other stuff. Load up the bike get in to the gear and another pause for a few shots, then off straight in to the mountain roads for about 40km’s where we again pick up the motorway racing past Innsbruck, through in to Italy, past Bolzano to Lago Di Garda – the motorway for most of the way (Italians are mental drivers, too fast and dodgy by far), but get off just after Bolzano on to some awesome roads, where we start to really feel like we are on holiday, by now the temperature is up to the late 20’s/low 30’s and we are starting to cook at the road legal speeds so we join the rest of the biking community and up the pace to about 15% faster than the law is comfortable with.
Coming down the hill in to Lago Di Garda is amazing, lots of twisties and crazy roads, view is amazing looking down the lake, loads of tunnels and cliffs and awesome stuff. This was a short day so we stop early at the first campground we see and pitch the tent, off for a bit of a walk and see if we can find somewhere to rent some climbing gear - Lenka is keen to show me the “Via Ferrata” or Iron Way which is an old wartime route through the cliffs and hills above the town Riva Di Garda – you have to clip on the iron cables and scale some 80m ladders overhanging the cliff – keen as mustard, but no one rents gear and we’re packed a bit light to have brought our own – will have to benext time.
211217
Day 3 Lago di Garda to Venice Italy
Another awesome start to the day – in to gear, pack the tent and the bike – quick photo shoot (getting used to this routine) and a quick breakfast.
We again mount the bike and head off, plan is to shoot along the bottom and side of the lake and then head towards Venice by some decent roads (not motorways), however another wrong turn again puts us on the motorway heading to Venice and we decide to carry straight on. A pretty uneventful ride all in all. Just prior to Venice we see a small information booth and are directed to an odd campsite in the only rural part of this part of Italy, awesome.
Again pitch the tent and sorting ourselves out and we hear the one of rattleiest V-twins known to man, up rocks this old guy (Bill) on a 1959 HRD Vincent – just springs, no shocks and he’s ridden from the UK on his way to Greece and a bike convention – absolutely awesome. A bit later on he tells us he’s lost his mate somewhere on the motorway (broken down he thinks) in behind him, aaah well – says should make it in sometime and tries to pitch his tent with broken poles, eventually patches it up and gets sorted – and he’s off to have a beer. They’ve been doing 70mph running down the motorway which is pretty good on a 34hp bike made 50 years ago.
211218211220
Day 1 – Prague to Alpbach Austria
Woke up to some fantastic weather, clear blue skies and the kind of start to a ride you mostly dream about in this part of Europe, Spent a bit longer than anticipated cramming as much as we possibly could in to the new luggage, struggled down four flights of stairs in leathers and loaded the bike – already too hot to think about much else than getting going, or at least I was, Lenka had other ideas – a short spot of photography and that was done a quick goodbye to the mother in law and off we go. Straight south of us, about 60km’s of motorway and on to some interesting roads, lots of nice sweeping corners, a great start apart from the odd bike swallowing potholes we needed to avoid. You can tell when you are getting close to the borders of the Czech republic as the numbers of prostitutes increases dramatically (they’re only on this border) – think pale hippo’s in miniskirts, they suddenly disappear and the roads improve, guess we’re in Germany!!!!! Short sprint down the E56 sees us heading in to Austria and a wrong turn takes us bak to Germany to an oversized duck pond called Obersee (Chimsee) where we photographed the swan with ½ a head. Had a quick bite to eat and on towards Salzburg and towards Innsbruck, stopping on the way for the night at Alpbach (stunning little town in the Austrian Alps we had stayed at in Winter). The scenery for this day was pretty good – loads of mountains and little Austrian villiages
211215211216211221
Day 2 – Alpbach to Lago Di Garda Italy
Awake and it’s another stunner of a day and a fantastic breakfast in the Penzion – variety of meats and cheeses and other stuff. Load up the bike get in to the gear and another pause for a few shots, then off straight in to the mountain roads for about 40km’s where we again pick up the motorway racing past Innsbruck, through in to Italy, past Bolzano to Lago Di Garda – the motorway for most of the way (Italians are mental drivers, too fast and dodgy by far), but get off just after Bolzano on to some awesome roads, where we start to really feel like we are on holiday, by now the temperature is up to the late 20’s/low 30’s and we are starting to cook at the road legal speeds so we join the rest of the biking community and up the pace to about 15% faster than the law is comfortable with.
Coming down the hill in to Lago Di Garda is amazing, lots of twisties and crazy roads, view is amazing looking down the lake, loads of tunnels and cliffs and awesome stuff. This was a short day so we stop early at the first campground we see and pitch the tent, off for a bit of a walk and see if we can find somewhere to rent some climbing gear - Lenka is keen to show me the “Via Ferrata” or Iron Way which is an old wartime route through the cliffs and hills above the town Riva Di Garda – you have to clip on the iron cables and scale some 80m ladders overhanging the cliff – keen as mustard, but no one rents gear and we’re packed a bit light to have brought our own – will have to benext time.
211217
Day 3 Lago di Garda to Venice Italy
Another awesome start to the day – in to gear, pack the tent and the bike – quick photo shoot (getting used to this routine) and a quick breakfast.
We again mount the bike and head off, plan is to shoot along the bottom and side of the lake and then head towards Venice by some decent roads (not motorways), however another wrong turn again puts us on the motorway heading to Venice and we decide to carry straight on. A pretty uneventful ride all in all. Just prior to Venice we see a small information booth and are directed to an odd campsite in the only rural part of this part of Italy, awesome.
Again pitch the tent and sorting ourselves out and we hear the one of rattleiest V-twins known to man, up rocks this old guy (Bill) on a 1959 HRD Vincent – just springs, no shocks and he’s ridden from the UK on his way to Greece and a bike convention – absolutely awesome. A bit later on he tells us he’s lost his mate somewhere on the motorway (broken down he thinks) in behind him, aaah well – says should make it in sometime and tries to pitch his tent with broken poles, eventually patches it up and gets sorted – and he’s off to have a beer. They’ve been doing 70mph running down the motorway which is pretty good on a 34hp bike made 50 years ago.
211218211220