Day 8 Cremia - Sitges

This was probably my longest ride ever and I guess I will not repeat this experience. I left Cremia in the morning at 7. It was nice and cool and got surprised by the fact that the italians share the same affection of the swiss to digg tunnels. Wow that was really a lot of tunnels there surrounding Como. I made it easily to Milan and got a bit challenged by the italian way of putting road signals (just too many directions totally mixed up on one post, so try to find yours...) I got on the highway to Genova (which was eventless), I still believe I should have taken an earlier exit to got directly to Ventimiglia, but instead I continued on to Genova. It was a beautiful track with a lot of curves and a nice countryside. Genova surprised me with heavy traffic but I was able to manage. And on to the beautiful highway along the coast. Crossing the border to France was yet another moment to say "great that we have the European Union" there was nothing just a sign saying that I am now in France... Just 15 years ago there would have been a mayor traffic jam. Passing by Monaco, Nice, Cannes really beautiful highway with not too much traffic but yet a lot of Motorcycles mainly from Italy. Seems like it is popular to travel by bike.
It did get very hot on the way (38-41 degrees) that is what my bike was telling me. It was actually so hot that I drank some 2 liters of liquid (no, it was not beer) and Sweated it all out... hmmmm

Crossed the border to Spain and found it interesting that the Gasstations were having ridiculous prices just like in France.... Talking about ripping of the travelers. Whereas Gas usually is at 1.08 in Spain per liter there they were charging 1.35 just like in France.... Not nice but fortunately I had enough fuel to bear with it and get it at normal rate again. I arrived at around 20.00 in Sitges and I have to admit I was really exhausted and happy to get of the bike. Would I do it again ???? FOR SURE !!!! This is the best experience ever, the only thing I would take shorter routes. 1140 km was just too much for a day

Day 7 Swiss Mountainpasses

It was a great idea of my friend Umberto to simply enjoy the day and do a tour on the passes of Switzerland. We went from Cremia to St Moritz and from there on we took the Julierpass :) great on we moved to the San Bernadino :) very great and slowly but surely back to Como. Umberto took me to town and we passed through all the little villages on the way back to cremia :) I will post the videos as soon as I have wifi.
---

Day 6 Uster - Cremia

The day did not start with the best weather but was nevertheless promising. I took a little longer road to do 2 mountain passes in Switzerland, the Klausen and the St. Gotthard. I can tell that Klausen was quite challenging due to the fact that it was quite wet and some of the 180 degree curves had copplestone, talking about a very slippery surface. It was a lot of fun and Pleasantly Blue behaved wonderfully. I finally crossed the border to Italy and came to visit my friend Umberto who stays in the summer in Cremia, right on lake Como. What a wonderful place and what a great welcome they gave me. Thanks a lot Umberto & Betty. I stayed in a small Hotel right on the lake with a gorgeous view, let's just called it a small paradise.
---

Day 5 Bremen - Uster

I have left Bremen on this Sunday morning with a bit of rain and also a bit heavy hearted. It was really nice to be back home and also to be present at the first day of school of Luis. All in all a great visit. My trip to Uster in Switzerland was without any major incidents. Just a lot of traffic (I am sure there is nobody right now in Holland) and not very nice weather. In Uster I was welcomed by my friend Peter and his partner Andrea. It was a great welcome and good to see my friends again. Great barbecue with wonderful wine and good friends.... Thanks for that !!!
---

Bremen

The time in Bremen was really nice. The main reason for this trip was for me to be at the 1st day of school of my godchild Luis. This has finally happened today. I have enjoyed somed very nice and relaxed days in my old home town with the family. Unfortunately tomorrow it is over again and also the weather does not seem to play on my side. It will rain.... We will see I will keep you posted.

Day 4 Oberderdingen - Bremen

Once again a longer route today but YESSSSSS I was lucky and the weather was on my side again. It was nice warm and sunny so that I could really enjoy. I had first a beautiful ride from Oberderdingen to Walldorf. It was just precious and I thank Sigi & Bernd for the beautiful ride through the fields and the forrest. It was really worth it. From there on back to Highway 5 until Frankfurt. I was able to race Pleasantly Blue a bit on the highway (190km/h more was not possible due to the suitcases). It was fun anyhow....From there on I went on the old Higway 7 which is wonderful full of mountains and curves which makes it really an unusual highway. I hope that radar pictures are only taken from the front hahahah.-... Finally I arrived in Bremen and I am now with the family and will enjoy them for the next couple of days. Unfortunately my camera did not work... I need to fix that these days, so there is not picture material, sorry. Thanks for following me

Day 3 Biel - Oberderdingen

After the long trip of yesterday I am quite happy that today the trip was much shorter only some 300km. But on the other hand the weather was not on my side and I left Biel with rain in the morning and it was raining until way into Germany. In Solothurn I had a small routine inspection of the police. It was quite funny since they did not have any clue on how to interpret the spanish papers of my motorbike....Otherwise no mayor incident happned. There was a lot of traffic on the road and actually I was having some fun with a guy from Zurich in his BMW... He enjoyed the no speed limit on the Autobahn but nevertheless whenever there was a bit more traffic I met him again.. So he took really the challenge but I would say that he lost... :D

I arrived around mid-day at the house of my Friend Sigi and had a wonderful and warm welcome. Now we are ready for some Barbecue action with Sigi & Bernd, I will make some pictures later. Tomorrow again will be a longer ride up to Bremen but at least it seems like that the weather will be better. Also my camera seems to work again for which there should be some more documentation.

Day 2 Sitges - Biel

I was worried about the amount of km that I had to do on this day and I can tell yout that I felt the 962km quite a bit in my body. It has been a tough ride. I left Sitges at 7 in the morning and arrived in Biel some 12 hours later. The weather did not play to may favour at all and from the french border I had "vent violent" violent winds for 200km that made me change lanes without wanting to. There was also a lot of traffic. I am sure that there was nobody left in Holland since they must have been all on the same highway with me. About 80 from Geneva not only did the temperatures drop from 34 degrees to 20 but also it started to rain. It was intuition and I stopped to refuel, get some food. I met a nice couple from Cordoba who were going to Germany to a biker concentration. Changed the jacket and went on. Turning on the bike it started to rain. It was raining from there on until I arrived in Biel. In Biel my Friends Daniel & Andrea were waiting for me. It was really great to be with them and get not only great food and wine but also their company. Thanks to the two of you !!!!

I am having some problems with the Youtube plugin on this page so I am posting the videos a part:

Leaving Sitges on the Paseo del Mar

Crossing the French Border

Day 1 Madrid-Sitges

I have to admit that I was quite nervous before leaving finally for my trip. I have never ridden so many km in one run and also I am going to travel all by myself. But all went more than perfect. I was leaving Madrid at about 9 in the morning without any traffic (that is news !!!). I was traveling quite fast and eventhough I have done this trip many times before by car (and hated it) I was enjoying it a lot with the bike. It was like much shorter and also having the chance to see more and even smell (that was not always the best). The Bull of Osborne which you can see on the picture has given me company the entire time.

At my first stop I met some bikers from Zaragoza, was quite fun how interested everybody is in the trip. At the next stop I met a guy from Lerida who had the same bike as I do and we spent the next 100km together on the road. It is somehow strange how I had company the entire time eventhough I was traveling alone.

Arriving in Sitges I just unpacked and went for a nice walk. Felt good to move my legs a bit. In general I have to say that I am much less tired than I thought that I would be. It was great and now I am getting ready for my next step... To Switzerland...

The Bike & The Rider

This is my Bike that will take me on my Tour. It is a 2009 BMW R1200GS.

I have called her Pleaseantly Blue and you can imagine why. The bike is equiped with all safety features like ABS, ASC etc, has two suitecases and counts on the Acrapovic Exhaustpipe. She should be fit for the up 1000KM a day. She might need some Oil once in a while but I will have that with me. Finally I was able to get a Camera Moutn (was not easy) so that I can document well my trip with some visuals.

The Rider is me, Carsten Nitschke, 38 years old and riding a motorbike now only for 3 years. It will be quite some trip but I am very much looking forward to it. In order to make the trip more adventurous there will be no GPS Support. Let's head for the highway, until the journey will start here is some music for the time being

Steppenwolf: Born to be wild

AC/DC: Highway to Hell Shall this be the anthem for the trip

WASP: Mean Man

Led Zeppeling: Stairway to Heaven

The Route

This will be my route.

August 1st: Madrid - Sitges (A-H) approx 588 km

August 2nd: Sitges - Biel (H-C) approx 980 km

August 3rd: Biel - Oberderdingen (C-D) approx 330 km

August 4th: Oberderdingen - Bremen (D-E) approx 590 km

August 5-8th: Bremen to be with the Family

August 9th: Bremen - Zürich (E-F) approx 844km

August 10th: Zürich - Milan (F-G) approx 300 km

August 11th: Milan

August 12th: Milan-Sitges (G-H) approx 1100 km

August 13th: Sitges

August 14th: Valencia (H-I) approx 320 km

August 14-23rd: Ibiza

August 23rd: Valencia-Madrid End of Holiday !