Day 2 - Dinant (B) to Baden-Baden (D)

Day 2 - Dinant (Ardennes) - (B) to Baden-Baden (Black Forest) - (D)

Saturday 15/06/2023

---------------------------------

Through the Ardennes and to the Black Forest

The intense thunder storm last night wasn't great and resulted in Leon's and my tents getting a bit flooded. It also rained for much of the night and morning. Not great having to put away wet and muddy tents in the rain.... And then to add to our troubles, Konrad's bike wouldn't start as we flattened the battery charging our gear..... A bit of bump starting and it eventually fired and it has been fine since.

We headed-out a little later than planned given that we had a long day ahead of us. Luckily we avoided rain all day and just had a quick 5 minute shower after we got our tents up at the end of the day.

What a day it was. We really saw the best of the Ardennes. Such stunning rock and forest views, picture postcard villages that had a real alpine feel. The route was a long and winding one that took us out of the Ardennes crossing French and Belgian borders and into Lorraine, the Mosel, Alsace and Voge border regions. Such a nice part of the world that none of us have ever seen before.

We didn't stop much today as we knew we had some distance to cover. A nice viewpoint water, snack and pee stop. A few petrol and rest stops and a quick supermarket lunch to keep us going. Despite this we made the campsite check-in with just 30 mins to spare.

The roads changed from forest to fields to rolling hills, and from twisting roads to straight dual carriageways, then forest roads in the Voges. The scenery is magical, and the names are getting more and more German the further east we go. I think Konrad and I will have a fine in the post as we were significantly over the 50mph speed limit in the last section and we both got flashed by a rear facing camera. Leon was clever enough to hang back so he saw the flashes and ensured he wasn't breaking the law!

We had a great meal. Bread, cheese, ham, chilli con carne, English breakfast and pasta fusion,  ice cream beers and wine. Great evening topped-off watching some Euro football. Tomorrow, we cross the Rhine into Germany and into Baden-Baden where we hit B500 and the Black Forest roads. An easier day, but we are really looking forward to it.



Mileage:622
Beers / Drinks: 18 beers + 1 bottle of white
Fines: 0 (me and Leon may have fines in post)
Bribes: 0
Ass pain: 7/10
Mechanical issues: 0 (long start, flat battery and overheating excluded)
Accidents: 0
Wetness: 6/10 (Minute drizzle leaving home)
Coldness: 2/10
Theft count: 0
Country Count: 3

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 5 - Canazei (I) to Canazei (I)

Image
  Day 5 - Canazei (I) to Canazei (I) Tuesday 18/06/2023 ----------------------------------- Rest Day / Mountain Hiking / Passo Pordoi After a long sleep we finally got up and gave Konrad and his gear a lift to the cable car station on the Passo Pordoi. From there Leon and I continued up the road to Arabba where we had coffee, brunch and nice ice-cream whilst taking-in the views. The road to Arabba was stunning but very busy with processions of motorbikes and supercars. Riding back afforded a new set of views and we soaked it all up. Where Konrad was heading looked spectacular, I look forward to his update. I seem to have picked up a cold so I'm not feeling the best but despite the cool night it's been 27C here today back in Canazei. Leon and I explored Canazei, had a beer and did some shopping including testing the bottom wine bracket offerings. According to Leon's restaurateur friend, 2023 was a good year for the box wine. It was actually pretty good! Update from Konrad: -...
Read more

Day 6 - Canazei (I) to Canazei (I)

Image
Day 6 - Canazei (I) to Canazei (I) Wednesday 19/06/2023 --------------------------------------- Today's plan was riding the Marmolada Loop. Before we could crack-on and discover this treasure, we had to wait for Konrad to come back down from the mountains. Konrad - I left the hut with a Kiwi I met the night before after breakfast, having enjoyed a beautiful sunrise at 5am. The ice was more solid today rather than slush which made things easier to hike on. We hiked down to another rifugio and had a coffee, before taking the cable car down from Sass Pordoi. After a short walk and two more cable cars , I got back to camp and got ready to join in on an epic ride. 3152m to 1500m was a bit of a temperature shock but it was pleasant to be back out of the snow.  Once reunited, we jumped back on the bikes and headed back up Passo Sella. We then rode to Pian de Selva which was busy but very beautiful (more traffic made up of supercars and campervans). We then rode to Corvara which is a very ...
Read more

Day 4 - Fussen (D) to Timmelsjoch (A) to Canazei (I)

Image
Day 4 - Fussen (German Alps) - (D) to Timmelsjoch - (A) to Canazei (I) Monday 17/06/2023 ----------------------------------- A Very Long Day of multiple Large Mountain Passes We left nice and early as we knew that we had a very good but challenging day ahead of us. We rode into Fussen and saw more nice scenery but it was a busy Monday morning with more traffic than  expected as we crossed into Austria. We first hit the Fern Pass, again more traffic but good alpine views and a sign of what we had to come. We stopped in Imst to check that the Timmelsjoch pass was reopened after an earlier rockfall, luckily it was so we stuck to the original route. We paid the €17 toll for the pass and drove through some incredibly snowy roads and threw snowballs at each other at 2500m. It was busy but a great ride up. Coming down we crossed into Italy, free-flowing roads, sunshine and some of the best riding I have ever done. Coming down we immediately went back up the Passo Geovo which was incredibl...
Read more