Gwilym's Adventure Blog

After a 2 hour blast from the hostel in Brussels to the Calais Ferry Port, I didn't even stop, I flashed my passport and rolled straight onto a ferry. 5 mins later after strapping the bike down I was in the club lounge drinking coffee and eating a sausage sandwich. Doing a quick google check I discovered the M20 was closed from Dover so I had to take a longer way round before getting onto the M3 and 303, and it was raining. Good old UK! I spotted a broken down bike and did a quick U turn and went back to see if I could help. He was a Swiss biker riding a BMW GS 1200 (this bit is important) that had run out of fuel. I went off and bought 5 litres of petrol and brought it back to him.  The bike started straight away and when he offered to pay me, I refused his money and made him say "Triumph bikes are needed to rescue broken down BMWs". Very silly I know but it made me laugh and he smiled so all was good. He took my picture and we went our separat...

6.45 on the road and yet again very cold at 6 degrees. After about 50km of Czech roads and another 100km of German countryside, I pulled over, stuck a few extra PSI in my tyes and hit the Autobahns heading for Brussels. After 6.5 hours and 3 fuel and toilet stops, I entered Brussels and rode through the centre and past the EU Commission building on my British bike, however being 4.30pm on a Friday afternoon, no one was there anyway. I met up with Andy (who I met on my last tour) at the hostel and after a quick shower, we headed out into town to get some food and chat about our different journeys. The 2 of us have had some amazing adventures and successfully navigated our way around Europe on two wheels. The Brussels underground system however was somewhat challenging but we managed to get back to the hostel with only one stop in the wrong direction.

I don't normally carry passengers but today, when I stopped for breakfast in Belgium I noticed a grasshopper was on board. I tried to remove him but he dropped into a gap in the fairing. So off we went through The Netherlands and he re-appeared as we entered Germany. By now we were on first name terms and I called him Graham. Unfortunately Graham made a very poor decision as we were on a derestricted part of the German Autobahn. His obituary is at the bottom of this thread. Nearly 900km through Germany (700km motorway and 180 km b roads) today to put me here close to the Polish border for the real adventure to start. The first of some new countries and defo no trunk roads for a while. The sat nav took my down some interesting b roads though. I have seen better surfaces. It was very hot today with temps around 32 so it was visor up, screen down and jacket half unzipped just to survive. The next few countries have much cooler forecasts so it is heading North and Ea...

Another European bike adventure started today. I am aiming to fill in the gap on my pannier with all the flag stickers of the European countries I have not yet been to. I am currently near Ghent in Belgium having covered over 500km from home. The time in the saddle was interspersed with the "club lounge" on the ferry. £12 upgrade fee for quiet lounge with comfy sofas, no screaming kids and complimentary coffee/biscuits. Well that was a no brainer. Off the ferry, switch GPS into kilometres and "no motorways" and it was straight into French countryside towards Dunkerque. At some point along the route I passed into Belgium but the problem with "frictionless borders" is I often don't know what country I am. Anyway, I am now chilling here at a nice little (and cheapish) campsite looking at my options for tomorrow, I have to get across Germany (or at least most of it) tomorrow to fit in with my master plan - I will be honest, the first ti...

Not much on today as just going south to start my adventures properly in Austria. Although I have been there before, the bike whas not, so once over the border it will be twisty roads only. Breakfast in Belgium and lunch in Luxembourg before dinner in Germany. 550km of Motorway, motorway, motorway, fuel x 2 and now stopped for the night somewhere in Germany (near Munich).

After 520km of riding from home I ended up camping somewhere in Belgium. I am honestly not sure where. But anyway, it was cheap and cheerful and I am getting some miles done on my way south to warmer climes.