A trip to Lake Garda and back – well… not in one day, but over Easter.
We set off early on Good Friday, April 7th, 2023. We were planning to meet at 9:00 AM at the big yellow "M" in Bad Tölz, which meant an hour's drive. Well... for most of us, anyway. I think Monika, Stefan, and Robert probably drove considerably longer (Why do you live so far away ?! ).
So for me, that meant being at my girlfriend's place by 7 a.m., since she was coming along as a passenger and our clothes still needed to be repacked into the panniers. Then off we went, and – rather unusually for me – we took the "Big One" onto the motorway instead of sticking to country roads. NO, by "Big One" I affectionately mean the 1200cc ADV air-cooled boxer; not my passenger J.
The temperatures were more like “heated grip temperatures”. But it could have been worse and a windproof rain jacket helps enormously. Rain jacket? – Yeah. That was to be expected that day.
In Bad Tölz we first had a warm drink and waited for the others, but they didn't take long to arrive. Then first have a quick snack in the morning with a nemCappu or coffee, go to the first floor so that your bladder doesn't hurt so much, and sit up.
As is the case with us at the club, a member who isn't on the tour likes to come by to just say "hello", have a coffee and watch the departure of the 9 motorcycles in a short clip Holding on to your cell phone for the rest of the gang who stayed at home – thanks Harald!
Things started accordingly with Stefan, who also planned and initiated the tour. Since the navigation systems are generally not perfect, there were one or two deviations from the planned track. But a lot of it was also intentional, simply to avoid the main streets. We weren't on the run so it didn't bother me anyway and I was one of those people who like to drive through small towns just to have a look. Of course, this applies even more to the Italian places. But we weren't there yet.
Oh wonder, we realized at the latest on the Brenner federal road that we were not alone on the road heading south. It was not always easy for the tour guide to assess how the rag-tag group behaved on the road and what their driving skills were like. They quite rightly drove more defensively. But at the latest at the Brenner, where the cars were coming in waves, which suggested that your traffic lights were switched, it was advisable to use the advantages of single-lane driving that a motorcycle offers and, with the necessary foresight, slowly but safely drive past the cars standing there.
It's worth emphasizing again how much fun it is to see and experience firsthand how well the club members drive and also keep an eye on the area behind them in the mirror, so that space can be made if necessary when the car behind moves up and needs to squeeze into the gap.
Long story short - everything went great so far and by the time we reached the well-known stop in Vipiteno, most of us had gotten rid of our rain gear, which thankfully served more as a windbreak.
Contrary to planning, the Penser Joch was skipped again on the journey for weather reasons and we continued moving first in the valley and then on beautiful, winding routes - until... well… until we unfortunately had to complain about a total failure. Not because of rough driving, but simply because of “extremely stupid driving”. In any case, some gravel on the edge of the road not only caused a broken motorcycle, but also a broken collarbone and three broken ribs. I know from my own experience that a collarbone sucks if it's broken! . Thank God nothing serious.
It's interesting, by the way, what the accident victims - I don't exclude myself from experience - always think like that. Here it was the work that is now left undone and all that. For me at the time it was: “Shit, the paramedics are coming, they’re going to cut my suit open” or “How’s the motorcycle?”
Once again our club structure showed itself at its best. The accident site was professionally secured at the top and bottom of the mountain in accordance with regulations, the road was cleared, the accident victim was looked after by the club members and the BMW emergency call also worked well. The ambulance in Italy arrived quite quickly. There were no language difficulties with them as they spoke excellent German. It's different with the police, but that's not worth mentioning.
Overall, the care and support – this can be written more often – was excellent. Everyone took care of themselves as best they could. Be it accident insurance, making phone calls and keeping in touch with relatives or later waiting for the motorcycle to be towed away. Even my passenger got into the ambulance with me, even though she had seen our “Quax” for the first time and had no other relationship with him, simply so that our “Quax” wasn’t alone. And as his comments later show, he was happy just to have someone else in the car. GS CLUB!
And because we all stick together, everyone followed the ambulance except for two who were waiting for the tow truck at the scene of the accident. So me directly, because my girlfriend was there and the rest followed suit. It was a bit difficult for me to wait for the others at turns according to group rules - so it wasn't possible. Otherwise I would have lost the car. Sorry for that! But that's how I and the hospital were found.
There was one good thing for us, those of us who had gone to the hospital – we got to ride that beautiful winding road again, it was lovely ! We were quite surprised, though, when the two people who had "stayed behind" were still standing next to the motorcycle. It seems that the time estimates given by tow truck operators aren't just to be taken very lightly, and not just in Germany.
We continued on to our destination for the day: the hotel ( www.hrosa.it ). We didn't take the originally planned route, as that would have taken too long. But we did take the Mendel Pass, among other routes. I confess: I hadn't ridden it before, but it was incredibly fun. The air-cooled boxer engine really got to work with both of us in the saddle – but I was happy and enjoyed having this engine with character beneath me instead of the GS 1250 LC, which is undoubtedly an excellent motorcycle with excellent smoothness, but – highly subjectively – with less character.
The hotel was quite good in my opinion. We had a spacious room with a large bathroom and comfortable beds. The staff was very friendly, all the motorcycles had garage parking, and I have no complaints about the food. I'm not easily pleased when it comes to food, though . We enjoyed relaxing in the lobby in the evenings. We were always kept up-to-date on how the injured person was doing.
9:30 a.m. – that was apparently "the time" on the following days of the weekend. At any rate, the engines started turning every day around this time and the tours began. On Saturday, the destination was the "biker hotel" near Lake Garda ( www.hoteltoresela.it ).
The tour there was – thank God – less spectacular than the day before. In fact, no one was injured on the tour! We approached Lake Garda from the north and the tour took us west almost to Lago d'Idro then down towards Riva del Garda. There we decided not to make a stopover/detour to the hotel to unload our luggage and drove straight on. Overall, the weather was a bit more changeable here. Standing a bit in the light snow, we looked at the tempting but not entirely unproblematic track over MONTE BONDONE due to the weather conditions and decided to leave it alone and go to the hotel. Good decision because I can say that I was a bit tired and didn't want to risk anything anymore.
By the way, another point why it was good to have ridden the ADV - no endless refueling. Which is of course put into perspective by the fact that you still drive to the gas stations. A general highlight and always welcome - I remember it from my time in Cologne - was coming to the meeting point, which is at a gas station, and then later saying after 20 km: “I have to fill up soon”.
Sunday was supposed to be dedicated to circumnavigating Lake Garda. In the morning - it started at exactly 9:30 a.m. - MONTE BALDO was still on the agenda. But it was closed at the top until May, so we drove back down the same way.
It's possible it was due to the holidays, but I find it hard to imagine finding relaxation at Lake Garda itself. Certainly not if you're traveling by car. The traffic situation makes that impossible. This became obvious as soon as you entered or drove through a larger town, especially on the western side of the lake. The SP38, which we drove up, is quite a thrill. Although I wasn't the only one who thought: OK, not with a campervan ! The roads are simply narrow, and the rocky outcrops could easily damage the campervan if you're not careful.
Back to the traffic situation – the view of the lake from the lakeside road to the west was fantastic. The traffic, less so. Here too, one simply had to take advantage of the opportunity to drive a single-track vehicle if one didn't want to be stuck in the tunnels among the cars until evening. Thankfully, even the police made a little room to allow passage. Finally arriving at the hotel, my desire to visit colleagues who, under normal circumstances, were only a 6-minute drive away at the same time, quickly vanished. Instead, the 1,5 to 2 hours until dinner were spent on the hotel terrace with cool drinks and good conversation. Just like always, really. That's what makes these trips with club members so special.
Day 4, Monday 9:30 a.m. – return journey towards Munich. In short – everything went smoothly. On the way back over the Penser Joch, the Ritten Pass was integrated at short notice - good choice! We ate in front of the Bumper in the Gasthof Rabenstein (hotel-sarntal.it). Also a good choice in terms of the view. There may be differences of opinion when it comes to food. In any case, my asparagus was extremely overcooked and the rabbit was so-so.
We then said goodbye at the gas station near Innsbruck, as it was clear that we would soon part ways. So I chose - completely free of return traffic - the route similar to the way there along Lake Walchensee, while the Kesselberg was at least discussed for the others.
All in all, a well-rounded affair that was characterized by harmony between the club members, a very good team spirit when it comes to it and good routes that you can happily drive again (for me, apart from “Around Lake Garda” J).
Always have a good trip and always have a hand's breadth of asphalt under the Boxer J.
Marc
