European HOG Rally - 1

This year's location for the European HOG Rally was Biograd, Croatia.  Distance and time were to preclude many groups of riders going from UK, including any from my own Chapter.  So, I challenged myself to ride on my own.  This meant not only all the planning of the routes and stops, but also the navigation on every sector, which would normally be shared in a group, plus such tools and spares as I could fit into my luggage.  I wanted to learn how much I could indulge in the journey and not just get to destinations.

I sought out scenic routes, duplicated only where necessary, mostly avoided motorways, and kept daily mileage low where the scenery was expected to be best.  I played with the options for quite a few weeks, eventually finalised the route, booked up all hotels in advance, and obtained motorway vignettes for Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia, to make passage easier.  It took me through northeast France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia and Croatia, most of them twice, and totalled nearly 3,700 miles.  The day after my return I found it disappointing that I was not saddling up for another ride, but my backside didn't object much!

I passed through France quite quickly, largely familiar from previous trips, but remained impressed by their massive fields, without hedges, given over to agriculture and wonder how UK can compete with this scale effectively.  From near the French/German border in the pretty town of Baldersheim, I entered the southern part of the Black Forest to enjoy my first real taste of stunning scenery, enhanced by the smell of pine, climbing to cooler air under blue skies and sunshine.  A road closure sent me off on a detour to roads not in my satnav, but keeping an eye on the sun helped me get around it.  Clearing the Forest, I passed through small settlements with picture postcard dwellings adorned with window boxes and hanging baskets in full bloom amid brilliantly green landscape that looked as though it had been fertilised and manicured for the occasion.  Julie Andrews must again have been in the wings of these idyllic settings as I followed the German/Swiss border, until eventually dropping into Switzerland. I continue to be puzzled by border crossings right in the middle of large busy towns, where is must be impossible to effect proper controls with people criss-crossing the street, and the border, all the time.  I enjoyed the ride and view along the shore of Lake Bodensee, and then passed through the Austrian border and onward to Bregenz, a popular German tourist resort, not surprisingly because of its lakeside location.  It is very picturesque.