Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - Finding Freedom...World Wide Ride

Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/)

- Ride Tales (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ride-tales/)

- - Finding Freedom...World Wide Ride (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ride-tales/finding-freedom-world-wide-ride-65365)

Leaving Berlin we were now in search of liability insurance. We had 6 months worth from Mootocamp in Bulgaria. We had a list of ADAC offices that do sell green card insurance. We headed south and west 129 km to Dressau-Roblau. Here we managed to get the last 2 months we needed. It was however much more that from Motocamp in Bulgaria and we will go back to them next year.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/741/2...75d9ed46_c.jpg Screen Shot 2015-09-06 at 10.23.05 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

From here we continued west towards the mountainous Hartz region. Here we found camping at Brocken. One of the towns we passed thru had celebrated its 1000 th anniversary 25 years ago!

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/778/2...4b45975d_c.jpg MRT 1 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/715/2...dcb80742_c.jpg MRT 3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We had 58 km to get to Gieboldenhausen where we were going to the MRT rally, but we spent most of the day getting there by going up and down the Hartz region on the curvy narrow mountain roads.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/642/2...53e206279a.jpg Screen Shot 2015-09-06 at 10.23.42 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/736/2...c64817b7_c.jpg MRT 2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5699/...4c6b8695_c.jpg MRT 24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Arriving at the MRT rally late in the afternoon there were already several hundred bikes there. Our friend Torsten, who we met on the Dempster Highway and again in Valdez in 2012, had invited us here.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/709/2...99f5f5e2_c.jpg MRT 8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/777/2...14caeed2_c.jpg MRT 4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

A living legend! Ted Simon was certainly an inspiration to us with Jupiter's Travels.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5742/...e1e9effd_c.jpg MRT 9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Get Dan one of those stick on beards, it would suit him........
Gino

Leaving on Sunday morning we had drizzle on and off on our way towards Belgium. We tried to stick to the “small yellow roads on the map with the green shadow” since they are the most scenic. You pass thru dozens of towns that look like they are out of a Fairy tale story. We have encountered quite a few of the secondary roads here in Germany that are closed off and this was not much of a problem until today when we had to do a 20 km back track to get where we were going.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5728/...677ed44a_c.jpg Screen Shot 2015-09-06 at 10.24.49 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We switched to the highway for the last 200 km since it had really started to pour. We actually ended up by accident in the Netherlands since there is a little tongue of this country that slips between Germany and Belgium.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5694/...468b288e_c.jpg Screen Shot 2015-09-06 at 10.25.18 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Getting up the next day we still had rain, but it did abate for a few hours and we could stay on the small roads until near Brussels where the density of traffic lights made our progress very slow. From here we hoped onto the highway for the last 180 km to Bruges.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5724/...09e1268f_c.jpg Screen Shot 2015-09-20 at 9.23.10 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/595/2...13fb2660_c.jpg luxemburgh 26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We had last been here almost 20 years ago, but thanks to UNESCO not much has changed. This is a lovely town where you can hear Flemish spoken and can appreciate the Flemish architecture. You can also enjoy some amazing Frits and Mayonnaise. We got a bus pass for the city so we could come and go to town without worrying about parking. The first afternoon we did a bit of walking around the city center, ate some Belgian chocolate, and drank some Belgian beer. Life is good.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/588/2...7e628766_c.jpg bruges 1 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5626/...106de93d_c.jpg bruges 75 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5772/...453c83d3_c.jpg bruges 2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5753/...3dae2256_c.jpg bruges 3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/632/2...1b21158b_c.jpg bruges 5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5659/...cedc731c_c.jpg bruges 6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5720/...8422098a_c.jpg bruges 8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Getting up today it was finally sunny! We planned to get to Vianden Luxembourg in 318 KM. We are meeting our Malaysian friend Faizal there. He has just come from our friends Bart and Renate's home in Holland. We had all originally met in Ushuaia in 2014. We wanted to see some more of Belgium as well. So we went the long way round for 421 KM.

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From here riding east we were briefly in France before going to Tournai Belgium. The famed church (said to be one of the most beautiful religious buildings in the world and of course a UNESCO site) is undergoing a massive 20-year renovation that started in 2006. It is a “five towered Romanesque and early Gothic masterpiece” built in the 12 and 13 th centuries. It was still impressive as was the market square. The guild flags here show the towns historic importance in trade.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/737/2...92de12bd_c.jpg luxemburgh 21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5749/...e3ba61ba_c.jpg luxemburgh 22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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Lunch Belgian style.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5645/...ca20d13c_c.jpg luxemburgh 24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

From here we had 270 km to go at it was already 3 pm. We booked it on the highway until we hit Luxembourg and went back to the small roads.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5651/...fd9b98ac_c.jpg luxemburgh 25 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We were coming to a round about and just ahead of us was the Malaysian Adventurer himself.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/735/2...e31859fd_c.jpg luxemburgh 28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We woke to another stunning day for our ride west into Germany again.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/616/2...7cbf8c43_b.jpg Screen Shot 2015-09-11 at 11.30.41 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5686/...d9bcd982_z.jpg Screen Shot 2015-09-19 at 7.32.57 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The first order of business in this tiny country was making breakfast and then to get to the shops for a sticker purchase, since this might be our only chance.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5811/...6a3979a0_c.jpg luxemburgh 40 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

From here we continued north and east towards Mosel. We managed to stay mostly on the small secondary roads. This took us thru many picturesque towns that all looked like they are from Fairy tales. We did take a 20 km detour when Dan saw the Nuburgring sign he could not resist.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5783/...5da3cc4d_c.jpg mosel 26 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We drove up to the information center at 6 pm and it looked closed, but we went in anyway and rang the bell. Someone came out to tell us that yes the track was open, but the tickets are sold 2.5 km down the road.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5634/...231bda19_c.jpg mosel 27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5688/...6b129f6f_c.jpg mosel 28 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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Driving up here you could feel the testosterone. The place was packed with mostly very expensive and very fast cars. There were a few bikes too, but none with panniers and luggage. You get 2 laps for 27 Euros, but Dan said one was enough. It is pretty scary to have cars coming up on you at 200 km/hr. You got to like his Adventure rider style though…Ortlib bag and a water bottle!

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/666/2...13a1bb73_c.jpg mosel 34 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5645/...6c9094d2_c.jpg mosel 30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/596/2...c7e4eaea_c.jpg mosel 31 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5724/...bb50c11e_c.jpg mosel 32 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/649/2...726afe5d_c.jpg mosel 35 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5819/...604bbbec_c.jpg mosel 36 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5703/...b7109f13_c.jpg mosel 40 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Well now it was after 7 and we still had 50 km to go. We arrived to the Mosel area at 8 and opted for a hotel. In Germany you get Haribo on your pillow!

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/665/2...6fef3905_c.jpg mosel 39 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5706/...658f6e21_c.jpg mosel 38 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

This is a wine region and all the hillsides are covered with vines and castles.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/646/2...d8b095c2_c.jpg alzey 1 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Today we had just about 100 km to get to our destination in Alzey, but of course we found a long way there.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/638/2...d98813def8.jpg Screen Shot 2015-09-19 at 7.33.32 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We rode along the Mosel River and then took a detour up into the hills to see the Burg Eltz. This looks like your classic Disney castle, and we haven’t even got to the Neuschwanstein Castle, after which the Disney castle is modeled. This is a medieval castle still owned by a branch of the family that has lived there since the 12 th century and 33 generations.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/687/2...2693be7a_c.jpg alzey 5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/686/2...4a0485bf_c.jpg alzey 3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We returned to the Mosel River and then drove north to Koblenz, where we drove down along the Rhine. This section of the river is a UNESCO site and is lined with castles. There is no bridge over the Rhine River for 100 km from Koblenz to Mainz. There are a few ferries, but because of the UNESCO they cannot build the needed bridges.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5753/...53514a2f_c.jpg alzey 6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5758/...f8764870_c.jpg alzey 7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We did another loop up into the hills where there is great German driving on their fantastic curvy mountain roads. You know it is going to be good and how good is in proportion to the number of bikes you see coming towards you and the frequency of the road signs warning bikers of the curves ahead.

We arrived to Alzey to the home of our friends Uli and Annaleen. We had first seen them in a photo on another friend’s blog in 2011. We emailed our friends to ask about the couple they were traveling with that had the same bikes as us. We then contacted Annaleen and Uli and ended up hosting them when they came thru Vancouver on the way from Alaska. It was such a great opportunity for us then to meet long-term travelers and ask them all our questions. In true biker style one of their first questions they asked was do you need to do laundry! They unlike many Europeans have a DRIER!!!

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5620/...7c8aceb9_c.jpg alzey 9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5633/...5331ab11_c.jpg alzey 8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Here we were treated to a local delicacy. They cook potatoes under coals and serve them with a cheese that is kind of like sour cream.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5809/...af88123e_c.jpg alzey 18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5763/...4eb96451_c.jpg alzey 16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The city of Alzey has had a settlement since the Bronze Age. It was also covered by water 35 million years ago and the museum is filled with fossils of shells and sea creatures found near by. They have almost a full skeleton of a “sea cow”, which looks like a manatee. Uli was born and raised here and so doing a tour of the town with him was really interesting. There are a number of very old buildings in the city.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/722/2...a77bc723_c.jpg alzey 35 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Annaleen helped us by calling the BMW in Bamberg to see if they could fit in Sara’s 650 to look at the right front fork, which has had a small leak since 2 weeks after it was “fixed” in Finland. She also called to the Daytona boot factory in Eggenfelden to see if they would service our boots urgently. The normal process is you drop them at a dealer and they send them in for you.

The mission now is fixing the fork in Bamberg and and refreshing the boots at Daytona in Eggenfelden. First we had to ride north to Minsk to get to the closest bridge over the Rhine. Then we took as many of the small roads as possible to get to Bamberg.

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In Bamberg we took Lulu to the BMW. They had kindly dropped everything to do the work for us. They found a small ding in the metal on the back of the fork that we had not been able to see and sanded it down.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/644/2...a1fa64ee_c.jpg bamberg 1 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5637/...b1bf309f_c.jpg bamberg 2 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The camping here is quite nice with our tent set up next to the river. One of the quirky things here in Germany is their love of bread. When you check in to a campground here they are so concerned that you order your fresh bread for the morning! We had dropped the bike off at BMW and then took a small tour of the old city. There is a beautiful cathedral in the center. From here we rode back to the campground and towards a HUGE black cloud. We arrived back just a massive thunder and lightening storm hit. It poured for about 20 minutes and then the sun came out again.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5769/...04b06ccd_c.jpg bamberg 3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5732/...fc5b68cf_c.jpg bamberg 6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/635/2...ff67270e_c.jpg bamberg 8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/596/2...e70d801c_c.jpg bamberg 9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We decided to try to get to Daytona as early as possible so started off on the highway.

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Arriving in Eggenfelden we headed to Frey Daytona and were greeted by 2 lovely ladies, whom we found out later were Mrs. Frey and her daughter! They said that in the 2 days we had they could redo the soles, the tip caps, shift pads, and refresh the leather. They could not do the entire refurbish service they provide on the Gortex lining as this takes about a week.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5796/...5295aed3_c.jpg eggenfelden 1 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5719/...a606a097_c.jpg eggenfelden 4 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/591/2...2b7e573f_c.jpg eggenfelden 6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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We rode south to near Marktl where there was a nice camp spot near a lake. Again the bread issue was quickly sorted, but because they spoke no English we did end up with pretzels in the morning.

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Arriving back at Daytona we were again warmly greeted. We were given our old boots, which now looked new again and asked if we could wait a few minutes for Mr. Frey who wanted to give us a tour of the factory.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/578/2...67249c7d_c.jpg eggenfelden 22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/651/2...fd2cb8ba_c.jpg eggenfelden 24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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From here we rode south in very windy conditions to meet up with the Alpine road or Deutsche Alpenstrasse.

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We left Eggenfelden at almost 3 pm. We took the 304 and 306 to Inzell, the 305 to Berchtesgaden and then the 20 onto on to Konigsee. Here we did not expect the hundreds of tourists here to take the boat trips on the lake and take the tram to the mountaintop for alpine hiking.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5818/...f588f895_c.jpg bad tolz 7 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We kept following the “brown signs” of the Alpenstrasse.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/692/2...9942997d_c.jpg bad tolz 8 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5672/...bc133a33_c.jpg bad tolz 9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We were in Austria for about 30 minutes on the 305 after Reit im Winkl. As Canadians it is always a strange feeling to wander into another country and not always know what country you are in at all times.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5785/...4dc45f80_c.jpg bad tolz 12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The driving here is really incredible with sweeping turns thru the mountains with picturesque villages.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/649/2...f19b32f8_c.jpg bad tolz 10 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We got back on the Alpine road and went west on the 307 towards Bad Tolz.

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The GPS took us on a “short cut” to Walgau, where the only exit out of the valley we were in was a private road with a toll of 8 Euros! We tried to keep going and again ended up in Austria, but with no exit and now very little gas so we turned around. We had not thought of filling up earlier since here in Europe there is usually a gas station every 30 or KM!

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Sara actually ran out and had to put in the gas from the camping canister and Dan probably has a few 100 ml left when we got to the gas station in Bad Tolz.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5789/...e6e36754f4.jpg Screen Shot 2015-09-19 at 7.43.32 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/756/2...0521901e_c.jpg bad tolz 15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We went to Mc Donalds to look on line for a hotel, but it was 95 % booked and everything was very expensive. So we drove around looking for a hotel, but most were full and the one we found that had a room it war 180 Euros! We decided despite the bad weather to head 5 km west to the campground. On the way we saw a small inn about 400 m from the camping on the same side road. We stopped in here and they had a much cheaper room.

In the morning the weather had improved to cloudy, but not raining.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5795/...98ca8a6d_c.jpg alpine road 14 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Continuing west we took a small side trip into Grainau and up to the base of Zugspitze the highest mountain in Germany. We had hoped to take the cable car to the summit, but it was totally in cloud cover. We were amazed to find massive car parks that were full. We did go for a walk to the near by Eibsee lake.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5668/...259338ac_z.jpg Screen Shot 2015-09-19 at 7.43.48 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5719/...1ca53d98_c.jpg Screen Shot 2015-09-30 at 12.44.50 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5639/...4d9e275f_c.jpg alpine road 17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We then did the short back track and headed northwest on the 23 to Oberammergau. This is the town famous for the performance of the passion play. It was first done in 1634 after a vow made by the villagers to God. If He spared them from the bubonic plague they would all perform the play every 10 years. The plague had been brought to the town by a man that then died, but after the vow noone else in the town died and everyone else sick recovered. It has been performed by over 2000 residents of the town every 10 years since in years ending in zero, plus 1934 the 300 th anniversary, and 1984 the 350 th anniversary. The 1940 play was cancelled due to WW 2. It was a bit emotional for Sara since this was one of the last things she did for her grandmother was to organize her dream trip here.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/642/2...0a51df11_c.jpg bad tolz 13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5661/...d9c4c77c_c.jpg alpine road 19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5708/...2c950a50_c.jpg alpine road 20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5636/...36c18ef5_c.jpg alpine road 22 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5733/...fb8024ff_c.jpg alpine road 23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/661/2...ea6c5f74_c.jpg alpine road 24 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We made another small detour from the 23 to see the Wieskirche “Pilgrimage” church. This was a very popular pilgrimage spot after it was said in 1738 that tears were seen on a wooden figure of Christ.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5807/...b9094f80_c.jpg alpine road 27 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We stayed north on the 23 to the 17 and then south towards Fussen. On the way here the Alpine road meets the Romantic road and at the meeting is the 17 th century fairy tale “Disney” Castle Neuschwanstein and Castle Hohenschwangau.

The neo-Gothic Schloss Hohenschwangau castle was built in the 19th century by Maximilian II of Bavaria. His successor, Ludwig II continued living there, but in 1868 he ordered a new castle built on a high ledge that he had chosen. Neuschwanstein would be even bigger and more luxurious than Hohenschwangau, but the castle brought Ludwig no luck. He spent just six months in the palace, after which he drowned in suspicious circumstances.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5818/...3c895309_c.jpg alpine road 30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5643/...1e9c711f_c.jpg alpine road 31 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/707/2...53737813_c.jpg alpine road 29 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

absolute dream life guys!!!:thumbup1:

regards

Dave

Quote:

Originally Posted by LostInTransit (Post 517284)

absolute dream life guys!!!:thumbup1:

regards

Dave

Ha ha. Funny you should say that after riding in the pouring rain for 6 hours i felt sort of the opposite several times today! :rain: It is pouring and thundering here now in the south of France, but the forecast for the am and for the next week is dry. :clap::clap: So living the dream again!!!! Thanks so much for checking out our RR. Sara

Finally we are getting some better weather for our trip to ride the Black Forrest.

We took a diagonal route on the small roads thru Pfullendorf and Beuron to finally end up in Baierbronn where we had booked a hotel.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5772/...1ba2ce77_c.jpg alpine road 37 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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It was till early in the day when we got to beierbronn so we decided to make a loop north on the famous Schwarzwaldhochstrasse or Black Forrest High Road. This is the oldest and one of the best known “themed” drives in Germany. This runs to Baden Baden and then we looped back to Baierbonn for the night. The riding here in the Black Forrest is EPIC. There are a huge number of single-track twisty roads with no traffic.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5693/...2e83ed757c.jpg Screen Shot 2015-09-30 at 4.05.42 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5679/...482989e2_c.jpg DSC04813 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/707/2...b543d0b7_c.jpg DSC04815 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5798/...b852e454_c.jpg DSC04817 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5664/...f434096d_c.jpg DSC04818 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/734/2...278cf63f_c.jpg DSC04820 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

For our second day here we tried to stick to these tiny roads until we got to Sexau near Frieberg and then the seconday roads after that. Our destination is to get to Riezlern Austria to meet up with our friends Jay and Leanne from Vancouver.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5659/...792aabaa_z.jpg Screen Shot 2015-09-30 at 4.13.38 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5741/...52c1ccf5_z.jpg Screen Shot 2015-09-30 at 4.13.21 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We were headed to Lake Constance, but routed thru Neuhausen am Rheinfall in the corner of Switzerland to see the “largest falls in Europe”. Too many tourists here I guess.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/673/2...beb0e39a_c.jpg DSC04831 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5639/...b80b181e_c.jpg DSC04833 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/663/2...de7c6391_c.jpg IMG_4315 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We left here at 4 pm with almost 200 km to go to get to meet our friends in Rizlern Austria past the east side of the lake. It is in a valley in Austria only accessible from Germany. We made it back into Germany and took the highway briefly to then go on the lakeside road. This is a very busy small road along the lake Constance.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5627/...3212bf85_c.jpg DSC04835 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/697/2...7e17e125_c.jpg DSC04836 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5697/...fcc78165_c.jpg DSC04838 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

This put us eber further behind for our expected 7 pm arrival. The next issue is we came across another road closure into Oberstorf, which involved a back track and then 40 km of backcountry lane driving on a detour with a 30 km limit.
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/634/2...c34686ba_c.jpg DSC04843 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5647/...90fa786a_c.jpg DSC04846 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Finally we arrived in Rizlern Austria at almost 9 pm. We were meeting our Vancouver friends Jay and Leanne who were on a 3-week holiday. Jay had met our host Michael in Tok Alaska. Michael has been around the world on his Africa Twin, but this time in Tok he was on his bicycle. He was kind enough to invite us to join them all. We arrived to a beautiful dinner cooked by Sabine and multiple bottles of wine.

We stopped in 24 km in Sonthofen at the Motorcycle Apparel shop to get the shields on the Shuberth helmets fixed. They were nice enough to replace the ratchets for free.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5749/...936f8c1f_c.jpg riezlern 12 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/774/2...83802a1a_c.jpg riezlern 11 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

About 50 km out we were headed up a steep, narrow, and windy road on which passing is “forbidden”. Just before this was a round about and Dan and I had smelled something burning. Well about 30 seconds later Leanne’s BMW stopped suddenly on the hill. She though she had stalled and tried to get going. Then we could see the smoke and flames coming from her rear brake. The caliper was seized. Dan Jumped off and had to drag the bike to the side of the road since the wheel would not move at all. We pulled it onto the sidewalk and left it to cool off and came back for it later. Luckily there is a mechanic about 4 km from here and he is the guy who used to go to Dakar with BMW.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/694/2...b6a7a475_c.jpg riezlern 13 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5663/...4cc21ecf_c.jpg riezlern 15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

You always end an evening here with schnapps!

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5660/...3c7c9378_c.jpg riezlern 35 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Today we headed out the 2 hours to Munich in the rain for the Oktoberfest.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5724/...e6ab3383_c.jpg oktoberfest 3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Our first stop was near the English Garden where we could walk and see some of the historic buildings nearby.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5824/...edefa818_c.jpg oktoberfest 6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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https://farm1.staticflickr.com/683/2...7fac5028_c.jpg oktoberfest 5 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

It is not too often you see a guy riding a bike with a surfboard this far from an ocean…. check out the “surfers” in the park.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5687/...a6733d40_c.jpg oktoberfest 9 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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There were some amusing moments for the demonstration on how to eat the Weisswurst!

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5820/...acff98b2_c.jpg oktoberfest 16 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/748/2...93de660e_c.jpg oktoberfest 18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Then we headed to “the fest”. Here we checkout several of the tents and beers. We took the Ferris wheel, tried out the tabbogan ride, and the test of strength.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5650/...c52d9c2d_c.jpg oktoberfest 64 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The Toboggan is a conveyor belt that is moving very fast and takes quite a bit of skill to ride. It is really fun to watch the drunk people try to get up without help. Think turtle on it’s back! The guys had to make it on their own, but the girls got a helping hand.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5761/...049b8de1_c.jpg oktoberfest 32 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

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https://farm1.staticflickr.com/705/2...27959049_c.jpg oktoberfest 30 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

There were a lot of people in traditional costumes.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5668/...1d930e06_c.jpg oktoberfest 42 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

The plan for the next 4 days was a loop south into Italy to ride in the Dolomites. We had snow in Riezlern overnight and it was 6 degrees out, but the real problem was going to be what the temperature was on some of the high passes. We had twisties and switchbacks planned all day today except for 80 km for the autobahn.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5814/...14d8c9f2_z.jpg Screen Shot 2015-09-30 at 4.22.50 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5701/...e1cda891_c.jpg road trip day 1 1 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We bundled up and set out with Michael as our guide. Today both of the extremes with 2.5 degrees at the top of the first pass and 27 degrees in the bottom of the 7 km long tunnel.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5716/...d03cdee1_c.jpg road trip day 1 3 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5806/...1132059d_c.jpg road trip day 1 6 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

It all went well until 3 km from Asiago. Dan was going about 30 km around a corner and the bike “just went down”. He and the bike slid into the path of a fuel truck in the oncoming lane. Luckily for him he was able to think to pull in his legs and the driver was quick to swerve to avoid running him over completely and only ran over his right foot.

The local people were amazing and got out of their cars to direct traffic, helped me with the bike which was now down in the middle of the road, and called the ambulance. The police were also super helpful and even brought out a Forrest services police officer who spoke perfect English. There was of course a lot of paper work to complete for the police report.

We were very grateful to the truck driver whose skills saved Daniel’s life and limbs. Thankfully we also had our friends Jay, Leanne, and Michael here to deal with the gear and the bike and help Dan to get around. It was quite a stressful hour for me worrying how serious Daniel’s injuries could be. Jay is an RCMP who has a specialty in accident investigation. He says he saw the layer of cow manure on the shaded wet road that caused the front wheel to give out. They transport it by the truckload along this road and it leaks out. Also of note the guardrail area on this corner is piled with plastic bits from the frequent accidents here.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5655/...de660a41_c.jpg road trip day 2 15 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/666/2...fb56baa5_c.jpg DSC05122 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/720/2...019b1c17_c.jpg road trip day 2 17 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5716/...567742aa_z.jpg road trip day 2 18 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

We headed to the hospital where we met Daniel on his way back from seeing the Orthopedic surgeon. He and the resident both spoke perfect English and carefully went over all the xray films with Daniel. Incredibly nothing is broken. I think this is due to his Daytona boots! His foot survived a full fuel truck with only bruising.

He was given an instruction sheet and while reading out load he said “ no weight bearing with the cast for 5 days?” The surgeon said “ keep reading”! They wanted him in the splint immobilized and on injectable blood thinners for 2 weeks and not to ride the bike at all. It’s a good thing he travels with his personal physician!

I was sent over to pay the bill for the ambulance ride, ER visit, X rays and CD ROM, and consultation with the Orthopedic surgeon….105 Euros! In Canada a foreigener can’t get in the door of ER for under 2000$.

The guys were human crutches and helped Dan out to the bike.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5722/...89ff76e3_c.jpg road trip day 2 19 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

He rode the bike the 35 km to Bassano de Grappa with the splint on. We then helped him up to the room and cut off the splint to apply ice. We brought him beer and food and then of course went out to check out the town. It is really amazing he is not even in that much pain. The damage to the bike is all to the rack and luggage, but all of it seams fixable. It was not from the fall, but from the bike being hit by the truck.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5734/...8719169a_c.jpg road trip day 2 20 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/716/2...2ff7a2a6_c.jpg road trip day 2 21 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5620/...dcfe0b7f_c.jpg road trip day 2 23 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

After a night of ice, beer, and Advil Dan was able to get his boot back on today and so off we went.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5706/...d6215d2e_c.jpg road trip day 2 62 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

Then it was off to the Gavia pass (number 5 in Europe). Here the hairpins are one after the other, the road is very narrow at times (2 bikes can just pass each other), and there are often no guardrails. The other and the biggest problem is the cyclists especially when they were stopped on both sides of the road at the apex of the hairpins…a bit of a challenge needless to say.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/740/2...0a0ba2f8_z.jpg Screen Shot 2015-10-01 at 4.01.20 PM by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5652/...3a7bc3f6_c.jpg road trip day 3 50 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/653/2...3e029d89_c.jpg road trip day 3 53 by Sara & Daniel Pedersen, on Flickr