The road trip begins

Day 1 (Munich to Zell Am See)
After a decent breakfast at the Forchammer B&B and loading up the bike, we left Munich at 9 am







(trip or no trip, wife was glad to get away from their large Rhodesian Ridgeback dog!). The plan was to hit the Autobahn A95, however, some road construction blockade in Munich city meant there was a lot of stop & go traffic, while my temp gauge started shooting up necessitating shutting off the engine twice to cool things down (remember, I am responsible for the engine break-in of this new bike!). The deviations also sent my GPS into a tipsy mode and we ended doing an





extra 30-40 kms going in circles within Munich city before we hit the A95 autobahn heading south from Munich. Although I am used to doing speeds in excess





of 200kmph in Saudi Arabia, on the German Autobahn I saw a few Ferraris and Lumbos probably doing 250-300 kmph on the inner lane and yes the speed limit column in my GPS showed blank which meant you could do those insane speeds legally on the German Autobahn. Like the weather forecast predicted, it was very cloudy & there were intermittent showers, and being the start of our journey, I was particularly cautious on the throttle not exceeding 120 kmph on this Autobahn. After about 40kms on the autobahn, we take exit 10 to Kochel.





From here starts our heavenly ride in Europe thru some of the most spectacular roads one can ride a motorcycle. We first passed the scenic Kochel Am See (Kochel lake) on our right side. My wife yells out on the intercom ‘this is so beautiful’, but,







little did we both know what all was in store for us over the coming 7 days and the words beautiful, breathtaking, awesome, jaw-dropping etc were all understatements.…Riding ahead we passed the Walchensee lake which is one of the





largest & deepest lake in the German Alps and the ride continued with wonderful scenery on either side of the road, mile after mile of pure biking bliss. We started encountering bikes coming in the opposite direction and almost everybody riding in Europe always has a friendly wave which we reciprocate and further into the trip, it was like I needed an extra arm to handle just the waving to passing bikes. This was biking comradere at its best. And BTW, this is pure BMW territory…almost 3 out of 5 bikes we see all around the alpine roads are BMWs. Then we passed Vorderiss and finally after the Achen Pass here we are at the German-Austrian border entering Austria



My wife was shooting pics & video from behind, so I told her on the intercom to pause till we cross the border. Well Europe is now almost borderless and the first indication came when the guards just smiled & waved us thru. We are now officially inside Austria. In Austria, there is a highway permit sticker that we need to buy & affix on the bike for the duration of our ride there on their motorway.





It cost about Euro 4. I still had more than half a tank of gas, but with dark clouds looming over, I decided to tank up at the gas station that I bought the sticker.



We pass some more scenic roads thru Achenkirch followed by some spectacular hairpin bends and steep climb that finally take us into the town Schlitters.







We were already hungry and the time being about 3pm, almost all of the eateries were closed or remained open, but there were no lights or people there. We continued a little disappointed & feeling low, but after a few kms we see from far the large ‘M’ sign and instantly, our moods light up. We find the parking and remain in our riding gear as its about 11 degrees as per my bike’s dashboard. We head in and have a nice big lunch at McDonald at 4pm! Our bright faces say it all…







Lesson learnt- Lunch in this part of the world should be had by about 1pm latest. We continue on road B169 and take a left at Zell a Ziller. From there on we move thru road B165 passing Gerlos, followed by some more spectacular switchbacks & high mountain climbs at Gerlos Pass and then descent finally towards Krimml. After that we pass Mittersill, Uttendorf, Piesendorf and end the day at Zell Am See.















Searched a bit for a suitable Bed & Breakfast accommodation and finally found one including a nice cozy garage for our Bike. Cost Euro 23 per person. After we check-in my wife discovers there is another huge canine friend staying in this guest house as well!! Anyway, the night temperate was -1 deg C and the room heater kept us & our belongings cozy.







It was the first day of touring/riding for my wife, but although tired, she liked it. Especially, since we were constantly chatting on the intercom and there was never a dull moment. She is afraid of heights and hence the steep climbs and hairpins did give her some shivers, but she had reasonably overcome them. Total distance traveled (including our Munich detour) for the day was 304kms.