Three months around Europe

A New Year. A new challenge. That means a new motorbike tour.

Regular readers of this forum may recall my contribution last year, detailing my 21,000 km , 22 country swing through Europe on my 2008 Suzuki V Strom 650.

I finished the blog by hinting I was contemplating a tour of Morocco and Turkey in 2012. Well I have contemplated and I am off in April 2012 for a four month tour. This year the trip will not be entirely solo as a couple of friends want to join ...

For my final blog, some final thoughts are,hopefully, appropriate.

First up, the bike. Over the 21000 km, the V Strom 650 met all criteria. It was reliable, nimble, frugal, comfortable. Before my next trip, I will fit a skid pan and consider moving the oil cooler higher. A centre stand, 12v outlet, engine protection bars and a radiator guard are recommended. Heated grips are a personal preference but they were a joy when needed.

I looked seriously at doing ...

Leaving Basel is easy. You just follow the tram lines to either France or Germany. In my case I took route 36 which led me quickly to Germany. Switzerland had once less illegal immigrant

The ride to Stuttgart was varied. Up over a 1600m mountain range, wind your way down onto the South German plain and then the autobahn for Mercedes mecca . My destination was the Mercedes Benz Museum - eight floors of homage to the marque. Its early beginnings, their firsts, their ...

After weeks of temperatures in the mid 30's,the chilly start for the ride into France was, well, uncomfortable The road took me over the Jura Mountains, through tunnels, round hairpin bends and into the teeth of a cold wind, blowing, it seemed,direct from the Pole. It was mountain riding – not extreme, but enough to test my fully loaded bike.
After three months of riding defensively, it was hard to let loose. I held the bike back too much on the climb and when I stopped at the ...

Venice is expensive - $16 for a can of coke and half that for a small bottle of water and the road tolls are the most expensive in Europe. But then you are paying for class: In architecture, style and sheer panache in extracting money. Most of the Italians , I spoke to said Venice was not the real Italy – it was the Italy for tourists. Florence, Milan, now they are Italy for Italians.

Milan is the fashion center of Europe. With my black Whangamomona Hotel T shirt, blue ...

WARNING: The blog following contains criticism, cynical comments and hypocrisy. But as they will be against Australians and South Africans I know I will be excused.

After getting off the ferry at Gythio , at the bottom of the Peloponnese peninsula, I rode in the cool of the afternoon the 275 km to Patras. It was one of the most enjoyable rides of my time in the Balkans- and I had a few good rides- the well tarmacked road winding through low mountains, the sun at my back, ...

Crete. I intended to spend only a few days on this historic island but like many islands it has a way of sneaking up on you and delaying your departure. I found a nice hotel, with a pool, near the beach, safe parking for the bike and wifi.

New Zealanders have some status on Crete. The exploits of the NZ Forces and the 28th Maori Battalion are well known and it was here that Upham won the first of his Victoria Crosses. The 10 day battle was unique for several reasons : It ...

I liked Bulgaria when I rode there on my pushbike last year.
The people don't take themselves too seriously, make great salads, invented Yoghurt and did USSR's assassinations during the Cold War.

I headed for Ruse, just over the border and the River Danube from Romania and stayed in the English Guest House, same place as last year. They seem to collect an eclectic range of guests and the self styled Entertainments Manager , a Londoner called Carl took charge of me. ...