Carpathian mountains and spot some of those places on the way there, check out how the other half live.
Not remotely interested in clubbing, obviously. I would like to visit some places I have never been to before, like Berlin and Prague, and see more of places I have only visited briefly, like Vienna, Stuttgart (e.g. the Mercedes Museum) and Strasbourg (the Council of Europe Parliament, the European Court of Human Rights, etc).
Not really. Calais to Krakow is 300 miles less than Calais to Naples which I did this year, so I was thinking of a slightly shorter trip than before, actually.
Well if you do motorways then I guess on touring bike you can do 600-700 miles. However when Germany is over motorways are over ......
LOL Coming out of Berlin one night I knocked over a sentry box as I came into the checkpoint,(luckily it was unoccupied at the time-I was driving a Danish left-hooking artic as the Danish driver said he was too tired...).No one seemed to notice so I carried on until I saw a border guard "beckoning" me into one of the entry lanes...he was in fact gesticulating and shouting abuse ref.the flattened sentry box. The upshot was the red light above his head went unnoticed,as did the numerous green,"lane open",lights on the gantries,and I went straight into the lane where he was standing. Needless to say he went absolutely purple with rage and starting pointing his rifle at me,made me reverse out,and he got even madder when I told him,"Ich sprechen keine deutsch,mush",and he realised his tirade was absolutely wasted on me.. At which point the lazy fecker Danish boy woke up from the top bunk and asked the loony Guard what was happening...and promptly got ordered out of the cab to stand to attention wearing just his pants in the pissing rain and darkness,while the guard forced him at gunpoint to translate all the abuse into english for my benefit.... It was side-achingly funny,even when it was happening....
All that must have been before 1991, presumably. Nowadays you would have to go as far as Eastern Ukraine to get those sorts of complications ...
I need to investigate this forum more thoroughly, I've been checking ride outs for this sort of stuff.
Yes,in my case it was around 1985,as I'd just passed my HGV test....but despite all the hassles with customs paperwork at every European border/endless different currencies,and the stresses involved in going to Berlin through the "Corridor",with a truck full of Concert equipment,(always a magnet for Customs of all nationalities),I look back on those days with a great deal of fondness. Having open borders is a fantastic achievement,but modern European transport/travel has lost a good deal of it's....romance?...sense of adventure?....whatever... As you say,you can travel right to the Russian border without really having to interact with the locals now.
like Vienna, Stuttgart (e.g. the Mercedes Museum) and Strasbourg (the Council of Europe Parliament, the European Court of Human Rights, etc).[/QUOTE] What a wonderful holiday......
If you get as far as Prague (great trip) try to come back via South Bohemia. Some of the most beautiful towns in Europe are there. Telc. (Casino Royale ) Chesky Krumlov. Tabor. Domazlice.... The list goes on.
Well yes thanks, but I can't go everywhere and see everything. I'll just have to try and fit in visiting a list of the things and places I most want to see.
Will it not be starting to get seriously hot at that time of year. I was planning a trip for this month but circumstances dictated otherwise and I am rescheduling for September, after the French school holidays and before the mountain passes close.
Southern Spain and Italy can get seriously hot, but I shall be indeed lucky if Germany and Poland are. It's just as likely they'll be seriously wet.
Just had a stroke of luck. An old friend from back in the day ("Z") has invited me to visit him at his home near Warsaw next month while I am in Poland. Whilst I'm there I shall be able to take a look at a 750SS bevel greenframe which he is in process of rebuilding; when I used to have one, I let him ride it (he wrote a piece in Bike magazine about it). Now planning to set off probably on Thursday 9 July.
