F1 Spa Francorchamps

At breakfast we were 'accosted' by an elderly English gent who has seen the bikes parked up.

"Are you the hairy bikers because they filmed at a local bakery which has now become famous?"

After saying our goodbyes we were on our way to Spa. Big queues as expected but although some traffic moved to try and stop us filtering the Police sorted us out and let us through.

Bonus for 2 lads from Yorkshire - we got parked for nowt as close as you can get.

Spa is a fantastic setting for motorsport.

Eau Rouge

We had the cheapest 'plebs' tickets which is very restricting in terms of viewing. Silver/Gold are the tickets to have. The local knowledge involved climbing up the forest banks to get some good spots.

Porsche porn...

We now had a choice to make. Do we stay for the end of qualifying giving ourselves 4 hours to get to the ferry ( a 3 hour journey). As it was heaving we were sure the exit traffic would be bad plus add any potential hold ups on the not insignificant remaining journey - we bottled it and watched qualifying in a bar outside the circuit.

Jenson creamed it  :)))

One eventful ride later we are back on the ferry. It seems a lot longer than one week when we rolled in the opposite direction, but we are both agreed it has been eventful and very enjoyable.

To be repeated???

Let's see......

Wasser Bed!!!

So we end up in Mehring at the side of the river Mosel

Nice looking hotel facilities

An very nice local restaurant attached to the butchers

After another 500kms it was time for some well earned kip.

WTF - a water bed!!

With this and the local festival going full blast until the early hours its fair to say we did not sleep well.

Back in Bavaria

The forecast was rain later but a nice start to the day.

Before we got lured into usual bad habits we hired bikes to attempt the 400m ascent of the Oberjoch Pass.

Success.

The rain started when we were 'resting' at the top but the descent was good fun in the wet.

So - one final favour required from our hosts at Hotel Hirsch - find a hotel en route to the F1 at Spa.

Thankyou Julia and Thomas...

The sour taste of Vignette

Rider 2 was now in charge of the return journey, so no Stelvio Pass, and hello quick route up the Autostrada and through the Brenner tunnel.

€12 for the Autostrada and then €8 for the tunnel.

Hitting Austria we filled up with cheaper fuel (€2 in Italy!!).

Then we discovered Austrians are robbing bastards, fleecing the travelling population of Europe.

We were stopped leaving the Austrian motorway by the Stasi asking for our Vignette's, something that costs €5 a day........

Showing the receipts for all the other taxes we had paid did not cut the mustard. Hello €65 fine (each).

Just because the Austrian feckers didn't win one medal at the Olympics.....

Lake Garda

This is a very special place.

The Lake:

The town Riva del Garda:

Our hotel:

A bit cheaper than this place. I could only get the snap by running through the electronic gates. A cool €650 a night!!!

So what to do?

Rider 2 (in an attempt to climb the social ladder by joining the yacht club) can sail dinghies - so lets hire a boat.

All boats were hired :(

Hmmm - what else can we do.

And so we ended up on the lash for the day exploring the various bars on offer.

My quest for a Calzone failed so we ended up back at the hotel for another BBQ washed down with plenty of red

The dreams were a bit weird that night!!

Dropping it to the Dolomites

The weather made a dramatic improvement. So we are leaving this behind???

A quick look back down the Hindelang valley from the Oberjoch pass before we set off.

Today we take our country tally to 7 adding Austria and destination Italy. It looks like this:

A quick stop in Austria

For a McFrap

We are due to attack the Timmelsjoch Pass and take one final breath in Soldon before the assault. Parking was bad - we could only find this place.......

RIDER DOWN!!!!!

Or the Donkey dropped it......

On the approach to the Pass we hit temporary traffic lights. Not wanting to get stuck behind a queue of traffic we skipped round to the front. Rider 1 stopped and Rider 2 stopped using Rider 1! The pannier bags kissed and Rider 2 went sideways towards the tarmac.

These are heavy bikes - plus luggage - plus we had just fuelled - over 300kg. Full of instant adrenaline Rider 2 had the bike up in no time and we were back away before the lights changed. The traffic queue were probably pissin 'em sens - 'serves them right'???

We carried on and stopped at the top of the Pass - 2,500m.

The Pass has been around for a few years.

A beer was in order to calm the nerves. Rider 2 is very proud of his showroom condition bike and this gave him time to contemplate.

Don't do it Bruv - don't do it!

We then went back to inspect the damage. Rider 2's bike had got off lightly. Rider 1's pannier is not quite as securely attached as it was at the start of the day. Ermmmm.........

It turned into a long day and got hotter up to 30 degrees. After 7pm we rolled into Riva del Garda. At least the pool looked alright.

The nosh wasn't far behind - as wasn't a well earned kip.