Best of Europe BOE2402
Before our first riding day a smaller group of four (Kim & Paul and Arleen & Nelson) want to explore the nearby capital of Bavaria, Munich! We start in the very morning and of course our first stop is a traditional bavarian breakfast. Is there a better way to start the day as with some white sausages, sweet mustard, a "Breze" and a Weißbier? Of course, not! We continue to have a look at the different churches from different centuries, watch the famous Glockenspiel, stroll around old city center of Munich and of course the hofgarten.
This day is absoluteley crazy! It's raining a lot. Southgermany is going through the floodings of the century as they are titled all over the news. Unfortunately there aren't that many pictures of this day as we are busy looking for roads which we still can ride. Everything is flooded! We ride over the very few open roads through the Hallertau, and visit beautiful bishops town Eichstätt, before we head directly to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Dinner is calling and the Nightswatch in Rothenburg, too!
Today we leave Rothenburg ob der Tauber and look forward to the journey to Heidelberg. The weather is a little better than yesterday. However, roads and fields are flooded. Let's surprise ourselves and improvise - we're a great team and we will do it. Today we will look at three castles, a monastery and an interesting wooden bridge. In Heidelberg we take a cable car from the hotel to the old town, enjoy the dinner and have fun. Let's go.
In the very morning we take the Autobahn A5 to leave the densely populated area around Heidelberg to finally ride the curvy roads of the black forrest. Here we check out a little blacksmith who also gives us a crash course in forging a bottle opener. In the deep woods of the black forrest we stop at a cabin which serves us amazing lunch. But Richard is craving for carbs, so he gehts some spagghetti. In the afternoon we continue our path to France and just before we arrive at our hotel in cozy Ribbeauvillé we stop at historic Marginot Line. It's humbling to walk around the bunker here.
Today is our well-deserved rest day. But no – 😊 everyone wants to discover the Vosges. So let's do it! We're going to have a great motorcycle ride through the Vosges today. It starts early and the first thing we do is visit the Hohe Königsburg, one of the landmarks in Alsace. An impressive 12th century castle that has been fully restored. At an altitude of 767 meter we can see all the way to the Black Forest. We continue along the “Route des Cretes”, a winding mountain road that connects several passes. Grippy asphalt, good weather and the mountains of the Vosges accompany us all the way to Munster. This is where the famous Munster cheese comes from. After a delicious lunch we head back to Ribeauvillé. We cross further passes. Many battles took place in Alsace during the First World War and we visited a memorial. Finally we arrived safely back in Ribauvillé and ended the evening with a glass of wine and tarte flambée.
After two days in France, today our journey takes us via Germany into Switzerland. After crossing the border into Germany, we go straight through the Kaiserstuhl. The Kaiserstuhl, a former volcano, is one of the best-known and best wine-growing regions in Germany. Vines as far as you can see. We drive over the Kandel, the third highest mountain in the Black Forest (1241 meters) on beautiful roads with a good flow to the Hexenlochmühle to eat the famous Black Forest cake there. We also buy souvenirs from the Black Forest. Another hour's drive and Eugen is waiting for us with a picnic. There is Leberkäs with meatballs, fresh strawberries and cake. 😊 – very tasty – thank you Eugen. We enjoy our lunch before setting off for another highlight of the day. The Rhine waterfalls near Schaffhausen. The waterfalls are among the third largest waterfalls in Europe, are 23 meters high and 150 meters wide. An impressive natural spectacle for all of us. Just a few meters away is our hotel where we can relax and look forward to the next day.
Our day starts by following the river Rhine all the way up to Lake Constanze before turning into the Switzerland to take the cable car up on mount Säntis. For some of us its the very first time touching snow! After a nice lunch there we cross the little state of Liechtenstein, to end up in our fifth country on this tour. We are lucky, as the Furkajoch awaits us. A very narrow road to finally ride along the Hochtannbergpass to our todays destination, Warth.
Our last riding day starts very easy, following the valley of the river Lech. We get a nice glance at Austrias beauty and head back towards Germany. Before that we stop at the Plansee, which color just amazes us and take the easy but enjoyable pass "Ammersattel" back to Germany. At lunch we also stop for King Ludwig II beautiful Castle Linderhof. Then we are given a last chance to try out the max speed of our bikes on the famous german Autobahn. What a trip!