So may we present 3 of the most amazing roads you'll find anywhere.
The first is the last 2 kms up to Bikers Point in Austria. Just dont look down. I mean... REALLY, don''t look down
The Go Pro battery died just as we started the high canyon road along the Robertero - Schio road, so hero girl Janelle whipped out the hand held and got this breathtaking couple of minutes.
And a little more sane, but still kinda wonderful was this few minutes we managed without being monstered by trucks as we came down the mountain from the Austrian/Italian border. We chose to not use the Autobahn. Still not sure if that was a good idea, as there were just as many crazies on the back road, but it did deliver this....
We're almost halfway around Europe and at the mid point of our bike hire. So here's some stats so far.
We've been actually sitting on the bike for just under 42 hours in total.
We've covered just over 3100 kms.
We've visited 6 countries.
We've reached an altitude of 2571 mtrs.
I've lapped Nordscheife in 12 minutes 13 seconds.
We've avoided any incident while navigating hundreds of stairs,
and we're on time and within budget.
We're tired, weary and travel stained.
We've been soaked to the skin.
We've walked so far, more than 10 kms on some days.
We've eaten apple strudel on top of the world.
Tomorrow we will ride in a gondola through the canals of Venice.
And on Monday we turn west and start heading back.
... but we intend to take our time with it.
We really are loving every minute. Yes, even navigating the Italian traffic.
And now a little confession. We didn't want to worry anyone, but we were actually quite unwell for the first 2 weeks. I came down with a serious chest infection we suspect I brought with me from Australia, and Janelle ended up with serious sinus trouble. It's only really been these last few days we've been all ok.
So here's to the next 2 weeks. Riding along the Mediterranean coast, playing in the mountains and racking up another few thousand k's on this most marvelous motorcycle.
Well. Italy, what can I say...
Petrol jumped by 30 euro cents a to around $2.50 Oz a litre. The road condition dropped alarmingly and all the drivers became crazy.
Everything you've ever hear about driving in this place is true. It's nuts. Really nuts. And the road condition is complete crap. Patches on patches and potholes everywhere. And that's the main roads!
Oh... and the trucks... did I mention them... no? Well let's just not go there.
Anyway, enough of that. We made our way to the town of Vicenza where we avoided a massive downpour by about 5 minutes and found a really nice hotel. But not before stumbling on the most amazing little mountain pass between Robereto and Schio. 50 kms of windy twisty snake along a massive canyon that you couldn't even look down without getting vertigo. Just amazing. Towards the end we found another of those suicidal German winnebago's with no idea how to use low gear down a mountain. Seriously, we could smell this guys brakes 5kms before we saw him, and he still had about 10 minutes of 9:1 descent to go! No idea if he made it down under control or his brakes just melted and he bounced over one of those hairpins to his doom.
But enough of that. And enough of the roads. Today we completed the last 50ks to Venice and found the Camping Village Jolly (yes seriously) about 5 ks short of Venice, and checked in for 2 nights. A quick exploration this afternoon, and another downpour which we didn't avoid, resulted in the pics below. Tomorrow we'll be spending the whole day there. That's the plan anyway. So hopefully lots more pics and a story or 2.
Amazing how long it takes these vids to upload.
Anyway, finally....
Even if you want to skip most, you just have to check the view at the end. Amazing. Actually, all of Austria is amazing. A fantastic country. Really impressed with everything. But I guess you have already figured that by now.
Well, I need to do a recap of yesterday with photos.
Following a chance discussion with a Harley riding crazy girl just outside Salzburg, we decided to take a route down through Austria through a town called Zell-am-See and then over the highest sealed road in Austria to a place called Bikers Point. Well named! What a fantastic road.
So with me overtaking everything in sight (awesome power this Ducati has by the way) and Janelle clicking away with the GoPro remote, we had a fantastic run up the mountain and found this amazing spot right up the top where we just had to have apple strudel, as you do. They make a big deal of welcoming motorcycles, although the 24 Euro it cost to enter the national park took the edge off just a little. This road tops out at 2571 mtrs altitude, which makes it just over 500 mtrs higher than Kosciuszko.
Anyway, from there we spent a bit over an hour cruising down the other side, Janelle clicking away the whole way, and ended spending the night in a cute little town called Lienz. A very traditional hotel, up on the side of the mountain and our last traditional German/Austrian breakfast. Then we said goodbye to fabulous roads, friendly people, reasonable (but still really expensive petrol) and... went to Italy.
But that's for the next blog. For now, just enjoy the pics below.
Incredible day today. We rode over the top of Austria, and believe me thats no small thing.
And Janelle drove the camera remote so we have a hoard of awesome pics and vids.
Unfortunately the town we're in tonight, Lienz (extreme southern Austria) doesn't have any internet worth mentioning, so uploading them all will have to wait.
We didn't quite make it to Italy. That's another adventure for tomorrow.
Apologies for being a slack blogger these last few nights. I trust I can make up for it now.
I write this sitting in what we would call a beer garden of what must be one of the most amazing hotels in Salzburg, if not all of Austria. But let's rewind a few days first...
We left Dresden 2 days ago under more threatening skies, and on advice (thanks Chris) headed for a town called Pirna where we joined the Elbe River for the most lovely little cruise along valley into the Czech Republic. Right on cue the sun came out, the temp warmed up and we had to turn on the GoPro to show you just how pretty it all was.
So join us if you will for a little run along the Elbe near the German town of Kongstein.
From there we said goodbye to a slightly understandable language, expensive petrol and Euro's and entered the land of funny money and reasonable priced petrol. And we completely lost the GPS. No Czech maps it seemed. Oh well. Keep calm and carry on. There's always Google Maps.
Here's where our prebooked accommodation plan failed us. It's a bit of a shock to be told that you cant check in till 6.30. Our plan was to drop our gear, secure the bike and go visit Prague Castle. Didn't happen. We made a shot for the castle but leaving the fully loaded bike in a main tourist area was just too unsettling. We ended up finding a restaurant and waiting it out.
When we finally did get in it was so much less than we expected. Lets me just say we've asked for a refund... watch this space. Never did make it to the castle. Made another attempt that evening but with no local knowledge, unfriendly tourist maps, frazzled nerves and just everything it was all too much. We had a restless night and bolted as early as possible the next morning. Very disappointing really. I'm sure Prague has more to offer than what we experienced.
So we pushed pretty hard to get across the border into Austria and after a quick refuel and maccas coffee stop to blow the last of our funny money we finally pulled into the beautiful town of Linz on the Danube river. This place was such a relief. It was late lunch time, 28 deg, not a cloud in the sky and people smiled at us again. We bought lunch, rode to bike into a lovely park and just lay by the Danube in the sun, soaking it up and contemplating our next move. There's a couple of photos below.
In the end we decided to push to Sazburg and find somewhere nice to spend a couple of rest days. It just felt like it was time to give ourselves a slow day. So we set the unreliable GPS for the tourist info center at Salzburg and hoped for the best. Surprisingly we found it, but not after taking a few postcard snaps along the way. We looked through a brochure and based on 1 photo I chose this place. Next thing we were winding our way up the single lane mountain road to the top of the world with a view to die for and a price that we just couldn't believe. (only 74 Euro a night incl breakfast).
So last night we drank fine Austrian red wine overlooking this most beautiful city, and today we got up at around 9, took a lunchtime ride into town to check out Mirabell Palace (where they filmed some of The Sound of Music) and then found a nice spot by the river for lunch. Then back here for a bottle of red, a lie in the sun, and some more of that awesome view.
So, I'm waiting patiently for youtube to upload the vid of the ride up to this place but wont make it in time for this post, so tomorrow hopefully. Instead here's a selection of photos from Prague on the bike and from Linz and Salzburg.
Tomorrow it's time to go and find those Dolomite mountains everyone keeps telling us about. We're over the autobahns now. It's playtime!
