Long Ride
In association with www.bikerstravelinsurance.co.uk
Instead of going alone, as I’d mostly done over the previous 20 years, I asked my riding mate (owning a GS1150, to which he had become almost surgically attached) if he’d like to consider joining me. His instant response was: “When do we leave?” It proved a wise decision.
I planned a route via the Hook of Holland, Würzburg, Vienna, Budapest, Sibiu (Romania), Satu Mare (Romania), Poprad (Slovakia), Krakow (Poland), Magdeburg (near Berlin) and Utrecht. So, it rapidly became a sort of Grand Tour. I‘d originally planned to visit the painted monasteries of Bucovina in north-east Romania, as well as the remote forested areas of the Maramures, but soon we discovered that Romania was vast and travel away from the few motorways was slow.
Disembarked at the Hook of Holland, we hightailed it for Germany. Our route took us through the Hunsruck Hills near Koblenz and past Frankfurt Airport, but en route we crossed the vast Garweiler brown coal (Lignite) mine. It opened in 1945 and will not be exhausted until 2045. A village and two motorways have been demolished along the way, and as you cross it on a causeway all you can see in any direction are some of the biggest draglines in the world,
