Anybody miss me?

[Bigtallfatbloke]

..

Ok...well I just got back last night from the German tour. Kicked off in Bremen northern Germany and followed the rivers south to Basel (Switzerland/Germany/France).
Good tour, lots top say..but it'll take me a while to get it all together to post..meantime here are few pics of some of the river signs I came across en route:


























...I decided against Basel to Montpellier in the end, due to financial restraints (too much german beer) and a strong desire to buy a Bianchi 928 instead of blowing it on more Campsites and pernod...probably the wrong choice but it was the right choice for me in Basel yesterday. I will try to do proper 'write up'soon, but first I need to strip down Shinto (my bike) and clean the beast

..it took 12 days Bremen to friedrichshafen, then another 2 days onto Basel....riding about 100-110km approx.

..did the gPS work...erm...no it was hopeless
...did the soloar thing work...erm...no
...did the TV get used...erm...no...
...was it fun...hell yes!

..hope you have all beeen keeping well.

 

[Dayvo]

Welcome home back, BTFB!

Glad you made it. I didn't think you'd make it out of Essex, what with your 'dodgy' GPS! Or out of Germany, what with those dodgy Jehova's Witnesses!

Sounds like a great trip; well done. Comedy Pilot (another forumer) is out there now, too; thought you might bump into each other!

Sit down, and have a tea, coffee, beer, cheese (?) or whatever takes your fancy.

We want more details!

 

[Cathryn]

Yipppeeee....you're back. Welcome back!!!! I was only thinking of you about half an hour ago plodding up the road into a headwind wishing I was on tour and wondering how you were getting on.

You don't look ANYTHING like I imagined.

 

[Dayvo]

You don't look ANYTHING like I imagined.

Big Tall Fat Bloke!

He's big, he's tall, he's (not that) fat (at all, actually) and he's a bloke!
What did you expect him to look like?

 

[Cathryn]

I think it's the hair! Yes I knew he had long hair but I didn't expect anything so pre-raphaelite.

And he's definitely not fat!

 

[Speicher]

Yes, I did miss you. I assumed you were having a wonderful time. You will, however, need to change your Forum name - to Tall Bloke.

Very brown knees by the time you got to Donau.

 

[yenrod]

Look forward to the write/type-up BTFB!

 

[yenrod]

BTW - surely you could of got a better ride than a pork loin

Didnt any of the Gerry babes suffice

 

[Cheddar George]

One mans pre-raphaelite is another mans Jon Bon Jovi !!!!!
Welcome back - nice pics.

 

[jags]

brilliant, man you look great fat my ass you had us all fooled, btw i had you down as a wild scott sorry about that? looks like you had a great time we all had bet's on your sat nav will it wont it work so is it for the bin anyhow welcome home.

 

[tdr1nka]

Welcome home BTFB!!

Specially like the 1986 'KERRANG!' style pose in Donaubrucke!
Where did you put the guitars on the bike???????

 

[just jim]

Welcome back big man! (but not fat)

 

[Gerry Attrick]

Well done and welcome back to the fold BT(ntf)B. Glad you had a great time.

 

[Andy in Sig]

That must have been some beer drinking if it took half of the trip's budget. Well done!

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

We weren't so far away from Sigmaringen...but we cut down to the Bodensee before we got to it.
..we pretty much ended up making the exact route up as we travelled, we used the radwegs a lot, which for 80% of the time were great, but the remaining 20% were very rough and full of pot holes and loose rough shingle etc...played havoc with my bike those did, breaking a spoke, two low rider cage fixings.
I am going to try to figure out exactly which paths we did take using the GPS tracks (although the thing wrapped around a few times I think) memory and the pics etc.
Some things worked fine, some were a mistake. One thing I do know now is that I am more than capable of riding across all the way across Europe at a good pace...the next tour is something I am already looking at based on what i have already achieved.
I am trying to upload lot's of pics to Flickr , so as soon as I can I will post a link so those with an interest can see more of what the tour was about.