Slappers take Misano - 2014

[duke63]

I'll upload the journey back tomorrow.

[Bratty]

Some great pics mate and great memories

[Kwacky]

A brilliant thread, nicely done. Cheers Duke.

[Frankie]

Nice one, loved the pics, but my fav comment has to be the fact that Bratty hit the tunnels revving the nuts off his bike and making lots of noise ha ha ha ha.. excellent.

[Bratty]

Nice one, loved the pics, but my fav comment has to be the fact that Bratty hit the tunnels revving the nuts off his bike and making lots of noise ha ha ha ha.. excellent.

70 mph in first gear nice

[rocket]

Great photos and a write up.

[Kwacky]

70 mph in first gear nice

That's a tall first gear on your bike. Mine does 70mph in first before I have to change and I reckon it revs much higher than yours does.

[Bratty]

70 mph in first gear nice

That's a tall first gear on your bike. Mine does 70mph in first before I have to change and I reckon it revs much higher than yours does.

It may have been 50mph but 70 sounded more impressive lol

[duke63]

Monday morning and the start of the journey back but still with lots to do and see.
A trip to the Ducati factory and museum tour on Monday morning. I was in heaven here. Tour given by a lovely italian babe. Its the second bike i have taken back to the place it was put together. Bit longer trip this time though.

[duke63]

As you can probably imagine i have loads of photos of the museum, so just a few highlights.

[duke63]

Monday afternoon we rode down to Lezzeno on Lake Como. This is where we should have stayed the previous Thursday but never made it. Cookie persuaded the owner to change the booking to Monday for no charge. Certainly my favourite stopover of the whole tour. Lake Como is quite stunning beautiful. very quiet as well as it was end of season.

[Perkles]

looks like an epic journey well done guys

[duke63]

The owner of the hotel owned a Moto Guzzi and was adept at card tricks too. Though the fact we were full of beer probably made deceiving us much easier. Definitely want to go back there one day with the wife.

[duke63]

Tuesday morning we set off from Como heading back to the Black Forest to try and find the elusive B500. We made a conscious decision to use the motorways through Switzerland and for a motorway drive the scenery was quite stunning. Again no one speeds. The fear of having your licence taken away on the spot and £500+ fines does tend to focus the mind a bit. we went through the St Gottard Tunnel. Its 17km long with no breaks. Riding through we could feel it getting warmer the deeper we went. By the time we got to the centre the temperature was 37deg C. Opening the visor was no good as it was like having a hot hairdryer blasted directly in your eyes.

[duke63]

By late lunchtime we had made it back to the southern end of the B500 at a place called Tiengen. Parked the bikes up in the square and had a lovely lunch. Locals and cafe staff were very interested in what we were doing, where we had come from and where we were going. We got chatting to this really old guy and his daughter. Blade told him he had come from Manchester and then he tried to explain he had been to Manchester 40 times. Now whether this was on bombing raids or tourist trips we were not quite sure. He asked if the German people had been good to us and we said they had. Only for 10 minutes later down the road to be confronted by a complete arse in a petrol station who did not want to be civil in any way.

[duke63]

Wednesday afternoon was spent on the lower end of the B500. As mentioned earlier its not always easy to follow as its not a complete stretch of road and in all honesty the biking delights are at the northern end. It really needs plotting on a satnav to follow exactly. Still some lovely roads and scenery too. We eventually stopped in a hotel actually on the B500. Very little english spoken around here.

[Blade]

Awesome photos and great write up Duke its really good to relive it all as I'm genuinely missing being on the road with you and Bratty as we had such a laugh. The trip was best described by you in one word "Epic" which sums it up perfectly imo and a memory of a fantastic adventure I will always cherish.

Cheers pal

[Blade]

2014-09-16 18.17.16.jpg

In fairness they weren't bad they did understand steak and chips love and drop the gay sh1t

[duke63]

Wednesday morning and once again it was dry and sunny. The B500 beckoned. As you ride north the road gets better and better. I was struggling to keep up with Blade and Bratty, my wrist was giving me some gip and the bike was beginning to feel all its weight on the twisting bends. I stopped for a rest whilst they went back for a play. Its definitely a place to revisit, roads like you have never ridden before and all generally well surfaced though they do repair cracks in the road with overbanding. We all three had a moment on this overbanding, not pleasant at all even when its dry.
We somehow got split up so made our own ways back towards Belgium. A long slog up the motorway.

[Kwacky]

What happened at the petrol station?