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After our lunchstop in Lausanne, we continued our ride to Geneva. We didn't want to
ride the autobahn so we chose the "Route Du Lac", the road along Lake Geneva.
At first we tried to find a nice campsite but all campings are full with caravans and
families with children so we ride on to visit our cousins Evert-Jan, Seth and our niece
Niri in Genthod.
We arrive at half past five. My aunt and uncle and my cousin Maarten are on a
holidaytrip but that was no problem. We could stay in their house so we did not
need to pitch our tents.
When all luggage was in our rooms and in the garage, we went to the center of Geneva
on our bikes. While we were riding the Route Du Lac, a Swiss rider on a Honda XL125
off-road bike, with his girlfriend, wanted to show of but when he looked back at us,
he did not saw the brakelights of the car in front of him.......
Fortunately there was only minor damage and nobody was hurt. We helped the unlucky
rider to start his bike again and continued to the center of Geneva.
We parked the bikes near Lake Geneva and walked on the boulevard along the lake.
it was very interesting to look at all the different people here in Geneva. It is
a very "international" city indeed.
Erika in front of the famous, 120 meter high, fountain
On the boulevard, an artist was drawing a Mona Lisa on the pavement. He already
collected a lot of money but it was worth it. It looked beautiful.
He was traveling around the world and did this kind of drawing to pay for it.
Mona Lisa in Geneva
After some sightseeing, we went back to Genthod for our supper. We had delicious
pancakes and applejuice from their own apple-trees. While we were eating, two
American guest arrived who were staying there too.
After our meal, Erika stayed with Niri and Evert-Jan and Seth came with Paul
and me on the bikes to visit Geneva by night.
We rode past the airport to the city center where we parked the bikes and
locked them onto eachother with our locks. In the city we look at the nice
buildings and shops and the interesting people. On a small square we saw a
magician doing his tricks. A lot of people are watching but when a single
policeman arrived and told everyone to leave, nobody complained and everybody
just left......
Past the fountain in Lake Geneva, we went back to Genthod and after a long and
interesting day, we were tired and went to bed.
The fountain by night
Thursday, August 5, 1982
At nine we got up, have a shower and breakfast and at eleven o'clock in the morning,
we said goodbye to Evert-Jan, Seth and Niri and left Genthod.
When we were riding to Ferney Voltaire in France, Erika remembers she left her
papers in the kitchen in Genthod so we had to go back. Fortunately, we saw Evert-Jan
coming towards us on his moped with Erika's papers. he already made a phonecall to
the Swiss customs to stop us! Good thinking!
In Ferney Voltaire in France we change money again and got some more money at
the post office. When we left the postoffice, we saw Paul pulling a big screw
from his rear tire but, because of the "OKO" he had in his tire, it was not flat.
Via Gex we rode over the Col de la Faucille. An easy road compared to the mountainroads
we experienced in Switzerland. From the Col de la Faucille we got to St.Laurent and
via Champagnole, Poligny, Arbois and Mouchard to Besançon.
Before we arrived at Besançon we had French fries and a coffee in "Le Relais de
la Diligence".
Le Relais de la Diligence
The price they charged for simple fries and coffee was outrageous so I do not
think that I will ever come back here.
Our bikes near the restaurant
We get on the bikes again and our plan was to ride to Luxembourg or Belgium
today and find a campisite to stay the night.
We got on the bikes again
We rode past Vesoul and Luxeuil and then in the direction of Epinal. Before
we came through Epinal, we had to drive on a long stretch of road that was
on a plateau. It was a bare landscape with no trees and while we were there,
a heavy thunderstorm started. We saw the lightning left and right of the road
and we felt very vulnerable.
We wanted to get of that high plateau as soon as possible so we opened the
throttle of our bikes. We were doing almost 160 km/h with our chin on the tank
until we could stop in a small village. That was a scary ride!
Here we stopped after the scary ride in the thunderstorm
Then Paul told us his rear tire was not feeling right. It had lost pressure
so at the next gasstation he pumped some air in his tire. That was not
enough so while Erika and I waited at the side of the road, Paul returned
to get more air in his tire.
The gasstation attendant who was doing his tire was distracted by two nice
girls and let the tire pressure go to high. When he let some air out to get
the right pressure, some OKO tire sealand must have come in the air valve
and when we were past Epinal, the tire was loosing to much pressure again.
We asked some "gendarmes" (French police) where we could find a
gasstation. They showed us directions but unfortunately the gasstation
had no air.
It was raining cats and dogs now and at a café, we asked if we could call
the "Touring club" (roadside assistance) to help us. They won't let us
use the phone and told us that we had to go because they are closed..... while
the café was full of customers..... I hope this is not "typical French
hospitality" and we were not amused.
We tried to clean the valve of the tire on the roadside and pumped the tire as
hard as we could with a small handpump but we didn't get enough pressure for
a safe ride. It was clear that we did need some profesional help so while Erika
and I gathered the tools, Paul hurried to a roadside emergency phone, to call
the "Touring club".
While he tried to spreak to the dispatcher on the phone, Paul's bike had
toppled over and he could not get his loaded bike right an his own. Unfortunately
all the French cardrivers just waved around the bike and nobody stopped to
help..
When we arrived at the scene, we helped Paul to get his bike with the rubber
side down again and then tried to communicate with the dispatcher on the phone.
To our surprise, he could only speak French and did not understand our
attenmpts to speak French. But then we had some luck. A couple of Dutch bikers
on BMW's arrived and one of them could tell the dispatcher what we needed.
Waiting for the roadside assistance
At half past ten, we still had not seen any roadside assistance truck so we
thought they maybe did not understand what we needed and we decided to
try to ride home with the very low pressure tire but just as we wanted
to leave, the roadside assistance truck arrived.
The mechanic pumped the tire to 3.5 atmosphere and that seems to help.
Paul had to pay 21 French franc with a cheque (and when we got home,
Paul finds out they have changed the cheque to 121 franc!!! ).
With all bikes running fine now, we continued our trip. Via Nancy we went
to Metz. At a gasstation, we bought some sandwiches and coffee and then we
went to Luxembourg (The R90 had done 25 kilometer on a liter !!).
Friday, august 6, 1982
In Luxembourg, on the border with Belgium, we filled our tanks again because
petrol is very cheap in Luxembourg. Much cheaper then in Belgium or the
Netherlands. We drank some coffee at the gasstation and then we went to
Belgium in the direction of Brussels.
The original plan was to find a nice campsite in Luxembourg but it is
half past one in the night so I don't think we will be very welcome now.
In Belgium we had murky fog. We were tired after a long day riding and
trying to fix Paul's tire. Now in the fog and darkness it was difficult
to stay focused. Paul had the most trouble to stay awake and several
times, one of us had to get next to him and blow the horn to keep him
awake.
Luckily after a few hours a gasstation showed up in the fog and we took
the exit to get some gas and coffee. Unfortunately the pump attendant
was sound asleep and we could not wake him up. We also needed somthing
to eat and drink. Fortunately there was a vending machine at the
gasstation and with the few Belgium franc coins we had, we bought one cup
of soup for the three of us.
Then two Belgians arrived. One in a car and the other on a Suzuki GS750
without a muffler !! He knew how to wake up the pump attendant.....with
full throttle, he rode his Suzuki past the pump attendants office........
That worked flawlessly and so we could fill our tanks and buy some more soup.
At four o'clock in the morning we jumped on the bikes again and went
via Brussels and Antwerp in the direction of Breda in the Netherlands.
Just before we crossed the border into the Netherlands, we stopped at a
restaurant and had a delicious meat sandwich with fried egg (called
an "uitsmijter" in Dutch) and lots of coffee.
Finaly we arrived home in The Hague at half past seven. At our home, we
had some more coffee and then Paul left to go home.
Epilog
I really appreciated the power and handling of the BMW's. Both the R60/5
and the R90/6 were fine bikes for long distance touring. They were
very fuel efficient and very comfortable. I covered 3278 kilometers on
my R90/6 and it has not let me down. It is clear why BMW has a good
reputation as touring bike.
Switzerland is a beuatiful country with friendly people but very very
expensive. We had spend much more then we had planned but it was worth
it.
We were not so happy with the treatment we got in France. Being overcharged
for the meal in the restaurant, refused to let us use the phone in the
café when we needed to call the Touring Club and nobody stopped when Paul
dropped his bike...... But maybe it was just bad luck.
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