Black Forest and Bodensee late May

[lynnnsr]

All going well so far, made it to champagne country near Reims, visited the old f1 circuit at Gueux.

Made it to Dover early enough to be put on the 7.40 instead of the 9.10 I had booked, which gave me a useful bit of extra time exploring along the route.

Lots to explore and see at Gueux, a picturesque town itself along with the motorsport heritage.

Enough riding for one day though a quick snooze then to try the local food and drink before going on to Deutschland tomorrow
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NSR 125 (with L-Plates) > 1994 NTV 650 > 2015 CB650F > 16 VFR800F

[lynnnsr]

Day 2 (yesterday) Reims to Ravensburg.

This was a long one by anyone's standards, 4 hours of motorway to Strasbourg first. It was quite exciting to start seeing signs for places in Germany but at least another 2 hours before I got there. I am pretty sure I saw the black forest in the far distance from well inside France, too.

Went slightly wrong at Strasbourg and started going North again, but soon realised. I got to see a pretty little place that looked more German than anything I have seen in Germany so far. Just found it on google maps, it's called sessenheim. Then I crossed the Rhine (well all 3 of them!) and finally I was in Deutschland
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NSR 125 (with L-Plates) > 1994 NTV 650 > 2015 CB650F > 16 VFR800F

[lynnnsr]

Day 2 part 2....

By now the pressure was on a bit timewise, had to get a bit further south on the autobahn, which is a bit of a shock until you get used to it, cars appearing out of nowhere, 100mph plus is standard. You can't really do less than 85 unless you just chug with the lorries in the inside lane which I did once or twice for a breather.

I turned off at offenburg (cue a bit more getting lost) and followed quite a major route through the black forest to villingen schwenningen, the scenery was breathtaking and some excellent tunnels.

A bit more autobahn towards singen, then along the shores of Lake Constance. Very pretty but simply a huge lake at the end of the day. The traffic then became quite bad as it was around 6pm, and they seem to be doing lots of work to the roads in this area. The last couple of miles into Ravensburg was almost painful, lots of standing traffic but not allowed to filter!

Had a day off the bike today, planning to do some sightseeing tomorrow
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NSR 125 (with L-Plates) > 1994 NTV 650 > 2015 CB650F > 16 VFR800F

[doggone]

I found a lot of the signage to get through German towns confusing and sometimes hard to see at all.
Something you rarely get here is being required to U turn on a dual carriageway for your exit, even when it's quite a major road.

[lynnnsr]

[Copycat73]

Gettin lost .. different coloured road signs.. changing autobhan speeds .. buy a sat - nav and learn how to use it.
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Whatever I post I have no citation and no intention of providing one..
caveat emptor

[lynnnsr]

Went out to Neuschwanstein Castle today, plenty enough to do in one day, and dipped into Austria on the way back so that's now 2 countries I've never visited before this trip.

Did a bit better with directions and getting used to the signs today, but fuck me they do like a diversion down here!
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NSR 125 (with L-Plates) > 1994 NTV 650 > 2015 CB650F > 16 VFR800F

[ocatoro]

good effort fella. many photos upon your return, please
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CBT - 17/09/12 * Theory - 23/10/12 * Mod1 - 05/03/13 * Mod2 - 25/03/13 * BOSH!
Current - None but shed project H100 (first bike )
Past - ER5, '93 ZZR600, '92 CB400 SF, ZZR600 (again), yellow Monster 620, Blackbird - black Monster 620ie - '96 ZZR600

[lynnnsr]

Back home now. I'll get some photos up soon.

The day after the Neuschwanstein Castle visit, I went to a nice quirky little car museum in a village called Wolfegg. It is most like the one at Bourton on the water. General car theme but tons of other old stuff too. Some bikes but well worth a visit for anyone who likes motors. Owner very friendly and speaks good English.

https://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b615/robertlynn77/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20190525_135132_706_zps9lsze869.jpg

https://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b615/robertlynn77/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20190525_135132_722_zpsaf9klcll.jpg

https://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b615/robertlynn77/20190525_121441_zps4dwoc2qo.jpg

https://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b615/robertlynn77/Mobile%20Uploads/20190525_122834_zpsamfy16ku.jpg

Not a long trip that one, as it was a bit of a damp day.

The following day (Sunday) was an early start, out of Ravensburg via Ulm and up to Stuttgart for a look round the Mercedes museum before heading for an overnight stop at Luxembourg. The beginning of the journey home!

Some lovely quiet sweeping A roads up to Ulm, then autobahn to stuttgart. If you have to do long distance in Germany try and go on a Sunday when the lorries aren't allowed on the autobahn it makes quite a difference.



Arrived in Stuttgart and found the exit for the Mercedes museum closed, so ended up in a huge car park and was directed to walk about a mile to the museum. It was Marathon day in Stuttgart and it was a hot day and complete mayhem with parking and runners limbering up etc. I did get some funny looks walking through this scene in full bike gear!
https://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b615/robertlynn77/Mobile%20Uploads/20190526_114513_zpsmfv01dvs.jpg

Merc museum was more like an art gallery, lots of old merc stuff thoughtfully laid out, but very little personality. Still at £10 to get in who can complain? https://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b615/robertlynn77/Mobile%20Uploads/20190526_104038_zps9x6egs7b.jpg

Merc motorbike - note stabilisers!

https://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b615/robertlynn77/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG-20190526-WA0002_zpshmvockwg.jpeg

Back on the bike and into traffic, took me nearly an hour to get out of stuttgart. It was hot and it took all my self control not to filter.

On the autobahn again eventually, all went well then a 'stau' (traffic jam) happened. Three lanes at standstill. I waited for the there for another half hour, then a bike filtered past. The Germans leave a gap between lanes 2 and3 for emergency vehicles. I followed the filtering biker, and another one soon appeared behind me. We soon caught up with an ADAC breakdown lorry ' filtering' (horn blaring and no doubt lights fkashing!) down this gap, all the way to the front of the queue, where the police were picking up some crashed vehicles. We bikers slotted back into the traffic and were soon on our way.

Quite a long one then to Luxembourg, though there was some nice country on single carriageway, in a gap in the A8 autobahn.

Stayed with a lovely family (airbnb)in lux, then off early the next morning.
This is what suburban Luxembourg looks like in case you ever wondered:https://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b615/robertlynn77/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG-20190526-WA0011_zpsacmckphn.jpeg
In many ways its a lot like the UK
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NSR 125 (with L-Plates) > 1994 NTV 650 > 2015 CB650F > 16 VFR800F

[Evil Hans]