Planning Stage

Faaker See 2015

For those who don't know us I am Peter a born again biker, the wife Is Pamela and the bike is called Bertha who can be a bit temperamental at times ( but that's another story )

Pam, Bertha and Me

This adventure

"Faaker see" is a alpine Lake in the heart of Austria and is host to European bike week which has been held here every year since 1997.

In early September the whole area is host to possibly the largest motorcycle event in Europe and it's not just for Harley's, it does however have the biggest section known as the Harley village with 100s of trade stalls and dealers showing off the latest merchandise. It's been some time since we last went and during the winter months we decided we should pay it another visit. Everywhere gets booked up at least a year in advance, so we found it easier to book in at the nearby lake Worther see which is about 10miles away. We have booked for 5 nights but will probably only go a couple of times to the event and use the other days for sight seeing trips.

 

I have booked our ferry from Hull to Rotterdam and also the return trip which gives us just under a month away. We will ride along the Rhein, and head down through the Black Forest then touch the northern tip of Italy so we can ride down the Stevio pass before heading into Austria. We will then head back home the longway round via Budapest, Prague, Dresden and Hanover before getting the return ferry.

This is our whole route

Hull to Rotterdam

St Goar "Germany" (234 miles)

Rudesheim "Germany" (20 miles)

Triberg "Germany" (190 miles)

Bad Sackingen "Germany" (70 miles)

Traffic del Stelvio "Italy" (180miles)

Bruneck "Italy" (115miles)

Obervellach "Italy" (75miles)

Worthersee "Austria " (60miles)

Heviz "Hungary" (195miles)

Budapest "Hungary" (120miles)

Brno " Czech Republic" (203miles)

Prague "Czech Republic" (130miles)

Dresden "Germany" (90miles)

Hanover "Germany" (226miles)

Rotterdam "Netherlands" (258miles)

Total mileage will be about 3,000

 

I don't seem to have done as much planning on this trip as my previous ones but I think we have got all the essentials,

Bike:- Bertha 2006 Screaming Eagle Ultra Glide

Navigator:- Jane (TomTom)

Film crew:- Pam

Money:- Post office travel card + three currencies

Vignette:- A nice sticker for Bertha so she can ride on the motorways in Austria without getting pulled by the police.

My Packing:- Two pair of undies and some socks

Pams:- Electric kettle, 1 Pint cup, Three speed osolating fan, a very large bag of pills and potions and 20kgs of bird seed

Space:- We have loads of spare room so Pam can keep a good stock of liquid refreshments.

 

To follow our adventure click on Newer post at the bottom left

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faaker See 2015 Week 1

Faakersee2015 Week 1

Monday 31.08.15 Faaker see 2015

Well the holiday starts here. We had a wet ride to hull but have now checked into the York suite on board the pride of hull ferry. Had a glass of complimentary champagne and a very nice meal in the restaurant, washed down with a beer or three and bottle of wine. Now look forward to being rocked to sleep

All set and raring to go

1st in the que

Pam's well happy with the room

 

Tuesday 01.09.15 Faaker see 2015

Flipping Bertha has been playing up again she's cost us 4hrs traveling time and €560 euro. All started fine and was getting the miles under our belt when the engine warning light came on, the radio popped and went dead and I noticed the voltage meter which is normally showing about 14volts charging went past its scale + engine was stalling when slowing down. So it was a Google search to find the nearest Harley dealer with a spare voltage regulator. I thought jane was taking us to a proper dealer but it turned out to be a independent chap working from his garage and the regulator he had wasn't the right one. He was however very helpful and located one at Koln Harley Davidson so off we went ( gosh I'm doing some waffling ) so to cut a long story short they got straight to it with two mechanics who traced the fault to the generator which meant open heart surgery and just over three hours later she was back on the road. Me and pam give her a good kicking whilst no one was watching and off we went. We have checked into the 1st hotel with no wifi and food so had to make do with kebab and pizza in our room

Ps we also got very wet so let's hope for a better day tomorrow

1st Harley Pit stop

These two soon got to work on. Bertha

The offending part

 

 

Wednesday 02.09.15 Faaker see 2015

Had a nice easy ride along the Rhein even the weather was kind to us and the sun made an appearance this afternoon. This part of the Rhein is beautiful as you pass through a village about every 5 to 10 miles and there were plenty of lay-bys for the odd photo shoot. We are now at Rudesheim for an overnight stop and had the afternoon sight seeing.

Cable car ride over the vineyards upto the monument

 

Thursday 03.09.15 Faaker see 2015

Brownie tours did a good job today after Breakfast and Pam sneakily making my butties for dinner we headed for the Black Forest, but 1st had to get the ferry across the Rhein. We then got the 1st 100 miles under the belt via the autobahn before heading into the Black Forest on the side roads which had the twisty bends and took you though the villages. We have checked into a fabulous hotel at Triberg where we will spend two nights and have already visited the falls and part of the town and found the local pop shop so we can stock up the fridge.

 

This ferry only cost us 4 euros

One of the many villages we went through

Dinner on Pam today as well as yesterday

clock shop at Triberg

Germany's highest falls 160 meters

 

Friday 04.09.15 Faaker see 2015

Had a nice easy day starting with a circular bike ride through some of the nearby villages. Then it was back to Triberg to complete the remainder of the sight seeing starting with the local scenic train that takes you through the town and up to the top of the waterfalls. We visited the local museum which was well worth the 5 Euros each. There was a huge display of clocks and musical instruments + many other items. Then it was off to the shops for the T shirt to say we have been there and done that. We would have loved to buy a cuckoo clock but space didn't permit. We were back in time to wash Bertha and have a glass of complimentary champagne that we missed last night.

One of the villages

David Bailey shot

Pam on top of the world

Lake near the top of the falls

Pam power walking

This is the life

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday 05.09.15 Faaker see 2015

We have now left triberg and had planned to stop at Bad Sackingen in Germany but arrived early and to reduce tomorrow's traveling we both agreed to move onto Switzerland and are now in a mega expensive hotel just outside Zurich but still on the lake. Joanne I had dinner again on Pam and we've been to the supermarket to get a ready cooked chicken and salad so at least the tea will be cheap, o'h I forgot to say and some sparkly wine and beer so we won't be moving out of the room tonight.

The roads and scenery are stunning

Doesn't Bertha look well

Our Hotel location

Why do I always look pregnant ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday 06.09.15 Faaker see 2015

"Wow" what a fantastic day we've had, we headed to northern Italy via the mountains and rode through many tunnels at least a mile long and even had to board a open carriage train through one of them which took a good 15 minutes. It cost 20 Swiss Francs and was well worth the money. We had to stand at the side of the bike and it was like being on a stand up roller coaster the speed, wind and noise was incredible. We then rode up the easy side of a mountain to check into our hotel on top of Stelvio Pass in Italy. It was weird to see snow in September and in the sun it felt very hot yet in the shade it showed zero, We've had a good mooch round and even been on a cable car ride further up the mountain to the ski slopes, bought a few more T shirts and goodies. Looking forward to going down the mountain tomorrow via the many hairpin bends. Ps we struck lucky and found a supermarket in Santa Maria Val Mustair to stock the panniers with another bottle of champagne and wine.

Just aboard the train roller

Pam checking out what sap

Pam looking good

View from cable car

Tomorrows route

 

That ends week one of our road trip and if you want to see what we get up to in week two then click on newer posts on the bottom left. For all of you who have commented we would like to thank you and it's nice to know that you are enjoying it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Faaker see 2015 week 2

Faaker see 2015 week 2

Monday 07.09.15 Faaker see 2015

Had another fab day which has been more about the travelling rather than the destination. It took us a good hour to get down stelvio pass this morning on-route to our next destination which is Bruneck still in Italy. I had planned to do the scenic routes and TomTom Jane did us proud. We travelled through Merano which had mile upon mile of apple trees all in perfect lines and full of ripe apples. It was then onto Vipiteno via another mountain pass which was as exhilarating as stelvio but without the snow on top. We are now checked into another posh hotel with suite and been into town to checkout the nearest kebab shop.

That was some road

Dinner again on Pam

View from our balcony

I know what I'm having tonight

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 08.09.15 Faaker see 2015

O'h life is good especially on Brownie tours. We had a easy ride this morning to our hotel in Obervellach which is in Austria, the roads and villages are picture card perfect. We arrived early because we wanted to re-visit Raggaschlucht as we have been in the past many years ago and wanted to spend a little more time to savour the experience. It is one of the best waterfalls we have visited with 800m of precarious board walk which climbs some 200m. The pictures don't do it justice as you need the sound of the cascading water.

I should have dead headed flowers 1st

The clean fresh air is lovely as well as the scenery

I can't imagine how they built this

Single file only

 

Wednesday 09.09.15 Faaker see 2015

It was a nice easy ride to our pre-booked apartment at Portchach Worthersee. As it was only an hours ride we decided to call at the rally site at faaker see on route. It was already starting to get busy and would imagine it's going to be heaving in the next few days. To be quite honest it's not our cup of tea to be there all the time and that's why we had booked our accommodation at Worthersee and use the bulk of our time site seeing and will probably go back to the rally one afternoon. Anyway where we are stopping is out of this world, the apartment is massive and that big we could take in lodgers. It's right by the lake which currently has a water temperature of 24 degrees. It's a fresh water lake and the locals say the water is that soft it makes your skin feel as smooth as a baby's bum so we shall have to see if it works on this hairy arse biker.

Can you spot my bike?

Pams been shopping already

I knew we should have brought Charlie

View from balcony

I wish I had my stand up board

 

 

Thursday 10.09.15 Faaker see 2015

After breakfast we headed to lake Ossiacher See where you can get a cable car ride up a alpine alp called Girlitzen, actually it was two cable car rides. We set off in lovely warm sunshine but as we ascended the cloud moved in and at times we were travelling through them. It was freezing at the top so it was a quick walk round, a couple of brew stops and headed back down to get warmed up. On route back to the apartment we stopped at villacher museum which had a good selection of cars and bikes. Then it was back to chill out by the lake. I'm cooking again tonight as kebab shops must be banned in Austria, we've not seen one for days.

Pam's feared to death as we forgot to put barrier down

Gosh they must be big buggers up here

This beats my man cave

 

 

Friday 11.09.15 Faaker see 2015

I had three places planned to visit today but we only did one which was Tscheppaschlucht which is another waterfall. Well it was a good mile hike through a forest just to get to the entrance then you walk alongside the waters edge via some very rough ground, timber board walks and bridges. The good lady in the kiosk said its about an hour to the falls, anyway 2hrs later we arrived and the views were spectacular .We then ascended a very steep metal staircase thinking this was the exit only to find at the top was a series of sign posts showing three directions. Having tried all of them and some even twice which didn't seem to get us anywhere What seemed like hours, we eventually got to the main road which was on the alpine pass and was very precarious as there was no pavement. Next task was to find the bus stop for the bus to take us back down to the entrance to collect Bertha ( I'm waffling again ) any way to cut a very long story short we resorted to thumbing a lift and I noticed that non of the male drivers would stop. Then a very nice lady driver must have caught a glimpse of my blue eyes and good looks and squealed to a halt leaving a trail of burning tire marks down the road. She was called Maria and very kindly took us to the bike she was however reluctant to take Pam but I managed to persuade her. ( I think we would still be there now if it wasn't for this lady.) We both agreed that's enough sight seeing for today and went straight back to base camp for a nice long swim and Loz in the sun followed by champagne on the jetty at 6.00pm on the dot

O'h life is good.

Pictures don't do it justice

I'm a celebrity get me out of here

Our saviour Maria

Time for a scrub up

 

Saturday 12.09.15 Faaker see 2015

Woke to lovely clear blues skies which was good as tomorrow's forecast is cloud. We agreed to visit the rally once more to see if we could find some dolly birds for my dad and Steven. Sorry to disappoint you both but I trapped off with one called dolly and I will let you guess her second name. As we thought the place was heaving with people. Faaker see would not have the capacity to hold every biker as there must be many thousand and all the villages and towns for upto 20miles away are packed with bikers doing their own thing. We did manage to watch the bike parade which had a police escort and lasted a good 45minutes

As we are on holiday and to make the most of the apartments facilities it was straight back to enjoy the last of the champagne and sunshine.

Meet my bit on the side Dolly

Look she's caught a glimpse of my blue eyes it gets them every time

Good job she didn't see my belly

I could get use to this

 

Sunday 13.09.15 Faaker see 2015

Made the most of our last day in Austria starting with a quick trip around Europe and some far away places, well at least the miniature version. It was then off to visit a 9th century church which overlooked lake Worthersee before heading to Castle Hochesterwitz. We still had time left for cloud bathing and a last dip in the lake and yes the hairy arse biker now has skin smooth as a babies bum.

 

 

We have lift off

Church in background

 

That finishes week 2. If you would like to see what we get up to in week 3 then click on newer posts at the bottom left hand side, and thanks for all the comments unfortunately I don't seem to be able to reply to them individually but they are very welcome.