Harley Trip 2010 - 7

During the return trip, I had picked a small hotel in the tiny town of Eloise near the French/Swiss border, confident that its location at a dead end should at least ensure a good rest for the next day. Wrong! With windows wide open because of the heat, the town's night-time peace and quiet were shattered by an articulated car transporter getting stuck trying to turn around in the square opposite, most probably another victim of satnav. An accompanying truck was also boxed in and thoughtlessly kept his engine running throughout. It went on for ages with locals out of bed running around in their shorts and trying to be helpful - a cacophony of noisy diesel engines, reversing beepers, airbrakes and people shouting. It was finally extricated from the square and reversed out of the village so silence prevailed once more. So, the good rest for what turned out to be a long wet ride the following day was well shot!


The trip totalled 2,200 miles of mostly hot dry weather with a couple of days of high winds, heavy rain and some lightning, many tunnels including Mont Blanc. The European HOG Rally 2011 is in Biograd, Croatia, in May so will probably be a bit cooler, 1,400 miles away, hmm? And, the Sustenpass was missed out on this trip. Maybe both? The Harley's clean again, serviced, and ready to go.

Harley Trip 2010 - 6

Apart from attending the rally in Lugano, we rode up into the hills and around Lake Como, enjoying a 10deg drop in temperature while higher, negotiating more hairpins and contending with some rather narrow and rough road surfaces, perilous conditions for a rider to try to enjoy the view!


Mario, our hotel host, also organised a boat trip around Lake Como, taking along some bubbly and canapés to enrich the experience. We learned of the great and good who had visited the many spectacular lakeside villas, including Eisenhower and Churchill, as well as seeing holiday homes of the Heinz family, Richard Branson and others, all exquisitely manicured.

The thousands of bikes in Lugano, from all over Europe and beyond, covered the range of models, except that everyone personalises their bike to greater or lesser extent, so no two are ever the same. In addition, there were the radically customised bikes, based on Harleys and more often than not designed and built by custom shops for those with deep pockets, a potent mix of imagination, creative design, engineering, fabrication and airbrushed paintwork.

Harley Trip 2010 - 5

The final pass of the outbound journey was St Gotthard, with more twisty stuff and a stunning panoramic view of Airolo with Italy visible in the background. The temperature had risen to high 30s again, topping 40 from time to time, making the wearing of protective riding gear rather oppressive to say the least. The rally site was in Lugano along the lakeside and the spectacle of thousands of Harleys with shining chrome was of interest not only to us but also to the general public, young and old, as they had free access to the site, unlike the exclusion at other European HOG Rallies I've been to.

After passing through Lugano to register, we headed along the lakeside road just into Italy to our hotel near Mennagio, overlooking Lake Como. Hotel Royal, Loveno, was well known to one of our group and is a place I would recommend to anyone wishing to enjoy the Italian lakes around Lake Como and beyond - family run, extremely friendly with character and excellent food. I would also recommend late spring or early autumn, when it's not quite so hot.

Harley Trip 2010 - 4

After a short trombone into Interlaken, a very pretty and colourful town nestled between Lakes Thunersee and Brienzersee, it was off to the first of 3 passes, Brunigpass - not yet really challenging at just over 1,000m, but still offering a very pretty outlook. Then, it was onward to Grimselpass at nearly 2,200m requiring total concentration with frequent hairpin bends and steep drops threatening, and no second chances if your attention strayed. Also notable was the green-white glacial water powering a hydroelectric dams among the grey-green granite peaks, wispy clouds and the remnants of snow. At times visibility was compromised by the clouds creating a rather eerie foggy ambience. Other groups of Harleys were increasingly being encountered as we converged from all over Europe on the rally destination, and several other Chapters were identified stopped at the top of the pass, including several from England. Like us, they were making the most of their journey as well as the destination.

Descending to the town of Gletsch required continuing concentration, as did the climb out of it with many more 1st gear hairpins to Furkapass at over 2,400m. Some sections were protected by crash barrier, but others had just posts, rather too widely spaced to stop a bike! As before, the scenery was the prize before our arrival for an overnight stop at Andermatt. There, we met a young Australian lad on a BMW who had given up his safe government job, ridden through Japan, traversed Russia and many European countries, 3 that day, had lost track of how many miles he had done, but was having a real life experience doing so. He did have a deadline to meet his girlfriend in London a few weeks hence, so at least he had a goal to work towards, and a threat if he didn't make it!

Harley Trip 2010 - 3

Next stop was Hergiswil, just outside Luzern, at a hotel commanding a fantastic view over the lake and surrounding mountains, enjoyed for a few hours after arrival. However, quite suddenly in the early evening, that view became completely obliterated by one of the many quite violent storms that frequent the region with thunder, lightning and high winds. Thankfully, it had largely moved on by the morning leaving us just a wet road to contend with.

Harley Trip 2010 - 2

With time in hand to indulge the scenery and passes, we entered Switzerland at La Chaux-de-Fonds, traversed Les Vues des Alpes, and stopped in the hills above Neuchatel. Daytime temperatures had risen to the mid to upper 30s by now, and were only to dip while on higher ground. For my sins, I had done a lot of the route planning and led the pack for the outward journey, discovering the vagaries of my satellite navigation in doing so. I sought more minor and scenic roads but satnav can take you to places you hadn't intended - farm yards, tracks, and a pedestrian precinct in a very pretty small town, despite my map being right up to date! One local gent gave us a disdainful shrug as we stopped to decide whether to turn back or go on through, choosing the latter as I could see the exit. But, the prize for all this was the rolling hills, woods and valleys enjoyed in gloriously sunny riding conditions, with the expectation that Julie Andrews and those hills could just come alive at any moment! They didn't, just the odd cowbell now and again.

Harley Trip 2010 - 1

The hills were alive with thunder, but there was no music!

It was off to Europe again and the destination was the Swiss Harley Days/European HOG Rally in Lugano, two annual events combined for the first time. A group of 8 of us set off on 5 of Harley-Davidson's finest, not only to attend the rally, but also to experience some of the stunning scenery and riding conditions that the Alps the Italian lakes have on offer. And, wow, do they just! The Lake Garda rally in 2008 gave me a taste of the Italian lakes, but only in transit, so extra time was allocated to enjoy it some more.


The journeys out and back were staged such that good progress was made without it having to be endurance riding, although the stationary traffic on the M25 (car park) on our return did absolutely nothing for good progress and more than plenty for endurance, for 15 miles! Oops - schools' out the previous day - bad plan! Sitting above an air-cooled engine that's not going anywhere does rather over-cook the back of your thighs, in addition to the sun cooking the rest of you 'medium-well' inside your gear! Still, that bit is now forgotten.