Motorcycle Across Europe: UK to Eastern Europe and Back

June 2019. I packed up and left London for what would become my longest ride yet — twenty-seven days, around 6,700 km, and more countries than I'd managed in any previous trip.

The route pushed east through Germany and Poland into Romania, where the Transfăgărășan — a mountain highway carved through the Transylvanian Alps — was on the list. It draws huge crowds; the last mile to the summit was a solid car park, cars queued all the way up. Spectacular scenery, but as a riding experience it wasn’t that great. The return came west through the Balkans, over the Julian Alps in Slovenia, back into Italy via the Stelvio, and home through Switzerland.

Midway through Croatia I took a break from riding and gatecra— joined — a friend's holiday. Gav was already out there and I latched on for a few days, sharing his base in Tisno. Four nights of doing very little. Exactly what was needed.

Passing through Rijeka on the Dalmatian coast I stopped to explore the city's WWII tunnels — a network of civil defence shelters carved under the old town, now open to the public. Cool, dark, and surprisingly extensive.

On the way home I made a detour to the Circuit de Reims-Gueux — an abandoned Formula 1 track outside Reims that hosted the French Grand Prix from 1925 to 1966. The pits, grandstands, and advertising hoardings are still there, largely intact but completely deserted. Jaguar, Shell, Ferodo, Coca-Cola, faded but readable. A strange, brilliant detour.

On the final day I rode the Schwarzwaldhochstraße — the Black Forest High Road. The B500 was originally built in the 1930s as a panoramic route along the ridgeline between Baden-Baden and Freudenstadt. It was designed as much for the views as for transport — winding through dense fir forest with clearings that open up across the Rhine valley to France. During the war it served as a military supply route, and sections were damaged in the fighting. It was rebuilt and extended in the 1950s and remains one of Germany's great motorcycle roads.

Early in the trip I rode through the Ruhr valley to visit the famous bouncing bomb dams — targets of the 617 Squadron Dambusters raid in 1943. First the Möhne Dam, then on to the Eder Dam further south, both massive stone structures still in use today. The heat in Germany was brutal — some days well over 35°C — and I was dipping my t-shirt into the dam reservoirs to soak it before riding on, just to keep cool. The day before, I'd stopped at the Garzweiler open-pit lignite mine near Cologne, one of the largest in the world. The bucket-wheel excavators operating inside are the size of office blocks.

The trip also took in two sites from the war that were harder to process. Colditz Castle in Saxony — the infamous POW camp for Allied officers who'd already escaped from other camps. The escape tunnels are still there, hand-dug through solid rock beneath the chapel. Then on to Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland. Walking through the gate under 'Arbeit Macht Frei', past the barbed wire and watchtowers, through rooms full of shoes and suitcases — it was harrowing. The sheer scale of Birkenau, with its railway tracks running straight to the gas chambers, is something photographs can't prepare you for. What was upsetting in a different way was the graffiti scratched into the walls by visiting school kids — names, hearts, initials — clearly missing the point of where they were standing.

Passes:

Transfăgărășan, Romania (2,034m)
Pasul Turnu Roșu, Romania (1,200m)
Vršič Pass, Slovenia / Julian Alps (1,611m)
Stelvio Pass, Italy (2,758m)
Umbrail Pass, Switzerland (2,501m)
Ofenpass, Switzerland (2,149m)
Flüela Pass, Switzerland (2,383m)

Places Visited

Cologne, Germany — 1 night
Leipzig, Germany — 2 nights
Prague, Czech Republic — 2 nights
Ostrava, Czech Republic — 1 night
Kraków, Poland — 3 nights
Budapest, Hungary — 2 nights
Sibiu, Romania — 2 nights
Timișoara, Romania — 1 night
Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina — 1 night
Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina — 1 night
Split, Croatia — 1 night
Tisno, Croatia — 4 nights
Rijeka, Croatia — 1 night
Bovec, Slovenia — 1 night
Salzburg area, Austria — 1 night
Val Müstair, Switzerland — 1 night

Stats

Dates	23 June – 19 July 2019
Duration	27 days
With	Solo
Distance	6,686 km
Countries	19
Route	London → Cologne → Leipzig → Prague → Ostrava → Kraków → Budapest → Sibiu → Timișoara → Sarajevo → Mostar → Split → Tisno → Rijeka → Bovec → Salzburg → Val Müstair → home
Transport	KTM 1190 Adventure (2014)
Temperature	13–36°C