19 Oct Vaals to Frakenthaller

A day to remember as I rode down the Rhine. The best bit was knowing it was coming but suddenly there it was.
I had ridden down an alley in a village looking for lunch and ended up beside the river. A number of river boats passing, restaurants, and across the river in the sunshine a castle syrrounded by grape vines of a multitude of colours.
The colours of autumn were everwhere and simply so vivid as to be overpowering.
Even the bad things were good, a car accident blocked the road, so the traffic was diverted. I found a side road and over the hilltop and back down to a small village called Bacharach. If you are evr on the Rhine, stop at this town and be amazed.
The river with its barges, houses, castles, grapes, trees, cliffs, are memorable.
Sadly I had to leave the river and made a stop in Frankenthaller a place that I hope never to have to visit again. It was so bad I had a big mac for dinner and went back to the smallest room I have ever shared with a toilet and a shower.
nzl04

18 October Zeebrugge to Vaals

Yes I had not heard of Vaals either. The cold start at Zeebrugge got me going, and I was soon in Holland to make sure I qualified for the Netherlands flag I was to stick on the pannier. I could tell it was Holland by the single land road and the two lane cycle track, but it was pristine and unremarkable. Then back to Belgium, which was different immediately. Its an odd experoence to cross a border and have the same physical landscape but used in a different way. It was evident many times on this tour.
I was back to Belgium to sort the last of my bits and to make sure nzl07 was safe with my friends there. She was. So I was down the road toward Germany, it is cheaper than Belgium my friends advised. So just short of Aachen as night was closing in I spied a Hotel and stopped. Something was different so I asked and was told that I was actually in Holland. So I had gone from France to Holland to Belgium and back to Holland. I was offered a park in the basement which I accepted and noted a couple of rabbits in a cage, which I figured were pets. Flemmish giants possibly. I am getting better with menu's in foreign languages but one thing had me stumped, so I asked whats this and he replied, "you see dem in de basement.." so I had pets for dinner, and jolly good too.
I had travelled some of this road in July on my way to Nordkapp, but the difference was unbelievable, what was previously lush and green was now gold, with falling leaves and harvested fields. A month ago there were grape pickers in the fields. Now pruning has started. In fact the cultivation for planting had begun. The real joy of this was the marked season. Unlike the green always green of New Zealand, here there are coloured seasons which makes it far more interesting.
nzl04

Friday 17 October London

The Visa process is complete apart from Iran which I have to apply for in Istanbul. Apparently it will be quicker than waiting in London according to the embassy spokesman.
So its now pack and go so its down the road through Kent to the Chunnell. I did not book online so its cost 80 pounds ! Wow !
The trip is quick but I loose an hour at the France end so its dark as I head for Brugge up the coast.
Stayed the night in Zeebrugge in an Formulae 1 Hotel. Cheap but usually clean and efficieny except that in Europe the facilities are down the hall.
Never mind. Its a cheap sleep, and I am on my way south.....at last.
nzl04

10 October. London

The ride to Spain is ended and nzl07 is back in the garage.
I now wait for the visa process to let me through Iran Pakistan and India.
Myanmar seems to be a definate no go. So I am looking at freighting the bike out of Nepal, or shipping from India.
Disappointing really but that seems the way it is.
The concerning part is that I am stuck in London ...........waiting.
nzl04

Spain into France

Managed a week in Arcos in poor circumstances and an English landlord. It is little suprise the English are not welcome in Spain. So a transfer to Cadiz, to the sunshine and the beach. That was welcome but soon at an end so the trip north began.
Round the souhern cape near Trafalgar, yes the famous Trafalgar where Nelson dealt to the French and the Spanish...... past Gibralter where the English really got a good deal, someone was a smart negotiator to pull that off.. and up to Granada via Ronda. That was an astonishing place built on a large rock with one of the oldest and first pur[pose built bullrings. It was great despite the terrible use it is put to. I do not countenance bullfighting. It is not a brave and noble sport sadly because it is picturesque, dramatic, exciting and cruel.
Alhambra is a castle and grounds built by the departing moors in about 1400. It is grand magnificent and beautiful. Wonderful grounds to marvel at.
Then up the coast toward Allicante where the Volvo races leaves from and then to Valencia, no stop there either, and finally inland to the beauty of the hills again. The villages, the hills, the mountain roads are so dramatic. Awesome riding and viewing.
The goal was Andorra and getting to it was better than being there. Sadly again another "modern" city. All the uniqueness is being built out of the cities round the world so they are all the same.......boring.
The Sierra Nevada's were great, truly great...but then the valleys and the plains. The south of France is interesting but more interesting in the hills and there are lots of them and they are pure magic. The roads that wind through hills, the villages, they really are a magical experience.
Soon however the grape vines appear, lost of them, rows and rows of them hillside after hillside of them, with the fruit turning black and the foliage turning gold, beautiful, but then again its France......
Beaune is the heartland of the best of France, but just up the road is Nuit St George a village in the heart of Burgundy. In French, Bourgogne, endless vinyards surrounding a village who'sife is wine. Not a bad place really !
There are many things that frustrate while on the road, they are mostly things, bike things, GPS things and sometimes people, but to counter that, there are so many good positive people, wonderful interesting people, people doing things, what a joy. A chap in a service station walked up gave me a card and said if you need anything "call me". That is more common than I could have imagined and is such a wonderful part of being "on the road".
nzl04

Spain 10 September

This visit will not be recorded in detail as I hope to be stationary for a good part of it.
The trip started in England followed by a ferry ride to Spain. Bilbao was the port of disembarkation. Along the coast to Santander. A very attractice coastal city with a modern Castle on a headland built for the King by public subscription in about 1911.
Then along the Coast and down to Leon. Its an old city with a hotel ( part of a chain of about 50) that are throughout Spain and located in historic buildings. This one in a Monastry built in about 1500. A very fascinating experience.
Next day away to Portugal.
The hills of Portugal were as magnificent as they were unexpected. The feeling of being in Switzerland was real but it was not, the atmosphere somehow different. Lots of small vilages dug into mountainsides and huge steep hills. The weather was not my friend yet again. More rain so next day back to Spain, to Alvia. Another huge suprise. A walled town. Apparently the "best" wall in Spain, it looked like new but built 500 plus years ago. The days destination was El Escorial. This was the Palace built by the King of Spain around 1100. An austere construction built in the country, but fascinating to visit.
This days destination was Cormona as Madrid was left for wheatfields, and olives, and yes you guessed it a small village on a hilltop. The Paradore in the castle was full so the hotel nearby also on the top of the hill was chosen. A spanish village with tiny narrow streets. Tapas bars and lots a talking smoking and drinking, (thats the locals) but a great spanish experience.
Then the next day, it was more wheatfields cotton and olives and riding south. Eventually to a small village clinging to a hill with a church on the top, this is Arcos de Frontera.
This will be a stop for a week or so subject to some touring around. But it is warm 34c and dry. After 35,000 kms it is good to be in one place for more than 3 nights, warm and dry.
nzl04

England 27 August

The ride from Wales was more interesting than expected. The valleys are not full of coal mines or slag heaps but very attractive country lanes and villages.
Soon however it was over the river and into England.
Bath, the city, is as the posters say a delightful old Roman city to visit. I couldn't find the Roman Baths, Garmin have problems keeping their maps current in Europe. In my experience their maps outside the US are embarrassingky out of date. This was another example. The same problem existed right across Europe. Very frustrating.
So the backroads of England unfolded as I headed toward my unofficial base in the south of England at Tunbridge Wells. Its a pleaseant town of two halves, the old bit and the new part.
The old part contains the Pantiles a paved area about the site of the "baths" that royalty visited in times past. The new is standard issue in England. Mall, shops, rows of them, town centre full of kids on mobile phones, and houses cheek by jowel, row on row.
So that leg of the journey was over. The bike put in for service and I was now to head south to Spain for a holiday. More of that later.
I had travelled from London across Belgium Germany Latvia Lithuania and Estonia. Then the ferry to Finland, and up the coast to Lapland. Throught to Norway and up to the North Cape or Noordkap as I since discovered they call it. A wild remote and windy place looking right in to the Arctic with little sign of global warming the day I was there.
Then the wonderful ride south through fjords over mountain passes, into fantastic villages, on to beautiful islands, out to remote places, round lakes, over glaciers and down to the sea. What a great ride. Then to wonderful Scotland, romote and windswept, purple heather and cottages set in the wilderness along with wolly sheep and hairy cattle. The Isle of Skye with numerous distileries but just one I visited, and then through the rain to the ferry to ireland. Another complete change as I visited the Giants causeway, then through the northern hills and down the coast toward Kerry. Just as well I enjoyed the coast and the odd quaint little pub with its even quanter occupants, because when I got to the ring of Kerry it was hidden in mist.
The south coast of Ireland showed some of the beauty it is renowned for but all too soon it was ferry time again and Wales and then back to where it started 12,000 kms and 6 weeks ago.
nzl04