It was going to be a long day from Trier down into Switzerland. We were all up and having breakfast early, it was a good German style breakfast with a great selection. It would really set us up for the day.

The ride started at 09.00am after we had loaded up bikes and checked out. We got on with it straight away by making our way down the Mosel river and onto the motorway. The motorways here can be ridden at a good speed, Autobahn speeds can really exceed those of UK motorways – a steady 85 is like standing still as the big cars pass you like you are standing still!

We didn’t hang around here and after two hours later, we needed the first fuel stop having covered 174 miles. Then back onto the motorway for a short section before arriving at Barden Barden for a very welcome lunch break. 

The route to here was to crunch a few hundred miles in to get us further south to decent roads and because there is no speed limit on one huge section of motorway, Ginge thought it would be a good idea to allow everyone to get it out of their system before we hit the Alps and more demanding roads. We didn’t have any idiots who wanted to go flat out everywhere, so this was not really necessary, although we all like a bit of fun and to go fast at times, it was only Deeds who opened up for 10 minutes or so, just to keep his skills sharp.

We were all looking forward to riding down through the black Forest on the famous B500. We had all heard so much about it and were keen to see the forest and scenery but most of all that fantastic road you hear and read so much about. Firstly though we would stop for some good German food as it was getting towards lunchtime. A currywurst and chips was going to be my order (if they had it), I love a German beer but not today while we were riding.

After an hour or so of chatting and eating well, it was time to continue the adventure. The first section was fantastic, great roads, dry and sweeping but with heavy traffic because of the bank holiday traffic. The clouds gathered and the rain slowly arrived which slowed our pace slightly but our route was cut drastically short by road closures, so detours had to be found to keep us on track to the destination.

There were a few sat nav blunders, the sat nav doesn’t know that you are on a diversion but they try to get you to go through wey-points that are programmed in, even though they are on the closed road. These issues had us pondering over the machine’s decisions while we were frantically looking for an open route to take us in the direction we wanted.

Eventually we found our way down into Switzerland after a needed fuel stop, we rerouted our sat navs and arrived in Rombach an hour after the initial schedule because of the detours. But that’s what happens on tours and it’s how you cope that matters, not how stressed you become!

A quick relax and shower was welcome before nipping over the road for an alcohol free night and a take away pizza. They had tables, so we camped there for a couple of hours enjoying the conversation and company. Bed was calling early and a great night’s sleep was in store, I wonder if Ginge will need a dummy tonight for his snoring?