Popeye goes to Europe

[Pjam]

And wonderful pictures they are too. Got a great result with the rainbow photo.

[Popeye]

Heidelberg

is a city that relies heavily on tourism for its economy and rightly so. I don't like cities but we had almost a week here and really enjoyed it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidelberg









It is also the base of Stefan Knopf. http://www.knopftours.com/Web-Site/Welcome.html

Stefan is a like-able guy and provided us with somewhere to pitch our tent for the duration of our stay in Heidelberg. He was in the process of shipping the Globe Riders bikes back to the states. The Globe Riders, http://www.globeriders.com/ group of riders had just ridden overland from China and left their bikes here to be shipped home. Some of the riders had also took part in the Hanami tour of Japan. Globe Riders cover a lot of ground and organize many tours but my pockets are not deep enough to participate. My 5 month trip cost the same as two weeks with Globe Riders.










Completely refreshed we decided to see a little of the Rheine and so rode North to Cochem.

Cochem.

[Popeye]

Cochem.

If you have never been to Cochem please make the effort never to pass it by.














Camped here on the Rhine we took stock of our tent. It was a Kyam quick erect tent but it had just about seen better days. The zips had started to malfunction but to be fair it had kept us 100% dry. I suppose we had had the equivalent of ten years average use from it in just 12 months.
Our next door neighbours on the campsite were from Holland. They gave me an address in Holland where we could view many tents. So our direction was decided. We would continue Northwards to Holland.

Holland.

[Popeye]

Borders today are so easy.

Many people have an inbuilt fear of traveling abroad, especially where food is concerned. To be European today, means just that. I still regard myself as a Brit and always will and I suppose that goes for any other nation within the European community wanting to keep their own identity. But it does have it's advantages. The only hassle when traveling or should I say commuting around western Europe is re-entry back into the UK.
And so to Holland.








We found a site that was actually a Bikers site. Not far from the camping shop and gave us the chance to try out our new tent. Just by chance, the weekend that we were there coincided with a vintage bike meet. Bikes and scooters from everywhere.







One week in Holland and it was time to move on. This time south as far as Lake Constance but what was en-route to Lake Constance? Cochem of course. We all agreed that we wanted to visit again on the way south.



Cochem 2nd visit.

[Popeye]

Cochem

is well known for all the surrounding area's produce a lot of Germany's wine. The girls don't drink so we never got to the sampling stage. Just another few days on a quieter site.










Leaving Cochem we rode due south and called in on the German couple that we met in Norway. They lived in Pleisweiler-Oberhofen, not far from Karlsruhe.

http://www.pleisweiler-oberhofen.de/

Not sure exactly of the exact house location, I called them on the mobile and to my utter surprise we were parked outside their front door. We stayed the night and were thoroughly entertained including a 12 kilometer hike to have dinner in a nearby Castle later in the evening.











sorry for the bad pic.

The next day came all to quickly and after a wonderful homemade breakfast and a look at out host's bikes we were on the road again.




Yes Pjam, you can see a VW bonnet in the picture and so is the boot.



Next France but only briefly.

[Popeye]

Our previous nights hosts

lived not far from the French border and continuing in a southerly direction we crossed over into France but only for lunch.





And then it was back into Germany and another bout of trouble with the bike.



I had tried to keep off the autobahns but sometimes a short stretch or two saved a lot of time. It was during one of these brief encounters with some fast moving traffic that the bike suddenly began running a little hot. I pulled off the Highway and again it was reluctant to tickover. I needed gas and after refueling it seemed a little better. But to give me piece of mind I decided to use the breakdown cover that came with my temporary European insurance and get the bike checked over at the BMW shop at Stuttgart. My breakdown cover paid for a tow truck to take the bike to Stuttgart and for the three of us to be placed in a hotel for up to three days.



This guy was really helpful and guided us to a BMW car dealer and persuaded them to make the relevant phone calls.






Apart from a bad connection on one of the coils, nothing could be found amiss. I commented that maybe some bad gas to which one German guy said adamantly "There is no bad gas in Germany" But it certainly ran better after I refueled. The carbs readjusted slightly and we were back on the road the next day.




Our friend was not so happy when any problems arose but soon cheered up at the prospect of another night in a hotel.




Southern Germany.

[Pjam]

Yes Pjam, you can see a VW bonnet in the picture and so is the boot.

Yes, very impressive! Boo and herrod, the VW spotters will be pleased too no doubt

[Popeye]

We were heading down to Lake Constance.

This had been determined as the furthest south that we would go. Back in Japan we had discussed several routes that we could take. We even considered going down to Spain and Morocco but choose to keep to a Northern route. We found that time was slowly catching up with us because the deadline of the ferry crossing to England was approaching fast. The Federation of Sidecar clubs were due to hold their 50th annual rally this year (2008) and we had arranged to go and meet up with friends of past and present.

Rolling down the German countryside or French for that matter presented no problems in finding food.



At Lake Constance the campsite was horrific in the way of being over crowded. It also rained as did the day run to King Ludwiks castle, famous for the Walt Disney intro.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuschwanstein_Castle







Next morning, quick oil, tyre check and we continued to France.



The name of this town escapes me but I have never seen so many Storks concentrated in one area.










Clermont Ferrand.

[aliengravy]

Popeye where are you???

You've left us with a cliff hanger

[Pjam]

Popeye where are you???

You've left us with a cliff hanger

Good question............ might have gone walk-about or ride-about? South America, Australia, Norwich? could be anywhere!

We'll just have to be patient