Logo Copyright OzAlps Tours (cliffpopp@ozalps.com)
Europe is a Motorcyclists’ dream (at least in
Summer!)
I’ve been planning this for a while
(18 months), since a mate of mine from Hash House Harriers told me
about this tour group. I opted for the OzAlps 5-country tour (there
are 2 other options-Croatia/Dolomites and Mugello GP tour). The
5-countries tour is actually 6, through the European Alps. Starting
in Weilheim (south west of Munich/Munchen, Germany), and covering
(depending on the group) up to 2350km (we had a 2500km limit on the
bike hire), the route over 11 days took us into Austria, Switzerland,
Liechtenstein, France and Italy, ending up back in Germany. Cliff
Popp from OzAlps has been riding these roads for 25 years, his father
being German (and married to an Aussie they moved back to Weilheim,
Germany). Cliff’s tour is actually 12 nights, with 11 days of
riding (night 1 being an introduction night near Weilheim with fellow
tour members). Cliff has a maximum of 8 bikes (including himself) in
the tours (mine a GTR1400, as my intent is to have a good 11 day test
ride before I buy one here; others in the fleet –which are all
current model demonstrators with ABS - vary from ER6, Z1000SX
‘Ninja’, Z750, Versys 650 and 1000, two KTM990 SMT’s, a KTM990
Adventure, and a solitary BMW R1200GS). 8 riders make for a compact
group. Cliff’s local knowledge found us staying at ‘digs’ that
vary from hotels to old traditional villas and B&B’s (one in
Valdengo Italy was once a nunnery of sorts on a rural hilltop
hideaway). The route took us through awesome European Alps scenery,
and weird places such as Tyrrol, the centre of witchcraft in Europe.
Day 2: Pick up bikes, ‘Other
side’ riding (think ‘throttle to the gutter’ and it takes less
than a day for the brain to ‘switch sides’), European road riding
etiquette and a local run to Bad Tolz, near Austria, and back to
Weilheim. A good drill on corner marking was a must, being used on
the tour frequently. A good deal of trust had to be built up quickly,
as none of us knew the others’ riding habits until now. For
passing, left arm held up at 45 degrees with thumb up by leader is
indication that it’s OK to come out and pass, and while clear this
is passed down the line. It works, but only if used accurately. Trust
is smashed pretty quickly if a thumb stays up when it’s no longer
clear. A typical wave to a fellow passing motorcyclist is simply an
extension of left arm outstretched.
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| The first bit of the 'Gold' Molojapass |
Day 3: Weilheim to Imst, Austria
(German-speaking Tyrrolian mountain valley), via the Hahntenjoch Pass
(1904m, ‘Bronze’ pass on alpineroads.com). We took a tour of the
spectacular castle (Schloss) Neuschwanstein, and just after this we
crossed into Austria. At this point we lost 2 riders-Tony and Toni
(husband and wife team). We stopped, change of surface, loose gravel,
Toni’s bike fell over and she copped a broken ankle. If you have to
go to hospital, Austria is the place to do it! Cliff arranged for the
bike pickup, Tony followed the Ambo back to the ‘Krankenhaus’,
and we 6 (Cliff, John, Phil, Brad, Kevin and myself) continued on our
way. A fantastic meal was had, with the mandatory beer and a
‘Schnapps’ or two. Oh, this is the day I had a ‘moment’.
Right-hand hairpins are, well, different. I approached one
incorrectly and came out on the wrong side, just as a couple of
Ferrari’s were coming into the bend. Missed the first one, just,
and then saw the second. What happens when you look at an object?
Just as well car #2 saw what was happening, and pulled up to give me
the space I need. Bike behind was watching me, and almost had the
same moment. I’m pleased to say that’s the only moment I had. At
this point, I confessed to Cliff the moment. Perfect timing, Cliff
was about to give us a ‘right-hand-hairpin clinic’. Lesson
learned!
Day 4: Imst to Erstfeld (Glarus,
Switzerland, home of the fabled William Tell). In order to get there,
the route is via the Bielerhohe Pass (2032m) and the Klausenpass
(1948m ‘Silver’ rated pass) into Switzerland. What the... a
summer thunderstorm near the top of this pass saw us getting drenched
(came on too quick to get Wets on) with lightning, thunder, hail and
sleet! What an introduction to the Alps! The sun came out and we were
dry again by the time we got into Erstfeld. Another great meal and
beverages (the schnapps is great).
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| On the awesome Sustenpass |
Day 5: Erstfeld to Chamonix,
France (at the base of Mont Blanc, Europe’s highest mountain at
4810m). The run to Chamonix saw us doing 3 ‘Gold’
passes-Sustenpass at 2224m, Grimselpass at 2165m and part of the
Furkapass (2431m). One of our crew decided the Furka needed to be
explored a little further, until it became cobblestones and a goat
track....
A bit more riding yet (it was a big
day!); Some Swiss autostrasse and into France via Col de la Forclaz
(1526m) and Col des Montes (1461m), and then a 35km run into
Chamonix, where we found that Tony (male) had decided that with Toni
in hospital, there is not much for him to do there except to continue
his tour, so he picked up the motorways/Autostrasse and met us again
in Chamonix. Another great meal, but interesting – we are after
all in France, so a taste of frogs’ legs and snails.
Day 6: Chamonix to Albertville.
In the morning we took a cable car up to the first of about 4 levels
up Mont Blanc, where we set about doing a tandem paraglide.
Spectacular. I held my digital camera in my hand, recording the
entire flight, which lasted about 12 minutes. From there we rode to
Albertville France (site of a previous Winter Olympics) for 2 nights.
Damn it’s getting hot, so the first thing done (after a beer!) is a
haircut, before we hit the heat of Italy. Some wonderful day trip
riding here, but this is where we found the worst weather of the trip
so it afforded us a little rest. Riding, we took in the sights of Lac
d’Annecy. We got some washing done, and a bit of exploring of a
hilltop medieval city.
Day 8: From Albertville, over
Col du petit St Bernard (2188m) and into Italy. You know the St
Bernard dog? this is his home, as the statue at the border attests
to. Here can be seen concrete tank traps across the hilltops, lest
France or Italy decide to invade each other. Once down the bottom,
along the (hot!) valley floor and into Valdengo for the night. A
Sunday is a good day to be introduced to Italian traffic. At the
‘digs’ again, a fantastic welcome of cold beer and a great meal
by the hosts. A few more beers, but now the schnapps has given way to
the Italian form, Grappa.
Day 9: Valdengo to Menaggio,
about halfway along the western shore of Lake Como. But before this,
I got lost. A bit slow in getting out of a petrol station, and with
Cliffs’ earpiece playing up, by the time John (running sweep) got
the message to Cliff, they’re long gone and I’m a little
‘momentarily displaced’ in Arona!. A few stops to look at the
maps Cliff gives us every day (they are good!) and ask some locals, I
text Cliff to find that they’ve stopped for coffee (Italian coffee
is The Best) and I’m ahead of them, at a campground clearly marked
on the map. So I wait. The run along the shoreline is simply
spectacular twisty stuff. This area is home to some rich &
famous, including George Clooney, and a Bond movie Casino Royale was
filmed at a really great location on an outcrop on the eastern side.
A swim, another great evening meal, and I’m out like a light. This
day also saw Tony make a beeline directly back to Austria over the
Stelvio as Toni was being released from hospital.
Day 10: This is the BIG day!
From Menaggio to Latsch (‘valley of the witches’), back in the
Tyrrolian valleys. Merano and Latsch are seen as the centre of
witchcraft in Europe. The day starts off wet (I had a swim in the
lake at 6:00AM in the rain, and it’s still raining when we leave).
From the north-western tip of Lake Como, the road climbs; firstly
over the ‘Silver rated’ Molojapass at 1815m, through the ski
resort of St Moritz followed by the ‘Hayabusa pass’ (Bernina
Pass, at 2328m) and dropping into a valley which is a little gem of
Italy. Here is Lavigno, a duty-free haven. We have lunch, and do some
shopping (my SD card for the Go Pro has died, here I got a high speed
32Gb card for 39Euro, and it’s about $120 in Oz!). A 1litre bottle
of Jack Daniels is only 13Euro. We buy a couple of bottles for
tonight’s ‘Stelvio party’ in Latsch. The climb out of Lavigno
signals the start of the famed Stelvio pass (Stilfserjoch), and at
2760m with 85 very tight hairpins on the ascent and descent combined,
it is a very technical ride. It has also started a light shower
again, so we wonder what it is like at the top. I would not say it is
the best pass of the trip; that is still to come... It is however an
awesome road, and by the time we get to the top, it is very cloudy,
and cold (down to 6 degrees, it was 28 at the bottom!). By the time
we finished the mandatory Stelvio merchandise purchase, it was
raining, A LOT. And thunder, lightning and sleet. Wait it out for a
bit and put the Wets on.
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| The 'down'side of the Stevio after the thunderstorm |
Miraculously, it starts to clear for the
downhill run, just as well as this downhill side is even more
technical than the up! The road ‘ladder’ on both sides is
spectacular, it just goes on forever and was seen on Top Gear, and I
believe, was the setting for the original ‘Italian Job’ movie
with Michael Caine (remember the bus teetering over the edge?). We
finally make it into Latsch, and have that Stelvio party and an
evening out. Cliff warns us to be ‘back in the digs’ by midnight
as it is the Valley of the Witches and weird things do happen.
Day 11: Does it get better? We
have 2 good roads still to do between Latsch and Innsbruck (the main
city of the Tyrrolian region, a hip town made lively by its’
youngsters, being a University town. I like it!). The first of the
passes is the Timmelsjoch (2509m). This pass is THE BEST. It has
longer transitions between ladder sections (= faster), the surface is
better, and more spectacular scenery than Stelvio. This road was
built by hand (pick and shovel) and finished in 1959 after 4 years of
building (only 17 months of pure building work due to the seasonal
conditions). It is awesome. Just after the Austrian border we meet a
downhill section to the town in the valley below. The downhill has
open radius sweepers, so a bit of an experiment. A downhill roll with
engine off in neutral sees us getting up to 120kmh. Its weird looking
at the tacho (0) and the speedo (120), and it’s so quiet! After
this, we have a run along the river to the town of Oetz. We swing
onto Kuthai Road, which is not a pass but a great set of mild ‘up
and over’ twisties. Another valley run into Innisbruck, and another
great meal in the company of new friends.
Day 12: The last day. It’s not
far from Innsbruck back to Weilheim. We stop for morning coffee at
the Kochelsee (a large lake, very popular with holiday makers and
very picturesque). We wait here for a while, catching the opportunity
to swap bikes. Why now you ask, if the Passes are behind us? Here is
the Walchansee Road (the expression for it is ‘It’s not a
racetrack, it’s better than that!’). This road has long,
perfectly radiused bends that just go on ‘for ever’. It’s not
uncommon for a couple of thousand bikes to come through here on a
given day, so they are ‘verboten’ on the weekend to give car
owners a go. After a few laps of this, we head for the Autobahn to
clean the carbon off the piston tops. Nice. 245kmh for a quick 30km,
before a leisurely ‘B’ road run back to Weilheim for lunch and
hand the bikes back. Is the autobahn at those speeds comfortable? No.
I had a big screen with the GTR1400, but still, my neck was sore
(maybe because I had the Go Pro on the helmet, so I didn’t want to
duck down onto the instruments completely behind the screen), feels
like clothes are being ripped off, and too much stress. Give me
160-170, that’s OK. The slow lane is 130km limit!
So how good are European road users?
Better and smarter than us! And it all
makes sense. No over-zealous use of speed measures (Germany = limit +
10%, so 60 = 66 and if you are doing 67, you get fined for 1kmh over
the limit, not 7). Roadworks? A simple warning triangle and people
get on with their repairs (maybe with a barrier or two - especially
on the Autobahn). None of this overuse of barriers and signage
(particularly when no work is being done at all-which happens so
often here). This is another sign of the road users there being much
more observant and generally better. Italy? Looks crazy but it isn’t.
The Italian government don’t allow people to get a license for a
killing machine (car) unless they’ve been riding bikes/scooters for
3-5 years, so they know how to look after bike riders. Sit off their
rear left and watch their mirror. They’ll check it every few
seconds. They see you, move hard right and it opens the centre of the
road up as a passing lane in each direction for bikes. As you go
past, waggle your right foot ‘Thanks Mate’. They leave a few
metres at the lights for bikes to filter to front and be first off
the lights. They know that bikes out-accelerate a car, so why bother
trying? Little, if any, road rage anywhere in Europe from what I saw.
No accidents, means they are smarter road users. France-not as
careful as Italians, and I’ve heard mixed things. Swiss
drivers-Watch them, it is their decision when you can pass, not
yours. Netherlands drivers (especially in Winnebago’s)-Netherlands
is very flat and not much by way of winding roads, so they need to be
monitored closely.
Importantly, in Germany, Austria,
Switzerland (not so much in Italy and France)-It’s not good
etiquette to pull up at lights and leave the engine on. Come to a
stop, stay in #1, flick kill switch off and on, and when lights
change pull clutch and hit start & away. It becomes second nature
very quickly. Of course, their lights do have a legitimate period of
‘amber’ that tells you to start, and they don’t use that as a
sign to jump the lights, so unlike here, you are not likely to be
punched up the backside. And the road standards just encourage bikes.
No wonder they consistently have the best bike riders (and car
drivers) in F1 and MotoGP etc.
What about the rest of my trip? The
above was only half of my stay away. Read on. I wanted to extend
the bike hire, but it was suggested to me that I’ll be better off
with a car-half the price and I can move from place to place without
having to carry all luggage to and from hotel rooms; and it gives me
a break from the bikes after having just done some 2300km. Best
advice ever! Car hire for 10 days (a little Opal Zafira station
wagon) ended up costing about 800Euro. From pickup in Starnberg
(between Weilheim and Munich), it took me for 3 days around Munchen,
and then to Berchtesgaden (south east corner of Bavaria), where I
took in the magnificent scenery afforded from the top of Mt
Kehlstein. This is the famous ‘Eagles Nest’ where the mountaintop
getaway was built for Adolf Hitler in 1934-1938. The scenery is
breathtaking, and apparently one of the worlds’ best panoramic
views. On a clear day (which I did have) you can look across into 5
countries. He rarely visited the facility, as apparently he was
afraid of heights!
From Berchtesgaden I drove north-west
to Wurzburg, staying there 2 nights and taking in Rothenburg ob der
Tauber. This is a very beautiful old walled town with cobble-stone
streets, which is protected under the national trust to maintain its
authenticity. Here can be found all the typical German products and
crafts, and I ended up buying a cuckoo clock (sentimental to me as
it’s made in the Black Forrest– Schwarzwald-which was my mum’s
favourite place in Germany when she was a young child, and my dad
brought back a clock when he made his first pilgrimage back to Berlin
in 1970 to visit his mother after coming to Australia in 1952). I did
not stay at Rothenburg, which is a pity as I have been told that they
run tours through the town at night, which is spectacular given the
use of oil lamps by the guide-a kind of a pied-piper tour explaining
away the history of the place.
From Wurzburg I made a beeline for
Cologne, known locally as Koln (on the River Rhine), where my wifes’
nephew lives. I had a quick tour of the city, the highlight being a
walk through the Cathedral (High Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Mary).
This building is awesome, and it seems, miraculously survived the
heavy bombings on Cologne where almost every other building in the
entire city was destroyed. Next day, on the Thursday morning before I
flew home, I realised that Cologne is only 40km from my mothers’
birthplace of Duisburg, so I went there. I was having a beer in the
Marketzplatz (village square) and on a whim I texted my brother and
told him where I was. He said he’d text me back, and rang mum (who
is quite elderly and can hardly remember what happened 5 minutes
ago). Mum was able to recite house number and name (how does this
happen?), which he gave me. I stuck it into the GPS and.... the place
exists. So I went there. Took some photos, nobody was home and I was
about to leave when a car pulled into the driveway. I made some
introductions, was ushered inside where I found that this house was
bought as a bomb-damaged site in 1950 and rebuilt in 1953 by the
in-laws of the current owner. I was introduced to the lady next door
who remembers the previous occupants, which may have been my mum’s
family! Awesome....
Anyway, when I got home there was an email
waiting for me from the home owner saying she is sending me a gift
for mum. A book on the village covering the period before and after
the war. I can’t wait for this to arrive!
From here, where to? Before I left on
the trip, I made contact with our Ulysses compatriot in Germany –
Gernot Minmig. Gernot is the President of the Ulysses Club of
Germany, and he has been to Australia on 2 previous occasions. Once
when he rode his Honda Africa twin across Europe, Iran, Turkey, Asia
and having it shipped to Australia, where he did the Nullabor, Cape
York and Darwin, and more recently he brought his wife Waltraud
(nickname Wally) here when he was on an Teachers’ exchange program.
Most of the German Ulysses members live in Saarland (the smallest
German state near the French border along the Rhine valley, near the
northern tip of Schwarzwald).
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| Gernot and Waltraud at home |
Anyway, I called Gernot and he said
that I should come to his place on the Thursday (the day I left
Cologne) as Friday Ulysses Germany members are going on a ride to
Labaroche/Colmar area in France (opposite the Rhine Valley, near
Strasbourg), and I can loan one of his 6 bikes (4 BMW’s-2 of which
have sidecars for he and Waltraud, the Honda and an old vintage bike
made by the company (name slips my memory) that started Audi).
Anyway, I got there – about 2.5 hours on the Autobahn, to find that
Jacqui from the Ulysses forum group in Sydney is also there, having
been riding a scooter through Europe for 4 months.
Gernot says ‘pick
a bike’ so I settled on a BMW R1100GS after a quick ride through
his village. A nice BBQ dinner with beer and Wally’s home-made
schnapps made from walnut and aniseed, and we turned in. Gernot and
Wally were to take the Autobahn as Wally is working till 1PM next
day. The next day, Jacqui and I make our way through the most
beautiful countryside, through a town called Bitche for morning tea
(and getting temporarily lost on a few occasions).
We finally arrive
at the villa in Labaroche at about 7PM. Gernot is already there, and
his fellow Ulyssians – about 12 all up including us. We have dinner
(again a fantastic BBQ cooked by the owner of the Villa, washed down
with, yes, beer and grappa).
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| Chris D with UC Germany Labaroche France |
The next day saw us splitting into 2
groups-me in the faster group of 6, including Zilka, the wife of Uwe
Prinz who is one of the workhorses of the UC Germany. Unfortunately
Uwe was not there as he had to work (they both work at the city
Krankenhaus / hospital). We enjoy some nice riding through great
twisty roads, which was unfortunately cut short when one (Hartmut)
went into a corner too hot on his 2-week old R1200GS, and he
low-sided and broke his ankle! The slower group had a different
motivation-Jacqui with Gernot and one other, rode in search of old
World War sites, as Jacqui is in Europe on a fact-finding mission
about her uncles who had fought on the battlefields in France.
The
next day (Sunday) Jacqui continued her journey, and we went back to
Saarland the slow way, through some beautiful French villages
(walled, cobblestoned) with a backdrop of wine-growing countryside
and hilltop forts and castles. Would you believe that a 200km ride
can take 7 hours? But a fantastic 7 hours topping off an awesome long
weekend with the UC Germany. We stopped past Uwe and Zilka’s place,
where I am introduced to Uwe and given a Ulysses Club Germany shirt.
Such is the Ulyssian hospitality mixed with the abundant German
hospitality.
On Monday I drove myself to Frankfurt airport, stopping
in Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam for 2 nights. Here I could only marvel at
the un-ending madness of the scooter traffic, where again there are
no signs of road rage despite the craziness, and no accidents. We
have so much to learn! I did not ride, instead choosing to placate
myself with the local beers at about US$1 and eating nice Vietnamese
food (Mick Harvey, how can you eat pizza here?), as well as the odd
game of pool in the local bars-found myself shouting a few drinks as
the hostesses do know how to play pool with the help of a bit of
cheating here and there.
Can’t wait to do it again, next time
hopefully with The Boss.
Chris Dietzel
Ulysses Canberra branch
