Munich was great, really good food, beer, sights, and very easy to get
around the city. The BMW museum was worth the trip, while in Munich. After
3 days of sight seeing we were ready for motorcycles.
.
6-29 Day 4
Sunday was the big day for the tour. We caught a cab to the haufbahnhof
(train station), and a 20 minute ride to Olching. The hotel was very nice,
located next to a river with a outside patio. We checked out the bikes,
Kate’s and mine was a new R1100GS with 600km and Gary had a R1100R, we
had a nice dinner, then a meeting with Rob Beach explaining the tour basic’s
and the next days ride around Olching.
Each day there are 3 or 4 route’s to choose from varying in length,
difficulty, and sights. The other option is to choose your own route, and
this is what we did, most of the time. The only requirement is to be at
the hotel in time for dinner.
The Tour
6-30 Day 1 323k, Monday. Today we get familiar with the bike,
the roads, and road signs We planned on doing the northern loop, stopping
a Dachau for a tour of the concentration camp, but Rob didn’t think that
the ride was the best for first time ride. As it turned out Dachau was
closed on Mondays. We headed south with Rob leading a group of 6 bikes
through the German country side of small towns and beautiful farms to Bad
Tolz for lunch. We eventually crossed the Austrian border and rode up a
narrow road into a box canyon and the town of Eng, similar to Telluride,
Co. We sat outside drinking coffee and looking at the scenery and watching
a huge black cloud roll in. This is where Gary earned his first Oh Shit
button, an honor that Rob bestows upon one of the group for some type of
mess up. A Beach rule is when riding in a group and approaching a turn,
the rider in front waits for the rider behind to arrive before turning,
so as not to lose the riders in the rear. This way the group can get strung
out and still get to the same destination. Gary forgot to wait for Juan
at a turn, we never saw Juan again. He was at the hotel when we returned,
so it turned out OK. We returned to Olching by way of the autobahn. You
really have to keep an eye on the rearview mirror so as not to get
run over by cars cruising at well over 160kph.
7-1 Day 2 330k We departed Olching with a couple we met from South
Africa, Ian and Erle, and Gary. It was Ian's 5th motorcycle trip to the
Alps, the second with Beach, and a couple times on his own. Erle was on
her first motorcycle trip ever. She was a great passenger for a first time
rider. Her only problem was a tendency to fall a sleep, so every time we
stopped she would have a double exspresso. We took the autobahn southeast
out of Munich to get to the good secondary roads. Most of the way to Salzburg,
Austria, we followed the small farm and town roads, finally ending up south
of Salzburg in the Bearchesgarden area, for a late lunch. Ian was a fast
rider who didn't like to stop for anything, people, cars, speed limits,
towns, or even gas. Because he had been there before he was a good guide
as well as a good rider, most of the time. This helped us decide on riding
as much as possible and coming back another time for the historical sights
and scenery. With a total of 3700km, we were at the upper end of the mileage
range for a 2 week tour. We actually stayed outside of
Salzburg in Langenfelden. The hotel is nice and the food was great, again.
One of the few problems we find with the tour, is that we are located away
from town. Not that that is necessarily bad, because we are usually to
tired to do anything after the days ride and dinner, but it is one less
option. The phone jacks are European and can not be removed, so no
Internet. To explain, I took along an HPC computer to keep a journal and
try to send e-mail.
It was only 7" x 4" and charged off the bike battery.
7-2 Day 3 425 Today we head south on the Autobahn 20K to the secondary roads. The passes are beautiful and the weather is too. Because we have taken the long way we get into Villach around 6:30. The hotel is in the old town center by the river, and we get to ride on our first cobblestone streets. The hotel was built in 805 and had been remodeled a couple of times, I think? Dinner was great again. The phone jack worked, but I couldn't get the number to connect.
Day 3 Road and Pass Route
Autobahn to Hallein, then secondary roads east to Golling. Halfway
between Rossberg and Abtenau there is a small mountain road that turns
into a toll road for 5DM ea bike. A couple K’s after Abtenau we head south
to St. Martin then east through Eben, Weissenbach, Pruggern, and Stein,
then south over the Solker Pass. We missed the good restaurant on top.
West thru Seebach to Tamsweg for lunch. South to Predlitz and over the
Turracher Hohe pass with a 23% grade, then west and north thru the second
tollroad to lnnerkrems, west to the secondary road that follows the Autobahn
to Villach. At Gmund we took a road like a cart path south over a
mountain to Seeboden on Lake Millstatten See. Followed the northside of
the lake to Radenthein and Hwy 98 to Villach.
7-3 Day 4 Today we head to Italy and are
taking the long way through Slovenia, over the Wurzenpass, the Vrsic Pass,
and the Predil Pass into Italy. The country we see is very pretty, but
the people and houses are pretty basic looking. Our first stop in Italy
is a nice little town where we exchange traveler's checks into Lira and
get shorted 30000 Lira each. We find a restaurant for coffee and we experience
the first Italian toilet. The ladies aren’t too impressed.
After another hour of riding we start looking for a place to have lunch,
in Ampezzo we are driving around looking for the town center, Ian is riding
back and forth, up and down these really narrow side streets, it’s almost
like riding through people’s living rooms, because the road is so close.
Ian finally stops to tell us he’s looking for the town center, but he can’t
remember where it is. We head on. Later we discover that we were
in the wrong town. There seem to be several towns that start with
Ampezzo, We have lunch at a small restaurant on the outskirts of
town, excellent pasta , bread and wine. After another 150km we finally
get to the right Ampezzo de Cortina and stop in the town square to watch
people and have a coffee. After walking through town we go back to the
bikes and find a policeman about to give us a ticket for parking
in a no parking zone. He asked us if we would like paying a 200000
Lira ticket. We said no and he let us go. It took an hour for the ride
to Arraba and our Hotel Evaldo. Another good dinner at the hotel.
Day 4 Route list.
Villach south over the Wurzenpass into Solvenia, over Vrsic pass thru
Trenta, north from Lal-Koritnica north to Strmec and over the Predil pass
in to Italy. Over the Sella Nevea to Chusaforte for coffee and money.
Followed river valley and Autobahn to Tolmezzo, west to Ampezzo. Pso d.
Morte, Pso di Mauria, to Lozzo di Cadore. North and west on 48 to Pso Tre
Croci to Cortina. Continued on 48 over Pso di Falzarego to Arabba
7-4 Day 5 220k This day is our first rest day, one where we spend
2 nights in the same hotel. Arabba is located in the Dolamites in the middle
of John Herman’s famous figure 8. You can ride over 6-8 passes in
50 miles, with Arabba being in the center of the 8. It is one of the most
spectacular areas in the Alps.
We ride the figure 8 and take a lot of pictures, so many in fact that
after 2 hours we’ve crossed 2 passes, so we decide to bust it. Later in
the afternoon we loose Gary for about an hour. For dinner we are on our
own, as is the case for all rest days.. After dinner it was raining hard
and not looking to promising for tomorrow.
Day 5 Route list
Pso Pordoi, Pso di Sella(Joch), Pso di Gardena, Pso di Campolongo,
Pso Falzarego, to Pocol for lunch, Pso di Giau to Caprile, Sottoguda and
the old pass road. Pso di Marmolada to Canazei to the Pso Pordoi again
and back to Arabba.
7-5.Day 6 215k We awoke to heavy rain and cold temps. The worst day of the trip, with full rain gear. All the passes in the morning were fogged over, so we didn't get to see much except the first 20 yards of the road. By lunch, 2pm, the rain had stopped and there were brief periods of sun. A little old lady who couldn't speak any English told us to eat in a hotel we had stopped close to. Again very good. We finally made it to our hotel in Vason, easily the worst hotel of the trip. The room was old, the bar area was sparse as well as the service. The cold and cloudy weather didn't help.
Day 6 Route list
Pso Pordoi, Pso di Costalunga, missed turn and went to Welschnofen,
went back the right turn and Pso Nigra to Prato and Bolzono. Hwy 42 over
Pso Mindola and on to Reva and Cles thru Melveno to Ponte Arche for lunch.
South on 45b to Dro and back up thru Lasino to Vason.
7-6 Day 7 432k Passes Croce Domini, di Vivione, Gavia, di Stelvio, Ofenpass.
Coffee
on Croce, lunch on Vivione. The day was beautiful and one of the best
and longest. Rob told us not to do the route we did, because it was so
long. Two of the narrowest passes on the trip, the road was like a golf
cart path with two way traffic, a wall on one side and a sharp drop off
on the other. Just amazing. The third pass, the Gavia had 10 kilometers
of gravel and dirt, narrow and a lot of snow at the top. The Stelvio pass
is the third highest in Europe with 100 some odd switchbacks. Incredible
when you look back up the mountain that anyone would ever think of building
a road. The last pass was an easy one with a run up the Inn river in the
Engnine Valley to Zuos.
The night before we left Boulder we watched a PBS train show on the
trains that run up this valley. We arrived late and just had enough time
to shower before dinner. By the time dinner was over it was time for bed.
Combined with late arrivals, long dinners, and remote hotel locations
we didn't get to see a lot of the local area, but then we were here to
ride.
Day 7 Route list
Vason to Riva di Garda to Storo to Bagolino and over the Pso di Croce
Dominii to Breno. On west thru Borno, then north over Pso di Vivione to
Edolo. North thru Temu and over Pso di Gavia to Bormio over Pso di Stelvio
to Glorenza then south to Mustair in Switzerland. West over the Ofenpass
to Zernez south along the Inn river to Zouz.
7-7 Day 8 Today while stopped in St. Moritz, we lost Gary for the day. We strolled around town, bought chocolates, and watched people. The roads and scenery were nice. We lunched in a small town with a couple of riders from our group, then headed to Andermatt. The best pass of the day was Oberalp which ends in town at the hotel parking lot, literally. You can sit at the outside bar and watch motorcycles pass from 3 directions. Since we arrived early we shopped a bit then went out to ride two more passes, the Furka and Grimsel. When we returned Hans(who Kate had met on the Internet) had checked in. We talked him into dining with us and he treated us to Swiss wine. We went to bed while Hans closed down a disco with a couple of tour people. I finally get connected to the Internet in Andermatt and check my e-mail. I’m using a Velo1 HPC and Compuserve. Most of the hotel’s now have regular RJ-ll jacks, so I just plug into the HPC and dial the local Compuserve number. I use a cigarette lighter adapter on the BMW to charge the batteries in the HPC. Everything works great.
Day 8 Route list
Zouz to St. Moritz. West and north on Hwy 3 over the Julierpass to
Thusis, to Reichenau, west thru Flims, Rveun, Disentis, over the Oberalppass
to Andermatt. Checked in to the hotel then rode over the Furka pass, Grimsel
and back over the Furka to Andermatt.
7-8 Day 9 200km After breakfast Hans took us on a ride to the Devils
Bridge and gave us a history lesson. Hans is into riding by himself on
slower, curvy roads, which meant he was a little out of place in our group.
He also took us up the old Gotthard Pass cobblestone road, before
he left us to go back to work, a 4 hour ride.
The next passes were the Nufenenpass, the Grimsel, and the Susten Pass,
lunch was in Innertkirchen before heading to the Brienzer See, Interlaken
and Beatenberg, where our hotel was located.
Day 9 Route list
Andermatt to the devils bridge for a look, then the Pso del S. Gattardo,
west over the Nufenenpass north over the Grimsel to Innerthirchen up to
the top of the Sustenpass and back down to Innertkirchen for lunch. West
on the north side of Brienzer See to Interlaken and Beatenberg.
7-9
Day 10 120k. We walked around Interlaken, rode to Lauterbrunnen and took
the tram to the top of the Schilthorn and looked at the Eiger, Monk,
and the Jungfrau. The tram had 4 different legs. You can stop at any leg
to hike, eat, or view the sites. They pack as many people as they can get
in to the gondola’s, so at some points you feel like sardines. After
the tram we rode to Thun for lunch, in the town market. We rode back on
the north side of the lake to the city park in Interlaken to watch the
paragliders, but the weather was getting bad. We only had time to drink
a beer before riding back to the hotel in the rain. The hotel
had a group of 50 British motorcyclists on a tour from England. Very interesting
people to talk to. This was our free day so dinner was up to us again.
We should have eaten at the hotel, but Ian led us to a restaurant that
he thought would be good. Not.
Day 10
Beatenberg to Interlaken to Lauterbrunnen. Tram to Schilthorn. West
on southside of Tnuner See to Thun and lunch. North side of lake to Interlaken
and Beatenberg.
7-10 Day 11 Today we are off to Unterwasser. We do the north side of the Brienzer See to Briinigpass, north to Saren and Stans and Buoch where we catch the ferry across the Statter See to Gersau. North to Schwyz where the Victorinox Knife factory is located. We arrive in time for their lunch hour. After driving around town looking for a place to eat we end up at Danny’s Fast Food. Pizza, sandwich’s and hamburgers, not the best atmosphere, but the food is OK and it is next to the factory. We buy our knives and head east to Muotathol. Pragel pass is another narrow two way pass with a lot of traffic, and very pretty with a large lake at the bottom of the east side. On to Glarus, north to Nafels, Schanis, Kaltkrunn to Wattwil, Hemberg Nesslau and finally to Unterwasser.
Day 11 Route list
Beatenberg east on north side of lake over Brunizpass north to Saren
and Stans and Buochs and the ferry across Statter See to Gersau and north
to Schwyz where the Victorinox knife factory is located. East to Muotathal
and over the Pragelpass to Glarus. North to Nafels, Schanis, Kaltbrunn
to Wattwil, Hemberg, Nesslau to Unterwasser.
7-11 Day 12 The morning is raining so rainsuits are in order, but not to far over the first pass and it starts to dry up. The riding is mostly through country farm land. We go through Gams, north to Feldkirch, Bergenz, east to Langen, north to Weiler i. Aelg, Isny, then south to Immernstadt and Burgberg, where Held Leather is located. We buy leather gloves, Gary buys two sets of leathers. It’s pretty hard to pass up the good deals on leathers, obviously Gary can’t. After lunch it’s off to Sonthofen and the Oberjoch pass to Weissenbach, north to Reutte, south to Bichlbach and Stanzach, south to Elemen, east over the Hahntennjoch, another narrow, beautiful Pass to Imst. We don’t actually ever get to Imst. The hotel is outside of town, the weather is cool and threatening rain, so after checking in to the hotel we relax on the patio and in the bar. Gary gets his 2nd Oh Shit Button.
Day 12 Route list
Unterwasser east to Gams to 191 and north to Feldkirch and Bergenz,
east to Langen, north to Weileri, Aelg, Isng, then south to Immenstadt
and Burgberg to the Held Leather Factory. Sonthofen to Oberjach pass and
to Weissenbach north to Reutte, south to Bichlbach and a loop to Stanzach,
south to Elemen, east over the Hahntennjoch to Imst.
7-12 Day 13 Back to Munich. We leave lmst the way we came, over the
Hahntennjoch to Reutte and Oberammergau. North to Peissenberg and Herrsching,
where Ian tries to make us run out of gas. After gassing up we’re back
on the road to Olching. We arrive at the hotel at 12:30 and at checkin,
It turns out, that the band Steppenwolf spent the previous night at the
hotel and trashed all the rooms. We were lucky to get a clean room without
having to wait all afternoon. After changing from leathers to jeans
and having lunch, we head off to Dachau to tour the camp. Very sobering.
Back at the hotel the tour members are arriving, gassing up the bikes,
doing last minute things in preparation for the flight back to the states.
Our last dinner is outside on the patio. Drinks are on Rob, the food is
good, stories are retold, and everyone has a good time.
Day 12 Route list
‘Imst back over Hahntennjoch to Reutte and Oberammergau. North to Peissenberg,
Herrsching and back to Olching.
It was interesting and a learning experience traveling by train from
Frankfurt to Munich. One I’m glad I did, but if I had it to do over, I
would fly direct to Munich, or at least not travel with Gary.
Would I take a organized tour again? Probably, but next time it will
be on our own, renting a bike, going at a slower pace, seeing more sights,
and stopping where and when we want too.