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#51
Adventure, Excursions, Ride outs, Touring / Re: 2025 European trip
Last post by Rynglieder - September 24, 2025, 12:04:50 PMQuote from: Boomer on September 11, 2025, 09:04:00 PMIt's not a proper trip if you don't have to use your gills at least once.
Quite right, I had no expectation of 18 dry days
#52
Adventure, Excursions, Ride outs, Touring / Re: 2025 European trip
Last post by Boomer - September 11, 2025, 09:04:00 PMIt's not a proper trip if you don't have to use your gills at least once.
#53
Adventure, Excursions, Ride outs, Touring / Re: 2025 European trip
Last post by Rynglieder - September 11, 2025, 04:40:55 PMDay 6 Klumbach [D] > Spitzigsee [D] (c.220 miles)
You cannot view this attachment.
Having looked at the weather forecast over breakfast, I knew the little bit of blue sky above me as I rolled off the Taste Hotel car park in Klumbach was not going to be with me for the whole day. By my own standards, I had a longish ride ahead of me today and as rain was forecast, I decided to ditch two of my planned potential visits. The new plan was get onto the Autobahn and make a decision on the fly about a possible stop-off in Neuburg an der Donau.
I reached the [A9] within about 15 minutes and settled in to some fully focused riding. I cleared Nurenburg, still in sunshine and with a fuel stop and coffee stop to keep me attentive. Although the shower clouds were starting to brew, it still looked as if it would be favourable for a detour to Neuburg an der Donau.
It was looking particularly dark in the direction of travel and sure enough after exiting the motorway my approach was greeted by a very sharp shower, but this had cleared by the time I pulled into my spot on the car park by the River Donau (or Danube if you are more familiar with its downstream name).
As I started my walk, I was initially drawn up the hill toward the castle where I found an appealing old town square which was worthy of pulling the camera out for but not much life, or any prospect of my next coffee. I found that and the cash machine I needed in the more modern part of the town back down the hill sandwiched between the river and castle.
You cannot view this attachment.
You cannot view this attachment.
After wriggling my way out of town, a series of open, but busy roads lead me back to the [A9] which I joined in the direction of Munich. There is little to say about my next couple of hours on the bike; Autobahn, rain, congestion, rain, filtering, rain, cigarette break, rain, congestion just about covers it. None of this run was particularly quick and the [99] around Munch was decidedly turgid. This was not really a shock; I've been round here about ten times in the car or on the bike and the memory of a 37km queue one dark February evening is still securely deposited in the memory bank.
You cannot view this attachment.
At least, as I broke off on the [A8] in the direction of Salzburg it started to ease up a bit and the first sight of Alpine peaks on the horizon hinted that I was getting somewhere. At about 16:00 I escaped the motorway and began a more interesting ride through southern Bavaria toward the Alpine foot-hills, there were now a few bright spells as a bonus. It didn't take long to reach the lakeside town of Schillersee where I took the opportunity to dismount for a short while and contemplate the lake, cigarette in hand.
I was looking forward to the next part of the run, albeit it was not far. I'd done it a few times in the car on winter breaks, but the curvy climb ahead really deserved a bike. Just beyond Schillersee a right- turn off the [307] leads up a minor dead-end road to Spitzingsee, a group of hotels and tourist facilities huddled around a small Alpine lake, seemingly waiting for the winter when the skiers arrive and the tills start ringing. The road up is actually very good and well surfaced, but you have to zoom in quite a bit on Google Maps to find it, as it is not really a highway of any significance unless you happen to have the longing to go to Spitzingsee.
It is not a long ride up there, but enjoyable, with odd glimpses through the fir trees down to the Bavarian Plain as I wound my way up, through a short tunnel near the summit and just a couple of hundred metres on to the Hotel Grundle Alm where the bike was pitched up and the panniers decanted for my night's stay. The receptionist handed me my key and said I had a "lake view room". The description was a bit of a stretch, if you give the photo a severe zooming, you can just see it between the tree in the middle and the white building on the left. Still. I wasn't too dis-chuffed, there was a balcony where I could watch the clouds ribbon across the mountains and a bar downstairs with seating under the overhanging eves where I could finish the day off with my beer out of the rain.
You cannot view this attachment.
Tomorrow would be the start of my Alpine voyage.
You cannot view this attachment.
Having looked at the weather forecast over breakfast, I knew the little bit of blue sky above me as I rolled off the Taste Hotel car park in Klumbach was not going to be with me for the whole day. By my own standards, I had a longish ride ahead of me today and as rain was forecast, I decided to ditch two of my planned potential visits. The new plan was get onto the Autobahn and make a decision on the fly about a possible stop-off in Neuburg an der Donau.
I reached the [A9] within about 15 minutes and settled in to some fully focused riding. I cleared Nurenburg, still in sunshine and with a fuel stop and coffee stop to keep me attentive. Although the shower clouds were starting to brew, it still looked as if it would be favourable for a detour to Neuburg an der Donau.
It was looking particularly dark in the direction of travel and sure enough after exiting the motorway my approach was greeted by a very sharp shower, but this had cleared by the time I pulled into my spot on the car park by the River Donau (or Danube if you are more familiar with its downstream name).
As I started my walk, I was initially drawn up the hill toward the castle where I found an appealing old town square which was worthy of pulling the camera out for but not much life, or any prospect of my next coffee. I found that and the cash machine I needed in the more modern part of the town back down the hill sandwiched between the river and castle.
You cannot view this attachment.
You cannot view this attachment.
After wriggling my way out of town, a series of open, but busy roads lead me back to the [A9] which I joined in the direction of Munich. There is little to say about my next couple of hours on the bike; Autobahn, rain, congestion, rain, filtering, rain, cigarette break, rain, congestion just about covers it. None of this run was particularly quick and the [99] around Munch was decidedly turgid. This was not really a shock; I've been round here about ten times in the car or on the bike and the memory of a 37km queue one dark February evening is still securely deposited in the memory bank.
You cannot view this attachment.
At least, as I broke off on the [A8] in the direction of Salzburg it started to ease up a bit and the first sight of Alpine peaks on the horizon hinted that I was getting somewhere. At about 16:00 I escaped the motorway and began a more interesting ride through southern Bavaria toward the Alpine foot-hills, there were now a few bright spells as a bonus. It didn't take long to reach the lakeside town of Schillersee where I took the opportunity to dismount for a short while and contemplate the lake, cigarette in hand.
I was looking forward to the next part of the run, albeit it was not far. I'd done it a few times in the car on winter breaks, but the curvy climb ahead really deserved a bike. Just beyond Schillersee a right- turn off the [307] leads up a minor dead-end road to Spitzingsee, a group of hotels and tourist facilities huddled around a small Alpine lake, seemingly waiting for the winter when the skiers arrive and the tills start ringing. The road up is actually very good and well surfaced, but you have to zoom in quite a bit on Google Maps to find it, as it is not really a highway of any significance unless you happen to have the longing to go to Spitzingsee.
It is not a long ride up there, but enjoyable, with odd glimpses through the fir trees down to the Bavarian Plain as I wound my way up, through a short tunnel near the summit and just a couple of hundred metres on to the Hotel Grundle Alm where the bike was pitched up and the panniers decanted for my night's stay. The receptionist handed me my key and said I had a "lake view room". The description was a bit of a stretch, if you give the photo a severe zooming, you can just see it between the tree in the middle and the white building on the left. Still. I wasn't too dis-chuffed, there was a balcony where I could watch the clouds ribbon across the mountains and a bar downstairs with seating under the overhanging eves where I could finish the day off with my beer out of the rain.
You cannot view this attachment.
Tomorrow would be the start of my Alpine voyage.
#54
1400GTR Discussion / Re: The tyre review thread
Last post by Kwikasfuki - September 07, 2025, 08:22:33 PMA month on Michelin 6 GT tyres and wow! Grip is insane in dry conditions (not tried wet yet). Don't know how Michelin keep doing it.
#55
Adventure, Excursions, Ride outs, Touring / Re: 2025 European trip
Last post by Rynglieder - September 01, 2025, 05:46:18 PMDay 5 Around the Franconian Jura (Fränkische Schweiz) c. 90 miles).
You cannot view this attachment.
As promised, Gerd, my companion for the day rolled up at precisely 09:30 as arranged and caught me on the car park finishing off a cigarette. I explained my phone charger problem and sure enough, he knew exactly where to go, so we rode off for the local electrical superstore. Unfortunately, we were too early for their 10:00 opening so we agreed to bat it to the back of the schedule and push on with our road trip.
Today I would be following the tail light of a BMW GS1200 instead of the Zumo, something I had mixed feelings about. During messaging he had asked me if there was anywhere in particular, I wanted to visit, but I had told him I was happy for him to plough the furrow as long as we avoided lanes with grass growing up the middle and city centres. If he could throw in a bit of history, architecture or landscape that would be perfect.
I got pretty much what I had bidden. First stop was back in Thurnau, which I had stumbled aimlessly into the previous afternoon, but this time I was led around to the rear of the castle where a different viewpoint presented itself, with the fortress now being a backdrop to a small lake. Out came the camera again, same subject different perspective.
You cannot view this attachment.
We moved on under largely blue skies with a scattering of affable cloud, briefly picking up a short length of autobahn to avoid the ubiquitous road closure which he was already aware of. My pursuit of the Beemer bought me into Königstein where we pulled up under one of the crags that this National Park encompasses.
We continued, sometimes in open countrysides and at other times descending to gentle cliff lined gorges before arriving in Sanspareil. I experienced a moment of disquiet as we turned on to a gravel track, but it was only for a couple of hundred metres to enable me to get a shot of our bikes with Burg Zwernitz as a backdrop. Back down the track and we re-parked our machines and prepared for a short walk through the woodland at the bottom of the castle, picking our way through rocks sculped by the elements before arriving at the ruined remains of a small outdoor theatre that once entertained the castle's guests. The landscape, history and architecture boxes seemed to all have been decisively ticked in one stroke.
You cannot view this attachment.
We continued to weave our way through the National Park for 45 minutes or so on a series of agreeable roads before briefly pulling up in Tüchersfeld where an impressive rock spire presented itself to my Pentax. Another gorge formed between sheer cliffs bought us to Pottenstein where someone had bagged one of the summits to build his small castle and give us tourists something to look at. After capturing that, we moved in to the village centre where there was time to sit outside a small café with a coffee.
You cannot view this attachment.
Twenty minutes of glorious landscape later, Gerd took a short detour up a hill where a lay-by served a belvedere with views toward Burg Rabenstein and the surrounding countryside. It was the briefest of stop-offs, one of the more significant outlooks was an ugly looking storm squatting on the far horizon and I had a suspicion that it was the way we were heading.
Sure enough, a short while later we were throwing up spray from our tyres, but the roads were well surfaced and the bends were not too severe, so there was very little effect on our progress. Fortunately, my clothing was keeping the weather out, but my leader pulled us into a car park by the small St Rupertkapple where we sheltered in the chapel porch for a while as the worst of the rain passed.
Next up on my mystery tour was "Schlosspark Fantasie", a small stately home seat in public parkland where on most days, my personal guide informed me, I would be able to see the fountains at work. Today was not the day however and the fountain basins were full of Hi-Viz maintenance bods, not water.
We rolled around the city of Bayreuth on damp, but drying roads until we reached the Ermitage on the eastern side of the conurbation where we spent and hour on foot around the parkland with its cascades and ornamental buildings, taking shelter when necessary as the thunder started to rumble around us and doing what I could with the camera in the poor light.
You cannot view this attachment.
I imagine our return route to Klumbach was, chosen for its directness, not quite as attractive as the roads of earlier in the day, but a perfectly acceptable ride none the less. Upon arrival in town, I followed Gerd up through some narrow streets that led to a viewpoint overlooking the roofscape and castle where he coaxed my camera from me and took a snap of me with my bike. I'm not of the Selfie Generation, so it's the one and only picture as undisputable evidence of me making this trip.
You cannot view this attachment.
We dropped back down into town and wound our way back to Media Mart where I managed to pick up the necessary charger (at three times the price I would have paid in the UK) before I was guided back to the hotel car park to say our farewells. After getting changed and checking my weather app I decided to take an evening walk to find a meal and a beer, I didn't want to put the wet bike jacket back on. Inevitably, the gods seized their opportunity for some fun and as soon as I had finished eating it pi$$ed it down resulting in a one mile walk back in a very wet sweater. My beer was deleted from the programme.
There hadn't been that many miles covered during the day, but I had been guided to loads of places that piqued my interest and the roads that we had ridden were exceptional in the main. It's always slightly troubling setting out with someone you haven't ridden with before and one worries about them being too fast, or too slow etc. It had worked out perfectly; in truth I found I was slowing for the towns and villages much more than absolutely everyone else in Germany, but once I had passed the struck-out village name and back into the national speed limit, a quick twist of the throttle and I was in convoy once more.
Tomorrow held the prospect of a very different ride.
You cannot view this attachment.
As promised, Gerd, my companion for the day rolled up at precisely 09:30 as arranged and caught me on the car park finishing off a cigarette. I explained my phone charger problem and sure enough, he knew exactly where to go, so we rode off for the local electrical superstore. Unfortunately, we were too early for their 10:00 opening so we agreed to bat it to the back of the schedule and push on with our road trip.
Today I would be following the tail light of a BMW GS1200 instead of the Zumo, something I had mixed feelings about. During messaging he had asked me if there was anywhere in particular, I wanted to visit, but I had told him I was happy for him to plough the furrow as long as we avoided lanes with grass growing up the middle and city centres. If he could throw in a bit of history, architecture or landscape that would be perfect.
I got pretty much what I had bidden. First stop was back in Thurnau, which I had stumbled aimlessly into the previous afternoon, but this time I was led around to the rear of the castle where a different viewpoint presented itself, with the fortress now being a backdrop to a small lake. Out came the camera again, same subject different perspective.
You cannot view this attachment.
We moved on under largely blue skies with a scattering of affable cloud, briefly picking up a short length of autobahn to avoid the ubiquitous road closure which he was already aware of. My pursuit of the Beemer bought me into Königstein where we pulled up under one of the crags that this National Park encompasses.
We continued, sometimes in open countrysides and at other times descending to gentle cliff lined gorges before arriving in Sanspareil. I experienced a moment of disquiet as we turned on to a gravel track, but it was only for a couple of hundred metres to enable me to get a shot of our bikes with Burg Zwernitz as a backdrop. Back down the track and we re-parked our machines and prepared for a short walk through the woodland at the bottom of the castle, picking our way through rocks sculped by the elements before arriving at the ruined remains of a small outdoor theatre that once entertained the castle's guests. The landscape, history and architecture boxes seemed to all have been decisively ticked in one stroke.
You cannot view this attachment.
We continued to weave our way through the National Park for 45 minutes or so on a series of agreeable roads before briefly pulling up in Tüchersfeld where an impressive rock spire presented itself to my Pentax. Another gorge formed between sheer cliffs bought us to Pottenstein where someone had bagged one of the summits to build his small castle and give us tourists something to look at. After capturing that, we moved in to the village centre where there was time to sit outside a small café with a coffee.
You cannot view this attachment.
Twenty minutes of glorious landscape later, Gerd took a short detour up a hill where a lay-by served a belvedere with views toward Burg Rabenstein and the surrounding countryside. It was the briefest of stop-offs, one of the more significant outlooks was an ugly looking storm squatting on the far horizon and I had a suspicion that it was the way we were heading.
Sure enough, a short while later we were throwing up spray from our tyres, but the roads were well surfaced and the bends were not too severe, so there was very little effect on our progress. Fortunately, my clothing was keeping the weather out, but my leader pulled us into a car park by the small St Rupertkapple where we sheltered in the chapel porch for a while as the worst of the rain passed.
Next up on my mystery tour was "Schlosspark Fantasie", a small stately home seat in public parkland where on most days, my personal guide informed me, I would be able to see the fountains at work. Today was not the day however and the fountain basins were full of Hi-Viz maintenance bods, not water.
We rolled around the city of Bayreuth on damp, but drying roads until we reached the Ermitage on the eastern side of the conurbation where we spent and hour on foot around the parkland with its cascades and ornamental buildings, taking shelter when necessary as the thunder started to rumble around us and doing what I could with the camera in the poor light.
You cannot view this attachment.
I imagine our return route to Klumbach was, chosen for its directness, not quite as attractive as the roads of earlier in the day, but a perfectly acceptable ride none the less. Upon arrival in town, I followed Gerd up through some narrow streets that led to a viewpoint overlooking the roofscape and castle where he coaxed my camera from me and took a snap of me with my bike. I'm not of the Selfie Generation, so it's the one and only picture as undisputable evidence of me making this trip.
You cannot view this attachment.
We dropped back down into town and wound our way back to Media Mart where I managed to pick up the necessary charger (at three times the price I would have paid in the UK) before I was guided back to the hotel car park to say our farewells. After getting changed and checking my weather app I decided to take an evening walk to find a meal and a beer, I didn't want to put the wet bike jacket back on. Inevitably, the gods seized their opportunity for some fun and as soon as I had finished eating it pi$$ed it down resulting in a one mile walk back in a very wet sweater. My beer was deleted from the programme.
There hadn't been that many miles covered during the day, but I had been guided to loads of places that piqued my interest and the roads that we had ridden were exceptional in the main. It's always slightly troubling setting out with someone you haven't ridden with before and one worries about them being too fast, or too slow etc. It had worked out perfectly; in truth I found I was slowing for the towns and villages much more than absolutely everyone else in Germany, but once I had passed the struck-out village name and back into the national speed limit, a quick twist of the throttle and I was in convoy once more.
Tomorrow held the prospect of a very different ride.
#56
Adventure, Excursions, Ride outs, Touring / Re: 2025 European trip
Last post by Rynglieder - September 01, 2025, 05:40:55 PMQuote from: Kwikasfuki on August 26, 2025, 09:33:20 PMNuremberg is just south of where you are
Oh, it always gets sorted out in the end. I haven't failed to return home so far
#57
Adventure, Excursions, Ride outs, Touring / Re: 2025 European trip
Last post by Kwikasfuki - August 26, 2025, 09:33:20 PMNuremberg is just south of where you are 
#58
1400GTR Discussion / Re: main stand/removal
Last post by Kwikasfuki - August 26, 2025, 09:30:24 PMGoing to revive this old thread.
My centre stand wouldn't snap back. The spring was rusty so replaced that but no difference. I've sprayed WD-40 between the mounts so now when I take the bike off the centre stand, it still doesn't snap back, unless I give it a little help and then it snaps back.
Looks like WD-40 isn't the ideal solution anyway, so looks like I need to take it off, give it a good clean and apply some lithium grease. Does anyone know if the exhaust has to come off as well? Not a big deal if it has to, but I'd rather not have to do any more work than necessary.
And black hammerite to get it back to black I assume?
I feel a guide or YouTube video coming on ...
My centre stand wouldn't snap back. The spring was rusty so replaced that but no difference. I've sprayed WD-40 between the mounts so now when I take the bike off the centre stand, it still doesn't snap back, unless I give it a little help and then it snaps back.
Looks like WD-40 isn't the ideal solution anyway, so looks like I need to take it off, give it a good clean and apply some lithium grease. Does anyone know if the exhaust has to come off as well? Not a big deal if it has to, but I'd rather not have to do any more work than necessary.
And black hammerite to get it back to black I assume?
I feel a guide or YouTube video coming on ...
#59
Adventure, Excursions, Ride outs, Touring / Re: 2025 European trip
Last post by Rynglieder - August 25, 2025, 11:21:49 AMDay 4 Aschaffenburg [D] > Klumbach [D] (c.155 miles)
You cannot view this attachment.
Today's run was scheduled to be relatively short. Klumbach may not seem an obvious choice for my next destination, bearing in mind most of this year's trip was concentrated on the Alps to the south, however there was a reason for heading further west though Germany. As you know I regularly use Flickr for photo sharing, inspiration for future trips and just the pleasure of the quality photography that can sometimes be found. One user regularly posts pictures of his bike posed in beautiful scenery of northern Bavaria. I'd expressed my admiration many times and he suggested that if I was ever passing nearby, he would take me for a day's ride around his patch. This time I'd taken him up on his offer, so I would be staying for two nights in Klumbach.
The day started with a couple of hours of good riding mostly on open roads through countryside with the odd small town or village distributed along the route. By 10:00 I reached the city of Würzburg, picked my way through the streets and settled into a street parking spot at the rear of the Würzburg Rezidenz, a colossal 18c. palace. My parking place enabled me to approach it through the surrounding gardens before taking a full walk around the exterior with the camera.
You cannot view this attachment.
At around noon, I let the Zumo attempt to take me out of town, but within minutes I found the depressingly familiar sight of barriers across the road. I tried a few back streets and stumbled into their twin. Once again it was a case of just working though those roads that I could, and hoping to break out at least on the right side of town. It wasn't too bad in terms of time or distance just the irritation of humping a heavy bike round in U-turns. I was soon out of the city though.
After an initial bit of dual carriageway dreariness, the roads settled back to a comparable pattern of those ridden during the morning and apart from being too hot under dull, humid skies, I was perfectly content.
After a short while I arrived in Volkach, and trundled up into the Altstadt (old town) and found another place in the street to leave the bike. A walk into the market place rewarded me with a coffee and a few shots for the album.
By about 12:45 I was back on the road again. On reaching the attractive town of Schlüsselfeld a wrong turning set me back a couple of minutes, but was easily recovered. More agreeable cantering followed, a few spots of rain made a half-hearted attempt to clean the bugs off the windshield, but quickly gave up.
Next up, at about 14:00 was the historic city of Bamberg where yet another insolent set of barriers barred my intended road in. Once again, there was no obvious diversion provided and I was forced downhill on cobbled streets between tightly packed ancient buildings, finally arriving by the canals that thread through the town as I had hoped. My intention was to pay to park the bike up in one of the city's underground car parks unless any motorcycle bays turned up. None were forthcoming though and there were queues for the underground car park but I was eventually lucky enough to find an unguarded area of cobbles to plant my flag.
You cannot view this attachment.
There followed an hour or so as a pedestrian around the old town quarter. It really deserved more time, but at least I bagged the much-photographed Rathaus and some of the attractive buildings and canal side as well as securing another coffee before progressing onward.
The ride out was through the now routine mix of roads through the northern Bavarian countryside. Another set of barriers were lurking in Scheßlitz, but at least this time there was a clearly signed diversionary route, so no real harm done there, but I had barely got through the town when I was scuppered again. Now, the Würgauer Berg had not come to my attention in the planning phase, but it is presumably a hill of some significance and most definitely closed to motorcycles during weekends. I guess it must be an attractive road to ride, but the local authorities are tied of pulling people out of hedges when it is time-and-a-half or double-time pay. I threw a right turn as encouraged by my personalised diversion and set about the alternative. Frustratingly this simply led to another set of signs standing like a nightclub bouncer and saying "not tonight lads". Back the way I came for a mile or so, a left turn and a series of badly surfaced lanes and tiny communities before finally reaching some wider and smoother tarmac.
Back in the clutches of the Zumo, I let it carry me forward until the next road closure. At least tis one was a little less prejudiced, simply prohibiting all traffic going forward, so once again I select a right turn and random and waited to see what would happen. What turned up after a few minutes was Thurnau and as I dropped into the little old town, I had one of those moments where something unexpected and striking jumps into view that you just have to stop. I pulled over below an imposing castle linked by a timber bridge over the roadway to an ancient chapel. I suppose if the lord of the manor has enough money to construct a castle, he wouldn't want to be having to go to church in the company of the local peasants. After a swig or two from the bottle and a cigarette, I got on with it.
You cannot view this attachment.
Beyond Thurnau lay a "dog-bone" junction of two islands either side of the [70] Autobahn. I'd lost confidence in the Zumo for the moment and with multiple diversions, was now fairly clueless as to my position in relation to where I wanted to be – like an aging hippy I felt the need for a sanctuary to Find Myself. I doubled back to a service station just off one of the islands bought another drink and considered my course.
Due to the Forbidden Hill I was well south of where I should have been and it seemed the simplest thing would be to hop on the Autobahn for a couple of junctions and get to my hotel as quickly as possible. It was still overcast and humid and a shower and a clean shirt were the two things I wanted most in the world in that instant. Having made my mind up it was a fairly easy run in. Klumbach was a bigger town than I was expecting, it was probably just my imagination but I seemed to have to spiral into the centre to get to my lodgings.
The Taste Hotel was a decent enough modern establishment, the best hotel of the trip so far which was a bit of a bonus as it was one of only two places that I would be spending two nights on this trip. With the coveted shower and change of clothes out of the way I took the opportunity to take everything except the essentials off the bike, it would be nice to be out on a lighter bike the following day.
I messaged my acquaintance to confirm I was in town as per schedule and available for the next day if he was still free. He was kind enough to drive over to my hotel in his car, buy dinner and a beer for us and give me a lightning tour of the town. It had been a change from my usual snack-bar type diet, having Gone Native and indulged in a plateful of rinderbraten.
You cannot view this attachment.
After being dropped back to my room I went to message home and found that I must have left my phone charger and power adapter at the previous night's hotel. Something to sort out tomorrow...
You cannot view this attachment.
Today's run was scheduled to be relatively short. Klumbach may not seem an obvious choice for my next destination, bearing in mind most of this year's trip was concentrated on the Alps to the south, however there was a reason for heading further west though Germany. As you know I regularly use Flickr for photo sharing, inspiration for future trips and just the pleasure of the quality photography that can sometimes be found. One user regularly posts pictures of his bike posed in beautiful scenery of northern Bavaria. I'd expressed my admiration many times and he suggested that if I was ever passing nearby, he would take me for a day's ride around his patch. This time I'd taken him up on his offer, so I would be staying for two nights in Klumbach.
The day started with a couple of hours of good riding mostly on open roads through countryside with the odd small town or village distributed along the route. By 10:00 I reached the city of Würzburg, picked my way through the streets and settled into a street parking spot at the rear of the Würzburg Rezidenz, a colossal 18c. palace. My parking place enabled me to approach it through the surrounding gardens before taking a full walk around the exterior with the camera.
You cannot view this attachment.
At around noon, I let the Zumo attempt to take me out of town, but within minutes I found the depressingly familiar sight of barriers across the road. I tried a few back streets and stumbled into their twin. Once again it was a case of just working though those roads that I could, and hoping to break out at least on the right side of town. It wasn't too bad in terms of time or distance just the irritation of humping a heavy bike round in U-turns. I was soon out of the city though.
After an initial bit of dual carriageway dreariness, the roads settled back to a comparable pattern of those ridden during the morning and apart from being too hot under dull, humid skies, I was perfectly content.
After a short while I arrived in Volkach, and trundled up into the Altstadt (old town) and found another place in the street to leave the bike. A walk into the market place rewarded me with a coffee and a few shots for the album.
By about 12:45 I was back on the road again. On reaching the attractive town of Schlüsselfeld a wrong turning set me back a couple of minutes, but was easily recovered. More agreeable cantering followed, a few spots of rain made a half-hearted attempt to clean the bugs off the windshield, but quickly gave up.
Next up, at about 14:00 was the historic city of Bamberg where yet another insolent set of barriers barred my intended road in. Once again, there was no obvious diversion provided and I was forced downhill on cobbled streets between tightly packed ancient buildings, finally arriving by the canals that thread through the town as I had hoped. My intention was to pay to park the bike up in one of the city's underground car parks unless any motorcycle bays turned up. None were forthcoming though and there were queues for the underground car park but I was eventually lucky enough to find an unguarded area of cobbles to plant my flag.
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There followed an hour or so as a pedestrian around the old town quarter. It really deserved more time, but at least I bagged the much-photographed Rathaus and some of the attractive buildings and canal side as well as securing another coffee before progressing onward.
The ride out was through the now routine mix of roads through the northern Bavarian countryside. Another set of barriers were lurking in Scheßlitz, but at least this time there was a clearly signed diversionary route, so no real harm done there, but I had barely got through the town when I was scuppered again. Now, the Würgauer Berg had not come to my attention in the planning phase, but it is presumably a hill of some significance and most definitely closed to motorcycles during weekends. I guess it must be an attractive road to ride, but the local authorities are tied of pulling people out of hedges when it is time-and-a-half or double-time pay. I threw a right turn as encouraged by my personalised diversion and set about the alternative. Frustratingly this simply led to another set of signs standing like a nightclub bouncer and saying "not tonight lads". Back the way I came for a mile or so, a left turn and a series of badly surfaced lanes and tiny communities before finally reaching some wider and smoother tarmac.
Back in the clutches of the Zumo, I let it carry me forward until the next road closure. At least tis one was a little less prejudiced, simply prohibiting all traffic going forward, so once again I select a right turn and random and waited to see what would happen. What turned up after a few minutes was Thurnau and as I dropped into the little old town, I had one of those moments where something unexpected and striking jumps into view that you just have to stop. I pulled over below an imposing castle linked by a timber bridge over the roadway to an ancient chapel. I suppose if the lord of the manor has enough money to construct a castle, he wouldn't want to be having to go to church in the company of the local peasants. After a swig or two from the bottle and a cigarette, I got on with it.
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Beyond Thurnau lay a "dog-bone" junction of two islands either side of the [70] Autobahn. I'd lost confidence in the Zumo for the moment and with multiple diversions, was now fairly clueless as to my position in relation to where I wanted to be – like an aging hippy I felt the need for a sanctuary to Find Myself. I doubled back to a service station just off one of the islands bought another drink and considered my course.
Due to the Forbidden Hill I was well south of where I should have been and it seemed the simplest thing would be to hop on the Autobahn for a couple of junctions and get to my hotel as quickly as possible. It was still overcast and humid and a shower and a clean shirt were the two things I wanted most in the world in that instant. Having made my mind up it was a fairly easy run in. Klumbach was a bigger town than I was expecting, it was probably just my imagination but I seemed to have to spiral into the centre to get to my lodgings.
The Taste Hotel was a decent enough modern establishment, the best hotel of the trip so far which was a bit of a bonus as it was one of only two places that I would be spending two nights on this trip. With the coveted shower and change of clothes out of the way I took the opportunity to take everything except the essentials off the bike, it would be nice to be out on a lighter bike the following day.
I messaged my acquaintance to confirm I was in town as per schedule and available for the next day if he was still free. He was kind enough to drive over to my hotel in his car, buy dinner and a beer for us and give me a lightning tour of the town. It had been a change from my usual snack-bar type diet, having Gone Native and indulged in a plateful of rinderbraten.
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After being dropped back to my room I went to message home and found that I must have left my phone charger and power adapter at the previous night's hotel. Something to sort out tomorrow...
#60
Adventure, Excursions, Ride outs, Touring / Re: 2025 European trip
Last post by Boomer - August 16, 2025, 05:27:59 PMI gave up on my Garmin. It seemed to have no clue how to reroute effectively.
The car now has a TomTom and I use a Carpuride (Android Auto) on the 1400.
If you fire up your phone and load Google Maps and select the Traffic overlay it normally shows all road closures. Of course it will cost you if you don't have a data roaming package.
Being a Saturday you were almost certainly being blocked by bicycle races. They have far too many of them at weekends in the Ardennes/Eifel.
The car now has a TomTom and I use a Carpuride (Android Auto) on the 1400.
If you fire up your phone and load Google Maps and select the Traffic overlay it normally shows all road closures. Of course it will cost you if you don't have a data roaming package.
Being a Saturday you were almost certainly being blocked by bicycle races. They have far too many of them at weekends in the Ardennes/Eifel.