Infinity and Beyond!

"To boldly go" etc.

So yesterday's post about Linz to Friedberg had a very short shelf life. 

Once I started to look for hotels in Linz and seeing that either they have very few rooms released to booking.com, or there is genuinely an over abundance of tourists when we are going to be in the area!

I then started to look at the route and the distances involved.  In MyRouteApp I started to toy with different distances.  I had set an arbitrary destination of Linz before checking hotels and even the distances involved. Perhaps I should have done some more research before blogging?  "Bugrit"!

So today as I sat watching the greyhounds at my volunteer job eating and then running around the field I started to look for hotels.  One eye on the screen, one eye on the dogs!

The "previous current" Day 5 (Sunday) route took us from Vernířovice, via Brno with a 90 minute planned stop to see my former teaching colleagues and get a drink, then S52 into Austria.  The route calculated taking us to Linz. Most of it on the A1 Autobahn. We'd need the vignette. As I said before, I personally want the sticker to put on the bike as a "been there, done that" display rather than the e-vignette.

MyRouteApp calculates that as about 310 miles and 6h40m. This includes the 90 mins in Brno but no other stops, like lunch or petrol.

Phil will have his new R1250RT and that I guess will be frugal and get decent mileage. Giles has a Katana and I have no idea at the moment what mpg he gets. Vera currently doing about 50mpg over a variety or local and motorway riding.  

So that doesn't seem too bad. This brings us back to Day 6 Monday.  We have the Eagles Nest and Neuwanstein Castle on the visit list. Although a day ending in Füssen, the nearest town to Neuwanstein might seem sensible. It would leave about 560 miles to cover the be at the channel ports by mid-afternoon on Wednesday. Not too bad over two days, with overnight stops Monday and Tuesday.

But there is a hotel problem. Perhaps Neuwanstein is the mecca for tourists as there a few hotels in the more budget range.  Personally my wallet isn't in the £100+ a night bracket!

So I have from Neuwanstein I add the edited Romantic Road route from TomTom and saw that id starts in Füssen (!) and ends in Würzburg.

So Day 5 Sunday. In the end Linz was too short and Salzburg too long a day. Using booking coms map I worked my way from Salzburg towards Linz checking al the hotels that popped up. Looking at price and the number of rooms available.  You would be surprised how many hotels and gasthofs have one room left for May 29th 2022.

In the end I got as far as 40 miles from Salzburg at Lenzing. Not that far off the A1 and 60or so miles west of Linz. Linz not actually on the A1.

The Austria Traveller Hotel has plenty of rooms available and Lenzing is only 3kms off he A1. It does bump up the day's mileage to around 340. But quite a lot will be on dual-carriageway and motorway.

Day 5 - Sunday

That means that Day 6 (Monday) will be almost as planned with the stops and then part way up the Romantic Road to near Augsburg.

This is also brings into question a stop in Rothenburg ob der Tauber on the way to the rally on Day 2.  It's on the Romantic Road!  But that's a change for another day!

The stop tonight will be at Gasthof Kreisi in Friedberg as per the original plan of only yesterday!

Day 6 - Monday

Routes - Day 1 Parts 2 & 3 - Bikers Ranch to Fachbach

Here we are again!  More changes.  This time not anything to do with a hotel change. I am happy with the Hotel Stadt Coblenz in Fachbach. This route supersedes one from last month!

What I have changed is some of the rides between the start at the Bikes Ranch and Fachbach via Bad Münstereifel. 

Once I got my hands on the Michelin 718 map of Germany and remembered that Michelin highlight scenic roads with a green stripe, AND, that MyRouteApp also gives Michelin as a mapping option, I have been busy looking both on paper and online at "green roads".

On top of that I have been adding some potential fuel stops along all the routes!

So far Part 2 looks like a pretty straightforward with a many "green roads" as I could fit in.  I have a fuel stop after about 175 miles from Calais planned and that is still Part 1 and in Belgium.  I shouldn't need any more fuel until I am almost at the hotel in Fachbach. So to make sure I am ready to ride off after breakfast I added a fuel stop near the hotel. An estimated 140 miles between stops!

Michelin background!

From Bad Münstereifel the default route to Fachbach took in a lot of "green roads" but there were so many more I could exploit.  Again using Michelin I have added a loop to take in the Mosel/Moselle mostly all of it on "green roads".

It adds another 40 to 45 minutes onto the day's riding but I expect to be away from the Calais around 10am and with lunch and fuel stops this puts a potential arrival at the hotel at around 6pm. Not too bad for a more leisurely ride to avoid plugging along boring motorways. There will be plenty of that during the trip as it is!

Bit of a loop to take in the Mosel/Moselle scenic route

I can't guarantee that there won't be any more changes! But this looks like a nice ride!

Routes - Day 7 - DJH Hagen to Home

Just a simple get up, have breakfast, pack up and go. A straight run to Eurotunnel and home.

MyRouteApp reckons on four and half hours, but we all know that Antwerp is a bottleneck and it can take up to an hour to thread through the traffic and the tunnels to get through it.  

Maybe I'll look to see if there is a way around Antwerp but not via Brussels as that too is a motorists' nightmare too.

So I reckon with fuel stops and lunch it will be more like six and a half. Plus of course that all important chocolate and beer shopping on Belgium!

Routes - Day 1 - Eurotunnel to Kobern-Gondorf

Whilst I am working from home and waiting for someone to log a call on the MIS Helpdesk,  I have turned my attention to places to visit on the way across from Calais Eurotunnel to Vernířovice. 

With a longish day from Eurotunnel to the first overnight stop in Kobern-Gondorf, a break other than at the motorway services might be nice.

When my brother, Neill,  plans our trips and those that he goes on every year with his mate Patrick, he includes fuel stops as Patrick's Shadow has a lot lower tank capacity than his BMW. I tend not to do that but maybe once I know what sort of mileage I can expect from Vera's tank, then I can add that into my planning.

Anyway, I digress.  Places to visit/stop on the way across Belgium and western Germany. Where to look? The internet I guess! Or maybe for POI's in MyRouteApp? Success.

I have started to split to overall routes into bite sized chunks, by day and parts of days.  

Day 1 Part 1 is Eurotunnel to the Biker Ranch Eifel near Simmerath.  This will be all on motorway into Germany and then exiting for Simmerath.

Depending on what time I get to France on Eurotunnel, the Biker Ranch should be about lunchtime. Then we reset TomTom with Part Two.

Day 1 Part 2 is a ride through the Eifel Naturpark from the Biker Ranch to Bad Münstereifel.  I chose this as it cuts off the corner that would be the motorway routes. Bad Münstereifel is also the twin town of Ashford in Kent near where I live.

Sadly, in the massive floods or "hochwasser" earlier in July '21 many buildings in the town centre were badly damaged. Hopefully things will have improved by May. 

It's not that far and I was sent the route by a friend in Germany as a "tasting" as he put it. I have driven in this area before in my old Fiat Panda!

According to Google Maps the total trip should take about 5 hours and is about 250 miles. Add on petrol stops and lunch at the Biker ranch that looks more like 6 hours at least.

Day 1 Part 3 takes us from Bad Münstereifel to the hotel in Kobern-Gondorf. Once again this is off motorway.

Waypoint 2 is another biker stop at the Haus Waldfrieden Biker-Treff.  Depending on what is consumed in Bad Münstereifel this looks like another watering hole for both ends.....

That adds another hour and a half and some more decent looking miles under the wheels.

Day 2?  Work in progress.