Euro bimble 2014

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Day 2 - UKBEG meet up in Cassel

Saturday 28th June 2014 We are on the road and heading for the Channel Tunnel at 8am. A thumb down signal from an oncoming sports bike rider warns us to slow down and, around the next corner we glide sedately past the copper with the radar gun standing on the central reservation. Thumb up sign from him, a good start to the day. Buelligans start to gather in Cassel The Eurotunnel experience is a breeze as usual. Our neighbours are a couple on a K1600GT, an enormous bike with more carrying capacity than many a small car. It's not theirs but a loaner from BMW to replace their recalled R1200RT. The new water-cooled RT has a major rear shock problem and all bikes have been recalled to the dealers for a fix. They seemed happy enough as they headed off for the South of France. From Calais we head east for the short run to Cassel near the Belgian border. It's a small historic old town on a hill, with cobblestone roads and fine architecture. It has also bec

Sunday 29th June 2014 We are up and about surprisingly early for a morning after a party, no doubt the hangover will kick in later. So we shuffle back to the farmyard where our amazing hosts provide coffee and croissants. Before long the rain starts to come down again, no respite all morning. So more banter with the coffee. Maybe it will clear in a while. No such luck, so eventually in the early afternoon we depart for, in Mick's words, " the worst day on a bike ever". Camp site at the High Chapparal By the time we arrive at the High Chapparal in Luxembourg everything is soggy except our feet - thank you Altberg, your boots are amazing. The spray on the highway had to be seen to be believed. At times we are aquaplaning. But enough of this. We arrive at the camping ground around 8pm. The sky clears and the sun appears just in time to get the tents up and the gear drying. The High Chapparal is a great biker bar on the River Sure close to the pictures

Monday, 30th June 2014 We are up with the dawn. We are starting to get used to living with the sun. there's no pressure on today, we have no particular place to go. The sky is full of fast moving clouds and it's chilly here by the river at half five in the morning. Parked up in Esch-sur- Sûre Yesterday the fly fishermen were out in force, trying to tickle trout from the fast flowing river, but with no apparent results. This morning an old fellow arrives and sets up his gear. He is ledgering, and with a minimum of fuss proceeds to pull out 7 or 8 fat trout in less than half an hour. Then back in his van and off for a good breakfast no doubt. At 10am we saddle up and roll into Esch-sur-Sure. The sun is out now and with the luggage off the bikes it's all freestyle riding. We have coffee and cake at the Cafe Eglise where we meet Colonel, the biggest dog in the world. The Colonel Esch is a beautiful little town climbing up two rocky outcrops that

Tuesday 1st July 2014 The mist is lying low over the River S ûre at dawn , the valley cold and ethereal as the coffee brews. By the time we are packed up and ready to go the sun has burned through and the day is warming up nicely. I use the Tomtom 'winding roads' option and it plots a lovely route across Luxembourg to the border with Germany. On the Luxembourg back roads This is a beautiful country with great roads, even the tiny tracks are smooth tarmac with not a pothole in sight. We traverse the Eifel Mountains, all hairpins and sweepers. We stop for coffee in a small village at the border. It's a pub with a few tables across the road overlooking a river. There's no car park but so little traffic that we pull up outside the door and amble across the road. Coffee stop near the border And so on into Germany. The road takes us to the Nurburgring, running alongside the track for a few miles, but it's empty of speeding traffic. We arriv

Wednesday 2nd July 2014 Up with the lark and away. We follow the Rhine north for a few kilometres to the village of Remagen. Although the bridge here was made famous by the the John Guillermin film 'The Bridge at Remagen', that was a railway bridge and there is no road bridge here. Fortunately there is a ferry so we board and cross the Rhine in style. Having eaten our breakfast prematurely the previous night, we stop off at a village Bäckerie and fill up with coffee and rolls. The sun is shining and all is well with the world. Avoiding the autobahns we cruise across Rheinland Pfalz towards Hessen. Our ultimate destination is Fladungen in Northern Bavaria, in the Rhön National Park which straddles Bayern, Thuringia and Hessen. Gliders Dropping down into a valley bottom we see an old Gasthof and stop for lunch. It is an Italian restaurant, rather oddly called Jimmy's, and does an excellent tortellini. We are heading for Vogelsberg which claims to be

T hursday 3rd July 2014 Another hot day is in prospect. The early morning mist smokes off the lake and the sun burns it's way through as we pack our gear onto the bikes. We are heading to Fladungen which is hosting an 'Old Timers' festival this weekend. 'Old Timer' celebrations are a big thing in Germany where nostalgia for all things post-war is huge. It encompasses the music, clothes and artefacts of a recently bygone age, especially renovated forms of transport from the 1950s and 1960s. A Germanic take on the American Dream. It's only a lick and a spit to Fladungen so we are there before midday. We decided to come a day early as we thought the camp site may well be full, and so it proves. The nice lady says they are fully booked as we look over an entirely empty field. However after we explain that we have come all the way from Northern England to experience the unique atmosphere of the Fladungen Classics she relents and we're in. Camp s

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Euro bimble 2014 - Romania

Posts

Day 1 - On The Way

Day 2 - UKBEG meet up in Cassel

Day 3 - Football at the High Chapparal

Day 4 - Chilling out by the Sûre

Day 5 - Reaching the Rhine

Day 6 - Heading East and a Rant

Day 7 - Fladungen, Football and Festival