Italy Part 2 - Many borders, many rivers, much history

Givet to Vohrenbach - 320 miles - 6th July

In some ways the adventure for me really started on this day. Up until, then we had been riding in fairly familiar territory, in scenery that was Ok but nothing really to write home about. That was to all change later in the day. We enjoyed a basic but good breakfast in our basic but good motel, and set off  to the east. The plan was to stay at Lake Constance that night.

As per our plan we took the back roads and they were practically deserted for the most part, across the top of the Ardennes and towards Luxembourg. Somewhere near the border I noticed that the houses had changed character, they were looking distinctly…well….German rather than French. As I was an architectural expert! Somewhere around Arlon this was. We crossed into Luxembourg and my main memory of it was there was a lot of farms, and a lot of brothels at the border with France. Not sure what that's all about. We crossed the Moselle at Schengen, where, by agreement we needed a break from the heat that was well over 30 degrees, more like 35 plus. Lunch was a sumptuous Turkish meal, our first of many excellent meals in Germany. I must admit we lingered there for a good long while to enjoy the benefits of air conditioning. Lots of water was consumed.

From Schengen it was south to St Avold and then across to Bitche in the Vosges, where we checked out the Citadelle of Bitche, a very fine fort designed by Vauban, who was the master of this sort of thing. Heroic fighting had taken place there in the Franco-Prussian wars, as the garrison was surrounded, but secure from attack. Even in WW2 it had played a part. I took a few film pictures which I think captured the spirit of the place. Vive le France!

After we left the fort we rode through the Vosges towards Strasbourg. It was pretty clear that we were not going to make Lake Constance, so we decided to aim for the Black Forest, of cake and forest fame. The back roads were abandoned and we hit the autobahn after crossing the Rhine back into Germany. The Breva proved easily capable of the ton, so I was well pleased, but one had to watch out for the fast lane and exercise strict discipline, like the Germans did, to avoid marauding BeeEmms, Mercs, VWs and Porsches, and Focus STs. These would come up well over the ton flashing their lights and you were to move over, which I did fine. It all works rather well, but would never work in the UK based on my experience. Too many sit in the middle lane all day, or the far right lane (or as I call it “Trumplane”) and don’t move over. Some distance along the bahn we pulled over for a rest in a rest area, for a snack of cheese and bread. Other people, in fact hundreds had pulled over there too…for more “lavertorial” reasons, as Jeff sadly discovered.

Soon we were turning off to Frieburg im Bresgau, and once through that we hit delightful twisty roads through forests and hills, spectacular gorges. We now entered the Black Forest or Schwartzwald, and the roads were superb, perfect surface, beautifully radiused corners. It was just a pleasure to ride there, but it was getting late and we had not obtained accommodation. In Titisee Neusdadt we tried to find accommodation, but even with the help of a local cruiser rider we were not successful. Would we have to camp wild not by choice but by necessity? No. We found a geusthouse online and secured a room for the night, and set off  to get there, which was near Vohrenbach. Again the roads there were lovely, and we arrived about 9PM.We were too late for dinner, so we feasted on our own butter biscuits and Pringles…and huge steins of beer the landlady gave us. Sitting and chatting to the landlady, rain suddenly came (we were OK under cover) an the landlady said that the “kleine regen” was good as the Forest was way too dry, and a fire was a hazard. It had been a fantastic day and we were buzzing. Tomorrow would see us aim for Mandello!