Aches and caffeine.

We followed our tried and tested drills for an early start and, after leaving a note and money for the night’s stay, we toed the bikes into first gear and rode towards the Austrian / German border region.

Based on our planning from last night we knew that we had to use the motorway for the first part of today’s journey which would last around 3 hours.  Once at the border we would finish the route on the back roads in the border areas then into Bavaria.  The distance was to be about the same as the first leg but, it was going to take almost twice as long.

By 9:30am we had covered 180 miles and pulled over to re-fill the tanks, grab a bite to eat and drink some coffee.  With bikes and riders toped up we were on the move again, this time the speed was, on average, nearly 100kph slower that the first 3 hours.

Almost as soon as we set off we started climbing and were soon at over 2,500 feet.  There was still some cloud on the hills and the views were stunning.  It would have been easy to pull over every 5 or 10 minutes and snap away with the camera but we had to remain disciplined and keep the stops to a minimum so we would arrive with Uli and Theo in good time. 

This plan suited us because long hours in the saddle were telling and we were aching all over from fighting the 130kph (80mph) wind blast then wrestling 250kg bikes through corner after corner of unknown and frequently badly kept roads in the relentless heat while trying to predict the reactions and movement of oncoming vehicles.

We stopped for lunch in a beautiful German village were we had a light lunch with water and plenty of caffeine.  

Then from lunch to tonight’s stop was a mere 2 hours, easy.  But it still demanded concentration and respect.  When we arrived we had been on the road for 11 hours, one of our longest days in time and distance.  We were ready for a cold beer.