2006 The Long NOT Winding Road - Westward Ho!

It is time to bid a sad farewell to Vienna. We could have easily stayed another day but there are more places to visit before the end of our fortnight break. Breakfasted, packed and loaded, the Guzzi taken off her centre stand, sounding like a family of mice had stowed away. The rear suspension is certainly on its way out. Looks like the motorways then. Bummer.
Travelling across Austria we started to meet up with groups of motorcycles. We had caught up with people returning home from the European Bike Week at Faak am See, organised by Harley Davidson and attended by 50,000 people.
There were many motorcyclists stopping at the various service stations along the way. At one we caught up with this Valkyre that appeared to have a personality disorder!

And here is a rose amongst the thorns.


Getting bored of our own company we rode along with a group of BMWs for a while. On the motorway there appeared to be as many trailered Harleys as those being ridden. Making good progress we had an overnight stop at Jettingen - Scheppach. The hotel was situated about half a mile from the village, but there was not much to see. Next morning at breakfast we got talking to a family that had been over to the Bike Week and they were surprised that we had not been there. We tried to explain that we do rallies back home in Britain and that when travelling abroad we enjoy visiting places and seeing different things. Our motorcycle is an enjoyable way of doing these things.
Back on the road and we have less than 200 miles to reach our next destination. Ian remarked that he was going to take it easy. Well he did for a while, tucking in behind a British plated Norton, travelling along at a steady 75-80 mph. Then in his own words "My head went". Due to us being on the autobahn we were able to cruise at 85-95mph on a quarter throttle and average 48mpg! Unheard of before and since. We did have a close call with a bird that must have been slip streaming and every time we changed lanes it did the same.
At 13:00 we reached our destination, Europa Park. A post on our previous visit can be seen here.
We were informed that the park hotels were all fully booked, but they did have one room for that evening. Guzzisue then went to work as we put on our best sad expressions, explaining that we had visited before and that we had returned because we had enjoyed ourselves previously. The receptionist then rechecked her computer screen, disappeared into the back office, came back and having checked that we had indeed visited previously, informed us that we could have a room in the hotel for two nights and then proceeded to apologise that the room was next to the swimming pool. As if we cared, we were in!
As we could not gain admittance to our room for a couple of hours what could we do but head straight to the bar with our books and settle down.
At 15:00, key in hand we relocate all our gear into our room and then discover that the German children were still on their summer holidays and the park is open until 19:00. This gives us plenty of time to look around the park again and go on some of the rides.
Back in our room Guzzisue decided to slip over whilst having a shower, resulting in a bruised elbow and an impression of Australia on her backside! More trouble was to come with Guzzisue's arm as she got bit during the night and despite using antiseptic cream it had swollen a fair amount. This resulted in a couple of trips to the first aid centre. Ian and myself are concerned as we have more riding to do in 24 hours.
In Europa Park some of the rides are designed to run alongside each over, with a walkway made to look like a cavern with miners digging for gems.

These miners have to be wary of the mechanical dragon,


the runaway train

and a log flume.
Whenever Euro Mouse was not on stage helping out jugglers and acrobats

he could be seen meeting up with visitors.

Throughout our visit, we were once again able to go on many of the rides. Guzzisue plucked up the courage to ride the Silver Star roller coaster

and we all managed to get a couple of goes on the new Atlantica water ride in between its teething problems.

Once again we were treated to an entertaining gladiator show in the main arena with a good mixture of comedy,

trick horse riding

and action.


Question. What do you do when there is a man with a pole on one side and the Karate Kid on the other?

Answer. You push the Kid out of the way and stick the boot in on the other.

Here is a film with some highlights of the 30 minute show.



One day we might see some of the theme parks back home giving more choice for visitors instead of the signs displaying "120 minutes to the ride from here".

All too soon we were back on the road again heading for our final destination. Ian is having to redress Guzzisue's arm, although it is still swollen she can just get her leather jacket on with a squeeze.

A final Bon Voyage from Europa Park from these people.