Mel's Road Trip to Budapest

"After arriving in France and getting my bike off the Eurotunnel, we stayed overnight in Coquelles. We set off around 9am, and when I opted to stop in Arras for coffee, I forgot about the cobblestones…not a lot of fun on a 391kg Harley! We decided to take a non-motorway route to absorb some of the scenery, but after 30 mins of nearly melting in our gear, we happily jumped back on the peage just for the breeze. That night, we stayed in a very lovely guest house in the sleepy town of Poissons, where we were most grateful for the aircon."

"Let me just sum this up... Riding in Italy - Scary, a bit of a nightmare, but very beautiful. The views of the Dolomites always take my breath away. I think we traversed 4 or 5 mountain passes today. I am very much looking forward to getting into the jazuzzi at our hotel tonight!"

"Slovenia is absolutely beautiful, especially the area surrounding Lake Bled! Everyone speaks English, it’s cheap, and I don’t know why I’ve never come here before. Ironically, after several days in Italy, we seemed to have waited until now before we had pizza. Thankfully, it didn’t disappoint. If you enjoy nature, then Bled is a dream come true! It was definitely needed before the 5-hour non-motorway ride to Budapest where it felt like we were riding on the surface of the sun."

"On the first day of the rally, we mostly wandered around the trade stalls and the custom bike show, seeking out any shade we could. We also took a beautiful boat tour. It was strange to be off the bike for so long! The architecture in this city is breathtaking, and we still managed to enjoy it in the 37°c heat. After all of that sun came the rain... So, what do a bunch of bikers do when they can’t stand outside and watch a band? They cram inside a tent and rock out to a DJ instead."

"No offense to the Hungarians but the riding here is rather uninspiring, and I couldn't wait to get to the border and arrive in Austria. The landscape in Austria was much greener and the landscape more manicured. The Czech Republic made the roads and our bikes pretty wet, but the road spray washed the dead bugs off my riding jeans. The Bohemian Forest, known as Sumava or Böhmerwald depending upon if you are in Czech or Germany, is a lovely low mountain range between the Czech Republic and Bavaria, Germany. It’s heavily forested and the roads are scenic without being overly challenging. We were too busy to take any photos of our journey on the road, but we did visit a castle and pop into a lovely small Harley dealership in the Czech Republic."

"We checked out of our hotel in Cesky Krumlov and plotted a route to Thunderbike in Germany. The idea was to ride as far as we could until we were too tired to carry on, and then find a hotel. After 4hrs of riding at speeds of 30-60mph through the forests of Czech Bohemia, we reached Germany, where we hit the Autobahn and hit the gas! In 2hrs on the Autobahn we covered nearly as many miles as 4hrs of Czech non-motorway riding. We chatted with some guys from the Geordie Chapter before entering what can only be described as the amazing Thunderbike H-D dealership and custom bike shop. After a few hours of drooling and shopping, we pointed towards Calais. Unfortunately we didn’t get far before the inevitable Umleitung (German for diversion) meant we didn’t cover as much ground as we wanted.  Just outside Venlo, Netherlands, the heavens opened and we opted for the first hotel we stumbled across. From there, our trip home was uneventful, and we knew we were back in good old Blighty when it started raining and we were shivering for the first time in ages."