After a great sleep, yes, a much cooler night and the sky was blue in the morning.
Our destination today is Strasburg 500k’s away, just inside the French border. It’s a slightly north- west trajectory, before dropping south-west, approx 100k’s short of Strasburg.
That was the plan but we were not enjoying the German motorways, To their credit there are no tolls, but Poki does not fit well with the three traffic lanes. Slightly too fast for the truck lane but too slow for the middle lane. What’s more, we see nothing of the countryside. It’s not enjoyable. Ferrari’s and Mercedes scream past in the outside lane at insane speeds. I hate to think of the carnage if a car in the middle lane wanders wide without looking in the rear vision mirror.
We decide to exit early, and head for Metz, a French city just inside the border. By around 2pm and escaping the motorways we shopped in a Lidl supermarket, then within a couple of kilometres we are in France, though you wouldn’t know it as it was obviously once-upon-a-time, part of Germany as the names remain very Germanic. It’s clearly France though and it’s a delight to be back. We immediately reprogrammed the sat-nav, to avoid motorways.
Motoring is joyful again. The countryside reflects an agricultural industry, and the smells with it.
Small towns. Country lanes. Jen has found a camp site for the night with 100k’s to go.
Some roadside assistance.
On a narrow road there is a set of temporary traffic lights. The road is under repair and a one way system is in place. Just as we arrived at the set of lights, they changed to red. Some mature motorcyclists were congregating just past the lights and one of them wandered back to us, asking if we could help them. One of the bikes, a lovely late model BMW Adventure bike, would not start, and they wondered if we had jumper leads.
Yes we have jumper leads and I got them out from a box on the roof. Trouble is, they could not lift the petrol tank to access the battery. I noticed a connection box that would connect to our battery charger, so got that out and connected it to the inverter. Within a few minutes there was enough charge in the battery to start it. I suspect they will need to replace the battery?
We are in canal country and there are pleasure boats making use of the facilities. Pictured, one of the locks but no boats.
Much better than busy motorways.
There is a line of cars with caravans at the entrance to the camp site!! Europe and particularly, Holland is on the move. It’s a big camp and by 6pm is packed.
On one side of us a French couple in their late 50’s were pitching a tent. They have cycled from the French alps. Interested in our vehicle they showed us a photo of the wife’s sister’s daughter, who have an expedition rigged Defender and they are currently exploring Morocco.
Pulling up beside us, an impressive new looking Toyota Land Cruiser. The owners are Dutch and we got chatting with them. Their daughter earlier this year, returned from an extensive visit to Australia and New Zealand. They flew to meet with her in Australia.
Tomorrow we head towards Calais. It’s just over 400k’s but we will dawdle along tomorrow and look to cross back to Blighty on Monday?
Views: 55
I drove in Germany remember on the Auobarn cars just flew by I was scared stiff but I loved this country.You certainly are catching up with others nice to have a chat.
Lot’s off great reading from you. Take care J
Hallo ihr beiden, vielen Dank nochmal für die nette Starthilfe gestern. Euch weiterhin gute Fahrt und viel Glück beim Fixen des Problems mit der Wegfahrsperre. By the way, die neuere BMW Adventure ist eine R1100GS Baujahr 1998 mit ca. 120.000 auf dem Tacho ;).
Good luck and a big hug to you,
Jörg, Mark, Friedemann & Alex
Hi Jorg,
Translation below.
Thanks for the nice jump-start yesterday. Have a safe continued trip and good luck fixing the immobilizer problem. By the way, the newer BMW Adventure is a 1998 R1100GS with about 120,000 kilometers on the odometer ;).
In reply.
Well, it looks like its brand new still. Well done. I hope you managed to reach your destination without further misshap. Was it a battery issue or?
Thank you for following up..
Best
Dennis & Jen
Hallo Dennis, wir haben mit Hilfe eines Powerboosters, den uns eine Suzukimotorraderkstatt nahe Saverne geliehen hat, unsere 4tägige Vogesentour gut beendet. Ja, die Batterie wurde heute gerade erneuert.
Ich wünsche Jen und dir noch eine gute Reise.
Jörg
Translated :-
We successfully completed our four-day Vosges Mountains tour with the help of a power booster lent to us by a Suzuki motorcycle workshop near Saverne. Yes, the battery was just replaced today.
I wish Jen and you a safe journey.
Jörg
Hi Jorg,
That’s great news that you managed to keep going on your journey. The good news also, it was only the battery, not any expensive mechanical or electrical problems. Why don’t you consider a motorcycle trip around New Zealand. It’s an amazing country for motorcycle touring. We’d love to host you in Rotorua on your journey…:)
Dennis & Jen
Das ist ja super, dass du deine Reise fortsetzen konntest! Und noch eine gute Nachricht: Es war nur die Batterie, keine teuren mechanischen oder elektrischen Probleme. Wie wäre es mit einer Motorradtour durch Neuseeland? Es ist ein fantastisches Land für Motorradtouren. Wir würden uns freuen, dich auf deiner Reise in Rotorua begrüßen zu dürfen… 🙂
Another adventure done and dusted, well done you two. Enjoy the last days in Poki and on the road. Where to next I wonder.
Hi Bro, yes, nearly done and thanks for your communications..:).
It’s been an unprecedented summer in the Northern Hemiphere this year, which has been challenging. What next? We have time to consider. Poki has been amazing and still a joy to drive. Some minor issues to be resolved. Common sense says it’s time to sell her, but not sure I’m ready for that yet. Ship her to Aus for final hurrah?
Enjoy the super-yacht and dont bump into anything…;)
Me. 😉