Stuart’s GoldWing Blog

Wingless in Limone

As soon as the dust had settled after the Blackpool Light Parade my wife and I set off on holiday, as indeed did three other couples who had been in the Organising Team.  The Event had gone as well as we could have hoped given the weather and a few other problems, and we had enjoyed ourselves but we were also ready for a break.

One couple flew to Florida, carrying with them, as a present from his Light Parade friends, a plastic inflatable sheep.  This was for Smitty, our incurably bachelor Motorcycle Drill Team solo rider of last year’s BLP, in case his seemingly inexhaustible supply of lady companions ever runs out.  Two more couples rode off to Italy on their GoldWings to spend a week based in Limone on Lake Garda.

My terminally arthritic hip restricted my wife and I to four wheel touring for this holiday, so we also set off hoping for some Italian sunshine but in our motorhome, leaving the bike and its trailer at home for a change.  This holiday was planned some time ago to give my hip a last (gentle) outing before it gets traded in for a “metal on metal” replacement in a few days time.  My wife and I did of course have slightly different aims.  Management, as she is respectfully referred to in our household, planned to stimulate the Italian economy by buying lots of colourful ceramics as family Christmas presents (she likes to get well ahead with these things) while my aim was to spend as much time a possible sitting in the sunshine, reflecting idly on this and that and watching the world go by while reading a book or two.

On a clear day you can see for ever......

Hence the Blog has been a bit quiet for the past three weeks, although I did manage the occasional tweek from afar by visiting internet cafes.  So my apologies for neglecting the Blog somewhat, which I will try to make up for over the next few weeks, when I should have plenty of time to tap at the keyboard between spells of physiotherapy.

We had no definite destination in mind and other than booking a Eurotunnel return crossing, we had made no commitments.  I fancied the Mosel Valley in Germany and Management fancied Italy, so of course we ended up in Italy, although we did go there via the Mosel, spending one night on the banks of the river and another night near Lake Constance en route, so I did get my ration of gulaschsuppe.

The “Stellplatz” (a designated overnight motorhome parking place) we found on the banks of the Mosel was in a lovely spot and would have been tempting as a place tostay for a day or three and watch the world go by but the weather was turning cloudy and showery so we decided to move on, hoping better weather would materialise.

... with private parking closeby

Both France and Germany (but especially Germany) provide extremely well for motorhomes on tour.  There are lots of these designated overnight parking areas for motorhomes, many of them also providing facilities for dumping tanks and filling up with fresh water.  They are either free or very cheap, so although all the schools were back in session and the high tourist season was over, there were plenty of older couples touring in motorhomes and using these for extended stays as a cheaper alternative to proper camping sites.  Although they were being well used, there was at least usually room for us when we wanted it.  It is also permitted, and usually quite safe, to park overnight on one of the many roadside lay-bys which are scattered across rural France and Germany so we spent our second night in one of those.

By this time we had been tipped off by some Brits we met about an annual directory of Stellplatz called the Reisemobil Bord Atlas (available on the internet, 2009 edition was 19€, 2010 edition due in November 2009,  http://www.vicarious-shop.co.uk) and we managed to buy a copy from a motorhome dealer’s shop.  It’s written in German but it contains a map and also the addresses, postcodes and even the latitude and longitude of the parking places and even pictures of them, so the language barrier was not really a problem.  So our third night was spent on a Stellptatz listed in this Directory just outside a Campsite by Lake Constance, which was an area we had never been to.

Translates as "Not suitable for bikes in winter"

The Stellplatz was perfectly OK and for 12€ we had level parking and access to the campsite’s facilities too if we wanted them. But the campsite was, perhaps typically of many Continental campsites, something of a shanty town of closely packed caravans on tiny plots, many of them semi-permanently sited, even though they were touring-type caravans.  And the Lake itself, on the day we were there, was misty and grey with a barren, pebbly beach which didn’t appeal much, so maybe we need to explore a different part of that area to give it a proper go.

In the prevailing cloudy and occasionally drizzly conditions, we preferred to move on; a peculiar type of weather system was hovering over Southern Germany, Austria and Northern Italy imposing sustained cloudy and damp weather but it couldn’t be helped.  We might as well keep moving in the hope that it wouldn’t last for ever and when the weather did improve, we would be where we wanted to be to enjoy it.

Austria is a lovely Country for a motorhomer, as of course for a biker, and apart from fabulous scenery and good roads, one of its attractions is cheaper fuel than its neighbours, roughly 10% below the prices in either Germany or Italy, so when you are visiting or passing through it makes economic sense to top up before leaving, which we did.  A less attractive feature of Austria for motorhoming is however a somewhat cumbersome system of paying for motorway travel which, in the case of a motorhome which exceeds 3.5 tons, as ours does, means pre-paying  a mileage charge by obtaining an electronic blue box which you have to carry on board – so you have to collect one of these on entry and, presumably, hand it in again as you leave the Country.  Crossing from Germany into Italy via Austria is however possible via non-motorway roads, which we found perfectly adequate, so I didn’t bother with Austrian motorways at all.  Incidentally for vehicles under 3.5 tons, including bikes, the system is much simpler and merely requires buying a permit (called a vignette) for which a modest daily fee is payable.

Hazardous area for credit cards

Driving from Southern Germany into Northern Italy is however easily achievable in a day so I have yet to experience an overnight stay in Austria simply because it is easier (and cheaper) to drive straight through.  No doubt we have been missing something doing it this way and the two couples who rode their Wings to Lake Garda spent two nights in Innsbruck and described it as a lovely city which you really must visit at least once before you die.

When you get to my age you start to count your blessings for the years you’ve had, the places you’ve been and the grandchildren you’ve accumulated and my ambitions to visit all the world’s attractive places has shrunk somewhat, but I really do like the Alpine Countries so I suppose I’ll have to try to squeeze Innsbruck into a biking tour somehow.  Maybe I’ll have to prioritise and give motorcycling tours to Africa and the Indian sub-continent a miss.  I can’t really see myself doing a Macgregor/Borman thing anyway; I’d rather stick to tarmac roads and a GoldWing than have to ride one of those BMW things.

So, we crossed the border into Italy using the Resia Pass, which is an easy and scenic route suitable for motorhomes or bikes, to stay for a couple of days at Mals (Italian name Malles Venosta) on a stunningly beautiful campsite which enjoys all round spectacular mountain scenery as well as excellent facilities – even including WiFi at reasonable cost.

Gulash Soup - German recipe but sold all over the Alps

The Venosta Valley is part of a self-governing region of Italy called South Tyrol, which is largely German in culture and language and indeed until the First World War was part of Austria. It was taken over by Italy as a reward for picking the right side, the advantage to Italy being that the mountain passes provided much more easily defendable national borders than previously.  Moving the border has had no impact on the architecture or culture or even the language, so it is a very Alpine place, German is the first language and the restaurants offer conspicuously Austrian/German dishes like my favourite, Goulash Soup.

South Tyrol is also a very tidy, well ordered place – not that the rest of Italy isn’t reasonably tidy, but you do notice a difference.  As a base for a motorcycling (or walking, or mountain biking) holiday, Mals has a great deal to offer, including of course the famous Stelvio Pass, which is something of a Mecca for bikers.  It is the third highest in Europe and has a spectacular, and challenging, array of tight hairpin bends – between forty and fifty of them on either side.

The Stelvio Pass - unsuitable for motorhomes!

On my last holiday in this Area two years ago, also in motorhome but with the Wing in a trailer,  my ambitions to ride this Pass had been frustrated because we were too early (late May) and it was still closed to traffic and reported to be under a meter of snow on the top.   It’s usually only open from mid June to mid September and I had failed to check.

On this visit the Pass was still open but of course I had no bike with me – but I discovered that buses run to and from the top of the Stelvio from Mals, so I could at least experience the Pass as a passenger which might come in very useful before trying to ride it myself next time.   So the following morning, September 14^th,  we were up nice and early and down at the Bus Station in plenty of time for the 9.05am departure only to find, as we walked up to the relevant bus stop, a member of staff changing over the timetable to the winter version, which took effect that very day.  The buses to Stelvio were no longer running, or at least the ones we could make use of weren’t.  So my efforts to ride the Stelvio, even as a bus passenger, were frustrated yet again. As Arnie or rather one of his characters, is often quoted as saying: “I’ll be back”.

Onward then into Italy, aiming to spend some time near Lake Garda and in some sunshine, which unfortunately was still nowhere to be seen. But as we drove does the Venosta Valley towards Lake Garda there were lots of apples to be seen, literally millions of them, mostly growing on low shrub-like trees supported on frames, much like vines are.  The number and size and variety of apples to be seen on these little trees was simply staggering.  And when we did get around to buying some they were absolutely delicious too.  They put our UK supermarket apples to shame; I really cannot remember eating such crisp, juicy and delicious apples since scrumping for apples in Cornwall in childhood, in the days when apples were still a seasonal fruit in UK.

Early morning in Malcesine

Using our out of date Caravan Club site directory we found a likely Site close to a picturesque tourist town called Malcesine on the East bank of the Lake.  The attraction for us, and especially for my hip, was that this Site was said to be urban while most campsites around Lake Garda are a mile or so out of town.  What followed could have turned into one of those satnav disasters when large vehicles get stuck in narrow and unsuitable roads but fortunately, as we turned off the main road into what I (and the satnav) thought was the approach to the Site, a helpful Senora came rushing out of her Fruit & Veg Shop waving her arms to stop us going any further.  Since I had also spotted some permanent-looking concrete bollards a few meters ahead, I wasn’t planning to argue.

Happily the Site did still exist and we were fairly close to it, so with the Senora’s help we found the entrance.  It was difficult to spot from the direction which we had approached and it was down an unlikely-looking and steeply-sloping narrow roadway alongside the Senora’s Shop.  Down we went, gingerly, to find ourselves in a different world; it was a campsite, there were terraced hard-standing pitches, the proprietor was welcoming and spoke English as advertised in the directory.  In no time at all we were tucked into a small but adequate pitch which even had a partial view of the Lake.  We plugged into the electricity, the kettle on and the tea was brewed. The sun wasn’t shining yet but the location of this Site was very promising; it was a pleasant location and would allow my dodgy hip to take me into the town.  So we relaxed, enjoyed an evening meal and a glass or two of wine in the motorhome and looked forward to a few days in Malcesine.

Special provision made for tourists

At 3am we were woken by wind and heavy rain and the fruit on the tree we were parked under, strange-looking green things, possibly unripe nectarines, bounced energetically up and down on the roof.  Very heavy rain continued without interruption until early evening.  Management spent the day indoors reading, breaking her silence occasionally to mutter something about the unseasonable sunny weather the UK was having being grossly unfair, and I ventured out wearing a pair of Crocs and carrying an umbrella to encounter deserted streets along which veritable rivers of storm water were flowing.  It really did seem to very unlucky to have driven over 1,000 miles to find ourselves enduring typical Lancashire weather in Italy while back home in Lancashire, we were being told, the sun was “cracking the flags”.  This was also the day on which the GoldWing quartet were supposed to be riding from Innsbruck down to Limone, their holiday destination on the other side of the Lake, so we assumed, correctly as we subsequently learned, that they were getting quite a soaking.

Happily this spell of heavy rain cleared things up and apart from to odd spot or two which really didn’t matter, we subsequently enjoyed good weather for the rest of the holiday and mostly warm sunshine too.  And we made several rendezvous with our proper biker friends, both on their side of the Lake and on ours, saw several passing GoldWings, including one with Finnish number plates, which was a first for me, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Finish Wing spotted in Malcesine

Both Malcesine and Limone are attractive holiday destinations.  During our time there we enjoyed a cable car ride to the top of Monte Baldo where we saw paragliders launching themselves boldly from the top, a hydrofoil boat ride along most of the length of the Lake to Sirmione, another lovely little place, and I even managed a bit of sitting in the sun doing nothing very much at all.  And as a bonus, Management changed her mind about buying up Malcesine’s stock of colourful pots, so as we set off again Northwards and homewards, I was sad to be leaving but happy that we had enjoyed a really nice time there and the motorhome was loaded up with wine rather than crockery.

Mettlach, Villeroy & Boch Outlet across the car park

Of course I counted my chickens about the pottery thing far too early, when we happened to choose a German Stellplatz close to the Luxembourg Border.  I realised I was in trouble as soon as Management spotted that there was an Outlet Store for the Villeroy & Boch Factory, which happens to be in this Town.  The following morning her invasion of these premises started immediately after breakfast, although it did suffer a short delay until the place actually opened up for business.  Why did they have full sized shopping trolleys for a crockery shop I wondered?

The nice things about this shop were the Cafe and, an important attraction for the wandering motorhomer, a really nice toilet.  So while Management wandered round and round the shop, I took myself off for a coffee and a pastry, then enjoyed a leisurely call of nature, then another coffee and, I’m afraid, another pastry.  Management joined me for the second coffee and at that stage her trolley was reassuringly lightly loaded – so things were going surprisingly well.  There was too much choice; she couldn’t decide.

Visitors mounting up to ride back to Limone

But her little grey cells were clearly still churning over the options and suddenly, within a space of only a few more minutes the trolley was piled high.  The credit card took a serious pasting.

However my biggest  mistake was accepting her offer to wheel the trolley back across the car park to reclaim the Euro coin.  It was no more than 200 yards but she disappeared from sight and finally reappeared, carrying yet more Villeroy & Boch bags, some 30 minutes later.  So if you are ever  tempted to stop in a pretty little riverside German town called Mettlach,  just outside Luxemburg, don’t believe for a moment that the Stellplatz only costs 5€, it costs a great deal more than that.

Italian Umpah Band - colourful and entertaining

Fortunately fuel is even cheaper in Luxembourg than in Austria, so by scraping the barrel for our remaining Euros we could still afford to drive back to Calais to make our return  to UK via Eurotunnel, the ticket for which was pre-paid. And as we drove from the Tunnel along the M25 towards our daughter’s home in Surrey we got a text message to say that our latest granddaughter had been born at 5am that morning.  Mother and baby were well.  A few hours later, as I cradled the little bundle in my arms, the Villeroy & Boch experience was completely forgotten.