Road Trip 2022 Peak District and Snowdonia

  Col and I don't live that far from the Peak district to our North. It's the kind of distance you could do easily in 1 day, but the journey to get there is kind of boring. Its either through the built up areas or along the Motorway and its a few hours before you get there. 

 The Peak district does however have the Cat and Fiddle road or as its correctly know the A537.  We have often heard of this road mentioned in pubs and magazines so decided it should be on our places to visit list.

 This was the first ride for my new bike, the Triumph Trident 660, I had only picked it up 2 days before. (there will be a review on that soon) 

 Day 1, Our first night was booked at Buxton in the Premier Inn. On the way we tried to avoid the motorways as I was running the bike in and we just didn't want to go via them, so picked a route around Wolverhampton and Stafford, through Uttoxeter, Ashbourne and on to Matlock Bath for some dinner. We found a chip shop with parking in front and sat in the street eating our chips. Col spotted 5 other chip shops from where we sat, they must eat a lot of chips up there!  

After dinner we headed north west towards Lady Bower, the reservoir is there so we stopped to take a rest and watch the world go by for a while.  There is a road called Snake Road (A57) to the north of the reservoir I had spotted this when looking for places to stay, its twisty so I thought perfect for us. It didn't disappoint and was the best road of the day. Eventually we found our destination which was perfect, the bikes were hidden and were undercover which was good as it rained through the night. While having a pint in the bar we commented about the amount of our route that had 50mph limits, nearly all of them North of Wolverhampton, which was handy as 50mph was about as fast as I could go before the rev counter flashed in annoyance for over revving during the 1st 250 miles of the bikes existence. 

 Day 2, we planned to go to North Wales to spend 2 nights in the Premier Inn at Llandudno Junction. We loaded the bikes up with our luggage and head of to the A537 and the Cat and Fiddle for a coffee. It was only about 10 minutes from the hotel, the road was fun but has a 50mph limit on it and average speed check cameras. 

  We picked our way West on lots of roads with 50mph speed limits, via Macclesfield then Crewe, eventually finding our way to the Ponderosa café on the horseshoe pass near Llangollen. From there its West along the A5 and the A470. This was another fun road, which again, over a pint we decided was the best road of the day.

 The hotel was fine for what we wanted it for, comfy room and the bikes hidden from the road. As the weather had been very good when we got to Wales we decided to get some chips in town, then take a ride to the top of the Great Orm and then follow the coastal road down around the back of the hill which was very picturesque.

Day 3,  The route we took started by going back up the A470 until it meets the A5, then along the A5 to Capel Curig, staying on the A5 until it meets the A4244 following the signs for Llanberis, where we stopped for dinner,  then continue along until it meets the A4086 and eventually meeting the A5 again.  Then its back to the hotel. We fell lucky not getting caught in any rain, but missing it by minutes by the look of the wet roads.

 

Day 4, The long ride home.  We came home via Bala, where there is another of our favourite places to get a coffee. By now Col was beginning to feel the problems that touring on a Supersports bike delivers. Stiffness in his legs and hands and an uncomfortable seat. Although Bala is only 90 minutes from home he needed a few stops to stretch his legs. I on the other hand was very comfortable on the Trident. 

All in all we had a great time, we commented that we need not travel hundreds of miles to find some great rides, when just 2 hours away is the Snowdonia National Park with its beautiful scenery and look forward to heading this way again.

Summary
Date:- July 2022
Weather:- 4 Days 22-24 degrees
Hotel:- Premier Inn Buxton - Premier Inn Llandudno junction
Miles:-600 approx, all on bikes
Fuel Cost:- 1.89 approx
EDSBK Riders:- Phill, Col
Aim:- To ride in the Peak District and the Snowdonia National Park

 

2017 Clermont Ferrand & Millau

  Col and I couldn't decide where to go for our 2017 trip, we talked about Ireland, Scotland and 

Le-man all because we wanted a cheaper trip than the last 2 years. Eventually on a cold December night in the pub and after watching a re-run of a Top Gear episode, we came up with the Millau Viaduct and Tarn Gorge in the South of France.

 The plan was to do it over 5 days, 3 days of riding once we had got there and again this involved the van and a 13 hour drive.

The  Viaduct has been on our visit list in the past, but we have not been quite close enough to it before.  In January I looked for a hotel with secure parking, that was bike friendly and not too far from civilisation so we could enjoy the area when not on the bikes and the obvious choice was Clermont Ferrand.

 When I looked on Google maps it was about a 2 hour ride down to Millau and the viaduct, so thought that a far enough distance for a day out. The rest of the area closer to the hotel on the map had some bendy looking roads, so thought it seemed a good destination.

 July came and we collected the van. Eurocar again supplied us with a van with only 1000 miles on the clock, unfortunately for the 2nd time, it didnt have air-con which is what we asked for, or cruise control and worst it was also a transit custom, which I know far to well as being the most broken into van on the market and it can be done in about 40 seconds, so we were rather disappointed as we loaded the bikes. 

 We set out at 4:15am made our booking on Euro-tunnel and headed off deep in to France. The journey was event free only traffic we encountered was through Paris which lost us about 45 minutes.

We pulled onto our hotel carpark at 18:15 French time. We used  The Comfort Hotel next to the hospital and a petrol station, its not far off the main roads out of town, has a tram stop outside, some English speaking staff, was clean but tired looking and the car park was secured and kept the van hidden from the road so just what we wanted. 3 stars ***. The tour de France also used the same hotel the 1st night we were there.

 Day 1

  We were asleep for 10 hours so when we woke up it was after 9am, it was raining when we opened the curtains and we watched the sky as we ate our cornflakes. There was alot of blue heading our way so looked at the map and spotted a race circuit not to far away, I said lets go see whats there. It was closed and we could see nothing, apart from old volcano stacks, lots of them, I said lets wing it, we will just head up and eventually find something to look at, Col agreed as there was not much option. I lead for most of this ride, taking the N roads which looked like they were headed up hill, eventually we came across a shop, which looked good to get a drink from, but it only sold cheese.

 I took out my smart phone, looked at the maps and noticed we were close to a road called the D996.
 "This looks twisty, its gotta be good, its named after the Ducatti 996" I said, and was only 6 miles away, so we set off in that direction.
 To get there we followed the D983 which  takes you to the top edge of a volcano, we stopped for a rest and to admire the view.  The cauldron was along down to the left and full of trees.

Eventually we reached the left turn onto the D996 which in reality seemed better than it looked on the map, the corners just kept coming and the ribbon of tarmac was race track smooth, the road kept climbing taking you to heights where your higher than the low lying clouds covering our visors with a layer of drizzle, eventually we came out the top of the clouds and found the 1401 mtrs summit of col de la croix Morand and stopped for a magnum at the little gift shop.

The clouds lifted as we sat there and we could see a lake bathed in sunshine along way below us, so Col said shall we go there.
 I looked at the map and the D996 went passed the lake so we set off down the hill to Lac Chambon. We found a Lakeside hotel called Belle Vue and stopped for a drink watching the world go by for over an hour. The clouds on the mountains started to look threatening so we continued our journey back towards the hotel.
A few more miles along the road was the Chateau de Murol, an impressive looking hill fort, the clouds were gaining on us so we moved on, but the clouds had straight lines to follow, we had the twisty road and inevitably they caught us, we took to hiding under the trees until it stopped raining and headed back to the Hotel. 

D996   9 out of 10.

Day 2

 The weather app said that day2 was going to be the best weather of the 3 day, this was going to be the day to go on our longest trip of our few days away. We got up early opened the curtains to a grey clouded day, but at least it was dry.
 We set off in the local rush hour traffic which was like a Sunday morning in the UK, headed down the A75 towards  Millau, as this was the purpose of this trip, to ride over the Tallest bridge in the world, the Millau Viaduct. The previous night we watched how it was built on Youtube which put us even more in the mood for seeing it.
  The Journey there was around 2 hours, it threatened to rain numerous times, even dropping cool over the taller mountains that the route took us. The dark grey threatening sky seemed to be endless and I was fearing the worst for the photo opportunities.
  We were only about 5 or 6 miles from the bridge when it first came into sight. The grey clouds came to an end and blue patches seen here and there, and bigger patches of blue over the bridge and the gorge below. I saw the turn for the visitor centre and we went to have a closer look.
  We left the bikes on the carpark, the walked up the hill to the viewing platform which is just a bit higher than the 245m high road deck of the bridge.  The Viaduct is built over the river Tarn, and was built to re leave the traffic problems through Millau.
The Millau Viaduct is 2460m long, has 7 pillars, The tallest pillar is 343m tall which makes it taller than the Shard in England and the  Eifle Tower making it the 4th tallest structure in France, the shortest pillar is 77m, which is still a long way up!

We took the photo's and headed back to the bikes to ride over it. There was a Toll to pay, this was a little confusing as it didnt show what vehicle you were paying to take over the bridge, we went to a lane that showed a picture of a car and a bike, posted your credit card in the slot and the barrier lifted so we pulled away, not until you get home do you actually see what you paid, we both paid 8 Euro the price for a car....

We crossed the bridge and gave each other a thumbs up, as if saying "thats one more thing off our bucket list!" We took the next turn off and followed the road so we could next ride under the bridge for a few photos, refuel and dinner in an air conditioned MacDonalds in Millau as it was warming up quickly.

 After Dinner we followed the road up through the gorge to a road that had appeared on an episode of Top Gear where the 3 presenters had some fun on a zig zag of a road running up the mountain. This was the village of Les Vignes and the road the D995.  The Gorge was lovely the river runs to the right of the road which had a number of tunnels and hairpins, its very touristy and there were a lot of camp sites, so the road speed was limited.
  We took the left turn onto the D995, by now it was hot the forecast had said 29 degrees but in leathers it felt hotter. We climbed the road out of the gorge, the heat effecting Col more than usual so I stopped and waited for him in the lay by near the top, where the Top Gear presenters had filmed part of the show. The journey back from there was another 2 hours, but the cooling breeze helped make it more bareable.

Day 3

 We had no plans for day 3 just to ride around and explore similar to day 1. We set off in a different direction, after spotting on the map the D216 another twisty bit of tarmac to the south west. This road was nice and the weather was good at this point.

 At the time I didn't  realise where it was headed only to end up back in the same place as we did on day 1, which wasn't all bad as we got to ride the D996 again, but this time it was wet. Infact so wet we had to get the waterproofs out which is a mood changer and the ride is more for the hell of it than enjoyment. We called it a day in the early afternoon after another stop by Lac Chambon and went back to the hotel and planned to spend the evening in the city, which was most impressive.

 All in all I enjoyed the trip and would definately head to that area again, the weather could have been more generous to us, but we have some new roads to add to our Ultimate Roads section.

Summary
Date:- July 2017
Weather:- 5 mixed Days 22-26 degrees
Hotel:- The Comfort Hotel - Claremont Ferrand - gated parking
Miles:-1860, 1370 in a van
Fuel Cost:- 1.22 approx
EDSBK Riders:- Phill, Col
Aim:- To ride over the Millau bridge

Trip 2016

The Jura Mountains.

   In January we put a few ideas forward for the 2016 road trip and only Col and I were going to be able to go. So we decided as in 2015 the temperature had been so hot in Geneva so we decided to go back and hope the freakishly hot summer of 2015 was going to be more to our liking this year.

 We planned to use the same hotel as last year as we knew it was good and had underground parking for the van and the bikes.

 We set off in the VW van at 4am headed to the Euro tunnel to find we have the wrong sized van. The lady in the Kiosk was helpful and told us to go to the help desk.  At the desk another lady told us we had to pay an extra £70 which was fine, but she said, i am struggling to find you a space on the train, however 30 minutes later we were in the tunnel and Calais bound. 

 Its a blooming long way to Geneva, we watched the temperature climb to 37 degrees as we crossed France and were thankful that this van had air-con. 

 We arrived at the Hotel at 18:10 to the sound of a crash on the back of the van as we went around the last 2 roundabouts. We checked what had happened and the strap holding the bikes inplace had come undone sending my bike into Cols as we cornered causing a crack in the fairing and a broken indicator on Cols bike and scratches to mine, we both were gutted as we had checked the bikes were ok at every stop we made for the last 14 hours. We ate our Pizza thinking of better ways to secure the bikes for the return journey.


 The next day, we got the bikes off the van and assessed the damage, it didn't look quite so bad and we managed to do minor repairs where needed, then headed to the nearest fuel station.
 The plan was to ride the Jura mountains and go to St Claudes as this road was our favourite of the 2015 trip and well worth a 2nd visit. That is until we discovered the main road had 3 sets of roadworks spoiling the flow, and the clouds were gathered at the half way height which let go as we arrived, so we had our first soaking of the trip.

After the 1st down pour

The botttom of the hill down to St Claudes

 The afternoon dried up nicely and we found the good roads from last year and had a good time in the afternoon sunshine. We stopped at the top of the road from Gex for an drink and Ice-cream and noticed a leaflet for the Jura park and Jeux Chateau so decided that was tomorrows destination.

Stopped by the lake

 The next day we awoke to the sound of heavy rain. The mountains behind the hotel could not be seen so after a late breakfast we waited at the hotel for a while and chatted to some English people who were going home after touring for 3 weeks on their bike. They were telling us how many people wanted to talk to them about Brexit but not in a positive way.
   The rain stopped so we headed to the Joux Lakes crossing into Switzerland for a few feet, and then made a run for it back to the hotel only stopping to put on the waterproofs under a bridge as heavy rain, well i say heavy rain but actually it was very heavy waterproof penetrating rain which came and spoiled the rest of the ride.
  Back at the hotel the sum came out so we went to talk to the Bike Shuttle crew that had come to take the other bikes that were parked in the underground car park.

 The last day we thought we would give the Joux chateau another chance, but the rain was so heavy on the mountain we decided to go to Annecy in the opposite direction. As we got within 2Km of Annecy the rain started and lightning streaked over the black sky ahead so we changed our course and rode around some of the lesser know areas of the French Alps and Jura mountains until we found a sign for somewhere we had heard of.

The darkest of dark clouds was hiding out of shot to the left

 All in all we didnt find any new roads worth a mention, but at least we did ride some good ones again that we rode last year.

The sun arrived as we waited to get on the train back to the UK

 At Calais we were held up for 2 hours which caused us to hit Londons M25 at rush hour, what joy. The journey home was 15 hrs.

Summary
Date:- July 2016
Weather:- 6 Hot Days 22-32 degrees
Hotel:- Business Park Hotel - Geneva
Miles:-1900, 1560 in a van
Fuel Cost:- 1.22 approx
EDSBK Riders:- Phill, Col
Aim:- To explore more of the Jura mountains

Trip 2015

The French, Swiss and Italian Alps

   In November of 2014 I was at the motorcycle show in the NEC in Birmingham with Col and came across the guys from Bikeshuttle. The plan is to put your bike in the back of their purpose built truck and take it to Geneva, leaving you to make your own way their by train and plane then meet your bike the following day. We thought the idea had promise so decided there and then that Geneva was on the table for the 2015 road trip. In January we put the trip to Geneva idea to the others, and forecast our costs using bikeshuttle and only myself and Col were going to be able to do this one. The were afew other issues by using the Bikeshuttle service we hadn't thought of which when we weighed it up shoved our costs up and the price out of reach.
 Still determined by the idea to ride in the Alps we looked at other ways to get us there. Riding the 740 miles eachway was not what we wanted to do, so we decided to hire a van ourselves, stick the bikes in the back, along with anything else we needed but we would still use the same hotel Bikeshuttle use as they have underground parking. So through the early parts of the year we hired a van from Europcar, booked the hotel and Eurotunnel and our trip was made.

  We set off at 4am heading to the tunnel, the news was reporting strikes in Calais and the illegal immigrants were also up to no good, so we were expecting to be part of "operation stack", but along the M20 nothing was left apart from a portable loo every half a mile.

  We planned to visit the old Grand Prix curcuit at Reims on the way as Col and I both have seen it on television and wanted to do a lap, also to Ride the Italian Jobs Grand St Bernards Pass and find some roads to add to our Ultimate riding roads list.

   The van seemed to be a great idea as we arrived at the Eurotunnel only 3 and a half hours later which on the bikes in the past had took a further 1 hour due to fuel stops. It felt great not to be sweating and stuck in leathers on the back of the train.

    We arrived in Reims at dinnertime and made our way to Gueux where the old grandstands are still standing and had a look around before taking the van around for a few laps of the 1952 layout of the circuit.
 Time was rolling on so we continued on across France and the temperature on the vans read out went from 22 up to 29 degrees, again we were glad not to be in leathers at this point.
 We arrived at the Business Park Hotel at 18:30 local time, its just on the outskirts of the French part of Geneva. A brief cock up took us into the Swiss part and the City centre which meant we had to buy a Vignette from the Police for 40 Swiss Francs (about £28) this meant we could use the Swiss motorways for a whole year, even though we only needed them for all of 5 miles.  The room was nice on the top floor and we dropped our luggage then went to the restaurant next door for Pizza and Beer.

  We woke up to blue sky, I suggested we went to the 3rd highest of the mountain passes Grand St. Bernards Pass as it was the closest, just 2 hours 10 minutes away from the hotel of which 90 mins are on the motorway. We arrived at a town called Martigny and I put the camera on the bike. The climb started and a few long bends that doubled back on themselves got us back into riding twisty roads again, Snow could bee seen on the mountain tops in the far distance and I pressumed that was where we were headed as we followed the river then through a few tunnels before taking the turn that says Col de St Bernardo, it got steeper and tighter, the road surface was a bit broken and patchy in places and the bike was in first gear alot suddenly you see the buildings at the highest point of the road and we stopped on the carpark to look at from where we had came. The temperature was a good few degrees cooler, and with your leather jacket off a definite chill could be felt at 8100ft. Snow was left in patches here and there but not on the roads. I bought an over priced drink from the restaurant and then we set off into Italy to see the bit from the film " The Italian Job".
  The tarmac was very good over the border, imagine someone has just dropped spaghetti onto the

The high road zig zags up the mountain

mountain is the best way to describe the way the road had been laid. It just kept twisting left and right, some corners were into huge rock faces and others were onto huge drops with nothing but a small fence to stop you going over the edge. After 10 miles we came to some roadworks so turned around then headed back to the top. Col wanted to do it fast, where I went for the quick but scenic version, trying to look at the views as well as keep a reasonable fun pace,  Thank you Italy, the road was great fun.We both enjoyed the Italian side but my mind was now on the journey back to the hotel as it was getting a bit hot. We stopped for fuel on the route back, the local temp was now 32 degrees, even with the visor open and my jacket undone it was not cooling down. The motorway was busy and the engines were running over 100 degrees for a lot of the time the fan was on trying to keep it cool but all it was doing was using the battery up. We hit Geneva at 17:30 rush hour and in the queue Col saw 117 degrees on the temp gauge, We got back to the hotel our leathers stuck to us and our faces covered in road dust stuck to sweat. I checked the weather app on the phone. it said the next 3 days were going to be 32,34 and 37 degrees!
 Our UK all year round leathers are not designed for that kind of heat, there's no vents only a zip out inner lining, so out it came.
 
 Next day we looked at the map and headed for the French Alps and Annecy Lake, we noticed a

Mont Blanc in the distance

Lake Annecy behind the bikes

mountain called Semnoz with a twisty road on the map so after a drink and cooling Ice cream we climbed the 16km route along the D41/D110 to the top at 5446 feet. Another great bit of tarmac through the forest with plenty of turns to keep you busy. Not quite so exciting as the previous day on St Bernards Pass but still entertaining enough and cool enough on the top to be bearable.

 Down by the lake it was 34 degrees the clear water looked inviting as we sat on a bench in the shade our leather trousers and boots not giving us a break from the heat. We needed petrol but neither of us wanted to summon up the will to go looking for a garage and to go on the journey back to the hotel.
      Back in the village St Genus Poullity we used a pub called Charly's, a guy from the USA got chatting to us about bikes and his mate lived locally so told us to try a road I had been looking at earlier from Gex to Saint-Claude. This became our plan for the next day as it was not so far and it was gonna be hotter again. So we discovered the Jura Mountains.

  The road leaves Gex and snakes its way up the mountain, through a few villages, over some fresh tarmac and then over the top.
Its around 4650ft so was nice and cool, which was a relief as the temperature was forecast for 37 degrees. We took a left and dropped down the mountain another twisty road with a couple of tight bends and a hairpin thrown in for good measure before we rode through the village of Mijoux. The climb starts again and the road now with race track smooth and fresh tarmac which had the banked corners you would expect on a track, weaved its way up through 5 hairpins in the forest section. Over the top the road opens and dips slowly down and eventually you get to my favourite part called Les Moulins,

this doubles back on itself and has 9 sharp bends all very close to each before it goes through a few more villages, one of which I liked the name of called Mont Brilliant. We pulled into the little picnic area just before arriving at Saint-Claude and threw our leather jackets on the ground, the sweat was dripping out of us but we both enjoyed the ride.





 The Journey home was 14 hours long, it could have been 80 minutes shorter but there was an incident on the M25 causing tail backs for 4 junctions and unfortunately we were stuck in it.

  We found some great roads, its such a shame that none of them are just up the road from where we live!
 I think there will be another trip in Switzerland yet.

 The whole trip for 5 nights cost us just under £750 each, (not inc spending money)

Summary
Date:- 12th - 17th July 2015
Weather:- 6 Hot Days 29-37 degrees
Hotel:- Business Park Hotel - Geneva
Miles:-1900, 1560 in a van
Fuel Cost:- 1.20 approx
EDSBK Riders:- Phill, Col
Aim:- To ride in the Swiss Alps
 At the 2014 bikeshow we met bikeshuttle, so we tried to book a week in the Swiss Alps using their services, but it was going to cost too much. We liked the idea so hired a van and did the trip saving a few hundred pounds. Riding in Italy, France and Switzerland we discovered some amazing roads and scenery. Even saw snow in July.

2014 Road Trip

Galloway

 For 2014 we decided to re visit Galloway as we had unfinished business on the Dalvine pass (A702).
When we were there in 2012, we had 4 rain filled days somewhat spoiling the twisty roads promised by magazines and internet site, so we planned to return. To save some money we only did a 3 night trip which gave us 2 full days in Galloway.
 We set off on a hot sunny afternoon, but an hour late as Col had an issue getting his pants into his luggage bag, we had arranged to meet Rich up on Junction 38 of the motorway by the lake district and we made good time reaching him. We refueled at the next services on the motorway, heading off Scotland bound. After about 40 minutes I realized I still had 1 more gear to go and had been running in 5th gear since the last fill up. We had to stop once more for fuel and that had cost me £1 more than Col on the same bike.
 We arrived at The Buccleuch Arms in Moffat and was met by John who showed us to the bike garages. We unloaded checked in and enjoyed our first taste of Innis and Gunn beer (Recommended).

  The following day we got up to a dry sunny day, the sky had a few big dark grey clouds lingering around but it looked mostly dry. Waterproofs strapped to the back seats just incase we set off straight to the Dalvine Pass. We decided "lets just do what we came for while its dry!".
 The road out of Moffat (A701) is a good warm up with plenty of twists to get you started. We then turned onto the pass which starts under a motorway bridge. We stopped under the bridge, reving the bikes making them sound sporty as the noise echoed and bounced off the bridges walls while we cam'ed up.
 We pulled out into sunshine, and headed for the hills. The scenery here is beautiful, but the road didn't give you time to see much as the ribbon of tarmac was smooth, dry and twisty. Col and Jon passed me as the road became damp and the pace was a little more careful.

 We head west and down the valley eventually joining the A76 and turned right up to the next road that took us back towards Abington. This road was similar to the pass through the lake district, with a Welshmans fantasy having lots of sheep on every corner. They were even waiting for a bus!

Locals waiting for the bus!

 We got to Abington and decide its was coffee time, so found a truck stop for a brew. Rich is not big on road signs and this became obvious when stopped here.

We set off in the direction of New Cummnock and joined the B741, definately the worse road of the trip. On the map it looked nice and twisty and scenic in reality its a patchwork of poorly filled pot holes, we were pleased to see the end of that section of road at Dalmellington and joined the A713, which was a little bit better but still had poor tarmac. We stopped for a chat along side Loch Much and noticed that we were in Ayr, the Tarmac for Galloway started only a few metres away and it was perfect.

We crossed the boarder, hungry so found a place for dinner in a village called Carsphairn. We set off and as about a dozen guys on BMW touring style bikes went past so tagged onto the back of them. 10 minutes later i cornered to find one of them had come off around a bend and was in the ditch at the side of the road. Two of his mates had pulled in just infront of him so we stopped to check all was ok. His bike seemed to be mostly covered in dirt and the guy was a bit dazed but no serious injuries were obvious so we carried on on way.
 We headed back along tha A712 to Dumfries and then back to Moffat. We had been lucky with the weather only encountering a few damp roads and dodged the rain all day.

 The following day we decided to visit Caerlaverock Castle after seeing it in a magazine in the hotel. We headed off via the Dalveen pass and hit some heavy rain so stopped to shelter under the motorway bridge. The sky was blue over the pass so as soon as the rain cloud had passed we set off riding through some prettys damp conditions but fun was still had. We rode down through Dumfries and down alongside the river Nith eventually arriving at the castle bathed in hot sunshine. We stopped for a coffee before having a look around and then using the castle which made a stunning backdrop for some photo's.

 

 We headed back the way we had came, the weather now was with us, we turned onto the A702, stopped at the bottom and prepared for a dry run.
 I had the camera on the bike, so sent Jon 1st, then Col, Rich and me at the back hoping to get some good footage of the bikes leaning one after the other into the corners.

 We got to the best bit just at the bottom of the climb over the mountain, I saw Col pull out to pass Jon and thought I am going too. I knocked it into 2nd and opened the throttle, my bike kicked into action and 170 horses all sprang into life, Col was now passing Jon.  I quickly passed Rich and caught Jon at the next bend, out of the bend I could hear the GSXR's exhaust wailing as he tried to keep infront but my Fireblade was in a gear lower giving me the run on him, the next corner approached and I followed him around opening the throttle slightly earlier and got past. Col was now 50 metres ahead, I hung onto the gears catching a metre here and there until the unwelcome damp roads stopped our fun about three quarters of the way up. We slowed to a more suitable pace for the conditions stopping at the bridge with big grins and heroic stories.
  We decided we had still time to go to St. Marys Loch, for a coffee and another great photo opportunity. The wet weather was catching us, so we split up. Col wanted to go back to the hotel, the rest of us wanter to pass the Beeftub along the A701 another cracking bit of road. Col left us and we carried on. The A701 was fun the corners are all open and easy to read we were getting some good lean angles along there until we caught up with some traffic. Jon was at the front but passed the Beeftub layby so Rich and me pulled in for a look. After a few minutes we carried on back towards the hotel and the rain started. I absolutely hammered it down. I dont think I have ridden in rain that hard since the first trip to Germany. It lasted all of 5 minutes but the water was dripping inside your boots and i could feel my toes getting wet.
 We arrived at the hotel, it was hot and had missed the rain so we put the bikes away, hung the leathers in the shed and went to find our evenings entertainment.

 Jon told us the next day he needed to get moving early as he was doing a night shift at work when we got back!
 9am the bikes were loaded and ready to roll, Col sat on his bike but the rear tyre was flat, but not totally so we went to the petrol station filled up with air and fuel and set off to the motorway and the 1st services. Cols tyre was holding up, loosing 5lb pressure here and there but we got back just in time for a last 10 minute soaking. Cols tyre had started to degrade having lots of tiny splits around the centre for about half the circumfrence. Rich's front tyre is now done and needs replacing. Jon's and My bikes both went good.

 Fuel wise.
 Rich's ZX6R was cheapest to take
My Fireblade was next (apart from the 1 section of motorway where it was in 5th gear)
Jon was next
Col seemed to be putting a minimum of 50p - a maximum £1 more than me on most fill ups.

 All in all it was a good few days, I wouldn't have been the same without you guys, thanks and see you next time : )

Summary
Date:- 5th July - 8th July 2014
Weather:- 4 dry days, occasional drizzle
Hotels:- Buccleuch Arms - Moffat
Miles:- 811.
Fuel cost per litre:- 1.26p to 1.36p a ltr (8 petrol stations)
EDSBK Riders:- Phill,Col,Jon and Rich
Aim:- To ride the Dalveen Pass A702
We decided as we had unfinished business still over the boarder of Scotland that we would return to the area and try to get a dry ride along the A702. The section of road we wanted was the part that ran between A74 and A76, which winds its way through the mountains, we had 4 attempts did we do it?. Click here to find out more.

The EDSBK 2013 Road Trip

The Black Forest and Eifel Region Trip
 On the afternoon of Sunday 30th June we left home in the glorious hot sunshine and headed for Ashford in Kent as from past experience its nice to break up the journey and have an early start when going through the tunnel into France. On the way down we put up with lots of heavy traffic on the M40 due to the F1 Grand Prix at Silverstone, then the M25 was very slow and eventually we came to a complete stop for just over an hour on the M26 due to a fatal accident, a poor guy came off his motorbike, quite alot of people seeing us on motorbikes came to tell us the gory details and told us to be careful... RIP rider.

 We arrived at the hotel hot, tired and hungry. The accident above was definitely on our minds as we sat in MacDonlads and we discussed what could have happened. We had an early start the next morning so called it a night.
 Up at 5am, we set off to Folkestone. I checked the weather app on the phone, rain due everyday and all day on 2 of the days we were away when in Germany, great I thought another damp trip. The Kent sky was heavy with dark grey clouds as we boarded the train. The train pulled into the tunnel and I said we had better decide on our route to Strasbourg. The sat nav suggested 3 ways the shortest was the A26 Toll road through France a 6 hour 20 minute journey, so we opted to take that.
 Having never used a toll road before we approached the 1st set of booths with some anticipation and wondered what to do. A press of a button and a ticket arrived, that was it, no need to pay yet so we headed off with tickets in safe places.

1 of the many fuel stops along the A26

 Drizzle covered the visor as we pulled in to our 1st petrol stop. We stopped for a while watching the sky and Jon said I am gonna risk not using water proofs yet, a good call as the sky started to clear and patches of blue appeared. We came to the 1st set of pay booths 13 Euros it said so entered the cash into the machine and collected a new card and set off again heading towards Reims some 240km away. More fuel needed so we stopped again, Metz had appeared on the signs over 300km away. We realised the journey was gonna be a long one, but with each fuel stop we made the weather got better.
 We eventually arrived at the last set of booths Jon and Rich went to a different booth and that's where I messed up and was in the credit card payment booth. I inserted my ticket and a price appeared on the screen but I couldn't find my credit card quick enough and the price disappeared. I had to call for assistance as I wasn't able to get through the barrier without paying, luckily someone came to help even if she was pretty useless and kept me waiting ages in the now very hot sunshine. Col had his credit card ready so paid for us both and we moved on somewhat frustrated with the system.
  Some 45 minutes later we arrived at the Pension Williams in the Black Forest. Nice, I thought as we pulled in.

 We were greeted by David one of the hotel owners who gave us our room keys and told us where to get a meal. We showered and changed and set off to the restaurant to have dinner, "drie beers bitte" and a tea.
"A what?" the owner asked,
" A Tea ", Rich said
" oh!" she replied.
   The next day at breakfast I asked David about the B500, he told us that at the end of the lane if we were to go to the right, that was the bit that people come to see. He says that an unpopular politician with a funny mustache had had the road built back in the 1940s as a training road for the motorcycle police to practice high speed pursuits and each corner has a constant radius which enable riders to find the best approach and hold corner speed. I thought that sounded good so we headed straight there.
  What a road! why cant it be in England? stuck somewhere down by the cross gates Cafe end of the A483, it would make the best road better.

Part of the 10km best bit of the B500

Black Forest Gateaux in the Black Forest

 It twists up and down the hills and every corner is just perfect, apart
from the cars, buses and lorries that keep getting in the way. We all enjoyed that part of the road. We then headed towards Baden Baden, the road was still twisty, more enclosed and tighter corners, but with a lot of speed limits and other traffic, so not quite so much fun.
    I noticed a place near the top so we headed there for some food and a cool drink. Jon and I decided it seemed appropriate to have a slice of Black Forest Gateaux in the Black forest.
  The views were great from up there. I wish we had of had more time to explore the area as there was a lot more to see. (maybe another time) We headed back to the hotel for a beer or 2 and soaked up the sun, we were on holiday!

A view of France from the B500  

  The next morning we awoke to the sound of running water and looked out onto a miserable day. We were moving north to stay at Dollendorf by the Nurburgring so packed our things and headed off.

 Jon had the sat nav on so we were following him, we got on to the Motorway and headed south, the wrong way, 10 km later we turned back and headed North. The journey was horrible. It hammered it down at times, our boots had water in them, the route was heavy with trucks and the spray made the guy in front almost disappear. Eventually we arrived at Sliders Guest House and Brendan the owner met us and showed us to the rooms. I noticed the Berlingo and remembered the ride we had in it 3 years ago.  (see trip 2010) I said I don't want to go out in that this time to Col, and he laughed. It carried on raining so we put the bikes in the garage and stopped in for the evening.

 We awoke the following morning to the smell of breakfast cooking, Brendon does a great full English, and he gave us a route to try out to while waiting for the Nurburgring to open. We headed off and 15 miles later my R1 flashed up ERR 1 on the display and shut down. Remembering my IT trainging, I turned it off and on again, it started and I thought just a glitch maybe yesterdays rain had caused a problem.

 2 minutes later the bike stopped again, I noticed the electrics were going, so pulled the headlight connections off to save some power. I said to the others I want to head back to Sliders and check it out. Unfortunately I didn't make it, as it stopped time and time again until the battery was totally flat.

 Jon and Rich headed back to see if there was a battery I could borrow, as we knew Brendon liked his R1's using them to do many of the fastest of fast laps of the Nordschleif and there was a few bits of R1 knocking about his garage. They returned in the Berlingo, saying Brendon says bring it back in here, we loaded my bike and we headed back.

Berlingo's Ideal cars to move motorbikes in!

 We got back to the hotel and I took the bike to bits, trying different regulators, batteries and cleaning connections but nothing fixed the problem. I said to the others to go and have some time at the track then bring me a Subway while I tried to sort out the bike, but had already decided the problem was more serious than I was going to be able to deal with.
  I rang the RAC breakdown for assistance and then the true meaning of fully comprehensive European breakdown cover was discovered. Repatriate only means me not the bike. The nice lady at RAC in Lille told me the bike would need to be fixed before it could return home and I was going to have to fly home then come back to fetch it once it was fixed. They said the cost was going to be 500 Euros to fix it, plus this and that and storage and this and that and the figures she quoted went up over 1200 Euros! She said she would send a mechanic to look at it first but he would need to take it away. 90 Minutes later he arrived with a car and trailer, but no tools.
 He said "I have come to collect the bike and take it to a Yamaha dealer in Cologne who will repair it".
 I was not going to be able to collect it for over a week and weekends were no good as the work shop was closed.

 Shite, I thought. 

I said wait here and went to see Brendon to ask if he knew a van hire company that might be a cheaper option to get me to Calais, and he said, tell you what you pay for a driver and the fuel and you can take it in the Berlingo! I couldn't believe it, this was the best thing I could have heard at the time :) I told the RAC guy to go away and spoke to his boss on the phone, who said we will reimburse any costs.

 I spoke with Brendons friend Roy who was going to drive and arranged to set off at 9am the following morning. I rang a guy at work (Goughy of CG Transport) and asked if he might help me out and send a van to pick me up and he said,

" leave it with me, dont worry, I ll sort you out."

My battery was on charge and we shut the garage, I sat down for a beer with the guys and thought I hope this is all going to go to plan. 

 The guys told me about there lap on the track, Col was well impressed with his new Fireblade and Jon found some new vibration that put him off. Rich waited on the car park for them to return, unsure if he wanted to try a lap and see what speeds over 150mph felt like.

 The following morning Roy was there 10 minutes early, he didnt look like I expected him too after speaking to him on the phone. He turned up on a Ducatti 996, and I thought great a biker, we have something in common, as it was going to be a 270km drive to Calais. Roy was great and I enjoyed the few hours we spent travelling from Germany through Belgium and into France, but all the time I was thinking how are we going to get the bike out of the Berlingo? its too heavy for just 2 of us and the other 3 guys would need to make 2-3 more fuel stops than us, I didnt want to hold Roy up as he was going to have to drive back and was working that evening.

 Roy said " Hows your French?"

I said "not good ",

 I could ask the way to the butchers shop, the time, tell someone to open the window and string together a few words but not really understand what a French person says back to me.

"oh, same here" Roy said.

Roy suggested we stopped at the junction just before the entrance to Calais end of the Channel tunnel and asked at the Honda dealer to help us out with the bike. I thought that was a great idea and Roy pulled off the Motorway.

 The French guys we spoke too didn't understand what we wanted but eventually an English speaking guy came and said,

 "So you want the bike out of the,CAR!, Ah! a Berlingo, what a great car, its made in France you know", We both agreed it was a good motor and he looked at the bike.

"Hmm!" he said 

"wait here"

He came back with a ramp and said,

 "let me wheel it out." 

The R1 was back on the tarmac, I put my leathers on shook hands with Roy, paid him his money and pressed the starter. click it went.

Shite,I thought.

Roy said," I ll push you, if it starts just go", so he gave me a shove and it started and I was off.
I checked in, the queue was huge for passport control, then a further check of the ticket and then I waited for all the cars to get on and then got on the train. I turned off the engine and we headed off to England. I text Jon to say see you in the UK and he said they had just arrived at passport control and were booked on the next train.

 Back in the UK I tried to start the bike but it would go, the Guy cleaning the toilets came and gave me a push and the bike started, I knew it might not start again if I stopped so hit the motorway fast, I needed 13 miles of power, 10 minutes I thought, come on battery you can do it. At 11 miles the dash went off and half a mile later the bike came to a stop about quarter of a mile short of the junction. I found some shade and waited for the others to give me a push. Jon arrived 1st and then Col and they gave me a push and the R1 fired into action giving me another 2 minutes of power and getting me almost to the end of the motorway slip road. I wait ed for them to catch up to get another push. Col suggested I wait and watch the sequence of the traffic lights and time the next part so I didnt have to stop. His plan worked great, as soon as I got going the lights changed and I made it off the roundabout before the bike gave up for the last time of the day but it was all down hill to the hotel so I rolled my way there. I arrived on what looked like an electric powered bike, silently.
 The following morning CG Transports van was there waiting for me and Grant took me home with the R1 in the back. The others all arrived back at their homes an hour later than me, their bikes had covered over 500 miles more than mine.

  Once at home I got the workshop manual out, checked the readings and found the fault was definitely as Brendan and another Guy at the hotel had suggested, the Stator/Generator/Windings/Altinater had had it. Mark suggested a local bike mechanic to do the work. Kev from Projex in Cradley, he got the parts and fitted them for £150.
 The R1 is now back on the road!

I want to say a special thank you to Brendan from Sliders Guest House in Dollendorf, Roy, Chris(CG Transport) and Grant for getting me home and to Jon, Col and Rich for their help and support, and sorry that I couldn't ride the whole trip with you.
 Thanks Guys :)

The Eco challenge.
 To be fair to the others I didnt include any fuel after my breakdown, otherwise the only good thing to come out of this was my R1 doing over 500 miles on less than a gallon!(be it in the back of a Berlingo and a van)

1st  Phill Yamaha R1                 19pts - 54.8 MPG   £97
 2nd Rich Kawaski 636              20pts - 58.3 MPG   £91
 3rd Jon Suzuki GSXR 1000     31pts - 50.8 MPG   £105
 4th Col Honda Fireblade          38pts - 49.9MPG    £107

 If you are planning to have European Breakdown, I suggest you ask the question will you repatriate me and my bike back to the UK? I did take out the fully comprehensive breakdown cover at the extra cost. Also after the breakdown I was told be RAC France, as my bike is over 9 years old its value is not worth the cost of transporting it to Calais. I went with RAC as it was a name I thought I could trust, but really if the worst happens in my experience your best off to sort it out on your own. To be fair to RAC they have returned me my European costs but only after I complained.

Summary

Date:- 30th June - 6th July 2013
Weather:- 6 dry days, 1 raining
Hotels:- Ashford Travellodge, Pension Williams, Sliders Guest House
Miles:- 1563.
Fuel cost per litre:- 1.36p to 1.46p a ltr (17 petrol stations)

EDSBK Riders:- Phill,Col,Jon & Rich
Aim:- Ride around the Black Forest area especially along the legendary B500, then travel north to do laps of the Nordschleife.

2013 Road Trip

We decided as 2012 had been a washout to go abroard, and explore somewhere new. As Col had had a new bike and Rich had not been there before Col wanted to tag the Nurburgring onto the trip, unfortunately, not all went to plan during that part.