After owning my Hawk for a couple of months and a few thousand miles, I thought it was time to take a slightly longer ride. Since I bought her I had a hard time getting off the bike, so I thought a few weeks of riding might get that out of my system. No such luck I'm afraid, but here's the report anyways
I didn't took any pictures the first day I rode because of the rain, until I got to the first campsite just over the French border with Belgium above the city Reims. It had gotten a little late before I got there though, I didn't ride out till noon because I was waiting out the heavier rain to blow over. But this my tiny palace for the next couple of weeks, next to the quarter sized bottle of beer (my trophy of the day) I was able to buy from the farmer that had turned a part of his land in to a modest campsite. I already came across a fries&hotdog stand just before I found the campsite, I didn't need much more this evening :
The next morning there was still a slight drizzle going on and heavier rain on the way, so I packed up and rode out as quickly as I could. I finally found some sun shine after a few hours, so it was time for quick a fill up for me and the bike. 95 octanes for her, a black coffee & tuna sandwich for me (sorry Fish, totally forgot about the food pics on this ride).
Fully packed travel horse:
Travel horse& rider:
And this is where we're heading:
Later that day I was driving through Orléans when I suddenly spotted the Loire in the middle of town. I decided to take a little break to take some pictures of this beautiful river that you keep running in to when you're riding through this part of France. I was told it's one of the countries main sources of electricity.
As the evening was approaching it was also a good moment to check my campsite book for what options were ahead of me. I picked a campsite that was located in the garden of a castle just a 100mls or so south-east from Oréans, just because it sounded so nice. The drive over there was just awesome. I had set my GPS to 'no highways' after I crossed the Belgium border, so it was just twisty narrow roads from there on. After I checked in I quickly set up camp and drove off to a nearby supermarket to get me some groceries. Tonight was bbq night!
Later that evening some Belgium neighbors arrived. They were on holiday in a cage, but one of them told me he rode a Intruder to work every day so contact was made made once he spotted my trusty 700. The lads and their wifes turned out to be great company&drinking buddies, so the next day I decided it was a good idea to have a 'resting' day and hang around for a bit.
It also gave me time to check out the castle -which doubled as a museum and check-in counter for the campsite- wasn't really impressive (looked more like a nice but small villa to me) and it's gardens:
Sorry, I forgot to take more photo's of the garden when I was hiking around there, got this nice old tree for you people though :)
Later that day a dutch couple rode in, he on a 1150GS and she was on a CB Sevenfifty with full touring fairing and hard luggage. When I fist saw them driving on to the campsite I didn't even recognize it as Honda, I thought it was an old Kawa GTR1000. They didn't like the campsite and decided to drive on to the next one since it was still early in the afternoon, unfortunately I didn't think of taking a photo of the Sevenfifty until I watched it going out of sight.
Some random shots of the French roads and country site I came across the next day:
Another run in with the Loire:
I got tired of this long straight road, so pulled over for a short picnic alongside it:
At the end of this day I arrived at a beautiful little campsite along (again) the Loire, just outside of a small village called Corancy where I stayed for 3 nights. I did a lot of relaxing, socializing and sight seeing, but unfortunately didn't take many pictures while I was there. I did meet another solo (big V-Storm) rider from Holland the first night I got there, and I invited him to do a small local tour trip I wanted to take the next day to go with me. We seemed to get along and he decided to accept the invitation, here are some shots of a mid-tour coffee brake and local church in Quarré les Tombes:
In the last photo I'm laying on one of the approximately 100 sarcophagus this village is named after. They are laying all around the church and are dated from 700AD, but up to now no one knows what they are doing or how they came there.
Inside the church:
During a pee-break on the way back to the campsite
I had a great time riding there with Frits (V-Storm guy). He had been around the world a couple of times in his 35 years of motorcycling, and it was clear to me I could learn a lot from his experience. Thanks for the lessons old man, hope you made it back save & until we meet again
It was finally time for some mountain riding, and to be honest I was looking forward to discover other places and being by myself again. Next campsite had to be in the middle of the French Alps. Here's the approach:
After a few really narrow and steep passes I came across a golf-course in the middle of the mountains. It was such an awkward sight that I had to turn around and take a few pictures:
Just one Porsche in the parking lot?
I camped in the Alps for 2 days. After that it just got to cold and rainy for me so it was time to head out again. But first a small impression of my surroundings when I was in the Alps:
I wanted to go up to the Moth Blanc and enter Switzerland from there, but just before I left the FishMeister warned me about carb issues with these bikes on high altitude. I definitely want to make the adjustments that will allow me to go higher next time, but after his waring I decide to play it safe and stay under 2km (about 6000ft) this time. That meant I had to head back the way I came from and partly circle around the lake of Geneva in to Switzerland, which was no punishment at all. I'm not sure which city I was in when I shot these photo's, but I think it was Lausanne. Here's the lake of Geneva anyways:
In hindsight the best roads and sights I came across on this trip were around this lake, I definitely wanna go back there and do a whole tour around it. If any of you ever plan on riding through Europe, put this one on your lists.
Quick pass through Switzerland:
And back in to France again:
After a coffee break in this little town I noticed this on the way out. I pulled over and quickly took a shot of it. Not a really good one, but I'll post it anyways:
As I rode on to my last campsite in France I noticed these two dutch Honda's, so as soon as I set up camp and went out for groceries for mah bbq I went over there and took some pictures.
They belonged to a dutch couple, the trike was hers.
Camp& view:
Next day I headed out of France and in to Germany. I wanted to cross the Black Forrest, and then ride on to Prague and back in to Germany to visit a friend of mine who lives near Hamburg. I never knew the south of Germany was so beautiful, definitely found a new place to do some shorter camping trips to when I feel like taking off for a few days.
Poor little fox I found laying on the road.
I turned around hoping she was only wounded, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Thought about bringing her to skin her and at least make use of her pretty fur (anyone knows how fox tastes..?). But didn't really feel like driving around with a death animal for half a day, so I just took her off the road and found her a last resting place in the forest.
View from the prettiest campsite I've ever seen in my life so far. just outside Wolfach Germany:
And you guys most know my ritual by now:
The next morning I woke up in a wet sleeping bag. My tent had leaked a little during the night. I wasn't gonna let that happen again, so I build another tent over my tent out of some rope, plastic and duct-tape. It would also allow me to cook and make my morning coffee while it was raining. I took this photo right after I made it, fearing it would blow away in ten minutes or so. But it turned out to be strong enough to hold out over night, yay!
Later that day these two arrived. I think they were following me since I had already run in to them when I was camping in the Alps. Hard to forget a combination like that. They belonged to two couples (again, dutch) that were camping together, one in the MG and one on the BMW.
I was keeping a close eye on the weather the whole trip (thanks to free wifi at every camp site I visited but one), and it was pretty clear it would only get worse for at least another week. So I decided to change plans and head for my buddies place the next day. Hoping to sit out the rain there, and head for Prague for another week of riding as soon as it cleared up. But no such luck, the weather only kept getting worse and is only starting to clear up now. After spending a wonderful week with my friend and his wife and daughter I decided to head home. I hope the weather will be good enough to go camping early October so I can finish this ride and head of to Prague, but if not there'll always be next year.
The Nighthawk held up marvelously during the whole trip. We did almost 3000 miles through all kinds of terrain, and sometimes over 600 in a single day (of which 2/3 was in the pouring rain the day I crossed through most of Germany, not a ride I'd like to repeat soon) and she never skipped a beat. Well, after a horrifically long drive through the poring rain the front break light switch gave out, but it worked again fine after letting it dry out for a couple of days (thanks for the tip Fish
) I just missed a couple of extra torques at certain moments, and a couple of stubbies perhaps
Overall this bike also turned out to be a great touring bike for me as well on top of some of the misuse I put her through, I hope I can make her last for a few more years and trips to come!
