2010 Part 3: Over breakfast this morning we all agreed that to remain in Chamonix was effectively a waste of time. The rainfall experienced over the last few days was locked in around the Alps and nothing was going to change that any time soon. Realistically we couldn’t ride the passes we had planned on […]
2010 Part 2: It didn’t matter how often or how many websites we checked the 7 day weather forecast for the Alps remained bleak. The eternal optimists among us refused to accept it would be as wet as predicted. The realists on the other hand thought riding south into poor weather was imprudent. Now the […]
2010 Part 1: We had a long, monotonous 500 mile ride ahead of us today but the carrot at the end of the stick was the infamous Nurburgring Nordschleife, possibly the most iconic racing circuit in the world. Our 9.50am Euro Tunnel crossing to France may have meant an early 6am departure from Bewdley, but […]
2009 Part 8: With the exception of Mark who’d been on the road for 8-10 hours every day for the last 10 days, everyone was enthusiastic for a group ride today. As usual Phil had planned the ride and the route he’d chosen set him and Kyle up nicely to knock off the final pass […]
2009 Part 7: Last night the Stelvio had been debated extensively and it went without saying that Phil, Kyle and Mark would ride it today. Yesterday Gaz, Taj, Cat, Pete and Bobby had ridden it going up the eastern ramp with its 48 almost zero radius hairpins, and down the gentler western side. However, from […]
2009 Part 6: Today was a transition day that saw us shifting bases from Arabba to the ski resort of Livigno near the Swiss border. The most direct toll free route between Arabba and Livigno is just shy of 150 miles and goes via Bolzano, Merano and the Stelvio Pass. Phil and Kyle had other […]
2009 Part 5: Before we booked our motorcycle trip to Italy we spent a lot of time online scrolling through dozens of websites doing our research. We wanted to find somewhere to stay in the Dolomites which would give us easy access to as many passes as possible, while keeping costs as low as possible. […]
2009 Part 4: Since we first started touring in Europe Phil has used John Hermann’s excellent book, Motorcycle Journeys Through The Alps & Beyond, as a valuable resource in planning trips. Kyle has since joined the Hermann fan club and Trip 52 (in the fourth edition) is entitled I Dare You; 17 Passes in One […]
2009 Part 3: As soon as we woke up this morning it looked like we’d struck gold with the weather. By all accounts the previous weeks weather in the Dolomites had been dreadful, bitter cold and lashing it down with rain. Today though it was blue skies and sunny, and the forecast was for more […]
2009 Part 2: Today was the day we’d all arranged to meet up in Arabba and as Gaz, Pete and Mark readied themselves for the final leg of their 1,000+ mile journey to the Dolomites it was hard to believe they’d woken up in the same place they’d spent the day yesterday. Low cloud and […]
2009 Part 1: As Gaz, Pete and Mark’s 7am departure time loomed this morning the skies over Bewdley were decidedly dark and menacing. In fact the medium range forecast for Europe as a whole didn’t look particularly promising and snow was even expected in Arabba, their ultimate destination in four days’ time. The idea was […]
2008 Part 4: Everyone envied Cat this morning. We might have laughed at his hire car when he finally turned up in Belfort yesterday, but today we were set for a very wet day and it was Cat who’d be having the last laugh. The forecast today was for heavy rain across the whole of […]