Another
Motoeuro adventure in around
From
the downright silly to the plain obvious, Motoeuro
2011 discussions are underway with some alarming
suggestions. If 2010 if the year on 'shorties'
then 2011 is surely the year to stick yer neck
out, Oh Lordy. Nothing organised, nowt booked,
just ideas and for those of you who want to
be involved then get in touch by clicking
here.
Turning the tables on exotic destinations, Steve
has come up with a theme idea: 100 beers, xx
number of countries, xx height in altitude,
xx number of passes, etc. Aren't we the creative
types.... |
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FROM
RUSSIA WITH LOVE
"A good map is essential, the
GPS will be wrong. The map will be wrong,
too but not as badly." A quote
from someone who's done it.
What started out as a joke has gathered enough
momentum to make it to the suggestion page,
Kremlin, Comrade ? It's around 1,500 miles
to Moscow but to take in the sights of the
other 7 countries, we're looking nearer to
4,000 return.
Are you serious ?
Err...... There will be quite some planning
involved in this trip and with travel insurance
companies filling their pants when you're out
of Europe Zone 1, I doubt we'll even get breakdown
cover, either. Humm.....
But travelling through the Netherlands, Germany,
Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Ukraine and
on to the Kremlin would be a trip of a lifetime.
Beer, food and virgins are really cheap. Sensibly
speaking now; You don't need special Visas (tourist
Visa is fine), you can get
insurance for the trip and let's face it; Moscow
is hardly the behind the Iron Curtain now.
It's gonna be around 2 weeks for this mutha
as we'll need time off the bikes, too. More
stamps in your passport than Richard Branson,
more stories than Roald Dahl and more pictures
than Kodak.
Like Motoeuro 2005, this is another big one
and we will return a very different route, Nurburgring
anyone? |
WHAT
FURKIN' PASS ?
The Furka Pass (el. 2436 m.) is a high mountain
pass in the Swiss Alps connecting Gletsch, Valais
with Realp, Uri and was used as a location in
the James Bond film Goldfinger. So there.
As legendary as the Stelvio Pass, the destination
of Grindlewald in Switzerland sits in the Bernese
Alps and is a major attraction to bikers thanks
to the massively twisty roads and fantastic
views. The Furka
Pass is one of many you can reach from Grindlewald
and return within a day. Idea is to book accommodation
for 4-5 days and use this as a base to return
to after running the passes and exploring.
Alternatively, we're not that far from where
Steve and Dave spent their 3rd evening in La
Chapelle-d'Abondance so riding the St.Bernard
Passes is easily on the cards.
Lets grab the ferry to Amsterdam from Newcastle
to avoid that damn ride to Dover, from the Netherlands
to Grindelwald
it's 560 miles on the fast roads, on the classic
N-16 you're looking at just over 700. Blast
or soak it up lads. All options are open.
Oddly, the guy I got the Daytona off has just
come back from here, the video footage looks
amazing. He's got good routes, tips and maps
he is happy to lend us. Ta dar. |
SIEHT
WIE EIN GUTES AUS
(looks
good to me!)
The latest that Germany has to offer motorbike
riders is a circuit measuring just under 9,000
km that starts and finishes on the "Blauen"
in Badenweiler, currently the mountain with
the highest passable road in the southern Black
Forest. The
German Motorbike Route - the new star in
biker heaven - has been designed by motorbike
riders based on criteria that are important
to motorbike riders.
The aim is to provide bikers with an interesting
and winding route that goes right across and
all around Germany, and that should eventually
take on the same character and spirit as the
legendary Route 66. With its length and diversity,
the Motorbike Route is suitable for motorcycling
at all levels.
The
German Motorbike Route features fecking
great roads that wind past rivers and lakes,
curvy stretches that lead through tunnels
carved deep into the rock, and panoramic roads
with picturesque backdrops.
This is the ideal route for an unforgettable
biking tour.
On no motorways, it's 450 miles from Amsetrdam
to Badenweiler. As we've an early start 'cos
the ferry lands a silly-o-clock, we can make
this in a day. Gives us 6-7 days of riding
this amazing route.
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NORWAY
I'm having second thoughts about Norway; average
rain fall is about 6-feet an hour, temperatures
are lower than a Chav's Saxo suspension and
with 68mph being the absolute maximum before
your bike is confiscated, is this really a Motoeuro
destination ?
However, buy me a few beers and you'll talk
be around in no time. We leave from Newcastle
to Stavanger riding the 13 north, yes, north
towards the artic circle. Brrrr. I sn the height
of summer, should all things be 'average' there
should be little rain and sensible temperatures.
Read
this to dispel those Norway myths.
Norway is littered with amazing roads courtesy
of Geography and and a zillion years of enthusiastic
tectonic plates, you'll be hard pushed to find
boring roads, plus biking forums are packed
with tales and routes from the biking community.
Ta.
Another whopping plus is that we only need to
ride the 10 miles to the ferry terminal before
we're on Norwegian tarmac, a loop of the Jostedalsbreen
National Park and we're back on the ferry
to Tyneside; no motorways, no dull bits, this
could actually be a great idea. See how I have
tuned this around ? Nice. Steve is looking at
a big ride there, or a trip to NCL to leave
with us.
Notably, any kind of alcohol is massively expensive
at around £7 a pint (that's beer, not
Brandy), but as Steve points out, we duty free
our favourite tipple and descend on the pub
when we're smashed anyway. Ironically, Norway
suffers one of the highest levels of alcoholism,
odd eh ? Perhaps they're all rich. And pi**ed.
Oh, and the roads are quiet and fuel is cheaper
:) |
AND
FINALLY....
Remember riders, these are suggestions only.
If you want to be involved in 2011, get
your ideas over to HQ by clicking here.
We can keep aiming higher and higher but at
some point we've gotta get back to Newcastle,
forgetting that slight inconvenience just for
a moment, what about....
Morocco
It's a bugger to get to, but what a great destination.
RiDE magazine sent their staffers to Morocco
last year for a week of riding and published
tempting routes and roads for bikers. It's cheap,
hot and even my teeth look good in northern
Africa.
Brno - Czech Republic
It's 700 miles from Amsterdam to Brno in the
Czech Republic. It's a country we've not considered
previously, but the odd magazine report gives
glowing reviews about the hospitality, road
quality and value for money. Another one that's
a pain to get to, mind.
Hamburg
The ferry from Harwich takes Motoeuro to Hamburg
from where we can explore Northern Germany and
many National Parks, take in beer in Bremen
or nip over the border to Poland.
We've ridden many countries through the life
of Motoeuro yet we've only scratched the surface,
lets not be put off by going back to these places
but this time armed with a good route and take
in the bits we missed when blasting back to
the ferry late, as usual. Ideas
over when sober, gentlemen. |
| Motoeuro
Stevie fancies Stateside for 2011 / 2012 - Any
takers ? |
What better a
trip than Motoeuro for 2011 or 2012?
Starting in New York, we'd ride up the Hudson
River to Sleepy Hollow. Why? Why not? Perhaps
we'll see the ghost of Ichabod Crane !
A very short trip West brings us to Orange County
Choppers. How cool would a blessing from the
OCC guys be? From there, things move West and
take on a slight movie flavour!
I want to go through Muncie, Indiana as that's
where scenes from Close
Encounters were set ("Hey! That's Ohio,
that's a quarter!") Dave and Jock might
want to have a trip to Chicago for the Blues
Brothers ("Orange whip? Orange whip?
3 orange whips!"). After that its an historic
trip to Yankton (and
later Deadwood)!
If you are even vaguely interested in Native
American Indians then you should read a book
called Bury My Heart at Wounded
Knee by Dee Brown. It tells how the American
Indians lost their land and lives to a dynamically
expanding white society between the years of
1860 and 1890.
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Wounded
Knee is on my list of places to see. Not far
from here is the Mt
Rushmore National Memorial - Team America
anyone? :)
And then Deadwood, with some great bendy roads
taking us through Custer
State Park and onto Sundance.
OK so it's not THAT Sundance,
but it's alleged that the Sundance Kid got his
name from this one, not the one in Utah. A little
to the North is Devil's
Tower, again from Close Encounters - I keep
seeing this weird shape, doctor!
Yellowstone
National Park is next, some of the world's
most fantastic scenery including Old
Faithful !
Turning South we go through Salt Lake City heading
for the
A'le'inn, in Rachel, Nevada, the UFO capital
of the world! Our trip takes us around the outskirts
of Nellis Air-Force Base, home of Area
51 and Groom Lake - sweet!
Next we ride the length of Death
Valley. 3 million acres of the hottest,
driest and lowest desert in the world!
The bright lights of Las
Vegas beckon next, steady on boys, we've
still got the rest of the trip to get through!!
I'm looking forward to the ride from LA, the
City
of Angels up the coastal route to San
Fransisco, going through places like Monterey
and Santa
Cruz. Last but by no means least, is a trip
to Skywalker
Ranch in Marin County. "Is George home?
My Light Sabre is broken, we have an appointment"
- yeah, riiiiiight!
So, how about it? 4,700 miles of a once in a
lifetime trip, taking in people, culture, history
and everything else the U.S.A has to offer!
[SH] |
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| There
are two types of people in this world, people
who ride motorcycles and people who wish they
could ride motorcycles. |
Aiming high can kick us in the
arse, exotic destinations can just be too much
for our annual trips, but like the Butthole
Surfers said "I'd rather regret something
I've done, than something I haven't". We've
seen great sights, ridden superb roads and experienced
many things we never would have without motorbikes
or Motoeuro. The last 5 years have been a blast
so put your cynical head away and get your suggestions
over to HQ.
Image
use: This is a non-commercial website set-up
to record our plans and experiences on bikes
as well as encourage others to get away or even
just pass their bike test. As my time machine
and tele-portation pods are broken, I have been
unable to arrive in suggested destinations before
I've left to capture pictures for this website.
Therefore I've borrowed images from Google for
illustration. If your image has been used and
you're foaming about it, let me know and I will
remove it. |
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