3500 miles later and we’re done.

A little bit of everything, from the French Riviera to the coasts of the Isle of Man; our south, north, west, east, north, south, west, east route was half planned and half we’ll figure-it-out-as-it-comes. This Google Earth route map was prepared by Supreme-Navigator-in-the-Sky, Sam Hershfield.

We’ve taken a lot of trips, but this one’s had the most contrasts. We’ve partied on the French Riviera with the One Percenters (OK, we were in the same town:) and drank beer with hard-core motorcyclists on the roads of the Isle of Man. We’ve stayed in tiny towns in France, Switzerland and England and visited one of the world’s great (big) cities — Paris. We’ve seen the rolling countrysides of England and France; the mountains of Switzerland/Italy/France/Germany; and the ocean cliffs and pastures of the IOM. We’ve been on autobahns at 90+mph and tiny tiny mountain roads at 9 mph. All in all, a jammed-packed 30 odd days.

Here are the basic facts & stats:

NY II shipped to & from: Zeebrugge via RORO on Wallenius lines
36 days, 19 travel days on the bike
3500 miles (<100 miles per day total and > 180 miles per travel day)
Methods of transportation: plane, train, bus, ferry, taxi, subway, m/c
Countries (9): Belgium, France, Monaco, Italy, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Germany, England, Isle of Man
Problems with the bike: 0
Tip-overs: 1 (while packing him up one night)
Electronics: two computers, two iPads, two cameras, one GPS, one video camera, two phones, two helmet intercoms, and one mobile Wi-Fi hot spot
Longest # of nights in any one city: 4 – Nice
No. of pubs/bars slept above: 2
No. of rain storms encountered while riding: 3
No. of Westies sighted: 12+
No. of “old” churches visited: too many to count:)
Best hotel: La Mirande, Avignon France
Worst experience: Iberia airlines — 12+ hours in one of the last analog planes + lost bags

We spent the last week of the trip meandering from the IOM through England, staying a couple of nights in Canterbury. We then crossed the Channel and spent two nights in Normandy on the French coast, wandered through the French countryside and spent another day/night in Brugge. I rode NVII back to Zeebrugge and put him on the boat. KR and I then took a train to Brussels airport and caught a flight to LA via Madrid. Simple:)

Net Take Aways:

The Little Woman no longer likes 500 mile long days on the m/c. Go figure.
Too much space allocated for tools, not enough for personal electronics. NV II is rock solid, so I don’t need to carry a mini tool chest. You can never have enough electronic toys, however.
There are no hotels in Europe for less than $100 that the Little Woman wants to stay in.
BMW rain suits suck
We need a bigger “junk drawer” (top box:)
RORO (roll on, roll off) is still the best way of shipping a motorcycle. But, one needs to make sure not to put any small value items where freight handlers/shippers can steal them as they will.
God bless Garmin and GPS. How did we ever travel before them?
Ditto for Schuberth helmets with intercom/radio/phone. They’re expensive, but flawless.
Wolfman water proof bags are the best. When you combine them with separate, shaped mesh containers for clothes it creates an easy to pack/unpack clothing system.
BMW’s electronic suspension pretty much solved the short guy problem of putting two feet on the ground. System can be used as an instantaneous lowering system when in traffic by putting system in “Soft” mode, “Hard” mode when on the highway. Technology can be your friend:)
Contrary to going-in perceptions, motorcycle parts/accessories in Europe (not England) are cheaper than here. The devaluation of the Euro is probably the main driver of this short term bonus.

Thanks for keeping in touch with us.

fred

Dogs were a big big part of this trip. KR took dozens of pictures, which we’ll make a Dog Album from some day. Among other things, we saw lots of Westies, which made us decide to get a new Westie ourselves.

Everybody’s happy when KR asks if she can photograph their dog:)

There are a lot of bikes throughout Europe. They come in all shapes and sizes. This was my favorite, captured waiting for the Ferry to IOM. It’s from Spain and its the best Rat Bike I’ve ever seen.

Canterbury Cathedral courtyard,

Inside. I promised KR I’d put a couple of pictures in.

Canterbury, located in the south east of England, was really really beautiful.

Surprising what a couple of days walking around old churches does to KR’s mental state. Hard to imagine this woman just spent a month on the back of a motorcycle:) Canterbury was a very good stop.

First thing upon arriving in a hotel for the night is immediately plugging in our various electronics. Helmet intercoms are plugged while were at dinner, the rest over night.

Northern coast of France and we hit our most serious rainstorm. 2-3 hours of riding in the rain, getting totally soaked and pretty cold. Yet, we’ve done it so often, its no big deal.

French country side.

Who says I don’t recycle? Duct tape over the two holes in my right hand glove perfectly matches the left one.

We arrive in Fecamp on the Coast late in the evening, looking for a hotel.

Next morning really crazy Germans go for a swim in the English Channel. It was f__king freezing, but at least plenty of blubber to keep them warm.

Frequent event; people gather around NV II and want to know where we’re from, we’re we’ve been, etc… “We picked the bike up in Belgium and rode it to Nice…” Guys usually are all smiles. By the time I get to the Alps, women are less interested.

Beach at Entretat, a charming town on the northern coast. Lots of history around these parts…

Boardwalk

How they sun themselves on French beaches. Whether its Nice or Entretat, all the French beaches we saw were gravel.

Dinner in Fecamp. I wanted a change-up from my normal French Rawhyde (steak) and went for the seafood platter. Big big mistake. This was the worst meal of the trip.