17.10.2022 Empuriabrava to Benicàssim

 Summary of today: a four hours drive, lots of traffic around Barcelona, one huge truck accident, some drizzle, nice Italian company, the best hotel of this whole trip, and a view to the Mediterranean Sea.

When I started this morning at the hotel in Empuriabrava, there was another BMW 1200 R next to me. The GS is the most common bike in Spain.

As I didn't have breakfast at the hotel, I bought some stuff to for the road here at the supermarket. I could have gone to the German Lidl as well, just 20m next to this market, but then: when in Spain, buy Spanish, support the locals. That's my motto.

So, 15 min later I found a place to rest and have breakfast. Not yet with the Spanish coffee that I like so much, but with an energy drink that I still had in my luggage, just in case.

This and the following pictures are proof that Spanish public places have a lot of nice trees, lots and lots of waste baskets and lots of places to sit down and rest. I wish we had only some of that in Germany.

Great, isn't it?

Spain is very green these days, lots of forests, mostly some kind of pine trees.

I just cannot get enough of that.

Here you see me after breakfast, happy as a pig in mud, with the highway sign to Barcelona in the back. Some heavy traffic is to be expected.

What I absolutely love in Spain are these trees along the highway

This is the road to Barcelona.

Some more and different trees.

Here you can see the truck races, sometimes three trucks next to each other. This kind of traffic needs some concentration, although with a max speed of 120 km/h I felt pretty relaxed. On the highway, opposite direction, a car transportation truck crashed, fell over to the side, another truck ran into it, also fell over, and the whole Autobahn was a big mess, as if a bomb had exploded. Damaged cars, truck bits and pieces, a huge mess.

Finally, my first Spanish coffee Americano, and a Crema Catalana.

1,5 hours before my final destination for today, I met three Italians on the road. They were driving ahead of me, and I slowed down a bit to join the pack. Their driving style was nice and safe, and we drove about one hour together, before they turned right towards a petrol station. I joined and so we met in person. Very nice old guys, all on BMW 1200 or 1250 GS (Adventure).

Finally I arrived at Benicàssim, at the Intur Hotel. Google maps shows this hotel as a high price location. I had booked a room about 2 months before via booking.com, and I payed only 55 € for a great room with breakfast.

That's the place.

I can only highly recommend this place. 

They gave me a room on the 6th floor (top level, best view), and could look down to my Black Betty, sound and safe.

Here a short impression of the Room. Sorry for mumbling German, but I think you get the picture.

My total mileage today: 1474 km.

Arriving in Empuriabrava, Spain

And then I made it: shortly after the last motorway toll booth came the border crossing from France to Spain. I had arrived in my second homeland. Right after the border, I filled up again. As I wanted to drive on, the radio signal for my iPhone failed again. Vodafone had probably not yet switched to Spain. So I took out my Samsung A22, with dual SIM, one Spanish and one German, and clamped it onto the bracket on my handlebar. Google Maps ran on it without any problems. All my precautions and double security paid off!

I've been to Empuriabrava before with the family, at the Portofino Hotel. I liked it very much already the first time. The rooms are great (no dirty carpets, in Spain the floors are almost always tiled), there is a very good restaurant overlooking the marina, and there is also an Irish pub, with good mood music. The guy at the reception is very friendly, speaks German, French and English as well as Spanish, and he offers me a place in his secure garage for free. "For your

beautiful bike, from me, free for you." Yes, this is what life has to offer! I realise that this is the first time in my life that I have entered Spain by motorbike. I have already visited most other countries, at least briefly. To celebrate, I order a delicious meal and a large beer.

I'm happy, and now I'm going to take a break for a while.

16.10.2022 Finally: off to Spain!

On my journey from Orange to Empuriabrava, I got to know the petrol crisis on the French side. I wanted to fill up again at a BP service station. In France, by the way, there is no service at the petrol stations any more. You have to fiddle with your credit card right at the pump, read/interpret various displays and submenus in French and then you get the free payment to fill up. Once you get used to it, it works quite well. At this BP, however, the first thing they said was that no matter how much you filled up, you would first get a credit card charge of 120 euros, which would then be paid back sometime in the next few days. 

Then you put your card in the slot and are told that there is no petrol. There was no petrol at any of the pumps! I was very careful, though, and always fill up when the tank of my GS is still half full. That saved me here. So I drove on to the next service station in 42 km, a Total, and it still had fuel. There was quite a traffic jam, but at least I could fill up. By the way, Total and all petrol stations on the

motorway are of selected quality. The toilets are spotlessly clean, the service is top notch, the selection of food and souvenirs is large. The motorway tolls are also hefty, but I'd rather pay for an excellent road and the best service stations than to have to drive through a construction site every 5 minutes, as I do

in Germany, where hardly any work is being done. The motorways in France are great. No traffic jams, no road works, best road surface, 130 km/h maximum, totally relaxed driving. 

There I met another nice biker, this time he was from Holland. The guy had already been on the road for 24 hours, without a break, day and night, and he still wanted to get to Spain. He had also fallen victim to the rain the day before, but more heavily than the Argentinian and myself. The Dutchman had come into a downpour that had flooded the motorway, with water up to the footrests of his bike. "Then I got off the motorway, that was a bit too much for me. But otherwise I actually ride everything and always." - "Did you have problems getting fuel on your tour?" - "Yes, I would never have got this far if I hadn't had 10 litres of reserve petrol in both panniers and in the top case!" 

Wow. 30 litres of petrol in the luggage, that's a lot. I was apparently very lucky.

15.10.2022 Hotel Kyriad, Orange, France

The entrance already shows it: this wasn't may best choice of hotel. In particular in terms of communication, this hotel was a total failure. The service was also poor. 

The carpets throughout the hotel were worn and dirty. Even the rickety lift used to have brown carpeting, now almost black with dirt. 

When I complained because the internet didn't work, the owner at reception just shrugged in a French way and said "My connection works" - probably LAN, not WLAN. So I was cut off from the world. 

 This is how the room looked. Not too bad, except for the WLAN.

The room was OK and the breakfast was good. For 80 euros, however, you can expect that. The Fasthotel in Mâcon was only about half the price, and they were friendly.

For a French breakfast, that looks quite good. Often you find just some croissons.

The old town of Orange is worth seeing, many small restaurants and cafes, and a gigantic amphi theatre from Roman times, but I was spoilt for choice.

The sockets in France fit the German plugs if your plug has a hole in it. The slim power adapters like the iPhone power adapter can also be used, they just fit under the steel ground pin in the socket.

Some impressions of Orange, and the old city centre. I didn't find a restaurant or café that offered free internet. I would have sat down there with my MacBook and had something to eat and drink. But there was nothing, no service of that kind. So I ate a salad that I had taken with me from a rest stop. I also bought a fresh baguette and Janon Serrano there. It all cost less than 10 euros, I would have easily paid three times that in a bistro. 

Nice places, but no service I could make use of. No problem, I am looking forward to Empuriabrava in Spain.

On my way to Orange, I met this friendly chap from Argentina. He lives in Rostock, working as a motorbike mechanic. He owns the Yamaha JF1200. "Did you also drive through that pooring rain yesterday?" he asked. Well, I sure did, 6,5 hours. "But your bike has a Kardan, while I have a chain. Kardan is no problem, a chain must be greased after such a water impact!". His boss owns a Harley Davidson repair shop, and to everyone's surprise one day he arrived at his yard with a 1200 GS. "What is this?!" the Argentinian said in surprise. "This beast looks dangerous. It bites, no?!" - Well, to some the GS might look aggressive, because of its beak maybe, but truth is that it is a very gentle giant, my Black Betty.

Omar asked my on the phone today if I would feel tired or stressed from my travels. Well, not at all, Omar. Actually, I feel like sitting in a soft cocoon, the sound of the wind and the engine muffled by the ear plugs to a continuous whisper, the speed control set to 130 km/h, my right arm rests on the tank bag, the beautiful landscape around me, blue sky and the sun, man, that is like heavens, and I am in a bit of a strange wide awake trance.

15.10.2022 - Comments about gloves and tank bags

Before I move on to my next location in Orange, here are a few glimpses of yesterday's rainy outing. I waterproofed the boots at home, which worked well. At least my feet stayed dry during six hours of intense rain riding. The rain overall also kept tight. 

The Touratec tank bag was a disappointment. It got considerably wet on the inside. Fortunately, most of the things in the tank bag were packed in plastic bags. But you shouldn't put papers there, and that's exactly what you want. Travel documents, for example.

Another weak point were the BMW hand guards over the grips. They are more like crash protectors than rain deflectors. In any case, my gloves were dripping wet. So if you go on rainy tours, you should do something preventive to avoid wet, clammy hands. Of course, you can work against it with the grip heater, but I'm always a little worried that the battery won't charge enough. Moreover, switching on the grip heater does not eliminate the root cause, but only insufficiently treats the symptoms.

14.10.2022, first day on the road

08:30 am. Still on the car train to Lörrach. Had a good sleep, after a quite adventurous loading the bike on the train. I had to take the tank bag off to be able to lower myself down onto the tank. The Waggon is only 1,53 m high. The bike with windshield has 1:43 m. The waggon’s steel floor was slippery wet. Walter from Switzerland was experienced, he took the lead. „What one man can do, another man can do“. It all worked out well. 

The white BMW below is a very nice one, sort of like a naked bike with a traditional looking lamp and speed instruments, plus a huge wind shield. Walter wasn't that high, so maybe this 1200R would be a good bike for Susan.

Walter and his wife are 67 and 66 years old. They came back from a three months trip to Scandinavia. Really nice and friendly people. Walter's wife looked after the luggage, particularly the tank bags, while Walter and I had to embark the train. We had to wear our helmets, for good reasons. You have to lie on the tank, behind the wind shield, to make it into the lower deck of the waggon. Not an easy exercise.

In this video you see where the train crew fasted the straps for securing the bike.

Nice people, aren't they?

 

In the video you see how low the decks are.

Finally in the train. I started in Garding already at 3pm or so, way too early, but I wanted to avoid the heavy rain that was forecasted. I got into my train compartment only at 8:30 pm.

Due to Corona reasons, the train crew tried to give every traveling party a separate compartment. So, I had this here for myself, which was a great luxury.

I made my bed in the middle bunk and I slept in no time, really comfortable and cosy

Next morning, after a mystical night, the crew even served a tasty hot coffee and a sandwich with marmalade. Exquisit!

The whole night it did not rain at all. Just when we arrived, it started pooring down. So, for the first time ever I tried my rain protection gear - and it was perfect. Very warm and dry. It is a bit bizarre: you drive in heavy rain, partly with less than 300 m sight, and it feels as if you sit in a car. You hear the rain on the helmet, see the raindrops on the visir, but that is about it.

This is the place where I stayed. The Fasthotel, right after the highway exit. It is more of a motel, really. It wouldn't win the local beauty contest, but it is clean and the bed is good quality, and it is only for one night. I booked via booking.com, for a good price (around 48€).

At 16:30 I arrived at the Fasthotel in Mâcon. Plain little motel, directly at the highway exit. There is a Novotel nearby with a bistro in it. Here I gave myself a treat. Meals in France are quite expensive. This small salad and a beer were 25 Euros.

The breakfast was only 7€ or so, with more than the usual French croissons, but toast, fresh rolls, eggs, ham, cheese, jam, butter, good coffee choices, juice, plus variations of pastries. So, really good.