Two Wheels move the Soul

Events and Links- Route De Grand Alps and the TDF Updated July 20 Peleton just before the start KRY'S BIG GUY at 0730 riding strong Sandra and I since we started our motorcycle travels have always stitched together events and World Heritage Sites (WHS) with super scenic motorcycle or sports car routes to get from one event to another. Some of the most important maps we have used are a series from ADAC in Germany and they are the Route des Grandes Alpes (RDGA) series. So as we quickly planned this 50th anniversary trip, Aostatal and Rhone-Alpen were the two maps to understand how the Tour De France (TDF) was leveraging these spectacular routes in their stages. The Schweiz series was used for the 1st part of our trip from Lindau, thru Chur to Splugen and beyond. You can search if you like our blog posts for other great rides. Here's a grouping we did in 2011. Go here . On leaving Levanto we hit the autostrada A12 to Genoa and then NW on A7, and A21 to get us back into the scenic

Corniglia   Our hosts in Levanto after learning of our experience riding our Vstrom mentioned that they had one as well. Also a 1000 but of the 2nd generation. When I asked to see it, Corrado did one better, he offered to let me take it for a ride.  Bad mistake! He may never get it back while I'm in Italy.  First I took it for a short ride and when I came back Sara suggested I needed to ride a bit more. So I suggested I'd see if Sandra felt comfortable without our normal riding gear on and we arranged to take it the next day. Well Sandra agreed and at first was a bit hesitant but got into perfect riding form in no time flat. She's quite proud of it and said to me "See I've still got it!". Yes you do dear, yes you do! We headed out on the Strada Nationale Cinque Terre (SP370) from Levanto. Traffic was light on this narrow mountain road and the panoramic scenery amazing. I had forgotten how beautiful it was. Then where in a previous ride years before we stayed t

As we left Mennagio for Genoa you follow Lake Como on the west side on SS340. It is the slower side of the lake with the highway running through all the small villages. So as modern day transport trucks try moving building products to locations they encounter many 18th century roads and turns. Beautiful from a sightseeing standpoint, not so much otherwise. We'd chosen this route since we had a day to drive the 250 kms to Genoa, and the alternative is the Autostrada which runs through Milan. Avoiding Milan was high on our list as well. So taking the back highways allowed us to do both until a section close to Genoa where a landslide that happened in February was being repaired the Italian way. Which means block the road and 1 man works on it until it's done or retirement. Neither happened during our time there. We had our challenges on arrival at the Port which we've been to many times before, but eventually arrived and boarded our GNV ferry. Genoa Dock on leaving Apparently

  It's fun again! It’s amazing how the pandemic has been so pervasive to the psyche of people after two years.  What woke us up to it was the desire to break our routine of the past 25 months realizing that we had burnt the last two years of our marriage in a pandemic environment and with our 50th anniversary fast approaching we wanted to do something worthy of the occasion. So within a few hours we hatched a viable plan to celebrate and Sandra named Levanto as the place she wanted to celebrate our 50th. Not that we were married there, or actually celebrated an anniversary right there, but we definitely have celebrated a lot of anniversaries while traveling in Europe and Asia. As a piece of trivia if you search our blogs email us with how many and where we've celebrated our anniversaries. Working on trying to tie all of the logistics together went pretty well. But planning is one thing, actioning it another…. So here goes! Hearing how Air Canada and other carriers are having pr