And they're off

2am, it's 600 miles to Kassel, we've got a full-tank of gas, it's dark and we've got sun visors - hit it!

Day 17 - Brussells to Swindonium

Mileage from home: 4423 Good night - drank much beer and wine watching the French thrash the Jamaicans at football. Soccer is great at this level. Thing is the Jamaican's aren't bad but the French put them to shame. Only once we got back to our tents did we realise that we're on the landing strip to Brussells airport. Not the best night of sleep we've had.... Quickly made it to Dunkirk so we paid an extra £14 each and caught an earlier ferry. Didn't much fancy hanging around at the port for any longer than necessary. It's been an amazing trip. Lots of highs, a few lows but no major issues of any sort. It's quite amazing how Europe varies - especially bearing in mind that we didn't even leave the EU. Romania was a revalation but it's changing quickly and will be a completely different place in 5 years time. Go see it now! The bikes have behaved themselves very well - it's just my chain that had issues, but then I knew that it wasn't in the best shape before we set-out and I should have changed it then. My Pirelli Scorpion tyres held-out well and did the job. The rear is probably about 60% worn whereas Dino's Avon Distanzias on the Transalp have bearly worn at all! The motorway sections made for excellent progress but were dull. A faster bike would have been nice on these sections for sure. Looking forward to retirement - seeing all of Europe by back-roads, over six months, in a camper van would be appealing. Anyway - back to work tomorrow for both me and Dino. Where do we go next year I wonder? Ass-pain: 5/10 Beers: 61 + 2 rums + 2 cherry grappas + 3 bottles of local white wine + 2 rose + 1 jug of cherry? wine + some single malt + 7 red Mechanical problems: 1 Theft count: 0

Day 16 - Wurzburg to Brussels

Mileage from home: 4130
After a few beers and currywurst, I dozed-off nicely listening to the Rammstein, Nina and oddly Bon Jovi back catalogues - party like it's 1989! Actually, what's with the funny bunny rabbits all over the place. Odd tourist attraction.
Anyway, Dino woke-up still in a foul mood so I thought - stuff it, I'm going with or without you.... Bust-ups on long trips like these are inevitable..... But he packed his crap together and tagged along. He didn't want the fresh bread rolls I bought for him so just bungeed them to the back. I found it pretty amusing when the inevitably came out of the bag and hit some innocent motorists!
Anyway, we made very quick and efficient progress despite me having to stop again to re-tighten the chain. Not much adjustment left but it should get me home.
Finally left Germany crossing the Netherlands toward Belgium.
Continued on to a campsite in Brussells which is well hidden but nice. Practicing my French has been funny. Got here early, it's still boiling but the bar is open and Dino's calmed down - so all is well. Last night - only 340 miles home tomorrow so we may as well make the most of the last day and down some ice cold Belgium beers. It's all good.
Ass-pain: 6/10
Beers: 61 + 2 rums + 2 cherry grappas + 3 bottles of local white wine + 2 rose + 1 jug of cherry? wine + some single malt + 5 red
Mechanical problems: 1
Theft count: 0

 

Day 15 - Linz to Nuremburg/Wurzburg

Mileage from home: 3799
Very hot day today - it was like riding into a hairdryer - even at motorway speeds. Chose to skip Munich and head for Nuremburg in Germany instead. Pleasantly surprised - it is a lovely old city and traffic was OK.
Had a pizza and a coffee whilst watching all the beautiful women again (and all the posers in their flash cars). Probably the highest number of beautiful women we have seen so far. Walked around some of the old-town. Lovely - lots of beautiful old buildings, beer halls and some sort of carnival going on.
Continued on to Wurzberg and a lovely, but busy (youngsters, beer and music) campsite by the river. Dino has got upset again as I wasn't in the mood to go through basic arithmetic with him again..... €20 for lunch + €20 for camping split in two means he owes me €20.... I know it's hot and we're both dehydrated, but WTF.
Anyway, off for some beers by the river (solo). Tomorrow, I'm camping near Brussells - with or without Dino.
Ass-pain: 6/10
Beers: 55 + 2 rums + 2 cherry grappas + 3 bottles of local white wine + 2 rose + 1 jug of cherry? wine + some single malt + 3 red
Mechanical problems: 1
Theft count: 0

Day 14 - Tatabanya to Vienna/Linz

Mileage from home: 3496
Had a long sleep at Nomad camping in Hungary after a quality corned-beef Smash special. I will contact Smash on our return and suggest they do a ready-mix with real extract of corned-beef (especially spicy corned-beef). Don't knock it 'til you've tried it. Anyway, it's not too far before we are in England so we have slowed the pace a little.
The weather has been super-hot since leaving Romania so it's actually been pleasant cruising the motorways with open jackets. Got to the Austrian border pretty quickly where we had to buy another 10 day vignette for the Austrian motorways to add to the one we already have for Hungary....
Anyway, made it to Vienna very quickly and parked-up in the very centre. Lovely city - another great candidate location for a long weekend. Had a coffee (€4 - welcome to the West) and watched all the beautiful people go about their business.
Still, we had to press-on as 130 mile days are for wimps. Getting out of the city was harder work. Lots of traffic and heat. We were poaching in all our bike gear. We smell pretty offensive now. Our token washing of clothes has stopped working and we smell immediately after getting washed and changed in the mornings. Think I'm gonna give-up and just start wearing one set of my dirty 'evening' clothing instead.
We have made it to a campsite near Linz, next to a lake. Very sanitized. The Austrian motorways have given us a glimpse of the Alps in the distance and some great castle views. These countries are all too quickly passed through on the motorways but what can you do when you've only got a couple of weeks to play with?
Tomorrow - Southern Germany and probably following Herr Fuhrer's footsteps in Munich or taking the scenic Castle route (if I can find it). My bike sat-nav is slowly falling apart from all the vibrations on my bike. The electrical contacts have actually worn-out so I often loose power. My Garmin GPS unit (that is meant to be waterproof) packed-up in that massive rain-storm that we had on the way down to Romania from Hungary.
Ass-pain: 5/10
Beers: 49 + 2 rums + 2 cherry grappas + 3 bottles of local white wine + 2 rose + 1 jug of cherry? wine + some single malt + 3 red
Mechanical problems: 1
Theft count: 0

Day 13 - Timisoura to Budapest/Tatabanya

<p>Mileage from home: 3258</p>
<p>Had a relatively easy day today. Was sad to leave Romania - it's a great place and not what the press might have you believe! The last section of road was quiet and we quickly crossed over to Hungary.... which a very different country. For a start, the new motorways are perfect and everything seems super tidy and well planned compared to the more random nature of Romania.</p>
<p>The road took us past the turn-off to Serbia and pretty quickly we were in Budapest which is a lovely city - I will return and explore properly one day. We stopped for a quick drink, used a cashpoint and took in both Buda and Pest sides from the saddle. It was over 30C though and pretty busy so we moved on rather than sweat it finding a hotel in the city. That said, a Google street-view car went past us as we were stood on the pavement next to the bank so we will be there for a while.</p>
Now we are in a camp-site (Nomad) in a place called Tatabanya which is just down the road from Budapest. Rough and ready but they even have a pool (see photo). We are making very good progress as the roads now are mostly motorways. Tomorrow Vienna in Austria.
<p>Ass-pain: 5/10<br>
Beers: 49 + 2 rums + 2 cherry grappas + 3 bottles of local white wine + 2 rose + 1 jug of cherry? wine + some single malt + 2 red<br>
Mechanical problems: 1<br>
Theft count: 0</p>

Day 12 - Pitesti to Timisoara

Mileage from home: 3027
Had a very posh and nice meal last night - amazing food and wine but at about £15 each it was also by far our most expensive meal of the trip. Had a great nights sleep (despite the sun-burn and thunder) and almost missed breakfast! The quality and immaculate nature of some of the hotels here are mind boggling. Everything is top standard but the hotels are mostly empty. They will never pay for their own upkeep let alone return the capital invested in them (hence my mafia reference). It's got to do with money laundering - have I missed something?
The road took us to Craiova where we continued West toward the Hungarian border. The road was very nice in places but it was a long slog to Timisoura stuck behind countless lorries on a slow and windy road. The road followed the river Dunav and on the other side was Bosnia - we went past 2 places where we could have crossed-over. An amazing amount of prostitutes by the side of the road - trucking must be such a lonely business.
Now we're in Timisouara in a rented hut which I think must have been part of a former communist holiday complex. It's actually very cool (has it's own bathroom, tv, etc.) but I found the biggest beetle I've ever seen in it and there are mosquitos which love me... Found another posh restaurant where we are spending the rest of our Lei on the excellent local wine and food. Tomorrow we should hit Budapest in Hungary!
Ass-pain: 6/10
Beers: 45 + 2 rums + 2 cherry grappas + 3 bottles of local white wine + 2 rose + 1 jug of cherry? wine + some single malt + 1 red
Mechanical problems: 1
Theft count: 0