Dolomites part 6 - The way home. Rhineland, Vianden and onto Rye

By now it was Wednesday, the 11th day of the 'Ride with Us' route (12th day since leaving home) and after the beers last night, and time spent trying to figure out how to close the window blind (almost calling room service for help) with much needed relief of the air-conditioning I awoke slightly dehydrated. Grabbing my drink bottle with paracetamol I tried to ease my sore head while reviewing todays GPS route. This ride would take us North-West into Luxembourg, cutting across more wonderful German countryside. I soon met Rob outside seated on the terrace. Having already prepped his bike, I followed suit before making several trips back and forth to sample many of the breakfast offerings including a very nice mini 'black forest gateau' with lots of strong coffee. Another hot day as I looked up across the top of the typical German 'Fachwerk' timbered buildings there wasn't a cloud in the sky today and we would soon be riding north through the pleasant country roads before the build up of early morning rush-hour traffic near Pforzheim. Somewhere on the outskirts I lost sight of Rob in my mirrors and not finding a suitable place to stop continued on and before long found myself on the motorway without him, heading towards Karlsruhe.  

Agreeing to wait at the next waypoint for each other a good few miles ahead I continued on until the exit off the motorway before fuelling up and finding the waypoint near a bakery in the town of Wasgau in Rhineland. I found some shade to park near a Japanese restaurant and called Rob who had stopped somewhere quite far behind. We both agreed it best to continue on and not wait around, by now the temperature reaching more than 40 degrees I needed to keep moving. After a very scenic ride through the forests and farmland I stopped at a level crossing near the pretty town of Hinterweidenthal, just east of Saarbrucken to consult the GPS and my map while waiting for a train to pass. A guy on a Yamaha Tenere pulled up near me and offered help and welcomed me to Germany. It turned out he was heading to work, and suggested it might be too hot for motorcycling before disappearing off in to the distance. Really? .. Do you reckon Fritz? I thought, sarcastically, the heat really getting to me now.

At over 40 degrees I was cooking and everywhere I stopped the sweat would be running down my back, the jacket wide open to get some air flow, my legs sticking to the inside of my gore-tex trousers all I could do was keep moving to get relief. I considered finding shade or better still a cafe with air-con to wait for Rob, but thinking back to the leap-frogging on the Tonale there would be no guarantee we could meet up again so easily. Rob had his own GPS unit with the route loaded and I was sure he'd find his way to the hotel eventually, my only concern would be if he picked up a puncture since I was the only one carrying a plug kit and compressor, and I was the only one with a paper map - a lesson for the future I thought. Still, there wasn't much I could do about that, Rob did have roadside bike recovery if needed, so I pressed on with the ride alone. I spent the early afternoon following the planned route along fast motorway sections with steep long climbs up and across river bridges trying to keep that air flow at above 70mph to stay cool. At one point I  crossed the Mosel river near a bend with vast vineyards spread out across the valley. I thought about leaving the motorway to ride alongside the river but in that heat the motorway was a means to an end and after the railway crossing I didn't stop riding until I came a cross the only service station I could find at Mehring.

Pulling in to the services I was invited to park under the shade next to a German guy who spoke good English riding a very nice Harley Davidson Softail Breakout. A brief chat, nice chap, he was heading home to Bitberg on the way from getting the HD serviced. He kindly offered to look after my bike while I grabbed a drink and food from the restaurant. After he left and waved farewell, with the bike shielding me I dropped my trousers to cool off while eating a quick snack and ice-cold lemonade, thankfully I didn't get arrested for flashing and after the break got to ride along the Mosel river for a short while. It was good to get off the motorway now and into pretty countryside again with some nice twisty road sections up and over hills between Bitburg and Mettendorf before crossing the border in to Luxembourg and dropping down in to the river valley at Vianden. I filled up with fuel on the outskirts before locating the Hotel Belle-Vue on the left. So pleased I had covered the 200 miles by 2.30pm getting in some shade at last and giving chance of afternoon rest. A swim in the indoor pool I got chatting to a group of GS riders, UK Police motorcyclists who regularly stay in Vianden each year and ride around the region using it as a base. What a great idea I thought, the Belle-Vue was a perfect stay with good sized rooms and a large secure indoor garage.

After my swim while waiting for Rob, I sat outside on the terrace with a beer and finally ordered that elusive omelette I'd hoped for throughout the trip before taking a pleasant riverside walk. I had been in in Vianden many years ago on a HOG tour, and impressed with the place so it was good to be back enjoying the view of the walled castle high above the river. I received a message from Rob who was making progress stopping off a few times including lunch at a nice cafe he'd found. We met up in the evening for dinner and drinks with a very pleasant surprise seeing Martin and Sally arrive soon after. A great couple we swapped tales at dinner and how they had hit worse rain than us before the Bernina causing their unplanned stopover. It was an early start, 7am the earliest access for breakfast, the bikes pre-loaded we had to be at the Channel tunnel check in by 2:30pm so said our farewells and hope to catch up with Martin and Sally again sometime. Hopefully they'll call us up for a ride around Wales in the future.

It was a pleasant early morning ride to start the 250 mile journey through the wonderful Wallonia and into the city of Bastogne where I couldn't help but think of that freezing cold Episode 6 of Band Of Brothers. It was ironic how the temperature dropped as we rode through the Ardennes forest on the outskirts. Now 13 degrees, I felt quite cold after yesterdays heat as we climbed a hill looking across distant countryside and farmland. We made good speed on the motorway, crossing into Belgium and then off the motorway a few hours later for a sunny ride into Calais. We both made the terminal in good time and without any delay crossed back into the UK on an earlier train. 

Our final night in Kent would be a twenty minute ride near Rye where Rob had had booked us into the very nice Flackley Ash Hotel. Neither of us wishing to ride the long route home today, and the thought of that M25 in this heat did not appeal at all. Another indoor swimming pool to cool off in, and a pleasant evening meal in a typically English setting recounting some great moments and fantastic roads on this latest adventure. The following day 'Chat GPT ' suggested a return ride to exclude all motorways so after manually plotting the waypoints in my Navigator we had another hot but fun ride home west grabbing breakfast at the Route 1066 bikers cafe and then joining the A272 up to Newbury before getting back to where it had all started in the Cotswolds. A total of 2500 miles and I must say using 'Ride with Us' a great time-saving option, provided us with excellent accommodation and facilities. All in all we had very few route issues (the shaping point problem we encountered and maybe a few too many motorway miles) the whole adventure worked out really well and the Dolomites being more enjoyable than either of us could have hoped! 😎

Not Possible!