Hamburg-Germany 9,
July 17, 2023,
Hi Everyone,
I got off to a slow start this morning. I had breakfast at my usual bakery. I packed and repacked my stuff several times as I only have a small luggage box that comes with the bike. I took a taxi to BMW on the outskirts of town. This allowed me to see other parts of Hamburg outside of the down town area. Most of the apartments that I saw were nice enough, built in the sixties and rather non descript. I also went through some of the wealthier suburbs and of course the houses were beautiful.
I arrived at BMW and my bike was waiting for me. The salesman spent some time with me explaining the bike to me and connecting up my GPS. I left my luggage there. I headed off towards Wilhelmshaven as planned. I mapped out my whole route in Montreal including the hotels that I had chosen to stay in. I have a Tom-Tom Rider especially designed for motor bike touring. I set the GPS to go on tertiary roads, avoiding major highways and the Autobahn. Perhaps the roads that I had chosen were a little too tertiary. I saw very few cars but sometimes I was on a semi paved road that was little more than a cow path. For the next part of the journey, I will reset the GPS for secondary roads. 225 km took me 5 hours.
The roads that I were on lead me through the German countryside. The villages were very small and far between with few places to stop and have a coffee. The land was quite flat and there were farms everywhere. The roads are well maintained (except for the cow paths that had grass growing in the middle). The European signage is excellent.
I rented a BMW 700 GS which is a modern 21st century bike, a far cry from my 50 year old Triumph. The gears shift flawlessly. The bike is very stable even in the rain as there is a special rain gear. The acceleration is incredible although I never went over 80k due to the roads that I was on.
I arrived at the hotel somewhat damp and took a well deserved hot shower. The hotel is situated directly on the beach, a few km from the downtown section. Wilhelmshaven is a small town with an important deep water harbour. I will explore that part of town tomorrow. I am rather lucky as the hotel has its own restaurant; I really didn’t feel like riding anymore today.
Love, Brian
gobriantravel 