This is planned as the first stop for me. Once again, a revisit to a place that needs to be seen to remember the horrors of the Holocaust. This is technically not a death camp, but that doesn't mean that hundreds of captive workers died as slave labour for the Nazis.
Once on the motorway it is a quite run westwards from Colditz.
The rally traditionally starts on Friday and ends on Sunday before lunchtime. I have already booked an overnight stop at the Youth Hostel in Colditz Castle. I stayed there with Claire way back in 2011 and we had two nights and did the tour on the morning of the full day we were local.
The tour takes a couple of hours and is in English, but seems at the moment only on Sundays and Mondays. See the website for more details.
Having done the tour a decade ago I am not all that worried about doing it again. The current route (below) takes me back towards Prague on pretty much the same route that I went on.
As I am not that bothered with the Colditz tour I will look at some alternative stops on the way. Dresden maybe?
Is this the last update we shall see? The trip isn't for about 8 months so much could change in that time. Hopefully the overnight stops have been sorted once and for all.
All there is no do is maybe look out some more places to stop off along the route without making too much deviation.
The hotels I have booked are all on booking.com and apart from Plzeň are either doubles or twins. I don't expect to share with anyone in any case. All I will say ids that is because I not only snore badly, but have a few medical needs that might keep others awake. Unless of course it is my brother Neill and then that's okay!
To use a phrase I hate, I have already "reached out" to Rosta about a stop off on the way past Hradec Králové to meet face to face for the first time since 2011. We are so much older that we might recognise each other!
The basic route looks like this:
Plenty of time to add places to stop and be a tourist.
In fact at one point the route passes less than a kilometre from the Polish border and so maybe I can "bag" Poland on this trip too? And there is a very interesting old church in the village of Boboszów just crying out to be visited. ;)
I have an "overall" route for each day that I use as the basis for splitting the day up into chunks. day was ended up in three pieces to ensure that parts could be planned as "no highway" and others to include highways/motorways.
Day 2 "overall" is only 250 miles and so that could be knocked off in about four hours plus a fuel stop. But I want to get off the motorway and visit something.
I have split Day 2 into two pieces. The first to utilise the motorways to get to places I want to visit, and the second, off-motorway to take in what I hope if some countryside.
For part One I am currently investigating Pompejanum, a replica Roman villa with elaborate mosaics and ancient artworks, and Schloss Johannisburg a 17th-century Renaissance palace in Aschaffenburg. With the stops that should be about 3 hours after setting off from the hotel and it will be lunch time.
Looking for "biker" style cafes seems to have become more difficult once you get into Bavaria. I posted a note on the "Stromtrooper" V-Strom forum in the Europe section in case someone knows of places but so far no response.
Searching about on Google and Google maps looks equally futile.
Parking in cities is also a problem. Usually there is street parking.
I emailed one of the parking garage operators in Würzburg and they replied to say that there are no spaces reserved for motorcycles at all. I have tried the Tourist Board as well. In desperation I even posted the question on the Bavaria Tripadvisor Forum.
The Tourist Office in Würzburg have come up trumps. They said that they didn't have a list of places themselves but suggested I try this link - https://www.kilometerfresser.eu/motorradparkplaetze-wuerzburg/
See http://invictamoto.blogspot.com/2021/09/kilometerfresser.html for more info on Kilometerfresser.
So after Würzburg and the Castle I might get a chance to visit the old town. The "off-motorway" route here takes me down from the Castle to the Main riverside and the old bridge over the river. There may be time and space to stop for the photo opportunity or a coffee!
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.
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!
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.
