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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
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Posted: 21:46 - 03 Jul 2017 Post subject: Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges tour. |
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(EDIT 11/7/17 Title got edited. Original title was: Folkestone to Baden-Baden)
Thinking about doing this in one day, including the chunnel crossing. Too much? If so, suggest a mid-way stop? Ta. ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!
Last edited by chickenstrip on 18:12 - 16 Jul 2017; edited 3 times in total |
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Oldie Brolly Dolly
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arry |
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arry Super Spammer
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Posted: 22:07 - 03 Jul 2017 Post subject: |
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I think that'd be pushing it looking at mileage / routes but subscribing to this thread, with interest |
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c_dug |
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c_dug Super Spammer
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Posted: 22:09 - 03 Jul 2017 Post subject: |
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I did it in a day and a half to baden baden, you could do it in much less, but I'm very glad I didn't, some of the best roads I came across were in the area around etch-sur-sure (our stopping point on night one).
I wrote it all up here: https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=278369&highlight=b500 ____________________ I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock. |
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
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Posted: 22:12 - 03 Jul 2017 Post subject: |
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Thanks Oldie. Reason I was thinking of heading fast to Baden-Baden is there are other places in my plan I want to spend more time, and the less stops getting to them, the further the money goes.
Monschau would still only be a one night stop if I did it. Still worth it?
Also, anyone stayed at Meiringen in Switzerland? Nice place for a few nights, as an exploring base? Seems close to the places and roads that interest me. Choice of eateries for evenings? Found a hotel with reasonable prices (looked at Interlaken, but heavily booked and more expensive).
P.S. Need answers quickly, as thinking of heading off on Friday
P.P.S. Monschau expensive!
P.P.P.S. Not much in the way of hotels available on Booking.com in Esch-sur-Sure, but have bookmarked one possibility. ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE! |
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
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Posted: 23:47 - 03 Jul 2017 Post subject: |
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Booked one night near Esch-sur-Sure. Should have time to explore that town on the way, hotel is only a couple of miles away.
Booked one night in Baden-Baden, four nights in Meiringen.
On the road again on Friday ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE! |
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Alpineandy |
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Alpineandy World Chat Champion
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arry |
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arry Super Spammer
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Posted: 14:03 - 06 Jul 2017 Post subject: |
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chickenstrip wrote: | Booked one night near Esch-sur-Sure. Should have time to explore that town on the way, hotel is only a couple of miles away.
Booked one night in Baden-Baden, four nights in Meiringen.
On the road again on Friday |
Just realised you're off again tomorrow. You lucky bugger. |
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Tracer1234 |
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Tracer1234 World Chat Champion
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
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Posted: 15:56 - 06 Jul 2017 Post subject: |
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arry wrote: |
Just realised you're off again tomorrow. You lucky bugger. |
I can, cos I don't buy Porsches
Nah, last trip I can afford, then I'll be at the bottom of the social financial status stakes for the foreseeable future.
Bike is fuelled, most of the stuff packed. Maps arrived today (proper maps are just.... ).
Getting quite hot over there again ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE! |
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Enduro Numpty |
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Enduro Numpty Could Be A Chat Bot
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Posted: 20:03 - 06 Jul 2017 Post subject: |
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Enjoy - I must have missed where you're going.
We very much look forward to hearing your reports. Have a great time |
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
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Posted: 20:08 - 06 Jul 2017 Post subject: |
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Enduro Numpty wrote: | Enjoy - I must have missed where you're going.
We very much look forward to hearing your reports. Have a great time |
B-line for Switzerland really. Then, dunno. Italy most likely, lakes and Dolomites perhaps. Keep wanting to do them, but never quite make it
I'd dearly like to conquer Rome and the Amalfi coast, but I think it will be just too hot at the moment, so maybe one day in the future, if another chance comes along. ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE! |
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Oldie |
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Oldie Brolly Dolly
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Posted: 20:37 - 06 Jul 2017 Post subject: |
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Have a great trip and ride safe |
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Matt B |
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Matt B World Chat Champion
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Posted: 10:10 - 07 Jul 2017 Post subject: |
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Enjoy!
If you get lonely, you know where we will be ____________________ stinkwheel: He had an animated .gif of a cat performing fellatio. It's not socially acceptable. It can have real life adverse effects on other people. |
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
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Posted: 21:07 - 08 Jul 2017 Post subject: |
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Couldn't do much last night, as Photofucket was playing up.
Got to my B&B at Folkestone, and got straight into tourist mode, with a ride out to Dover castle:
https://i.postimg.cc/6qjCr1zZ/DSCN9893.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/zfFbwcGf/DSCN9907.jpg
I went with my folks once many years ago, but didn't have a camera, so I've been meaning to go back for some time. One day, I'll go back again and do the proper tour.
Then zapped along to Deal Castle:
https://i.postimg.cc/bvpdv99f/DSCN9922.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/3Rbwn553/DSCN9930.jpg
Also did Walmer a while back, so didn't bother this time.
A short walk above Dover ferry port:
https://i.postimg.cc/hvdKsX10/DSCN9937.jpg
Moonrise and sunset, looking out over the port:
https://i.postimg.cc/pTgmPb0q/DSCN9953.jpg
Chunnel train this morning, then a boring but fairly quick ride down to my hotel near Esch-sur-Sure. Bastogne again:
https://i.postimg.cc/XvqqF7ms/DSCN9956.jpg
Some sort of classic car event going on, loads of old jalopies around the town:
https://i.postimg.cc/wBw4vHs5/DSCN9968.jpg
And some on display in the town square:
https://i.postimg.cc/d1JWnpRN/DSCN9960.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/FRqL1JKb/DSCN9965.jpg
A castle at Esch-sur-Sure:
https://i.postimg.cc/qRYmsLwz/DSCN9977.jpg
Got to the hotel, unloaded the kit and then straight out to explore a little. Did a loop; Ettelbruck->Diekirch->Echternach->Larochette->and back to the hotel. Didn't see a great deal of note until passing through Larochette (some great bits of road through the woods and around the forested hillsides). In Larochette, was just passing a side road, glanced up it, and spotted something interesting, my attention caught by a quick glimpse of a schloss on the hillside. So parked up. Found a pathway up the hillside in the town:
https://i.postimg.cc/P5R8rR5p/DSCN9996.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/VvkYtz7Y/DSCN0003.jpg
Local art sculpture by the path:
https://i.postimg.cc/TwkzZg96/DSCN0009.jpg
I was trying to think of where it was that there was a King Tiger tank on a village green somewhere in the area, but it wouldn't come to me. But on the way back to the hotel, I came across a memorial to General George S. Patton in Ettelbruck, who's 3rd Army liberated this town in 1944:
https://i.postimg.cc/59X9f2F3/DSCN0010.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/dV14xpfL/DSCN0015.jpg
"Nope, I can't see what's wrong with you from here son" *slap, slap!* (for those who know their WW2 history ) :
https://i.postimg.cc/hjr2wnKQ/DSCN0021.jpg
Baden-Baden at the start of the...mythical? B500 tomorrow. ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!
Last edited by chickenstrip on 18:09 - 03 Oct 2019; edited 5 times in total |
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Tracer1234 |
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Tracer1234 World Chat Champion
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
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Posted: 19:00 - 09 Jul 2017 Post subject: |
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Once again, a pretty boring, largely motorway ride to get to Baden-Baden (actually in a small town nearby), but got here early, so I had time for an extensive ride around the northern part of the Black Forest. Coming back to the hotel, I did do part of the B500, but only as the road I wanted to take was closed. Well, it was very good, but I can tell you there are many equally as good roads throughout this area. Hardly stopped for photos, as was having too much fun
Stopped in one little town typical of the region, Loffenau; old style, but looks brand new:
https://i.postimg.cc/VL3WKvXH/DSCN0026.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/WzxgYYqJ/DSCN0027.jpg
Maybe it got hammered in the war and was rebuilt or something.
Climbed out of the town, a quick look back down on it:
https://i.postimg.cc/DmV4PWRr/DSCN0029.jpg
Stopped by a kiosk selling coffee, snacks and tourist knick-knacks by this dam, which had me thinking I was back in Wales for a minute:
https://i.postimg.cc/Pf77ktm1/DSCN0030.jpg
Pretty much 5 hours of full-on hooning, with just a couple of coffee stops and a late lunch break. Bikes everywhere, dozens of 'em.
Shortly before I got back to the hotel, I felt a sting on my neck, which was very persistent. Found a swelling there when I got in, applied some cream and some kind of bug came out. Hope it wasn't carrying an infection, as it's still pretty sore now, so if you don't hear from me again...
B500 proper tomorrow, destination Meiringen, Switzerland. ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!
Last edited by chickenstrip on 18:32 - 03 Oct 2019; edited 2 times in total |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
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Posted: 19:45 - 09 Jul 2017 Post subject: |
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Tracer1234 wrote: | Glad you have had a good first couple of days. Seems like a better start with the weather this time. Are you planning on meeting up with the others at any point? |
Sorry Tracer, forgot to reply!
No, no plans to meet up, bit too tricky really with not knowing each other's itineraries very well, and I think everyone would rather just concentrate on their own trips. Enduro Numpty and I crossed paths without fuss in Spain, so that was easier to sort just for a quick spin. Watching Matt B's thread with interest though. ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE! |
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
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Posted: 19:56 - 10 Jul 2017 Post subject: |
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Too many Weissbiers last night meant I didn't get away till just before ten this morning, but, wonder of wonders, no hangover!
Just as well as the B500 needed all my concentration, especially as I started out in pissing rain and it was immediately twisty, and climbed high into patchy fog. Didn't rain the whole time, and even when it was, it was still fun as the surfaces were grippy and smooth.
I didn't actually stick to the B500 for it's whole length but took a couple of smaller roads here and there, but they were equally as good, if not better. This is certainly an area I would recommend to anyone to explore further, not so much for the scenery (how many trees do you need to see? ), but almost any road you take has you whooping for the sheer joy of riding.
Not many photos again, partly because views were sensed more than seen, but also because, vroooommmm!
Glimpsed through the trees:
https://i.postimg.cc/CxSXccG2/DSCN0038.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/9fNkFV63/DSCN0042.jpg
Look how smooth that tarmac is....I want to stroke it:
https://i.postimg.cc/13vCJs5g/DSCN0043.jpg
1 minute before more rain:
https://i.postimg.cc/SK5Zbd9k/DSCN0045.jpg
Wolfach, a town I'm not sure you'd see if you stuck rigidly to the B500, although not far from it:
https://i.postimg.cc/G3vX6kmn/DSCN0050.jpg
Probably illegally parked again :
https://i.postimg.cc/t4JtRPpT/DSCN0053.jpg
Stopped for coffee and, well, you gotta do it if you're here; a humongous slice of Black Forest Gateau
BCF BBQ, I challenge you to sign post the site:
https://i.postimg.cc/8ckfKQC5/DSCN0055.jpg
Now thus far, I have found Switzerland to be a funny old place. Firstly, no one seems to like to drive much above about 50mph
Secondly, it may have been to do with my route in, avoiding the need for vignettes and all that nonsense, but there seemed hardly to be more than a couple of miles of open road before you were in another speed-limited town or village, right until I got to my hotel which is actually on Grimselstrasse (so well placed for the Grimsel/Susten/Furka loop ).
Probably didn't help that I got down here at rush hour, and was directed by the twat nav through a city centre (still no idea which city it was* ), which was gridlocked. Passed several very large lakes, and also don't know what ones they were. Fecking twat navs
Just as I got within a couple of miles of the hotel, and the road now climbing up high and getting very twisty, it pissed down again, thunder and lightning, the works. But now on the beers, so all is good
Just one photo in Switzerland so far; somewhere en route:
https://i.postimg.cc/g09X9601/DSCN0056.jpg
*think it must have been Luzern; seemed like it would have been worth a day to stroll around. ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!
Last edited by chickenstrip on 18:38 - 03 Oct 2019; edited 4 times in total |
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Oldie Brolly Dolly
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
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Posted: 20:48 - 10 Jul 2017 Post subject: |
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No, Oldie, I didn't know they were particularly harsh, so thanks for the warning Do they tend to patrol the mountain roads much, or is it more in towns and cities?
Also, I only saw one cop car lurking on the B500, despite recent talk of them being more zealous of late, but I got plenty of warning from cars coming the other way flashing their headlamps. ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE! |
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Oldie Brolly Dolly
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chickenstrip |
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chickenstrip Super Spammer
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Posted: 08:30 - 11 Jul 2017 Post subject: |
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Well, I just hope the scenery is going to be worth it! (cos I've already confirmed how bloody expensive everything here is).
Yesterday, I have never been so saddle sore in my life, and still not particularly comfortable sitting down today. Can't waste the day though, but I don't think I'll be going far. Having a lazy morning with coffee and maps first. Weather looks much better thankfully. ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE! |
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Kris |
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Kris World Chat Champion
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Posted: 08:59 - 11 Jul 2017 Post subject: |
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Following with interest.
Probably going to smash the Vosges at the end of the month on a solo mini-hoon. Can't wait.
[edit - also you're always welcome to pop in for a coffee on the way back through Kent] ____________________ NSR125RR - ZXR750H1 - ZX9R E1 - GSF600S - GSF600SK3 - VFR400-NC30 - SV1000N - ST1100-R - CBR900RR-R - GSF1200SK5 - GSF600SK1 - VFR1200FA - GSXR1000K2 - ZZR1400 D8F
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Old Thread Alert!
The last post was made 6 years, 316 days ago. Instead of replying here, would creating a new thread be more useful? |
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