May 3rd: Forty Words for Rain

There is a saying that the Irish know forty words for precipitation. I believe we got quite a few of them covered on today's ride: The air was moist. It trickled and dripped at first, then it started to drizzle just as we left the hotel in quest for breakfast.

Approximately fifty clicks later we fulfilled the next part of our challenge by entering the Principality of Liechtenstein (only to leave it again ten minutes later). Liechtenstein is indeed a tiny country, you know, just about 160 sq km or 60 sq mls with a population of only 35,000. Their motto: We are small but filthy rich! On entering Switzerland again we were welcomed by another downpour.

Yet we took the mountain road to climb the Wildhaus Pass. Alas, at 1,027m there was nothing to be seen though but clouds and mist and fog. At least it had stopped raining cats and dogs but the all too present foggy moisture managed to creep under our gear and chilled us to our bones.

During our descent we had to use all senses and the help of our GPS to figure out where the road was headed. We couldn't see a thing. It was scary at times. On the other side of the pass the road conditions were still wet but at least we had a view again.

But it was cold. 2C on the mountain top and barely 6C half way down. On each stop I had to put my gloves on the hot exhaust in order to make them warm and dryer again. My gloves are so far the only weak link in my gear. They don't seem to be completely waterproof.

After a pit stop for food and a warm-up in Winterthur we continued our journey towards Delemont, a historic town in the French part of Switzerland. Finally, we would be able to put our recent French lessons into action, or so we thought. But at the hotel one concierge spoke German, and another English...

This is obviously how roads were planned before cars existed, a lane so small that even two of Roland's size would have issues to pass each other.

Very nice French inspired architecture:

This was so far our longest day trip on a Vespa. Despite the challenging weather conditions (wet and cold) we covered quite a bit of mileage today.  But after we were in desperate need of a marathon session in the shower to get back to operating temperature. Since we had a big late lunch today we decided to grab a few (unhealthy) snacks and a bottle of wine at the local grocery store, to spend the rest of the evening slobbing about in front of the telly.

Distance: 273km

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Regen, Regen, Regen

Es wurde einfach nicht besser. Es nieselte, es regnete, es goss. Wir tauschten das warme Hotelzimmer gegen die nassen Sitzplätze auf unseren Vespas und gingen Frühstück jagen. Nach Kaffee und Croissants waren unsere Lebensgeister geweckt und wir machten uns auf, den nächsten Teil unserer Herausforderung zu meistern. Wir fuhren gen Fürstentum Liechtenstein und an der Grenze erwischte uns der nächste Guss. Nur 35000 Einwohner auf ca. 160 Quadratkilometern. Das Motto der Liechtensteiner: Wir sind klein, aber steinreich! Wir hielten uns nicht auf und waren zehn Minuten später bereits auf der Schweizer Seite. Trotz wenig versprechender Wetteraussichten fuhren wir den Wildhaus Pass hinauf. Es wurde neblig und bald sahen wir gar nichts mehr. Wir mussten all unsere Sinne und die Hilfe unseres Navi hinzu ziehen, um dem Straßenverlauf auch nur erahnen zu können. Das war schon ziemlich grenzwertig! Auf der anderen Seite des Berges war es dann zwar immer noch kalt, aber wenigstens hatten wir wieder freie Sicht.

Wir steuerten Winterthur an, um eine wärmende Mahlzeit zu uns zu nehmen, und ritten dann in Richtung Delemont, einem historischen Städtchen in der französischen Schweiz. Im Hotel wollten wir unsere aufgefrischten Französischkenntnisse anbringen, doch zu unserer Überraschung war der Empfang mehrsprachig (deutsch und englisch) und die Verständigung dementsprechend leicht. Wieder haben wir einen überdachten kostenlosen Parkplatz für unsere fleißigen Vespas ergattert. Manchmal ist es schon praktisch, wenn man sich klein machen kann.

Nach einer ausgiebigen Marathon-Duschorgie waren wir endlich wieder auf Betriebstemperatur.

Da wir bereits ein üppiges Mittagsmahl hatten, holten wir uns im örtlichen Minimarkt ungesunden Knabberkram und eine Flasche Wein und beendeten den Abend damit, uns vor dem Fernseher herum zu lümmeln.

Five Countries in Four Days

We had one of those long weekends where you take one day off and can enjoy four days of vacation (many holidays in Germany fall on a Thursday). So, in preparation of a soon-to-be-happening Vespa-Tour to Tuscany we decided to test our gear and our stamina by traveling through five countries in four days (and counting Liechtenstein as a country which it technically is indeed). Weather forecast was so-so, but that was ok for us as we wanted to find out how we would cope with not-so-beautiful skies.

Day One (Thursday) was a relatively short (but sometimes wet) trip to the German side of the border to Switzerland, where we stayed in the small town of Stühlingen which claims to be famous for starting the spark for the Peasant's War in 1524. We never heard of that so we are not sure of the significance. Anyway the town is quite nice, and the Rebstock Hotel was very welcoming to bikers.

An old barn in Stühlingen

Day Two (Friday) saw us crossing the border to Switzerland, visiting the Rhine Falls in Schaffhausen, avoiding Tourist masses at Constance, traveling eastward on the South side of Lake Constance, fighting rain on entering Austria and finally reaching Bregenz on the far East side of the lake. There we had some good Thai food, and walked it off on the local lake promenade.

Rhine Falls

Lake Constance

Bregenz Lake Promenade

Day Three (Saturday) was cold, misty and rainy, and most of the time all of the above... We traveled the short distance into Liechtenstein (just for the sake of having been there), but returned almost right away into Switzerland as we had to travel westward again. This time we chose a more alpine route further south, and we rode via Wildhaus Pass to Winterthur.

Unfortunately we did not see a thing because the pass was covered entirely in mist and clouds. Indeed we sometimes even had problems following the road due to the thick fog, but this is when GPS navigation comes in handy! Our rain gear did a fantastic job by keeping us more or less dry, but still the humidity managed to creep in every one of our bones. In Winterthur we stopped for a warm and hearty meal, before we continued our journey of almost 300 km to Delémont in the French part of Switzerland which has a very nice historic district.

Day Four (Sunday) saw a sudden but welcome change in weather, and - although starting out quite cold - we were rewarded with beautiful blue skies. So we decided to finish our journey with a small detour into the French Vosges, a biker's paradise on the French side of the river Rhine. Unfortunately we had to cut short this detour a little bit, as we had missed filling our gas tanks before riding into the mountains, so after crossing the peak of Grand Ballon we had to leave the Vosges again in quest for a gas station. Lesson learned... We rode back through the plains of the Rhine area, crossed the Rhine and (for the last time) the border and got back to our place just in time for coffee.

Dans Les Vosges

We are very sad that we cannot simply ride on tomorrow (work is calling!). The donkeys ran fantastic, and all the gear worked very well. It looks like we caught the travel bug again, this time on our Vespas! Looking VERY much forward to our Tuscany trip in a few weeks!

Crossing Borders

Gary Motorcycling France: Okay Sonja, it is challenge time. You are lucky to be near many borders, so how about you riding in Germany, France, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria all in one weekend. That should be a great ride! 

2 peeps, 2 Vespas, 4 days, 5 countries, 886km, and a lot of rain. Mission accomplished on Labour Day Weekend 2014. Pics & story to follow...

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Kleiner Grenzverkehr

Gary, einer unserer Motorradbekanntschaften, forderte uns heraus, fünf Ländergrenzen an einem Wochenende zu überschreiten, was wir hiermit am vergangenen langen Wochenende "abgehakt" haben: 2 Leute auf 2 Vespas, 4 Tage, 5 Länder (Deutschland, Schweiz, Österreich, Liechtenstein, Frankreich), 886km und mächtig viel Regen. Einen Tourenbericht gibt es später...

Four Countries in a Day

We left Italy, and suddenly we were back in Heidiland (a.k.a. Switzerland). The weather was brilliant, just the right amount of clouds to make for a picturesque background. We climbed up the twisty road to St. Gotthard Pass, and found it almost empty.

Every turn offered another stunning view. Note: We need to come back on two wheels (the motorized kind of course).

 The hills are very much alive.

 Just like we imagined the Alps to be.

 So cliche, isn't it? And so pretty!

Now what's that? Yet another country? We landed in Liechtenstein. The micro country with a population of 37,000 is nestled between Switzerland and Austria.

Since we had never been here before we stopped in Liechtenstein's capital Vaduz. The first thing we discovered when leaving the parkade was a fat naked bronze lady.

Second came the castle on top of the mountain. The fat lady definitely won the eye catching contest.

Vaduz has a tiny pedestrian zone. One is through in fifteen minutes and that includes a coffee break, and window shopping.

 Dreams coming true?

Eye catcher number three. A jet in the middle of the pedestrian zone? No kidding!

Well rested, and a bit amused we continued our journey, and not long after we had arrived in Austria.

We stayed in Bregenz, a lovely city at the Eastern shores of Lake Constance, which also has Swiss and German shores.

Bregenz is an old city, the architecture however is a wild mix of buildings of different centuries to contemporary design. Unusual but interesting.

We craved for Asian food, and found our tastebuds very much satisfied by a local Thai restaurant.

After a delicious meal we went for a stroll along the lake shore. We weren't the only ones enjoying the beautiful evening. The temperatures were well over 25C, and we dipped our feet in the water to cool off.

 View on Bregenz downtown with harbour.

 We have said it before, and we say it again: Live is good!