Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Rides, Rallies, & Events Euro Rally 2011 - Meteora - Greece.

Finally getting around to sorting out my photos!!!
Well it all started on the Wednesday before the BA Event. I had arranged to meet up with Joe and some of the usual suspects up at Freiburg in the Black Forrest. From there I guided them back to my village in Switzerland having to pass through about 10 minutes of rain.... Yeah - the '10 minute' thing was a reoccuring event throughout the rally! 10 minutes could be anything from 1 minute to 1 hour...

Anyways - the boys got checked in at the Achenberg and later came back down to my dwelling for some warm food and cold beers:



The next day we rode direction South - going by the lake of Vierwaldstättersee where Wilhelm Tell and the saga of Switzerland was born. Obviously a chance for the boys to stop and take some photos while the cigarettes where lit...



From there it was up and over the Gotthard pass - which Andy's GPS didn't like us doing!!!



Then it was back down and onto the last stop before the Italian boarder. The 'Thumb' infection was starting to show....


Let it be known that healthy food was still being consumed at this stage of the event too!!!

The evening meal where staying around 'Blognia' (ask Andy).
Oh and the hotel owe us a free parking!


Next day was a short trip down to Ancona - having a short stop for coffee and cigs. This stretch we had Nick with us too!



Then down to the motorway exit just outside Ancona.


Some say I'm a Jesi!!!


Then it was down to the docks to check-in and line up to board the ferry over to 'In-goes-the-Minister' (ask Andy). We also meet up with Martin and Holly at this stage.



Some of us were lucky enough to have a cabin!

Quick nap and then off to the bar!



Food on the ferry looked good - tasted not good - and was expensive!


After a FANTASTIC nights sleep we disembarked at In-goes-the-Minister

and rode a little while before having a Frappe stop at a cool little coffee shop!



An hour later we were there - and so was that thumb infection!




TIME FOR LIQUID! Those sponsored beers were a real saviour!

(nice thumb Dave)




The evening was long... :-)






The area was FANTASTIC!



... and the campsite PERFECT!


Even a Duc was with us!


Happy faces all around!



The rides out were spectacular - and spectaculary HOT!




Lunch was at a fish restaurant!




Then it was back into town for a cold frappe again and some more chin-wagging


A SERIOUS case off thumb over-dose!!!



Next day was the ride to the monasteries










While seeing all these mind-blowing monasteries, you could help yourself simply pondering about the whole meaning of life!!!





.... but the thumb came quickly back into focus ....


... and all sense of sanity was lost!



Some more smiling faces





That evening was time to sew on the patches...


... while I rode up again to catch the sun set! But I was too late :-(







The last supper and prize givings:




Monday afternoon Joe and I rode back to In-goes-the-Minister to catch the Ferry over to Brindisi. The fuel station we stopped was operated by a guy who had lived 20 years in Germany (i think) - any ways he spoke very good German.


After filling we hit the road for the last stretch down to the harbor - taking the old road in:


We were a little early so we rode around the coast line to the next village for yet another Frappe




Then it was time to get to the docks before the sun went down.



When over in Italy we rode up to see Joe's old stomping ground where he was posted 20 years ago...

His old home...

And then up onto Allberobello



From there we rode over to just outside Napoli where my Aunty lives

She was busy cooking things as she always is!

While Joe made little girls cry when letting my cousins listen to his Hog-Sleighers


From there we rode up to just under Florence to the Hotel Lido - which is apparently 1111 km away from Eltville am Rhine (Germany)!
JOE - you should know that place - it's about 1 km from your home!!!!!!!!


Food there was good - including the warmed up cat pooh with toast!




After that stop we rode up to Carpi where Joe had provisionally arranged to look at a Moto Morini bike (Scrambler). Well we got there and the place was closed for lunch - so we waited an hour, only to be told when a worker came back that the bike had been sold 3 days earlier!!! Bollox!
So we rode on up past Lago di Garda, Trento and Bolzano, and onto a little village called Parcines where we found a place thanks to the local tourist info.

The view was great from the hotel

As was the ride up and over the Passo dello Stelvio!!!!


The only thing was - there was a bloody cycle race at the same time!!!!

Motorcyclists could ride up with the cyclists - but it was very heavy work on your clutch!

From there it was down over the Umbralpass - up and over the Ofenpass - then up and over the Fluelapass!



2 hours later - 3'033 km - both Joe and I were back in Bad Zurzach!
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-


Wow!
Wow!
Wow!

What an event! Sooooooooo much that happened! Sooooooo much that didn't.

Thank you to EVERYONE for making me feel welcome once again - and I apologize now if I have offended anyone with the thumb disease and too many photos of none Bonneville/Speedmaster/America bikes!

And a MASSIVE THANK YOU Thanassis, for all and everything you did to make my experience of this event an un-forgetful one!