Would Sir like a weekend in the Dolomites with a topping of Nordschliefe?

[Monners]

So after riding from London to the Brecon Beacons in Wales two weeks ago and then Cornwall last weekend I decided to do something really silly and ride to the Dolomites since I've been wanting to go all year and it was getting unlikely before the snow came! It was a pretty optimistic proposition to say the least! 16 hours according to Google and I figured I would knock a few hours off that riding quickly through the night. Stuttgart was seven hours down so I decided that would be a handy place to aim for Friday evening as I could hopefully manage it by about 0100 - 0200hrs!


I didn't get away from work until after six and needless to say it was already raining as I rocked up at the Channel Tunnel terminal with absolutely zero plans other than putting 'Dolomites' into Google Maps and packing my old military roll matt and goretex bivi sheet!

With the hours time difference it was already after nine in the evening so my initial thoughts of getting as far as Stuttgart were looking unlikely but I didn't really care as I figured if I couldn't get far enough to make the Dolomites on Saturday I could just turn right en route and head into the Western Alps around Como or something like that. I would never take the boring peage normally but I needed to cover mega miles so I just stuck cruise control on hyperdrive and relaxed into the GS comfy seat on the super smooth and empty French roads! First lesson was learnt after a couple of fuel stops when I nearly got stranded at 2300hrs near Reims due to my debit card not being taken by the automatic fuel machines.

The 1250GS will do 160 -180 miles to a tank of fuel at normal speeds but if you own a private french race track and go at near top speeds it turns out it goes right down to 80 miles a tank!! I guess it's because most people are not looking for big speeds so the bike doesn't have the equivelent of the long 6th gear that the RR has. Cruise control speed revised down 20mph less and the bike will happily cruise for about 130 or more miles which is a decent compromise. I decided to push for another hour or so towards Metz close to the German border and eventually was too tired to continue and setup my amazing mobile hotel at the back of a truckstop! A trucker having his generator on all night didn't help my rest but I at least didn't get man ***** and was able to get a sink wash in the morning

 

[Monners]

From my luxurious location I had another nine hours to the Dolomites which frankly was cutting it a bit thin. I needed to work on Monday but I could do that remotely so that was ok from half way home, perhaps the Black Mountains, but had to be in the Canary Wharf office for Tuesday. I cracked on regardless and was super happy to have the sun shining lovely and hot once I reached the Swiss lake near Konstanz after escaping the rain in the UK. I eventually got to Austria and passed Innsbrook which always looks amazing sitting below the huge grey Austrian mountains and then into Italy via the Brenner pass after dark. The Brenner Pass is a fast sweeping dual carriageway that takes you into the Dolomites and I headed towards the city of Bozen just because it looked close to the main mountain area.

My only real ambition of the trip was to wake up on the mountains to some amazing view so I spotted a likely looking mountain sign 'Val Gardena' near the town of Santa Christina. Bare in mind it was midnight, pitch black and I had done zero research other than seeing some beautiful spikey mountains online so I had no idea where I was going! I went up the mountain from the town and followed a gravel track through the forest for about half an hour until I could see the stars again. The track had some concrete on the steep parts but it got steeper and steeper and I followed it until I was too concerned that I wouldn't be able to ride back down again if it snowed during the night! I had passed a barrier on the way up so was a bit concerned I wasn't supposed to be there on a bike but found an old wooden hut to give me a bit of cover and layed out my roll matt and sleeping bag for some well earnt rest at about 0100hrs. It took a few hours to sleep since as it turned out I was up at 2500m and I think suffering a little from the altitude due to tiredness perhaps! The bike however had been faultless climbing the mountain with all my heavy gear on the back.

 

[bmwbadboy]

Man, you're crazy Amazing trip tho!

 

[Flyingscotsman]

That looks like a lot of fun! I like your bike-tent. Scotland should be a dawdle.

 

[Monners]

I awoke early as the sun started to come out and waited with baited breath in the hope of a good location. It turned out I had ended up on one of the most famous mountains in the Dolomites. Seceda is home to one of the biggest gradient change ski runs in the Alps! Despite a little snow at the peaks the temperature was quite high so I decided to risk trying to get the bike up the 45 degree tracks to get a bit higher up before going on foot to check out the views.

The views were mind blowing. From 2500m there was a sheer drop of about 1000m looking into the adjacent valley. It was definitely the most incredibly beautiful place I've ever been to and well worth the ridiculous effort to get there!




I had a good view back over the area I had rode up and the forest that I had come through during the night:

 

[Monners]

I jogged across the ridgeline to the top of the next ridge where there was a ski lift and some buildings to get a view of the next mountain range and back towards where I first climbed up. Also I was hoping there might be a nice mountain cafe with coffee! The view was just as amazing and there was a destination sculpture pointing to London 1000km away as the crow flies!




After checking out the paths I decided to try and get the bike right to the top for a few pictures. It was super steep with some places you definitly would not want to lose balance due to long drops but I got to the top without problem.


After enjoying the view I remembered I had a long way to get home and it was around 1000hrs so decided to head off. Luckily just as I started riding down I came across a really nice Alpine restaurant and was able to get the coffee I was lusting for!

 

[Monners]

It turned out I had stumbled on their end of summer season celebrations and I got Champagne to help wash the breakfast down!




By about 1100hrs people started to appear having hiked from the town below early in the morning. It turned out bikes were not allowed on the mountain without licences but the lovely people in the restaurant explained that I had arrived in the middle of the night with no idea where I was going and he said it was his last day anyhow so didn't mind!

A load of para gliders were flying from the restaurant area and up around the mountain, that looked like something amazing to try in the future!

 

[Monners]

I was considering going back via the Black Forest but decided to do a big ride all the way to friends house near the Nurburgring. I wanted to try and get a couple of laps in after already having such an epic trip as it would be the icing on the cake plus I'd not been on a bike since being hit off the track on my Gen 3 a couple of years back. I'd done the monster nine hour trip in the car last year so I knew it would not be easy but decided to have a crack; again thinking I could change plans easily enough if I was too tired. I eventually got there more than twelve hours later and got a good nights sleep in a hotel in Bonn about half an hour away from the Nordschleife.


I met a good dutch friend at a bikers hotel and cafe for breakfast and saw this proper dude on a 1965(?) BMW with his mate on another one.

There was a car trackday on during the day so I got in half a days work and took the afternoon off to do some Tourist Laps that started at 1700hrs. I was only able to get in three laps before rushing back to Calais for the ferry but the GS was super impressive and hilarious passing racebikes and cars with the back box still on! The really handy thing was those laps rounded off my squared tyres that had done almost 4000 miles this month and were not feeling that great beforehand! I put in a 9'30'' lap which was plenty good enough for the situation.

There was more time there but I didn't want to risk pushing the bike and spoiling the weekend! I've got some video I'll get uploaded asap but needless to say it was an incredible way to finish a ridiculous weekend!!

 

[Marc A]

Amazing and epic read! Would love to just Foxtrot oscar and do something like this....
Cracking experience and photos mate, thanks for sharing.....whats next??

 

[Monners]

No idea, I dont plan haha. I fancy a bit of Scotland and maybe Norway but primarily anywhere that has sun through the winter so more of the Alps and maybe Morocco if I'm feeling silly enough to try and get there in a couple of days!

 

[stuartb]

Great read Monners, that was a mad blast over a few days, some of those pics are sensational.....I presume you had a timer on your camera/phone for the selfies...


Good post mate...cheers !

NB: Norways worth a shout...excellent roads Oslo to Stavanger is a great run...








Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

 

[Rednine]

A brilliant read and so well augmented and illustrated with great pictures. Many thanks for sharing, top man. :smile-new:

 

[Monners]

Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed the read No timer on the camera, there's a couple that people I met on the mountain took of me.

 

[Kennybush]

That sounds like a great adventure!

 

[Flyingscotsman]

Hi Monners. This is a really great story with fantastic pictures. It's worth a writeup in a magazine

 

[Monners]

Did a vid

 

[DRH72]

Awesome. Great trip - you must have been absolutely knackered!

 

[bins]

Great trip, the sort of thing I would have done when I was younger! That was a good lap of the 'Ring' how did you learn it and how many laps have you done?

 

[Marc A]

Great trip, the sort of thing I would have done when I was younger! That was a good lap of the 'Ring' how did you learn it and how many laps have you done?

This is where Monners says PS4 with Gran Turismo or Ride 3! lol

 

[bins]

Please explain the last post, I'm from Norfolk!