three thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine kilometres
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| 30,000 exactly when we picked up Hobbs |
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| heart eyes motherfucker : https://youtu.be/me_wXXB68B4 |
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| mandatory WE ARE BIKERS K |
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| some damn fine swiss scenery |
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| birthday boy |
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| only roughly 5 hours to go har har |
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| the strap down |
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| dover |
That day as we rode out of Tuscany towards Lake Garda the temperature rose to 34 degrees, hot hot air in our faces for most of the afternoon. I probably wrote it before but having your helmet open (with sunglasses on) makes the heat slightly more bearable, even though it's like an open oven door in your face. Not to mention the bugs that don't move out of the way quick enough, they come zooming in so fast and end up bashing you in the face or neck haha...
We stopped for Sam to go to the Lamborghini Museum, then carried on until we reached the lake and found a little camp ground near Torri del Benaco to stay in. It was a shame we had so little time there, it was such a lovely area, the lake being so much more chill than the beaches. No people constantly walking by selling things, not many people at all really. We had a swim in Lake Garda in the morning, and it was really kinda hard to leave. Next year!
The ride along the lake was so so beautiful, I'm gonna go ahead and say it was breathtaking even. The water with the mountianous backdrop, little castles every so often...and blue skies all the way...amazing...only a few places had that slightly overrun feeling, especially near a random theme park called Gardaland, and I only almost crashed one time for looking at the scenery instead of ahead of me...
I didn't stop to get a picture myself, but coming to the top of the lake near Riva del Garda there is this big hill or cliff or what looks to me like someone dug a spade in and lifted up a giant section of the earth and left it at a weird angle. Here's a picture from the telegraph website so you know what I mean:
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| not my picture |
Anyway, it was very cool to see it in the distance and slowly come up to it. Just past here we stopped at a little fruit and veggie stall to grab some things for lunch, where Sam 'lost' his wallet. Turns out it was in a random back pocket of his jacket, which he found three weeks later. Ah well.
Onwards to the Stelvio Pass! This was one part I was actually kinda nervous about driving...we had done the other passes in Switzerland, and in very much more treacherous conditions haha, thinking back to the incessant rain and fog - sheesh. But this one was more 'famous'. It has a reputation for being clogged with people, campervans, sports cars, even minibusses. Not to mention a whole lotta hard-core bikers. At 2757 metres, and with 48 hairpin turns on the side we were approaching, I couldn't help be slightly tense about the prospect of chugging along in a line of traffic slowly manoeuvring all the tight corners without falling off. Well, I needn't have worried. Because we had spent so much time lounging at the lake in the morning, we were rather late getting there, around 6.30pm, it was deserted. The start was nice and easy, foresty and straight. When we started getting to the corners, Sam split off and hooned it, which was good as I was content to take my time. I got passed by one couple on some Harley style bike with panniers so low that when they went around the corner ahead I thought they'd touch the ground. I met only three cars on the way up, and all in a row, and one camper. Such luck. I recognised the bike coming towards me and as Sam went past me on the way down, I thought shit, am I taking so long he thought I'd crashed? Nope, he was just going for a second round the speedy dog. I stopped half way up to take a couple pictures, and a cyclist slowly came past and spoke to me in Italian. No comprende. 'That's a faster way to get up this mountain' he laughed. See you in two weeks buddy ha ha. I had to give him a toot and a wave 10 mins later as I 'hooned' past, and he was only 10 metres higher. I bet it was a relief going down again...
Stoked to be at the top, we bought the little Stelvio Pass stickers and got the cheesey couple + bikes + mountain shot from a stranger, and went to go down the other side. Staaaaaap I said, the view over the back was amazing too. Sunset was an awesome time to be there. We'd booked a hotel in Switzerland. in Santa Maria Val Müstair . The Stelvio Pass is all in Italy, but the border is maybe 5 mins down the road, and yet another deserted amazingly scenic road all to ourselves. It felt a bit like being in Central Otago for a bit, until we got low enough for the trees.
We stayed in a little 15th century hotel that had been in the family for 7 generations, pretty cool. In the morning it was Sam's birthday WOO, so we spent it going through the Swiss National Park, following this road (28) until we saw the sign for Chur. Had to go to Chur. It was only a small detour, and not much to see once we got there, but totally worth it. Some hurried roadside sammys and we were on the way again. Past Lake Wallensee (beaut) and skirting Zurich, we crossed the whole of Switzerland in the one day. Switzerland is SO PRETTY. Again, could have spent a whole month just riding around there, but alas, just one day haha. Right near the border the weather packed it in, another day where the temp went from 30's to 9 or something mental. It was pissing down, it was so windy I got blown right across the road, and it also hailed. We pulled in to a petrol station to put wet weather gear on, well me at least seeing as Sam still didn't have any, and the lady working there came out to tell us there was a severe weather warning on it's way, and she hoped we didn't have far to go as it was closing in. Yikes. We were hoping to make it further into Germany, along the B500, another of the 'must do' motorcycling roads, but with all the wind and rain, I called it. Another 20 mins to Höchenschwand and a last little hotel to dry all our things, and hope that the rain pissed off before we left the next day.
Now onto The Long Ride To Antwerp. So named because despite the first half of the day being super scenic, slow and very very lovely, we were a very long way from where we really needed to be haha...oops. We had booked the ferry from Dunkirk, and had planned to be in Antwerp much earlier that day. But knock on effect from the storm but also from the delay in leaving Italy, well. It was a Very. Long. Day. In the end. I may have cried just a little around 10pm. Shhh. I don't like riding in the rain, but we'd also got caught in two separate rainstorms. We also managed to get separated, trying to navigate a convergence of what felt like 6 motorways in different languages, I didn't actually realise for an hour or so. Eventually I started pulling in to petrol stations to check for Sam - he'd lost his wallet remember so had no money, and with a thirsty motorcycle, and also long long long straight highways where people go insanely fast, well, I worried he was out of gas somewhere random, and as he had the only mobile phone charger haha... nice one team. Anyway, somehow he ended up behind me and when I finally managed to get hold of him, only 12 minutes away. Relief. When we arrived in Antwerp, the cold beers have never, ever felt so welcome.
The mad hustle the next day to get to the ferry on time was basically a straight line, and we loaded into the boat and strapped the bikes down. Sad. A very nice view of the white cliffs of Dover, and back to the left side of the road, and a last two hours of me singing my repetitive heart out to Sam, and we were back in London town.
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