We are back

[tease]

I know this is just a teaser, but hey, thats my name :D
We got off the boat again on Thursday morn and went and picked up our new baby, a little staffy pup we named Jax. The trip went fantastic, the riding was great, some rain to start but then it went all good. No real mechanical probs, minor glitches that were fixed on the go.

I would post pix right now BUT, I am off to a party in the field for my Bros 50th and won't be back til monday afternoon :D Its such a hard life at times!

Just to let everyone know we are back, safe and had a ball over the fortnight, the wife did fantastic both on the autobahn and on the winding mountain roads.

Pix and a full write up MAYBE Monday :D

[Juke]

Welcome home Tease............ :D
So glad you a had a great time, and most importantly, that you guys all made it home safe.
Enjoy the party, and wish your bro a good b'day from all of us......... ;) :D

[John Hopkins]

Welcome back Tease, Must have been hard to ride on the wrong side of the road over there :D John

[Bassman]

Nice one mate.. looking forward to reading about the trip.
Have a good weekend.. :D

[Blue]

picked up our new baby, a little staffy pup we named Jax.
:D

WE NEED PICTURES. :)

[bunbag]

staffy you need any help or advice gives a shout ;)

[tease]

ok, so the write up on the trip. Sorry I couldn't earlier, but as we got back Thursday and Friday saw us at the pub, then Saturday in the field setting up for the party that went til Monday afternoon, this is the first time I got to look at the pix and actually sit here and write it up :D

Well we left out of ous and put the bikes on the ferry from Hull to Rotterdam on the 11th then put our bags in the cabins and, knowing we were riding the next day, did the right thing and went for drinks. The ship was great if a bit expensive, but we made do :D
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The next morning we got off the boat at about 8 and started making our way through the Netherlands and into Germany. I knew we were looking for the E15 and when we found it, well it was closed, no diversions just a blocked exit so I took us off at the next exit and to a petrol station where I saw a cop van. Asked him about it and he led us to the exit further up and we were away. At a rest stop after brewing a coffee I took a quick look at the map and decided we would take the A16 down into Germany as (hopefully) that would see us to Karlsruhe that day. Looking back it was a bit ambitious with 2 newer riders with us, but nothing was set in stone anyway.

The closest we came to disaster was when we pulled off in a small town to gas up and as we pulled out of the station, our friends wife forgot where she was and looked right instead of left and nearly ended up a hood ornament for a BMW, but she QUICKLY learned NOT to forget. The most problem we had was with her bike, an older Intruder 800, ended up it was some bad connections near the battery, so when it acted up we just jiggled the connection and it was full power again, then her floats stuck abit so we took the bowls off and a quick clean and it was fine too.

Everything was going great, the girsl were settled in doing 80 - 85 MPH and quite happily passing whatever was in front of us. Went through some pretty heavy rain (or so we thought) but kept going. We made about 330 miles and, while they could have gone further, we decided to call it a day and start a hunt for rooms in Koblenz.
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We pull off and start looking. We soon find out it is a celebration weekend there and seems no rooms are available. Being stubborn as I am I decide to try abit further out of town and stop at one where the owner was quite friendly and while he had nothing available, he made some calls and found us two rooms. So it was off to this gasthous where the guy cut me a deal and knocked off ten euro a room. So we unpacked and got showered and hung our jeans to dry out.
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As it was late and we were cold, wet and hungry, we didn't really notice the little square the hotel was in til the next day when we went down to breakfast. I knew Koblenz was a nice city to visit, but being just out of town and along the rhine this place was really pituresque (sp) so the wife got some pix of it.
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We left out at about 9 to avoid some traffic and were happily riding on our way when we started to hit some big rain (or again so we thought) and were soon soaked through. I had wanted to try to get to Garmisch, but as we neared Karlsruhe the sky really opened and my boots filled quickly. Since I was stationed in Karlsruhe I figured it is a good place to dry out. We got some rooms at a little weingarten there and the owner let us park in the garden under cover. He also took our sodden clothes to dry out for us.

After very little deliberation we decided a second night would not go amiss, so we booked in for two nights and took the strassenbahn (inner city train) down to Ettlingen. A small sleep little town just outside of Karlsruhe, it was where I spent my first four years in the Army and I was abit anxious to see the town and, hopefully, my old kaserne (post).
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I would like to say a public "Thank you" to my wife for walking through the kaserne with me. Listening to a NEAR mid aged soldier talking about the place he was stationed when he was 18 and listening avidly to his ramblings about friends long gone and times well remembered.
Most of it was still standing, the battalion headquarters and other big buildings, all the barraks were torn down and replaced with houses though. It was a strange and great walk though, seeing all that is there but seeing all that WAS there as well. Brought back things I hadn't thought of in decades.
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By then we were getting hungry, so we all sat down and had a meal and a beer when the girls saw an ice cream place. If you havent had German eis, you have missed out. I told the wife before about "Spaghetti eis" and she was dying to try it, so off to the ice cream parlour we go. Before anyone decided it has to be sick, let me tell you it isnt. What they do is put a big bunch of whipped cream on a frozen dish, push vanilla ice cream through a press to make it look like spaghetti, pour strawberry sauce on it and sprinkle it with white chocolate or coconut to make it look like a plate of spag bog.
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and I had my own frozen mouse thing that was loaded with different flavoured booze
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As we were staying another night it was back to the hotel and rounds all round. I was drinking one of my favorite drinks in Germany, Asbach Uralt and chasing it with some dark beer. Went down a treat it did. We decided to wake the next morning and go into Karlsruhe itself, so next morning we did. We hopped on the train again and had a wak round the castle gardens and into the market p[lace for some coffee and some cakes.
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Over coffee we decided, since the sun was hining and the day was warm, we would go and get the bikes and go through town to Neureut, a town I used to go to all the time. I was looking for a restaraunt there that did the best stone hearth pizzas. Well it wasn't long until being gone for twelve years showed. The roads were different and the ones I knew had either been closed off or dissappeared altogether. The it started to rain. We pulled off under a flyover and waited it out as it was coming down pretty heavy (or so we thought yet again). As the rain stopped we all figured it had rained itself out and set off to try to find this elusive town. One road to the next, to the next to the next and I was well turned around. We came across a little brewery and figured to give it up as a bad job and get something to eat. As we go in and sit down the waiter comes over and hears us talking, well ends up he is American and has been living there for over ten years. It was quite wierd hearing him speak with a Brooklyn accent in broken english! He told us he hasn't spoken english in ten years and it showed. Since I was the interpreter for us, my friend and his wife grew a bit dependant on me and when she wanted another coffee asked me to call him over and ask for a refill! My reply? "HE SPEAKS F*^KING ENGLISH!" :D

Well we got directions from him to a shop to get some provisions for the next day and back to the hotel. Stop off at the store and as we are coming out it is just starting to rain, get out of the parking lot and its coming down hard (or so we think), but we keep going through and see it lighten up and stop (or so we think again). As soon as we turn onto the autobahn to get us back, well all our previous thoughts about how hard it had rained before were smashed! It was like the whole sky just opened and it was coming down in sheets. If the girls had been on their own bikes instead of on the back of ours I would have pulled us to the side for a soaking, but since we were two-up we plodded on at about 10 miles an hour passing cars who couldn't see through the rain. I had to shout to the wife to try and read the signs cause the water got behind my riding glasses and I couldn't see to read them. 20 minutes through this and we were back in the town of Ettlingen and making our way back to the hotel. As soon as we stopped at the light turning into our hotel the rain just STOPPED, clouds dissappeared and it was done.
We got to our rooms and were absolutely sodden through. I took our clothes and hung them in the wardrobe and lit my campstove under it to make a little makeshift dryer. Worked well enough, but the day was done so it was off to bed as we were riding to Garmisch the next morning, come rain or shine.

Woke up the next day, had breakfast and set off about half nine to Garmisch. We were hoping the rain was over from the night before, and luckily, it was. The ride was warm and sunny, smooth going on the autobahn and we were soon down in Austria for a break. Then back over into Germany and into Garmisch. If you have never been there I would suggest it, the road in goes through a tunnel and you come out the other end surrounded by the Alps. Then it is down into the valley that holds the town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and this road is absolutely brilliant to ride. It is about 4 miles of downhill twists and turns, switchbacks and bends like it was made for bikes. We got to the bottom and I could see the smile on the wifes face, she told me that has been the best part of any ride so far.

[tease]

We stopped at the first gasthouse we come across and I go in to talk to the owner about rooms. He shows me two rooms, one was a vacation flat that was HUGE with three balconies, a kitchen and dining room, all for fifty euro a night. So we take them and he opens his back garden for the girls bikes. We decided to cut the trip short on miles and cut out Italy and Switzerland as it took us two days to get to Karlsruhe and we stayed there two days. If we tried to push on with the plans we would have not had a chance to see anything. We booked in for three nights and set off to town to get some grub and have a look around.
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This was the view from our room
If you have never been to Garmisch, I will tell you it is the town you imagine when you (if you) think of a German alpine town. They have no industry outside of tourism, but it is not touristy. They maintain the old standards, when a new building goes up it HAS to be done so it fits in with the old style of the buildings around it, so with the Alps as a backdrop you are surrounded by white stucco buildings with dark wood balconies dripping with flowers, beautiful murals on the walls and red tile rooves. An absolutely beautiful place.
We woke the next day to do some of the tourist stuff and rode to Swangau. This is the place where the two castles sit, Hohenswangau and Neuswanstein. The second (Neuswanstein) is the castle most know of from cinderella as Disney used it as an inspiration for the cartoon. We qued up and got our tickets (five euro apiece, not bad at all) and waited for our time to go up. We decided, instead of hiking up this hill we took the horse drawn carriage
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We went through the tour and the inside is absolutely opulent. I have been a few times before, but it still amazes me how this guy lived. He was crowned at sixteen after his father died and he started to build these fantasy castles. Neuswanstein was the fourth and never completed. The coffers had run dry and he was certified insane, arrested and the next day found floating face down in the lake with the psychiatrist who certified him, but he left behind these amazing fantasy castles.
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The next day we decided to split company for the day and the wife and I went up on the cable car to the top of the Zugspitz. That is the mountain in the photo earlier and is the highest point in Germany at near 3000 meters.
The wife soon found out that one beer at that altitude was more than enough.
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While it may not have been the smartest thing to be drunk at 3000 meters with nothing but a small rail between you and a long drop with a quick stop, but it all turned out fine and the views were absolutly spectacular.
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From there we took another cablecar down to about 2600 meters to the glacier where I get the credit for the first snowball of the year.
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Well, we decided that since we had six days to make it back to the boat we would stay another night and the next day go out to Ettal. The is a beautiful franciscian cloister there that was built in the 1300's and is still going today. They brew some fantastic beer and distill some great spirits there. Inside is really a tribute to old world crafstmen. While I do not have any pix of the inside due to no flash photography, I do have alot of video footage. What I do have is a pic of me and my friend coming out and showing it (contrary to popular belief) did NOT instantly start on fire.
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Well from there the big parts of the adventure were over. On our way out of Garmisch we stopped by an auto shop as my right rear turnsignal wasn't working. I thought it was the bulb from all the wet we went through, but it ended up the rear wiring harness had slipped its bindings and wore away on my wheel. The shop keeper gave me the wire and connectors and it was all good again, but when it came time to pay he just held up his hand and said not to worry about it, so off we went. One night back in Karlsruhe, where we beat the rain in, then it was off into France where I let the wife lead to find us some rooms. Well, she led us past louniville, wierd and Hamnut and straight to a town by the name of Bitche on the Rue de Bitche, coincidence? I think not!
The next day saw us staying in Luxembourg, where I will go back to visit in the future, the roads are great and the people are dead friendly, then over into Belgium, where I will NOT go again. If you don't know the roads there forget it. We got so turned around in Antwerp where the E-19 comes up from the south into the ring road, then on the other side continues north into the Netherlands EXCEPT that the map does NOT show that as you come to the ring road the E-19 branches off into four different roads with NO marking to show which one turns back into the E19 after. Two and a half hours, 25 miles and an over heated clutch found us back on the E19 going north and soon enough back at the boat and back to Hull. All in all we clocked in about 1700 miles in the two weeks and saw tons with some fantastic memories.

We Landed Thursday morning the 24th, got home and went to pick up our new baby.
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Friday at the pub, and Saturday in the field for my Bros 50th (with Jax). Now we are at home and getting some wash done because Friday we are off to Stormin! What a tough life we lead