2015 trour to Budapest

[Lonewolf]

Lol, those bloody sat nav's, the curse of the modern traveller!


Sometimes traditional maps are better but they can be a pain especially for bikers when the simplicity of an automated device should be seamless.


A great introduction to what is unfolding as a terrific expedition, the photos are great, Germany is a beautiful country despite its history and like many other European countries it is spotless. Oh and of course the Suzuki, GSX 1400, a hugely underestimated bike. When I got back into biking I pondered over buying one but instead bought a Yamaha XJR 1300 followed by a couple of Honda CB1300's, all of which are great bikes.

[Rynglieder]

Wednesday 27/05/2015 Melk [A] > Budapest [H] 220 planned miles

Filled with breakfast we loaded up the bike and switched on Zumo again. "Turn right" it said, so I did. "Turn left" it said, so I did. Within moments my GSX1400, fat with panniers was elegantly gliding through the town market causing pedestrians to dive for cover behind the stalls of fruit & veg and other household essentials. Hmm, I'm sure I should not be here.....

A GSX1400 on the market <VC100>

Soon though I was out of town and back on the autobahn to get my money's worth from the vignette <Lost external power source shutting down in 15... 14... [Cancel]>. Generally disregarding the Zumo I cruised the E60, past Vienna. Although I had turned the unit on to give me some forewarning of junctions it was perfectly simple to follow the signs with a nice bold H in a white oval to ensure I was headed the right way. There is not much to say about the run across the border and into Hungary except to note how much English seems to be spoken in this part of the world; we managed to get exactly what we wanted for lunch at a service area and all back to rock bottom prices now we were out of the Euro area again. At this point we found we needed another vignette for Hungary and it was duly purchased – all electronic here though, so no sticker for the bike.

A few more miles on the Hungarian motorway and we reached the outskirts of Budapest. To be fair to the Zumo, it did OK here and we were soon crossing the Danube on the Liberty Bridge and being guided to the street containing the Adler Apartments where we had booked for three nights.

We checked in with our landlady and were given basement parking for the bike, a bonus in a city centre location and one of the reasons this accommodation was selected. The apartment was great for us, very modern clean and spacious with a balcony out to the rear courtyard. We found a living area, kitchen, a bedroom and very well fitted bathroom which was home to a washing machine – always desirable to the mid-point of a trip for two on a motorcycle.

Having landed in Budapest at a reasonable hour we had chance to spend that afternoon as well as the whole of the following two days exploring the city. Most people will tell you what a good place Budapest is to visit and I can only agree. Many of the city's buildings look to have been refurbished or are in the process of being renovated, I feel confident that those that are still looking "shabby chique" will get their time soon – there is money being spent here, if you want a definition of "up and coming area" Budapest is it.

After touring for the last few years only in countries using the Euro it was strange to be somewhere with a lightweight currency.  Being charged two grand for a couple of cappuccinos and a bun is a bit unsettling at first, but your Forints go a long way. The very nice accommodation that we had cost about £145.00 for the three nights – try getting that in London.

Budapest <2513>

We spent most of Thursday in the Buda (castle) district doing the tourist thing and Friday morning was spent walking up to Heroes' Square and the city park area. We decided to rest a while during the afternoon to recover from two days walking and save ourselves for a late evening in the city – it would be nice to see it lit up. I was feeling a little sorry for the GSX1400 though; it had served us so well in getting here but was languishing in the basement covered in fine Czech mud. Whilst our Foundation Garments were receiving a refresh in the washing machine, at Carole's suggestion we purchased a pack of baby wipes from the Tesco (yes, Tesco!) at the end of the street and spent half an hour wiping the bike down. OK, it would never impress the polishing purists on this forum, but it made the old girl look a bit more respectable for the following day.

Our planned evening walk rounded of our visit to the city, As we sat for a while by the Danube  we heard the howl of engines  of bikes held at the lights in Pest  - you knew when they had changed to green without seeing them, those guys must have been doing 80 when they crossed Liberty Bridge. It was not a one-off either; it must pass for an evening entertainment in the city.

All in all we had a good time in Budapest, much better than last year's disappointing visit to Barcelona. Giving the city a bit more time and making sure we had a cheap guide book made all the difference. We had reached the last night at the point furthest from home and would be starting to circle back west now, but there is still a week of our holiday left. Tomorrow would take us somewhere new again.

<2711> Liberty Bridge

[Lonewolf]

  Very good reading.

[Rynglieder]

Lol, those bloody sat nav's, the curse of the modern traveller!


Sometimes traditional maps are better but they can be a pain especially for bikers when the simplicity of an automated device should be seamless.


A great introduction to what is unfolding as a terrific expedition, the photos are great, Germany is a beautiful country despite its history and like many other European countries it is spotless. Oh and of course the Suzuki, GSX 1400, a hugely underestimated bike. When I got back into biking I pondered over buying one but instead bought a Yamaha XJR 1300 followed by a couple of Honda CB1300's, all of which are great bikes.

This was the one and only time I ever went away without a full set of least some basic paper maps. Having shelled out the thick end of three hundred quid for the Garmin and spent ages tinkering with the route in Base Camp I'd convinced myself there would be no need to buy any more maps than I already owned (a few of Germany and Belgium came out with me).

Germany is great for biking and there was a few more days to come on this trip.....

I still love the GSX and have no intentions of parting with it yet. The chain drive and lack of fairing is a bit of a drawback for big trips likev these though, hence the later purchase of the GTR.

[PRD]

Great again. I always take maps with me on trips. You can look ahead and see where you are supposed to be going in case sat nav throws a wobbly!
Charlie's BM W system has put us into some very interesting situations!

[Rynglieder]

Saturday 30/05/2015 Budapest [H] > Brno [CZ] 240 planned miles

After giving our apartment a quick clean (we like to leave things as we found them) we handed back our key and collected our deposit. The bike was reloaded and ridden across the Danube to a position opposite the parliament buildings so that I could grab a souvenir photo. We moved out of Budapest in a north-westerly direction as intended on a bit of an awkward, congested stop-start road through the city's suburbs – bypasses and feeder roads are yet to reach this area of the city.

The GSX's bragging photo <2746>

We were following the Zumo again having no other real option. We had a good fistful of Hungarian Forints left and I had every intention of spending them before we left the country, but the Zumo had left us blind to the border and before I knew it I was through Esztergom on a large girder bridge, crossing the Danube again and passing below a sign proclaiming I was now in Republica Slovenska.

Another Country  <1873>

We experienced another little shift in culture as we rode into Slovakia and at first enjoyed a pleasant run on local roads, continuing to the north and east. Although the plan had been to stay with these roads until we reached the Czech border, the feeling was starting to grow again that we were progressing far more slowly and indirectly than expected.

Somewhere in Slovakia  <2757>

Eventually I lost confidence or patience and broke out toward the motorway between Bratislava and Brno. We allowed the motorway to take us back into the Czech Republic and on to Brno <Lost external power source shutting down in 15... 14... [Cancel]>.and then let Zumo take us around the city to that night's hotel.

This evening we were staying at the Hotel Rakovec on the shores of a large reservoir to the north west of this city. The hotel was OK, but it was the first accommodation that we had stayed at this year that I did not really take to; It had a bit of a "motel" feel with some separate chalets as well as the main building. Someone seemed to be throwing a 50th birthday party in the hotel bar making us feel a bit out of place. Perhaps if we had a room overlooking the lake rather than the retaining wall at the back of the property I may have felt a bit better about it.

The view from Hotel Rakovec's terrace <2759>

[PRD]

Another enjoyable read.

[Lonewolf]

 

[Rynglieder]

Sunday 31/05/2015 Brno [CZ] > Rathen [D] 240 planned miles

The original idea for today was a run on secondary roads northwards through the Czech Republic and into Germany to our destination for the night; Rathen in the Swiss Saxony region, just south east of Dresden.

Carole was finding long distances difficult due to our touring set-up so I decided over breakfast to modify our plans somewhat. Perhaps I should explain that the soft luggage that we have toured with for the last five years is all clipped to a patress that sits across the pillion area of the seat; it is not as "grippy" as the bike's seat cover and she can find herself sliding forward under breaking or downshifting. The fact that the roll bag obscures the grab rail means she is holding on with two fingertips of one hand and added to all this the rucksack she wears that contains our documents and valuables gradually drops into the gap that forms between her back and the roll bag. This is all tolerable for so long, but after a period I can tell she is getting uncomfortable and this tends to spoil things a bit for both of us.

Starting off with the plan I had set into Zumo we headed north and with regular stops had an enjoyable morning run up to Kutna Hora. Here we took a break to visit the Sedlec Ossuary, chapel decorated with human bones  – a place that had first come to my attention on the "Long Way Round" television series and that I had been reminded of when researching our route.  It is indeed a bit of a strange place to visit and I did not quite know how I felt or should be feeling amongst all those human remains. Some visitors seemed respectful as you would expect in a religious building, others seemed to approach it with a party spirit. It is an absorbing place to visit though and I'm glad I made the detour. If you want to know more about the site there is a link here: http://sedlecossuary.com/

Sedlec Ossuary<2783>

From here we switched to plan B and struck out on more major roads and eventually the motorway which runs between Prague and Dresden.   <Lost external power source shutting down in 15... 14... [Cancel]>.

This gave Carole an easier afternoon, it was a shame to miss out on the countryside and villages of the north of the country, but it was the right thing to do. Before long we were back over the border into Germany and making our way over the last few kilometres on B roads to Wißig, a small hamlet on the hill in a loop of the Elbe River near Rathen.

I did not much fancy the track that Zumo suggested my hotel was on, so passed the turning by and found myself at the  Rathner Hof a couple of bends along the road. Again, we found ourselves in a really nice room that overlooked the Elbe valley and had a view of the table mountain of Lilienstein in the distance. This is a "wellness" hotel with  a sauna etc., to be honest it was probably a bit upmarket for two British people covered in dead flies, but we quickly made ourselves at home in our room which we had booked for two nights.

<2880> Lilienstein from the Rather Hof

This was one of the "must do" parts of our trip so we spent the early evening walking the 1km down the hill into Rathen to see what it had to offer and plan our day on foot tomorrow – the bike was going to get another day off.


Monday 01/06/2015 Rathen & The Bastei and a short run to Struppen – 20 miles

Monday started with the walk back down into Rathen and a passenger ferry ride over the Elbe. We spent the majority of the day around Rathen and climbing to the famous Bastei fortress. Hard going for two unfit people, but well worth it. After walking a way along the banks of the Amselsee tucked in a deep valley below the surrounding crags we returned to the village of Rathen to eat at an Imbiss kiosk before re-crossing the river and walking back up to the hotel. This region has some superb natural scenery, the camera never does it justice and we were glad to have been stood among it even if only for a day.

Bastei bridge<2862>

We had walked enough now but as it was still only about 16:00 we decided that we should perhaps venture out for a short while on the bike, even though the first real rain of the holiday had started to fall. We took a ride westwards along the river to Pirna, which we found to be a little uninspiring but allowed us to pick up a few things that were needed from the shops. A swift ride back to the hotel and a last beer and cigarette on the front terrace finished another day off.

[PRD]

Excellent. Thanks

[O.C.]

Excellent. Thanks

     

[Rynglieder]

Tuesday 02/06/2015 Rathen [D] > Goslar (Harz) [D] 235 planned miles

After checking out of the Rathner Hof, it all started so well – we joined the Autobahn near Dresden as planned   <Lost external power source shutting down in 15... 14... [Cancel]> and ground through a good few miles to bypass Leipzig and Halle.
<VC200> Autobahn drag

The Zumo took us to the lakeside at Seeburg as was programmed into it, where we stopped for a "comfort break" and a coffee; the complimentary biscuits being shared with a solitary but inquisitive duck. From here on in we should have been cutting north-westwards on minor roads through the foothills and onto the peaks of the Harz Mountains.

<2882> Seeburg

However, navigation problems arose again. As it was time to get something to eat we dived onto a Netto car park – yes, we had dared to deviate from the set route again and whilst I was rummaging through the bread rolls and processed cheese, Zumo lay maliciously plotting its revenge deep inside my jacket pocket. Having made our purchases and mounted up ready to find somewhere quiet to break bread, Zumo decided we should go back the way we came. In the absence of any other information and supposing that I may have missed a road on entering the village we followed its directions.

After a couple of kilometres of back-tracking Zumo turned us northwards through an area that seemed to be a quarrying or mining region, nothing that took our fancy for a meal break. All of a sudden we were turning back onto the Autobahn <Lost external power source shutting down in 15... 14... [Cancel]>. I resigned myself to pulling up at the first service area so that we could eat and try and work out where we were heading, but very unusually for the German motorway network no Rastplatz or Auto Hof was forthcoming. We were into a head wind again, hungry, with no idea of where we were being led and most annoyingly of all I could see the Harz Mountains where we should be enjoying the afternoon's riding were in view but edging by us well to the south.

I'd had enough for a while and with no service area available broke off the Autobahn at Blankenberg and simply headed for the hills. It was not far out of town before we started to climb the road curves and found a nice wooded lay-by to recover. The one detailed map that I had bought along was for this area as I knew we would have a "spare" day on the bike. It was as I lay out the Michelin map on the picnic table that the Zumo displayed one of its greatest uses – as a paperweight.

During my ride to this point I had been turning over my fractious relationship with the Zumo in my mind. The 390LM has a "curvy roads" option as well as the standard quickest time or shortest distance selections. Even though a route is pre-programmed into it there are occasions where one may deviate from it; either by missing a turning, a road being closed or the traffic flow being altered. In these instances a satellite navigation unit performs a recalculation – obviously. It was starting to dawn on me that when these deviations occur, it may be that instead of a minor correction to put you back on the programmed route, recalculation was being performed on the basis of the last setting used - thus perhaps finding me a motorway if I had previously set "quickest time" or throwing me off the motorway to do 200 miles on obscure curvy roads if I had missed a junction. I'm not sure that I am surmising correctly, but it does seem to stack up.

There was nothing to be done now though and I wrote off my afternoon in the Harz Mountains, cancelled the route that the Zumo should have been following and entered Hotel Harzlodge for quickest route.

On arriving at the entrance to the Harzlodge, (just south of Goslar) we found ourselves in a fairly unusual "hotel". The reception area and bar were in one building; the guest accommodation was in three large buildings with their frontages dressed up to look like they were separate buildings in a little German "street". Inside, our room was a little less nicely dressed as the front; a bit basic but good enough for a couple of nights at the price. It certainly seemed to have attracted many other bikers and we felt a bit more at home at this hotel.

<2889> Harz Lodge Hotel

Having arrived earlier than intended due to the Autobahn mileage we got changed and headed into Goslar for the evening. Goslar was not in its self one of the intended focal points of the trip but turned out to be a really nice little town anyway. There was enough in the town to keep me and the camera occupied for a couple of hours before returning to the hotel for the night.


Tomorrow would be a better day.....

[PRD]

Great. Thank you. Looking forward to next instalment.

[Rynglieder]

Wednesday 03/06/2015 A day around Harz [D] 100 miles?

Parting the curtains on Wednesday revealed a little light rain which was a real disappointment as it was the only day planned on the trip to get some use out of the bike without the luggage on. Over breakfast I decided we should go back into Goslar for a while so that we could duck in and out of the shops to avoid the rain and see if things would improve. Fortunately after a while they did, so we headed back to the bike only to find that he street it was parked in was closed off by the police who were managing some sort of small demonstration. Whilst we waited for the road to re-open I fired up the Zumo, selected Harz National Park from the points of interest menu before eventually setting off.

<2896> Goslar

We had a really nice run out of Goslar, stopping off briefly at the dam on the Okerstausee reservoir before Zumo took us up to the High Harz Road (Hoheharzstraße) It then suggested we turned left but there was no road there, after recalculating it suggested another left turn that did not exist (although I realised as I passed the phantom junction there was actually a forest track there). It was time to ignore the Zumo and get the map out again so we found a really peaceful spot by the Oder reservoir where we sat and ate what we had bought in Goslar and spent some time looking at the possibilities from the Michelin map.

<2925>Harz

<2938>Oder

In the end we had a great afternoon, firstly striking out east to Hasselfelde then turning around and running back past the Oder and out to Clausthal-Zellerfeld where we sat outside a café for a while. From there, there was a direct but traffic free and curvy run through the wooded mountains back down to our hotel.

<VC300> Harz

After a little bit of a damp start it had turned out to be just the day I was hoping for - a lighter bike in pleasant countryside and doing as many or as few miles as we wanted. My next trip needs more days like this.

[PRD]

Enjoyed that. It is always good on a tour when you can do some exploring on an unloaded bike. I like to base myself somewhere and then do trips out.