BCF Euro Jolly 2015 Trip Report [85MB DATA]

-Matt- · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Apr 2013 Karma :

My trip report for this years BCF Euro Jolly from the 11th-20th July, 2015.

Many Karma

's and thank's to Marmalade again for helping organise so much of this years trip for everyone.

We went through France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Italy covering about 2500-3000 miles over the whole trip.

Day 1 – Saturday 11th July
Left home heading to Folkestone. Got the Euro Tunnel to Calais and then continued to the F1 Hotel in Charleville-Mezieres, France.
Day 2 – Sunday 12th July
Left Lille and crossed into Belgium and onto Luxembourg. Visited Luxembourg city for a couple of hours then continued back into France, to Metz and then our next F1 hotel in Strasbourg.
Day 3 – Monday 13th July
Left Strasbourg and headed to Baden Baden in Germany. Rode down through the Black Forest via the B500 (absolutely brilliant road). Stopped at Lake Constance and then continued into Austria to our hostel in Feldkirch.
Day 4 – Tuesday 14th July
Left Feldkirch and crossed into Liechtenstein, followed by Switzerland. Rode through the Alps into Italy and through the Stelvio Pass to our next hostel by Lake Como.
Day 5 – Wednesday 15th July
Left Lake Como and went back into Switzerland upto the Verzasca Dam. We had planned to ride back up to Austira via the San Bernadino Pass at this point but it was incredibly hot, late and people were feeling knackered already so we ended up using toll roads to get back upto Austria and the hostel in Feldkirch.
Day 6- Thursday 16th July
Left Feldkirch and headed back into Germany, riding through Memmingen to our Ibis hotel in Gersthofen, outside Augsburg.
Day 7 – Friday 17th July
Left Gersthofen heading to our next Ibis in Koblenz.
Day 8 – Saturday 18th July
Second night at the Ibis in Koblenz – Spent the day visiting the Nurburgring.
Day 9 – Sunday 19th July
Left Kobenz and returned back into France to our F1 hotel in Lille.
Day 10 – Monday 20th July
Left Lille for Calais and returned to the UK.

[b][size=15]Day 1 – Saturday 11th July.
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Everyone gathered at the Euro Tunnel. Managed to avoid any disruption from Operation Stack luckily.
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Waiting for the train.
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Waiting on the train.
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Went on a detour through the French countryside and some small towns for a couple of hours.
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Arrived at Charleville-Mezieres F1.
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Day 2 – Sunday 12th July.
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5* F1 breakfast to start the day.
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Crossing into Belgium – camera couldn't handle the excitement it seems Thinking

-Matt- · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Apr 2013 Karma :

Day 3 – Monday 13th July.
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Arrived at Baden-Baden in Germany.
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Joined the B500 through the Black Forest. Possibly the best road i've ever been on. We may have been in luck with traffic/police with it being a Monday morning – but it was miles and miles of this Smile

-Matt- · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Apr 2013 Karma :

-Matt- · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Apr 2013 Karma :

Started descending the Fluela Pass.
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In case the steep drops at the side of the road weren't concerning enough; the barriers were removed.
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They were then replaced with flimsy, token, wooden fences and randomly placed patches of gravel Laughing

-Matt- · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Apr 2013 Karma :

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The ride down the other side was a lot more chilled out Thumbs Up

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Eventually reached Lake Como and were surprised to find our 'budget hostel' came with a private underground garage and air-con Shocked

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Had a brief look around the town then retreated back to the air-con.
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-Matt- · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Apr 2013 Karma :

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Not sure if this was a sign-installation failure or clever plot to catch people speeding Thinking

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Pulled in at the service stop that splits off to the San Bernadino Pass or the Toll roads (after accidently already riding briefly on part of the toll roads), followed shortly after by 3 police cars Whistle

. They all calmly waited around with ice creams for the next half hour until they saw we were buying the toll-stickers. I don't think it would of gone so well had we left the forecourt without them Laughing

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Continued on our way back into Austria on the toll roads. The first half of the toll section was still a really good ride and views suprisingly.
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Crossing the super-secure Austrian border.
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Got back to the same hostel in Feldkirch where we spent the rest of the day getting humiliated at ping pong by NoobRider Crying or Very sad

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-Matt- · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Apr 2013 Karma :

Day 6 – Thursday 16th July
Mainly a long motorway slog to start getting all the way back up towards the north.
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Stopped at a garage to try find a socket big enough to tighten one of the groups many slack chains that had appeared.
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Then we all got split up into 3 or 4 groups for a bit after two sat-navs confused the drop-off system.https://i1369.photobucket.com/albums/ag227/bcfeurojolly2014/euro2015%203/6%203_zpsdb6dvm6l.jpg

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Eventually met back up in the centre of Memmingem, but had more problems as the Blade had a mini-breakdown. One roadside-bodge later we carried on and eventually made it to the Ibis near Koblenz.
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Day 7 – Friday 17th July
This is what the route looked like for the rest of the group Rolling Eyes

. Mine was a little different.
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After a few days of having problems starting the ZX6 and it stinking of fuel – it decided it had enough and packed up entirely in an Autobahn rest area.
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Cue-waiting for recovery...
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And some more waiting for recovery...
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Feeling absolutely gutted, I got karted off to 'the nearest garage', expecting it to be the end of my trip.
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<Insert 90 minute rant about Putin from Russian driver>.
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About two hours later, after getting to the garage and them working on it they managed to get it fixed luckily. So I was now completely lost, on my own, in the middle of somewhere, even further in the wrong direction of Koblenz than before, with no map and a phone with no working GPS, internet and barely any call signal Doh!

. If anyone has any idea where this is, feel free to let me know Laughing

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Spent the next 6 or so hours getting pointed and lead around from town A to town B by german bikers whilst I tried to find my way to Koblenz Laughing

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Eventually, got to within a mile of the hotel and was met by one of the group at the nearest Lidl Laughing

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And went to empty the local Chinese buffet Drooling

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-Matt- · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Apr 2013 Karma :

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Not to be out-done by a people carrier. With the kids in the back. Laughing

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Went up to the visitors centre to look around the museum after a couple more hours, but it closed just as we got there which was pretty disappointing Thumbs Down

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Day 9 – Sunday 19th July.
Leaving Koblenz heading for Lille, France for our final night.
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Nothing much interesting again this day, just a slog to get there. Spiced up by some now very slack, maxed out chains Whistle

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And some tyre-hungry chains The world's smallest violin player, just for you!

The world's smallest violin player, just for you!

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Did a couple of karting sessions once we got to Lille (camera battery died Thumbs Down

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Then Marmalade and Smiler met up with us for the last evening.
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Day 10 – Monday 20th July.
Last slog home. First day of rain we had during the trip too.
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Back in a wet and miserable UK.
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The End.

Really great trip Thumbs Up

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Fowlersrs · World Chat Champion Joined: 30 Mar 2012 Karma :

Looks like u had a great time, mucho envious of Switzerland. No dramas to report?

Aff · World Chat Champion Joined: 05 May 2011 Karma :

Great write up matt.

Was an excellent trip as usual Gents, look forward to the next one.
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Polarbear · Super Spammer Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Karma :

Nice report Thumbs Up

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Dave70 · World Chat Champion Joined: 21 Jan 2012 Karma :

Looks like a great trip (I'll be up for this next year).

Must have been a bit Shocked

getting lost on your own with no gps either.
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Matt B · World Chat Champion Joined: 01 May 2012 Karma :

Well done Matt Karma

It was a great trip Thumbs Up

We had a laugh, rode some excellent roads, saw fantastic scenery, ate many Chinese meals and all got home (eventually) in one piece.

There is not much I can add, Matt has ~~spammed~~ covered it all, but just a few more:

B500 in the Black Forest.

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Luxembourg city was so nice. They were having some free rock concert in the square that day, by turning up we literally doubled the audience. Free city wide wifi too.

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Matt and the ZX6R off on a mini jolly.

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How many BCFers does it take to change a light bulb?

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Beers on the last night with Marmalade and Smiler in Lille.

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noobRider · World Chat Champion Joined: 23 Sep 2012 Karma :

The mighty Pegaso and me & AoaR on the Stelvio:
https://i.imgur.com/JrbRutY.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Wv2MrXL.jpg
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Aff · World Chat Champion Joined: 05 May 2011 Karma :

I also bought some of the Stelvio pics.

https://i.imgur.com/AstR4dh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Fh4Wrht.jpg
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Supermoto_Fan · World Chat Champion Joined: 10 Jun 2012 Karma :

Need more info on that seemingly melted tyre.. Intrigued!

Looks like another top trip. Did you have any trouble at the crossings as i'm heading into europe next week on a similar trip, (less of italy more of france)

Luxembourg is a lovely place isnt it.
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delsol · World Chat Champion Joined: 12 Apr 2011 Karma :

Great pics and write up, looks like a brilliant excursion Thumbs Up

trevor saxe-coburg-gotha · World Chat Champion Joined: 22 Nov 2012 Karma :

Ace trip - wouldn't have had the stamina for it me sen, like. Especially not in those temperatures!! Was expecting to see pics of you lot going for an impromptu dip in whatever lake or river you could find - cos that weather sounds seriously, oppressively hot. Throw in some of the most demanding routes in Europe, plus dodgy traffic and ffuucckkk. I'd have had to pull over, curl up in the shade of my bike and wait for nightfall. Btw, what happened to the blade?
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chickenstrip · Super Spammer Joined: 06 Dec 2013 Karma :

Excellent as usual Matt - was worth the wait Smile

Out of interest, did anyone tot up their approximate expenditure for the whole trip, hotels, fuel, food?

I won't say I'll be on next year's, but I would certainly like to be. Glad you all had a good one Thumbs Up

-Matt- · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Apr 2013 Karma :

-Matt- · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Apr 2013 Karma :

All the pictures of the group from Fotostevio.com Thumbs Up

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https://2015.fotostelvio.com/find-your-foto/find-your-foto-summer-2015/find-your-foto-july-2015/stelvio-14-july-2015/14-july-1500-1530/?nggpage=2

https://2015.fotostelvio.com/find-your-foto/find-your-foto-summer-2015/find-your-foto-july-2015/stelvio-14-july-2015/14-july-1500-1530/?nggpage=3

https://2015.fotostelvio.com/find-your-foto/find-your-foto-summer-2015/find-your-foto-july-2015/stelvio-14-july-2015/14-july-1500-1530/?nggpage=6

pepperami · Super Spammer Joined: 17 Jan 2010 Karma :

Kin ell! that was quite some read and a 10-out of-10 write up Thumbs Up

Very impressive, the road through the Black Forest looks really nice.
However? I seem to remember that when I was in Germany, any roads that were near pines and forest would also have mozzies the size of Zeppelins Shocked

Looks like it was a top trip that you lot will remember for many years to come.
Ace pictures Thumbs Up

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-Matt- · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Apr 2013 Karma :

Al · World Chat Champion Joined: 26 Feb 2006 Karma :

Looks a great trip. I always wonder how people mange to stay together on big group rides through European cities. Its hard enough with 2 or 3 bikes in the UK.

Have been to lots of the same places on various trips.
Would defiantly agree about the Black forest and Stelvio, Black forest amazing roads, probably the best I've ridden as well.
Stelvio is just hard work, maybe one to tick off the list but I'd go out of my way to avoid riding up it again. It was pouring with rain when I went up as well and I couldn't get out of 2nd gear as my bike wasn't loving the thin air near the top.
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-Matt- · World Chat Champion Joined: 28 Apr 2013 Karma :