A TALE OF TWO CITIES

It is Easter 2004 - disgorged from the overnight ferry into a cold, damp Hook of Holland, but replete with Stena Line’s “all you can eat” breakfast, it’s all aboard the trusty R1100RT as we are nicely in time to play with the Monday morning rush hour traffic on the Rotterdam ring road. Think M25 only more so! But we survive and are soon taking coffee in the countryside at Velden, near the German border before pressing on along the autobahn to reach Koblenz, our first destination, at 1.30 pm. Here, checked in to our city centre Ibis hotel, showered and refreshed, we have the rest of the day to explore the town and its riverside walks, visit Deutches Eck,  then saunter back via the Mosel promenade through the old town to find dinner. If you like meat, potatoes, bread and cakes you will not go hungry in Germany. Chocaholics should visit Baumann’s patisserie in Lohrstrasse – no quarter given!

Lying at the confluence of the Rhine and Mosel rivers, Koblenz is at the very heart of Germany and an interesting place to pass a few days. It is also a good touring centre (www.koblenz.de) with plenty of designated bike parking. We spend Tuesday cruising the Rhine on the excellent KD boats, which run regular services between Cologne and Mainz. A fine lunch and good wine is served on board whilst we watch the Rhine castles drift slowly by. Wednesday is spent on two wheels exploring the quiet roads of the Hunsruck hills and the Mosel valley via Zell and Cochem – but it’s cold and damp again, so on Thursday we go by train to Trier, Germany’s oldest city, with impressive Roman remains. Naturally, it turns warm and sunny! But the restaurant overlooking the Roman Porta Nigra serves a great Schweinhaxe

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On Good Friday we set off down the autobahn, following the Rhine towards Basel for our second destination, Besancon in Eastern France. So does most of Europe! Once we turn onto the A36 and leave Mulhouse (home of Peugeot) behind, however, we are running on a quiet motorway through deserted, wooded hills. In the sunshine I can see our destination far ahead – with a black cloud hanging over it. 

Besancon (www.Besancon.fr) is a very picturesque spot, the old town almost encircled by the Doubs river and overlooked by one of Vauban’s formidable forts – if you’d struggled up the hill and through the outer defences in full fighting kit you’d probably give up when you saw the inner defences. We spend two days exploring it on foot (really the only way). It’s almost like a film set for the Three Musketeers. A French motorist, casually parked outside a Tabac, briefly causes complete gridlock until Police on their Yamaha Majesties arrive – but c’est la vie! 

On Monday we are ready for a visit to Switzerland, - just follow the signs for Lausanne & Geneva- and it’s our first really sunny day. Climbing up by way of Pontarlier (where the lethal Absinthe was distilled until banned in 1915!) and the dramatic Chateau de Joux, we are soon into snow. As we cross the border, dark threatening clouds and mist loom on the Swiss side of the mountains. Plans to run down through the corner of Switzerland and into the Aosta Valley in Italy for the day are hastily abandoned and instead we turn South, still climbing, towards Valorbe and the shores of the Lac de Joux, looking for coffee, but on Easter Monday, it appears, rural Switzerland is firmly closed. At around 3,500 – 4,000 feet altitude it’s distinctly chilly, but as we re-enter France at les Rousses the sun re-appears, so we make a circuit through the high Jura via Morez, (an isolated township which produces over half of France’s spectacles) Champagnoles, Poligny and Arbois (Pasteur’s birthplace). Hereabouts there are so many miles of beautiful, remote limestone countryside, great roads, sweeping bends and attractive small towns and villages – we shall have to return.

But it’s Tuesday, so we must re-trace our steps to Koblenz, but this time cross country via Vesoul, Epinal, Nancy, Metz, Luxembourg and Trier, then across the Eiffel mountains past the Nurburgring. Again a most beautiful run through the greening spring countryside, largely following the Mosel ( here in France called the Moselle). Metz cathedral as we pass looks like a wedding cake – must visit. Don’t take the motorway from Trier to Koblenz if you have a problem with heights – some of the viaducts require oxygen, but give breathtaking views.

Wednesday morning we spend quietly exploring the Rhine promenades in Koblenz, then take an afternoon boat upstream to visit Boppard, centre of the Rhine wine industry. Dinner on the return boat rounds off the holiday. Mrs. G is getting alarmingly fond of river cruising.

On Thursday we leave Koblenz at 9.00 a.m. and, despite interminable Dutch roadworks, are on the quayside at Hook of Holland by 1.00 pm. for our 4 o’clock fast ferry home. By 9.00 p.m. we are relaxing at home in West Norfolk – and planning the next trip.

Rough costings : – 
Ferry – Stena Harwich-Hook including (outbound) an outside en-suite 2 berth cabin, dinner and breakfast (all you can eat hot and cold buffet) £204. 
Hotels (Ibis) – 2 people, 10 nights room and breakfast plus garage in city centres – 700 euros.
Main meals ( three course dinner or lunch including wine/beer ) – allow between 12 – 25 euros per person – rather cheaper in Germany than France.
KD boats – all day (10 hours sailing) return fare to Bingen ( as in “Abbess Hildegard of “) 25 euros each, meal costs same as onshore.
Train fare to Trier - 21 euros return (ticket covers up to 5 people) for the four hour return trip – not valid on the ICE high speed service.

The Bike:
1996 R1100 RT showing about 38,500 miles – possibly as good a two-up tourer as you can get for short people – all day comfortable for 3-400 miles, good tank range, punchy engine, goes, stops and handles well, and you can still throw it about fully laden if you need to. It has everything you need to tour in comfort but you still know there’s a bike underneath. Fuel economy is usually around 50 mpg. Tyres are the excellent Bridgestone BT020.