Just 582km to get us home from Luxembourg via Belgium and France. In total, Eurothrash 2024 was 1,904 miles or 3,064km and averaged 54.3mpg.
The RT was battered and bleeding but got us back. What a trooper!
Battered and BruisedSo yes, the bike is excellent. But the BMW Connected App is simply awful. It falls over all the time. It drops in and out all the time. Give us CarPlay!
France to Switzerland to France to Luxembourg.
We left Aix-les-Bains in bright sunlight and 32°C and 571km later we arrived in Luxembourg having endured an absolute deluge (and the temperatures falling to 22°C).
The weather forecast was good for our homeward trip the next day. Another cheeky upgrade to the room in our hotel, the Sofitel Luxembourg Le Grand Ducal, which was lovely, and as for dinner, well that was excellent stuff washed down with a bottle of Luxembourgoise wine.
Sofitel Luxembourg Le Grand DucalSo, 506km and one litre of oil later (the latter to replace the new waterproofing for our boots, trousers and the RT itself) we got to the Mercure Aix-les-Bains Domaine de Marlioz Hôtel & Spa
A relatively short day was planned and that turned out to be a very hot 275km and one crash: a road sweeper doing a left and taking us out.
There was some damage to the RT: both cylinder heads as it hit the sweeper on one side and the floor on the other. I couldn’t avoid the sweeper as there was too much high road furniture on the left. so down we went. And with all the luggage it took four of us to haul it back up onto two wheels.
I was completely unscathed as I pretty much just stepped off, but Alison got her ankle pressed a bit by the rear footpeg (pushing on her boots). She’s obviously not used to this crashing malarkey! But at least we apparently achieved a lean angle of 66º on that side…
It was then that the SOS button might have been useful, but of course that hasn’t worked since very early on with the ownership and BMW were taking way too long to release a fix for it.
So we continued on to Cannes and after more 38ºC temperatures and crawling traffic all the way along the seafront, we stopped at our booked hotel, the JW Marriott Cannes where just one night cost us over €1,150! . When I booked it, I had included instructions that we would be arriving on a motorcycle and to ask them to make sure we had a reserved parking space in the car park underneath the hotel. When we arrived and parked up outside the front next to a Ferrari and a Bugatti, I asked how to get to their car park and was told I wasn’t allowed to. No motorcycles allowed there, apparently! They instead said I should use a public car park a kilometre or so away or take my chance parking on the road nearby. And then they made us wait over an hour for our room to be made available.
Avoid!
The original plan was to have a long day in the saddle, heading up to the Milau Bridge and the Gorges du Tarn, but herself was beginning to flag a bit, so I instead set a course along some nice-ish roads from Banyuls-sur-Mer to Castillon-du-Gard in Provence, where we were due to stay at the delightful La Vieux Castillon.
This was the hotel that Channel 4’s First Dates show had used for their summer holidays the first few series of First Dates Hotel before they moved to one in Italy, I think?
Anyway after a very hot day – 38°C – we reached 1,175km and were ready for a rest day the following day.
By the time we reached the hotel, it was still 32°C at the pool. They let me leave the RT outside Reception which was a weight off my mind. And yes, it’s a fabulous hotel, every bit as good as we had hoped.
We had booked their gastronomic package, but sadly the restaurant was closed the two night we were actually booked in for, having shifted the dates. So for our first night we enjoyed a lighter meal from the bar menu.
The next day was a rest day, so we spent it mainly by the pool, although we did go for a wander around the streets of Castillon-du-Gard.
Dinner was at Joio Restaurant nearby which is managed by the chef at the hotel and opens when he’s not working at Le Vieux Castillon. We ate their signature starter and main and a couple of cheeky glasses of wine. Very reasonably priced too as well as delicious.
Out of Spain into France. So that was the Atlantic Ocean over to the Mediterranean Sea then. And goodbye Spain, hello France. 910km so far, riding the BMW R1250RT along the N-260 (and others) from La Seu d’Urgell in the Spanish Pyrenees to Banyuls-sur-Mer on the French coast. We also diverted up to ride the infamous Gorges de Galamus.
Once we got to our hotel and parked up – after the BMW Connected app decided we should approach it from a footpath above – we checked in to our room.
I have no idea what that clicking is in the video, and no, I didn’t mean the old biddy walking down the corridor…
Food at the Côté Thalasso Banyuls-sur-Mer exceeded expectations; the tasting menu was superb with the beef and dauphinois potatoes a high point before this dessert. A lovely local red wine too.
So Banyuls-sur-Mer was better than expected and they were kind enough to let us keep the RT parked outside reception where they could keep an eye on it. We decided to pin it to win it to get to our next stay, but first we explored the harbour.
I’ve planned Eurothrash 2024: our planned European tour for the summer of 2024.
All the hotels are booked and the ferry to Spain alongside the Eurotunnel back from France.
Here it is on Google Maps:
So the guys at Bahnstormer stepped up and lent us a 2021 BMW R1250RT LE for a few days. Â To get it close to a specification we would be buying they were going to fit an RT top case but didn’t have one when we turned up to collect, so Keith grabbed one off a K1600. Â This is slightly different to the R1250RT one in that the K version has a more rounded backrest with a headrest bit and according to Alison was superbly comfortable, so that’s the option we would go for. 234 miles later…
We picked it up on Tuesday and headed up to No. 131 at Cheltenham – a “cool hotel” – which is run by a friend of ours, Ricardo. Â This was the first time I’d ridden a motorbike since my little ‘off’ in July 2019… So why not start with a small 96 mile ride on mixed roads?
First thing, though, was to connect up the iPhone to the RT.  I’d already downloaded the BMW Motorrad Connected app and downloaded the maps for it.  So we then had to get the app to connect which was a little more difficult.  Retry and it worked. Next up was the connection of the RT to my Cardo PACKTALK Bold – the RT can connect to a phone and two headsets, so that’s a positive for two-up touring – which went effortlessly.  The iPhone then sits in a ventilated box with wireless charging.  That seemed to work intermittently, as I kept hearing it starting charging through the Cardo and watched it start to run down occasionally too.  I have no idea why BMW don’t simply move over to Apple CarPlay like they do with their cars. That way I could use Waze with the benefit of its warnings…  On our last day, a mile or two from our destination, the BMW Connected app … wasn’t.  It just dropped out and I had to reconnect.
Round to the Abarth where we packed our Triumph pannier liner bags into the RT’s panniers and my Givi 30L stuffer back into the top case – which has a high level brake light and an internal courtesy light – and put our waterproofs and spare gloves around it. Â And then off.
Anyway, back to Cheltenham. We arrived after a great 96 mile ride and parked up … in the hotel’s restaurant which is now outside since COVID-19.
A couple of gins later – they have hundreds! – we showered in our fabulous room and headed down for a delicious meal.
The next morning, we headed down to breakfast and our purchasing dilemma given our ‘unique’ living arrangements (spreading ourselves between London and Corralejo), registration dates and delivery periods, etc.
We then rode another brief 25 mile ride down to the Bay Tree at Burford, where we got married three years earlier. We sat out in the garden for drinks and then headed over to our friend Jules’ place at Kingston Bagpuize, another 30 miles in total. Â This was on the apps “windy” setting, with the selection in the middle. Â It took us down some ‘interesting’ B-roads to say the least.
We had tried Dynamic and Road modes and realised that Road mode is a bit bouncy but very plush over dodgy road surfaces, but Dynamic firms it all up and the information from the app shows some good lean angles and G-forces.
A romantic meal with a  bottle of champagne and off to bed.  We headed out after breakfast and made our way back to Alton, stopping only for fuel.  A very windy day but behind the fairing it was calm and despite its size, the RT wasn’t particularly affected by crosswinds.  Colder than the previous days, Alison was using the heated seat which is separate from the rider’s to keep her core warm.  Another 83 miles.
Superbly comfortable and capable. I don’t think the optional Akrapovic is needed as the standard is growly enough and the Akra isn’t any smaller or neater.
Our only issue is we shouldn’t get one before May 2022 because of our travel, the March registration change and winter weather to go with delivery periods.
And as for me riding a motorbike again? It’s good to be back in the saddle after two years.
So we all know that the UK’s Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is out of his depth in a bird bath. He did, after all, go on holiday knowing that his department were about to bring in quarantine last July, and that he’d have to fly back early. What a tosser!
And his incompetence and lack of joined-up thinking continue unabated.
India have only just been added to the Red List of countries where you need to isolate in a designated hotel at £1,750 a time because the Tories were trying to negotiate a trade deal. The Indian delegation then came to the UK and reported a number had come down with COVID-19.
At the same time, UK nationals coming back from India were simply taking a 10 day holiday in Istanbul at a fraction of the quarantine cost and then flying in, so adding Turkey to the red list was inevitable.
Last week, a UK representative told the Spanish that the much-heralded Green List would be driven by the science and the Greek and Spanish islands would be reviewed and treated separately. Then yesterday Shapps revealed a truly bizarre list and noted that Spain (on the amber list) included the Balearics and the Canaries, despite the FCDO website still saying this:
“The FCDO advises against all but essential travel to Spain, including the Balearic Islands but excluding the Canary Islands, based on the current assessment of COVID-19 risks.”
Now, the Canaries – and Fuerteventura specifically – have really low infection rates at the moment, yet to return to London with its much, much higher rates will require quarantine.
That Green List?
So most of those do not allow travel from the UK in the first place. Ah.
Portugal and Gibraltar? A pretty open border with Spain, isn’t there?
South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands? You can only travel there by sea and there is no visitor accommodation.
The Falkland Islands? You can only fly there … via Chile (Red List) with commercial airlines or with the MoD via a refuelling stop in Cape Verde (Red List).
You couldn’t make this stuff up!
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