2024 Motorcycle tour to the Sauerland (c.1700 miles)

[Rynglieder]

Day 5 Mohne Dam loop (c. 130 miles)



Although I was feeling a bit heavier after breakfast, the opposite was true for the GTR. Being stationed here for another three nights meant the bulk of my luggage could stay in the room. The '14 is a great touring bike, but even better when it is not packing a bit of timber.

There was another easy day on the agenda, a loop of about 130 miles taking in the Möhne Dam. For whatever reason the first half an hour on the road was not picked up by the Innovv camera but from memory the Gramin maps on the Zumo tried to lose me before I had even left Bad Feredeburg, trying to direct me out of town on a lane that was more likely of use to woodcutters, little girls with red hoods and the odd wolf. I made my own way onto the [55] and rode up to a handy layby next to the Hennesse reservoir.

I was expecting to follow the reservoir north toward Meschede, but the Zumo decided it would mount a surprise attack by circling round the hills to the west. I had an instinct that all was not as it should be, but it was a lovely road and I had loads of time. Other than speed limits being a bit on the low side for may stretches, it was a perfect ride to my next stop at Wameler Brüke at the eastern end of the Möhne reservoir.
I wasn't long off the bike, it was a pay and display car park with very few spaces, none of which were free so I didn't feel like walking far away from the bike. I risked a quick smoke and a couple of photos and moved on.



Now my ride was taking me along the northern edge of the Mönesee. There's always something satisfying about following a body of water, be it a lake or river, however I was in stiff competition as this is definitely tourist country with numerous parking areas along the route for hikers and generally a 50kph / 30mph restrictions holding me in check. As I rode past the Möhne dam I overshot the main car park entrance as I was distracted by a group of motorcycles on my right, I was trying to work out if they were in a designated motorcycle park or just grouping at the roadside – as there was no obvious signage I continued on until I could heave the bike around.

Making my way to the main visitor centre car park it seemed that most motorcycles had settled by the amenity building, but there didn't seem to be enough space left for anything as big as the GTR so I rolled on down to the overflow carpark and settled the bike into a pay and display space. It was after I had stowed all my gear in the panniers and tucked my ticket in the fuel filler cap  that a chap (Dutch I think, judging by the accent) wandered over to me and told me that there was a bike meeting on the opposite side of the road and I was welcome to join them and park for free. I thanked him, but having crammed the gear away and bought the ticket I decided to stay where I was. I indulged myself in a walk over the dam and back and followed up with a coffee and a view over the lake.



Riding on, I had the now too common feeling that the route was not taking the direction that I had planned. I had been expecting to follow the north shore of the lake for a wile yet, but the Zumo decided it wanted to go somewhere else for its holidays and I was annoyed but not surprised to find myself joining the A44 Autobahn a few miles north of where I wanted to be. At least I could legally wind the bike up a bit until I could find a pull-in or exit where I could get a paper mat to do a proper navigational job.

Having sorted myself out, I exited the Autobahn near Werl. The next stage of the ride was tolerable but not as scenic as I'd planned for, taking in the towns of Menden and Iserlohn before I joined the Lenne river valley as I'd intended when I plotted the whole route out on Garmin Basecamp may months ago.

I got stuck in to the ride down the valley allowing myself a brief pause at Altena to bag a photo of the hillside castle on the opposite bank. There was the odd native settlement to slow down for but it was generally a invigorating run down the valley until I rewarded myself with a stop at Werdohl. The town itself had little merit as a destination and would certainly benefit from the attention of a gang of litter-pickers, but at least my short walk turned up a bakery where I indulged in the sport of trying to make the young lady behind the counter understand my attempts at ordering in German.
At Lenhausen I left the river valley and turned to the east and started to climb into the Sauerland hills. The final run back to Bad Fredeburg was on quieter roads sometimes a little narrow but a very pleasing end to the day on the bike.



After getting changed I bounced down to the ground floor in anticipation of something to eat and a beer but was disappointed to find that the bar / restaurant had closed at 18:00 which seemed a little odd. Something had to be done, soI took a walk across town to an Imbis bar and ordered up a burger to eat and a Bitburger to drink.

A good day all in all, and I expected the same would be in front of me tomorrow.

[GSXKING]

Pete as always a fabulous read.
Your photos are amazing too.
Every castle amazes me and I start wondering who, why, where and when also how much then and how much now 🙄😳🙄😳

[Notty]

Pete as always a fabulous read.
Your photos are amazing too.
Every castle amazes me and I start wondering who, why, where and when also how much then and how much now 🙄😳🙄😳

per square Mile/Km Wales has  over 600 castles more than any European country- to keep the Welsh out of England or to keep the English out of Wales ? I opt for the second reason 
@gsxking

[Hooli]

To keep the Welsh in Wales I thought? as most of the Marcher lords etc were Welsh families as far as I'm aware.

[Rynglieder]

If you dig into history you will find that most were second homes for Frenchmen 

[GSXKING]

We were in Prague May'23 and were amazed at the Royal Castle, it took 800 years to build from start to finish. There's a mini Notre Dame in the middle 😳 it's quite a succession plan over many generations of family.
We walked on cobblestone roads laid in the 12th century and that blew my mind.

[Hooli]

Yeah I loved Prague when I went there too. It's a beautiful city.

[Notty]

Yeah I loved Prague when I went there too. It's a beautiful city.

I saw a sign in an off licence in Prague - free pair of knickers with each bottle of whiskey !! no idea why - any thoughts?

[Pommeroy]

Prague has become very popular as a stag and hen party destination (much to the horror of many Praguers).

Some grooms-to-be return to consciousness during a weekend in the city wearing only their undies and with no sign of their mates. Realising their predicament, the less-studied relation of the 'fight or flight' reaction kicks in, resulting in spontaneous defecation and prolonged world class profanity.

What is then required is a clean pair of undies, and some hard liquor to maintain a level of sangfroid until an escape plan forms, or his mates track him down. That causes a dilemma of whether to buy undies or booze first? Buying the booze first creates a risk that by the time the poor wretch has sufficient courage to go into the gentleman's outfitters, his speech may be incomprehensible. If he buys the pants first, while comparatively sober, it will be a memory likely to require therapy for some time.

Fortuitously, that is a choice that need not be made because an enterprising, and clearly entrepreneurial and empathetic, off licence owner has come to the rescue.

What other explanation could there be?

[GSXKING]

Roy you are a genius 🥸🥸🥸

[Pommeroy]

I tell my wife that Chris, but she remains a staunch non-believer.

Rob

[Rynglieder]

Day 6 – Marburg loop (c.100 miles)



It was to be the second day without the excess baggage, but the bike was feeling too light, suggesting a bit of ballast in the fuel tank was in order. A handy Aral filling station on the main road out of Bad Fredeburg provided the solution.

The intention had been for quite a long ride today, joining the Lahn valley at Limburg, following the river to Marburg and then back to my hotel. However, the weather forecast was ambiguous at best and I decided to head for Marburg first and just see what happened...

The day was as murky as I had anticipated and whilst there was no rain, the roads were damp and the surrounding hills were slightly indistinct as a result of low cloud loitering around the tops. There was a reasonably rapid ride out to Marburg on fast flowing but mostly unexciting roads which included the mandatory coffee and cigar stop at Hatzfeld.

Once I had penetrated Marburg city centre, I chanced on a free motorcycle parking bay so I grabbed the opportunity although I was slightly uncertain how far away from the Old Town that I was. Google maps on the phone suggested that it was only a 10-minute walk away so I locked up the brain basket in an empty pannier and set off on foot.

I had a good mooch around this small university city – rather longer than I intended, as by the time I'd walked around the Altstadt and up to the castle and back to the bike I'd killed two- and three-quarter hours. It didn't really seem worth going anywhere else, so I asked the Zumo to find me an alternative way back to the hotel.







At first it was pretty much the way I had arrived, but then I deviated to a more easterly route taking in Battenberg and Hallenberg. In all honesty it was nothing special, but I don't think I had my motorcycling head on today. At least there was not the constant heavy traffic I encounter in the UK but there was no special scenery and no interesting stop offs on the way back. All a bit meh.

Back in Bad Fredeburg, I bypassed the street with my hotel in and went straight to the Imbiss for an early evening meal. A premature return to the hotel found me getting stuck in to my paperback and a bit of music stored on my phone.

An OK day, but nothing special.

[GSXKING]

Map of Australia superimposed over most of Europe.
Gives a fair indication of the distances we travel and we're still in one country on one continent.
You guys get to travel so many different countries and cultures with lots of history everywhere.

[Eric GSX1400K3]

By that map Chris, I live in Portugal and work in Wales. Used to live in  southern Turkey, driven across Europe to attend a wedding and been to thene parks in Russia...

[KiwiCol]

Haven't ya been to Norway - I mean Darwin, Eric?