Week 1 in Finestrat

Arriving as we did, near 1 am Thur night we were in no hurry to get up Fri morning. This would be a down day with our friends needing to take care of some business. The bikes and trailers were unpacked, though for us not completely. Rowland completed his business requirements and then decided he needed to look at some of the issues the trike was having. He discovered the brake caliper on the left wheel was not operating properly and in the process of taking it apart realized a couple seals were bad. Living remotely as they do, parts needed to be ordered, so the trike was down for a few days.
Sat. Deb and I took off on a nice local day ride. I am amazed at where these people build small towns or villages. Perched on mountain sides. The hills are almost all terraced to create more farm space and villages dot the hill sides in the most unlikely places. We have learned that Spain is the most mountainous of all the countries in Europe, they are just not as high as the mountains of other places such as the ALPS. The switchbacks here are much more like we regularly see in the US with 15-25mph type speeds. The roads are so small they can't be found on most maps. The thing that strikes me is the colors remind me so much of Utah and Arizona with lots of sand colored and red rock. Possibly with Google maps you can follow the ride as we went from Finestrat to La Nucia, Polop, Guadalest, Alcoy, Xixona, Sant Joan and then back to Finestrat.
Sun. we walked through the local village of Finestrat which is about 1 kilometer from our friends' home. The terrain was like walking through San Francisco, uphill and down but the houses were build to the street's edge in places. The streets were not wider than a single vehicle.  Then by car we went back to Guadalest for a walk around the village there, and to the base of a mountain top castle.
Mon. we spent looking for a place to exchange travelers checks to Euro's. They don't do that in banks here. That was quite the adventure but we were finally successful in Benidorm. TIP: If you come to Spain get your Euro's before you leave home.
Tue., since the parts for Rowland's trike have not yet come, our friends dropped Deb and I off at the beach for a dip into the Mediterranean. The water was a very comfortable temp and the beach was filled with mostly retirement aged folks. I suspect the locals are glad the schools have started back again.
Wed. Rowland had tired of waiting for the parts and got the trike in decent enough shape to lead us on a nice day ride through some hills. The route started like it did when we went alone last Sat. However when we got to Polop we altered the route and went to Callosa, Bolulla, Orba, Tormos, Sagra, Vall D'Ebo, Vall d'Alcala, Planes, Benimarfull, Benilloba, Benifallim, Sella, Orexta and back to Finestart. During the ride we stopped and entered the Cova De Rull, an amazing section of underground caves. Photos were not allowed because the light from the flash would do damage to the cave walls.
Thur. the weatherman decided we were having too much fun and dampened things a bit. Rowland had also become even more concerned about his trike, as it developed new noises from the rear end. A quiet day was had and more reading was done than had been done so far during the entire trip.
Today is Fri 9/28 and after a removal of the left rear tire of the trike it was discovered a wheel bearing was going bad. The tire was replaced and I followed Rowland to his mechanic's where a quick look indicated a job that required leaving the trike until at least Mon. For the first time in nearly 50 years, Rowland got to ride the back seat of a bike, and the first time ever on a Goldwing. He was amazed at the comfort. More weather is expected today and tomorrow before a clearing to sunny days starting Sun.
Enjoy a few photos. The first is the mountain behind our friends' house where they hold rock climbing classes.

Headed for Spain

Tue morning Sept. 18, we learn of the need to return to Spain a little earlier than planned. The people we are riding with own and operate a Rock Climbing school in Finestrat and there are issues that need their immediate attention. It will take a few days however as we are over 1000 miles from their home. Unlike America, the road system is not really designed for 1000 mile days, and our friends prefer a slower pace as well.
The first day finds us traveling westward along the northern portion of Italy before we luckily find a campground after just crossing into France. We have covered the largest distance yet on this trip in a day at just over 300 miles. This campground is not the first we find where the shower building and water closets (toilets) are a single building with one door in and one door out for all patrons (no Men's/Women's). This campground is at a higher elevation than we have used for a while and we awaken to a chill in the air. That slows the departure but not the resolve and we again cover 300+ miles on day two headed for Finestart.
We have spent a fair amount of time on the toll roads here as we have had a couple of small issues to deal with. A flat tire on our friends trailer and a failed suspension on their trailer have caused them to seek the smoother and straighter roads of the motorway. While only my opinion, their motorways are not much smoother than the primary roads we had been on, but they are faster and certainly more costly.
On Thur we cross into Espana where the toll roads are yet even more expensive than in France. We try to avoid them for a short while but in an effort to make the final destination today decide they are a must. Under normal circumstances we are ending our riding day at or near 5pm. Today we push through arriving at our friends home just before 1am having covered 550 miles for this final leg.
We will unpack and sort things in the morning.
A few photos on the way down

The Ultimate Pass, the GOAL, Passo dello Stelvio

When this trip was first being talked about our friends from Spain suggested a book, "Motorcycle journeys through the Alps and Corsica by John Hermann. It is a great touring guide of the hundreds of passes available to ride. Though they had been to the Alps on several occassions our friends had never ridden the Passo dello Stelvio and it was their number one goal of this adventure.
In order to reach the goal we first had to climb the Bernina pass, which based on the information in the book has the best views of the Piz Bernina, the highest peak in the area and its glaciers.

Through the course of the day we crossed the border between Switzerland and Italy 5 times. Fortunately the ECU has been established and the border crossings are just a drive through. Quoting again from the book, "just into Italy is the Italian town of Torano where a turn north starts the climb of thte most famous motorcycle destination in the APLS the Passo dello Stelvio. At 2758 meters it is one of the highest pass roads in the Alps. It seems like half the hairpins in the Alps are on the Stelvio, 40 or so on each side. They are hairpins with nearly a zero inside radius."

Even on a Monday there were hundreds of bikers on the road. There is even a backside entry from the village of Santa Maria that intersects the Stelvio midway up that we swung around to after first riding it up one side and down the other. I found it interesting that some of the Umbrail pass was maintained gravel rather than pavement. Fortunately it was only a small portion, 1/2 mile at most. Then we got to run down a section of the Stelvio that we had run up earlier in the day as we returned to Livigno where we had spent the previous night and left our trailers parked.

A weekend in Chiavenna

The last entry nearly a week ago found us in Italy at a wonderful campground just outside of Chiavenna called, Camping Acquafraggia. It was very well named as it was placed very near a beautiful waterfall that eased you into your nights sleep.

It was so nice having warm weather and the fact that our next targeted ride was the Stelvio pass, we decided to stay the weekend and avoid the crazies. A tour of Chiavenna which included a cafe stop was followed by a quick tour of a small village, Bondo.

 A pleasant quiet day and we returned Sat evening to the campground and then walked across the street to the Pink Panther Pizzeria. There we had one of the best pizza's I have ever eaten.

Sunday we decided on a loop around Lake Como. We discovered the Italians are terrific tunnel builders. The majority of one side of the lake was tunnel after tunnel, which covered about 40 kilometers in distance. Around the bottom of the lake and up the other side we were able to ride right along the water's edge. It was a beautiful road just wide enough for two small cars to pass by each other. The most amazing part is there are no shoulders on any of these roads. If you break down you are suck in a traffic lane. We stopped along the water's edge for a picnic lunch and then started our return. We found ourselves in a ferry port so took the 15 minute ferry ride to the other side to finish the day's journey. A few more photos from the day...

It is Sat so it must be Italy

Similar to the weatherman in the US the forecast for Thur was not very accurate. The day started wet but cleared some and after suffering tent fever on Wed we decided to go see what the precipitation had done to the mountains. We returned to Grindelwald for a look at the Eiger but it was shrouded in clouds. The mountains we could see were covered in a new layer of snow. We had lunch and then took a short ride to Lauterbrunnan which is known for a series of waterfalls.

I finished the day with a Coors, even though the Swiss spell it funny.

We departed Fri and it turned out to be a record day as we rode over 5 different mountain passes in totaling 225 miles for the day. The passes in order were Sustenpass, Oberalppass, Lukmanier pass, San Bernadino pass, and the Splugenpass and with each the switchbacks got progressively tighter. We stopped at the Sustenpass for a coffee.

The longer we rode the better the skies looked. The valleys below with lush green fields from far above it looked like the green felt on a pool table. There was one point that during the climb we were delayed by nature. The cows have the right of way.

The final pass of the day the Splugenpass was not long by some standards as the legs between the switchbacks got shorter and shorter as we climbed. Deb's photo showing the shadow is nearly a straight downhill shot.

Down the other side we aimed for Chiavenna, Italy were we searched and found a terrific campground. So nice in fact we are spending two nights here. Brilliant blue skies and bright sunshine are a nice change from the last couple days.

The EIGER

We finished Mon arriving at a campground call Talacker in Ringgenberg another wonderful day in the books. We awake Tue to the first day that has had a cloud in the sky. Nothing threatening but not the crystal clear blue skies we have seen. The day involves a shorter ride than normal as we head for Grindelwald where we get the first look at the north face of the EIGER. Those of you that have seen the movie Eiger Sanction with Clint Eastwood and George Kennedy will have seen this famous mountain.
A man named Adolf Guyer-Zeller began planning for a cogwheel railway to Jungfrau by boring a hole through the mountain in 1893. The first construction began in 1896 with picks and shovels and in 1898 the first section of the railway was opened. The final station at Jungfraujoch opened in Aug, 1912 so we are celebrating the centennial during this journey. This is Europe's highest altitude railway at 3454 meters or 11,333 feet.
We boarded the train in Grindelwald and at Kleine Scheidegg changed to the train that would take us to the top riding through the tunnel created in the EIGER. They call this the "Top of Europe".

There is a terrific walking tour that shows some of the history of the construction, a time travel into the history of tourism in the early days, an incredible Ice Palace with a large number of ice sculptures of animals and people and the Sphinx.

The Sphinx was originally an environmental research facility, one of the world foremost such facilities. The original focus was high-altitude medicine and astronomy. Today the focus is on meteorology, glaciology and atmospheric measurements.

Standing on the walkway that surrounds the Sphinx you get spectacular views over the Aletsch Glacier and on a clear day you can see the Vosges in France and Germany's Black Forest.
Anyone that has ever been in the mountains knows the weather can change quickly and it did so today. During our descent we passed through significant cloud cover and found it had rained in Grindelwald while we were on the mountain. The short ride back to the campground found us riding in the rain and it has not stopped but for a few minutes since and I am writing this nearly 22 hours later. This is the first rain we have encountered since leaving England and has caused us to stay here one extra day. The forecast is for clearing tonight so we may once again be on the road, tomorrow Thur Sept 13.

 

Tour of Mt Blanc

Sat Sept 8 we began the tour around Mt Blanc which would actually take us 2 days and 3 countries to complete. The beginning point was a small town in Switzerland, Aigle and we started south toward Martigny. Soon after we crossed back into France at Vallorcine, continued through Chamonix and the day ended near the town of Beaufort in a campground called Le Reclus. The ride was a zigzag up one side of a mountain and a zigzag down the other side, then across a small valley and repeat the pattern. In the US I have ridden a couple of short stretches that had this level of switchback but nothing that continues for 40-50 miles like they do here. One mountain pass after another through the course of the day and tomorrow is a repeat of the last.
Sun. we managed a ride over the petite St Bernard and the Grand St Bernard mountain passe,s which we believe got their names from the breed of dog that carried the barrel of rum to assist stranded trekkers. The route took us into Italy and at the border there was a dog being used to sniff out contraband. Being the innocent looking folks we are they not only didn't use the dog on our vehicles, they didn't even look at the Passports. Along we went on to Acosta and worked our way back to Martigny back in Switzerland at which point we turned east passing through Sion, Leuk, Brig and finished and a nice campground in between Oberwald and Gletsch.
A few years ago on a visit to Silverton, Co Deb and I managed a wonderful drive in a 4x4 up gravel mountains roads to the top of the mountains there. The difference is that here they pave the roads and we can ride to the top.
Mon we had a short distance to get to the camp we will spend 2 nights at. Even the short distance, only 50 miles all day, took us a few hours as again it is zigzag to the top of a mountain and back down again through switchbacks that in the US would be labeled as 10mph curves. Here is one example of the type of roads we are riding.

There are other times we are riding roads not much wider than a cart path where they have small turn outs every 100 yards or so that people can use to avoid oncoming traffic.
Note that I have included a photo here. The number of amazing photos we are taking has made it impossible to keep up with and get posted on the Picasa Web Site. I have decided we will make an effort to select a few and add them in with links to more coming when we have a chance to catch up. This next photo shows the road zigzagging down the side of the mountain and is a great example of how we are spending the  majority of our day.

Hope you are enjoying the journey, we most definitely are. The scenery has been fantastic and at times it feels like we are flying we are so high above the villages below. Equally interesting is the number of villages built on the side of the mountain. We seem to find a new one about every 1000 feet we climb.

First Swiss mountain ride

The early morning was hazy and there was quite a bit of dew. Today was the first where we would be doing a ride into the mountains and returning to the same campground. The hills around us are all terraced and planted with mostly grapes but some flowers as well. The terraces also provide a level surface where a road can be built and they have some fantastic road surfaces. The switch backs would have been labeled 10mph or less in the US, but there were so many they didn't bother with signs. Comparing the grade of climb with some of the roads I know well, the average was 8% and it often was 10-12% sometimes even more.
The total miles driven today was only 82, but we climbed and descended more than 5000 feet.
Near the top we found small alpine villages where a few cafes have been established. The homes were obviously built to withstand the long winter season and every spare inch of ground was planted usually for hay. We have climbed above the haze to find a brilliant blue sky and very warm sun. The planted fields are a lush green at the moment, some having been cut for the first harvest of hay.
The drivers are quite good BUT more than happy to borrow some of your lane rounding the turns. The roads are much narrower than what we find in the states. Our large truck would have a hard time fitting on these roadways. Often as you are rounding a curve you have a rock wall on one side and a 1000 foot
drop-off on the other. The closest I can compare for my riding friends is Deals Gap, Icefields Parkway, and Road to the Sun all rolled into one. It is truly majestic and we have just touched the foothills of the ALPS.

Finally Switzerland

Wed was the designated travel day with the goal of getting across France. We spent most of Wed on the French motorway crossing miles of countryside made up of gentle rolling hills and very large plots of farm land. The starting point was just northwest of Reims, and continued through Chalon-en-Champagne, Troyes, Dijon, Dole and finished in Parcey which was so small a town as to not be on our map. It was not as far as Mouchard. The sky is cloudy but there is no threat of rain. The clouds simply made the day more pleasant as the temps would have certainly been approaching the 90's without the cover. The French motorway is a toll road but without using it we would have been in France forever. It reminded me of trying to cross Nebraska, almost flat and roads with very few curves. Miles and miles of farm land growing corn and onions for sure, but I suspect additional things as well. Unlike the "Wing on the Internet" friends looking in, the folks we are riding with don't usually do serious miles in a single day and as a result we end the day early and somewhat short of the desired goal, having covered 278 miles. We are about 50 miles short of Switzerland when we find a campground. Tomorrow we will have the mountains in sight.
Summer season has ended for the region and the campground, "les Bords de Loue",  is very quiet. While there are plenty of shower stalls etc, there does not appear to be any hot water. This site is along a river and a very large facility with lots of what appear to be cottages available for rent. They have a pool and water side, large playground for kids and lots of ads for fishing areas close by. My guess is a week earlier and it would have been packed full.
Thur comes with a bright blue sky and only a short distance to go to reach the border. Rather than riding the motorway we find the French version of a primary road. It is designated an N# for normal road, I am informed, and is a very nice back country twisty kind of road but we make no time. We reach Pontarlier and decide motorway is needed to get to camp early enough to arrange things for dinner. It is noon when we reach the border crossing and the guard doesn't even look at the passports. We proceed through the village of Vallorbe, a place near to the heart of our friend Dan Myers, and on to Lausanne and then down along the Le Leman a large and beautiful lake. We have reached the hills and found some wonderful mountains roads as we work our way toward the eastern end of the lake and Montreux. A short way through town and headed for the town of Aigle we once again locate a campground. This one is called "Camping Les Grangettes. It is surrounded by beautiful mountains, and we can see snow on the peaks. Also a large facility that caters to both tents and caravans, this one appears to be much nicer in appointments than the last and I can confirm they have excellent showers. We will be here for 2 nights so I can promise some photos even though the upload process is very slow. Watch for the links, I will add them to the end of this post.

Photos of Newbury Manor
https://picasaweb.google.com/cawinger6/NewburyManor

Photos surrounding Windsor Castle
https://picasaweb.google.com/cawinger6/WindsorCastle

Getting to France

We awaken to the most significant fog of the trip and everything covered in dew. The bonus being we will also end up with the sunniest day since we arrived in the UK. Shortly after 9 we have packed and are on our way. The first stop is a shop to see if we can find a new lantern for our friends. They make a selection I like so much I also decide to buy one. Later in the day when we get batteries it is determined the one they got doesn’t work, their second defective lantern purchased for this trip.

We board the ferry in Dover headed for Calais. It is a 90 minute ride across. It was suggested we strap the bike down but for this journey at least it would not have been necessary. The visibility is poor with a shroud of fog just off the water and we don’t see the approaching coastline until we are nearing the port entrance.

Departing the ferry we find route A26 and head for Reims. The French motorway has different speeds for vehicles towing and we are limited to 55 mph. Everything has switched from miles to kilometers so the signs read 90. Car traffic can drive 130k if sunny but only 110 if rainy so regardless they are flying by us. France is very open and flat much like the central portion of California. Large amounts of ag land with small sections having cattle. One area had corn growing but there were other sections being plowed for new crops. The motorway is a toll road but we are moving through this area as quickly as we can to get to the mountains where the roads will be much more what a motorcycle is built for. We stop for the night about 40k from reaching Reims in a little place called the Ever Hotel with an adjoining restaurant.

Deb is working on the remaining UK photos and we will get those loaded as soon as the internet connection lets us.

Tomorrow our target is a lake side campgrounds in Switzerland.

Tomorrow (9/4) we land in France

We have spent a wonderful 3 days in a campground called Bearsted Caravan Club. Our friends arrived on Sunday as expected and we are spending today(Mon) finishing the business needs before we catch the ferry tomorrow for France.
Sunday prior to the arrival of our friends Deb and I took a road trip that took us to Leeds Castle, an Air Warfare museum (WW II), Dover and the White Cliffs, Canterbury and back to the campgrounds. We saw the Strait of Dover, and the English Channel, the Battle of Britain War Memorial and several other small castles. Mon afternoon we will return to Canterbury to visit the Canterbury Cathedral before returning to Bearsted for fish and chips for supper.

Newbury to Bearsted

What a wonderful night we had and now on the road again. This is being written almost two days after the last due to lack of internet access or proper electrical connection.
We stopped by Windsor Castle on Fri on the way down or over to Bearsted. The castle is amazingly mammoth. We walked around only a portion of it coming to a street named Long Walk. The name did not do it justice. Permits are required to have any vehicle on the road including horse drawn carriage. The is no way to explain how big the Castle is except to say that no film or tv show I have ever watched that was set there provided any indication as to how enormous it really is.
We then proceeded to the campgrounds where we hope to meet our friends from Spain to begin the journey across the Channel. We only drove past it twice before realizing where it was. A wonderful campgrounds with excellent facilities and exceptionally clean. We will be here for a couple nights at least before moving on. Hopefully we will be able to provide photos in the near future.

Chester to Newbury

We got up Thur morning hoping to find good weather and for a while we did. So we gathered our things and started the first day on the bike. The weatherman predicted 80% or more chance of rain throughout the day so we decided to head south and choose as a destination the town of Newbury. Expecting the weather to be less than desired for the first nights camping, we booked a room in the Newbury Manor Hotel prior to leaving Chester.

The first discovery about British roads was there is a round about every couple miles on just about every road except the “motorways”. While I managed the round abouts just fine, early on it was rather difficult to determine direction because of the towns listed. I had to make a couple u-turns during the first 30 miles of travel until we figured out the way they marked their roads.

Once we got that worked out we were cruising through the rolling hills of some magnificent green fields. Bright emerald green from having been freshly watered by nature it was a stunning photo but due to weather the camera was packed away. Nature also made sure we didn’t feel guilty about packing the camera by dropping significant moisture on us during the afternoon portion of the ride.

Those who have a map handy can follow the trail. I won’t bother to include the wrong way portions so the start was Chester. The basic direction was southerly so from Chester it was Wrexham, Oswestry, Shrewsbury, Hereford, Gloucester, Swindon, Marlborough, and finally Newbury. Truly a joy to be out of the city and riding through the countryside.

The best part of the day was yet to come.

The Manor was just that, an old Manor turned into a Hotel with striking grounds and wonderful rooms. Looking out the window of our second floor room we had views of gardens and a flowing river that runs through the grounds. Amazingly this was the least expensive room we have stayed in since we arrived and by far the nicest. The only drawback was the weather has caused an internet problem so I am writing this for posting later.

Keeping with the ambience we decide to have dinner in the Hotel River Bar Restaurant. Seated at a table for two looking out over the water we are provided multiple menu sheets including one that has a preset 3 course meal with 4 selections in each course. No doubt in either of our minds we dined on the best food we have had since we arrive in the UK and the service was better than I have ever received anywhere. Anyone traveling to the UK in the London area would do well to locate the Newbury Manor Hotel with the River Bar and Restaurant, on the A4 about half way between Windsor Castle and Stonehenge.