Singapore to Ireland
From Asia to Europe by Motorcycle
The Project
I am riding a motorcycle from Singapore to Ireland in support of the Lotus Children’s Centre in Mongolia.
Read more about the work of Lotus and my route on the About & Donate pages.
You can support the children of Lotus and my ride across Asia and Europe, by making a donation to Lotus Children’s Centre through Virgin Money giving.
Thank you for your support.
8th October 2014 5-17’C 275km
Zell am See – Munich (Germany)
A quick pack up of the tent, before riding onto Germany and some brilliant views climbing over the pass, followed by awesome riding through the black forest, twisty roads, little traffic and falling autumn leaves. Just golden.
I arrived at Nicholas & Melinda’s house in Munich in the late afternoon and settled in to catchup with good friends over dinner and some beers.
7th October 2014 2-15℃ 264km
Matrei – Zell am See
It is always nice to stay in a family home, especially in Austria/Germany. Breakfast is served at the usual family table, with coffee, newspapers and generally quiet conversation. It’s a nice way to start the day.
After packing the bike, I headed back towards Lienz, and then up the magnificent Großglockner road.
As a designated ‘tourist’ road, it has a toll, €24 for bikes! Ouch. My €24 Euro giving me a day-permit to ride the road.
It was still very misty, and I took my time heading up to the top, on Austria’s highest road. At the peak, it was a chilly 2℃, and the cloud obscured almost all the view, so I stopped for a coffee and cake, hoping it would clear. It didn’t. So I rode down the other side and enjoyed it so much, I decided to do the whole thing again. I turned around and rode back over the mountain, absolutely fanging it where it was appropriate to do so. Super tight hairpin bends, I finally managed to get the bike properly leaned over. It was an absolute blast.
On the way back down from one of the side roads, there was another rider in front of me on a R1200. At one of the very tight bends, she came to a stop when she saw an oncoming car, and with the ground too far away to put a foot down, she toppled over, the bike ontop of her.
The road was so steep there was no way I could stop where I was, so I hooked a uturn and parked on the other side of the road, and ran over to help her lift the bike. By this time she’d wiggled out from under the machine. We got it back up on two wheels and she remounted to head back down the hill. Fortunately only some broken plastic, and hurt pride the damage.
I blasted back down the mountain, with a few photo stops and into the town of Zell am See, where I located a campsite right beside the lake. And after setting up my nylon hotel for the night, I headed for dinner at a nearby restaurant.
A good day riding. I’m pretty sure I need a new set of brake pads now, and I know I definitely need a new front tyre, which has been ordered for delivery to Nicholas’ house on Munich so I should be able to install that later in the week.
6th October 2014 11-15’C 264km
Lake Bohinjka – Tolmezzo (Italy) – Matrei (Austria)
Three countries in one day today. I started the day with breakfast in Slovenia, before crossing into Italy for lunch, followed by dinner in Austria.
It was a cool morning leaving the lake, but I cruised out of town and entered Italian territory at around 11am. I made my way to the first pizza place I spotted in the town of Tarvisio, and enjoyed an excellent, proper pizza for the first time in months, followed by some excellent gelato, bacio & chocolate. Italians really know how to do gelato, no surprise.
From Tarvisio I rode onto Tolmezzo and through a string of stunning little villages nestled in the valleys, before commencing the ludicrously steep climb up the Strada Statale 52 to the Austrian border. Hairpin after hairpin turn, it was a brilliant ride to the top before a fast and long descent on the Austrian side. The villages now very Austrian, just a beautiful, but with that Tirolean style. I missed my turn in the town of Lienz and had not realised my error, continuing 30km down the road and ended up it Matrei, which means some backtracking tomorrow. But I have a great guesthouse for the night in a family home, with the bike parked in the garage. I located a good restaurant and enjoyed some locally caught trout and Austrian wine, both of which were stand-outs of Sud-Tirol cuisine.
Its been a brilliant day for eating and riding!
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