The Simpsons tour Europe! 2014
Hi all, just back from our summer vacation 2014! Fiona, riding her BMW G650GS and myself riding the Honda VFR1200X Crosstourer set off for our usual summer trip on the bikes from Elgin in the northeast of Scotland heading for the other side of the border to catch the DFDS ferry to Ijmiuden, Holland for two weeks of touring, one week around the Rhine and Moselle valleys then a further week seeing Luxembourg and Belgium.
We started off with a few days on the Rhine, travelling down the east bank then back up the west side taking in all the sights and as much beer and wine as we could scoff! (This was a necessity to wash down the Brattworst!) While heading south we took a detour up Wisper Valley, a known twisty in the area, where we came up behind a strange sight, a car covered in sticky back plastic with holes cut out for the windows, plates and lights??? A prototype? Maybe, I thought possibly Volkswagen? It was a bit "Golf" looking shape and size wise. The test driver gave it quite a caning through the twisties of the valley but Fiona and myself stuck to him all the way to Mainz! (And I'm speaking boot scraping twisties!)
The next leg, we followed the Moselle south west into France. I love the Moselle valley, compared to the Rhine mainly because there's NO TRAINS! But also the natural beauty and the vinyards. We camped on a vinyard as a base camp at the town of Wintrich for a few days, stunning white Reisling they made there! We also attended a special fete there on the Thursday, the whole town shut down and met at the town chapel for a celebration involving cake, currywurst and lots of beer! We were inited to join in so went along, amazing!
Into France next for a daytrip really as we were heading to our next base camp which was to be in Luxembourg, a country we usually just pass through so interesting to stay a few days and have a good look around. I loved Vianden, the town we based ourselves. This was following the advice of another on this forum. I read a ride report from someone else who had stopped here and gave it a try. What a stunning little country Luxembourg is if you get the weather! Most of the roads there are twisties following meandering rivers and make for great fun on the bike! Others obviously knew this as there are a large volume of motorcycles using the roads over there! Can only recommend a stop over at Vianden, the town itself is interesting, a chairlift up to a viewpoint makes for a good photo looking down on the town and castle, the castle tour itself makes a good half day out as well.
We then crossed the Ardenne into Belgium and on to visit a new WW2 museum at Bastogne before heading to our next base camp destination, Bouillon. A similar sort of set up to Vianden, a city with a large castle on the outskirts, making it a great place to explore! All the walking got to my feet so I rented a small river boat to tour up and down the length of the city, so relaxing! Of course, all this exercise meant rehydration was required! How much different beers can you try in a couple of days? LOL! Belgian beer,,, it's almost as good as the chocolate! We took in the tour of the castle which ended with a display in falconry involving an eagle, a hawk, a couple of owls and even two vultures! Also recommend a stop over in Bouillon!
So, to round it all up? I always enjoy spending time with my Fiona, but a brilliant two week holiday on our bikes, not to be mixed up with a biking holiday. Having every second day off the bikes (although we did use the Crosstourer for small trips during off days) made the whole trip so much more relaxing and chilled. Luckily, we only had rain on the very first day in Scotland but never saw a drop for the next fortnight! 2000 miles, longest day 310 miles, not a hiccup from the bikes, brilliant roads, (Crosstourer definately not restricted, I saw over 140mph on the speedo on Autobahn, passing Fiona who was into three figures with the Ickle GS!)
Small points, the campsite in Koblenz across from Deutches Eck has cut its pitches for tents to a small bit of ground at the rear of the toilets and hit us for over £50 for two nights! Also small moan about DFDS ferries, £34 each for the buffet is an absolute disgrace, and don't start me on the £4 a bottle of beer!
Hi to the two guys from Morayshire who we met on the boat, hope you got home ok on that Triumph? And you get the other one fixed! (Triumphs???? Huh!)
Next year? Unsure yet. Nordcapp or Andorra? We'll see!
I hope you enjoy the story, I'll try to load pics later.
Hi all, just back from our summer vacation 2014! Fiona, riding her BMW G650GS and myself riding the Honda VFR1200X Crosstourer set off for our usual summer trip on the bikes from Elgin in the northeast of Scotland heading for the other side of the border to catch the DFDS ferry to Ijmiuden, Holland for two weeks of touring, one week around the Rhine and Moselle valleys then a further week seeing Luxembourg and Belgium.
We started off with a few days on the Rhine, travelling down the east bank then back up the west side taking in all the sights and as much beer and wine as we could scoff! (This was a necessity to wash down the Brattworst!) While heading south we took a detour up Wisper Valley, a known twisty in the area, where we came up behind a strange sight, a car covered in sticky back plastic with holes cut out for the windows, plates and lights??? A prototype? Maybe, I thought possibly Volkswagen? It was a bit "Golf" looking shape and size wise. The test driver gave it quite a caning through the twisties of the valley but Fiona and myself stuck to him all the way to Mainz! (And I'm speaking boot scraping twisties!)
The next leg, we followed the Moselle south west into France. I love the Moselle valley, compared to the Rhine mainly because there's NO TRAINS! But also the natural beauty and the vinyards. We camped on a vinyard as a base camp at the town of Wintrich for a few days, stunning white Reisling they made there! We also attended a special fete there on the Thursday, the whole town shut down and met at the town chapel for a celebration involving cake, currywurst and lots of beer! We were inited to join in so went along, amazing!
Into France next for a daytrip really as we were heading to our next base camp which was to be in Luxembourg, a country we usually just pass through so interesting to stay a few days and have a good look around. I loved Vianden, the town we based ourselves. This was following the advice of another on this forum. I read a ride report from someone else who had stopped here and gave it a try. What a stunning little country Luxembourg is if you get the weather! Most of the roads there are twisties following meandering rivers and make for great fun on the bike! Others obviously knew this as there are a large volume of motorcycles using the roads over there! Can only recommend a stop over at Vianden, the town itself is interesting, a chairlift up to a viewpoint makes for a good photo looking down on the town and castle, the castle tour itself makes a good half day out as well.
We then crossed the Ardenne into Belgium and on to visit a new WW2 museum at Bastogne before heading to our next base camp destination, Bouillon. A similar sort of set up to Vianden, a city with a large castle on the outskirts, making it a great place to explore! All the walking got to my feet so I rented a small river boat to tour up and down the length of the city, so relaxing! Of course, all this exercise meant rehydration was required! How much different beers can you try in a couple of days? LOL! Belgian beer,,, it's almost as good as the chocolate! We took in the tour of the castle which ended with a display in falconry involving an eagle, a hawk, a couple of owls and even two vultures! Also recommend a stop over in Bouillon!
So, to round it all up? I always enjoy spending time with my Fiona, but a brilliant two week holiday on our bikes, not to be mixed up with a biking holiday. Having every second day off the bikes (although we did use the Crosstourer for small trips during off days) made the whole trip so much more relaxing and chilled. Luckily, we only had rain on the very first day in Scotland but never saw a drop for the next fortnight! 2000 miles, longest day 310 miles, not a hiccup from the bikes, brilliant roads, (Crosstourer definately not restricted, I saw over 140mph on the speedo on Autobahn, passing Fiona who was into three figures with the Ickle GS!)
Small points, the campsite in Koblenz across from Deutches Eck has cut its pitches for tents to a small bit of ground at the rear of the toilets and hit us for over £50 for two nights! Also small moan about DFDS ferries, £34 each for the buffet is an absolute disgrace, and don't start me on the £4 a bottle of beer!
Hi to the two guys from Morayshire who we met on the boat, hope you got home ok on that Triumph? And you get the other one fixed! (Triumphs???? Huh!)
Next year? Unsure yet. Nordcapp or Andorra? We'll see!
I hope you enjoy the story, I'll try to load pics later.
