Last week I took a few days off to motocamp in Luxembourg and the North-East of France: it had been on my wish list for a while and I decided that now was the time to do it. The weather is improving, the forecast said that it would be dry for a couple of days, no urgent things on the agenda so no reason not to do it.
Luxembourg is a small but beautiful country which offers good touring. Alsace-Lorraine in the north-east of France is a part that has a disputed history, being part of Germany or part of France alternately, it currently being French. On the map it looked nice with lots of twisty roads, lots of forests and small villages and exploring it seemed a good idea.
The bike – a RE Himalayan- is in good condition, rear tire new, front still OK, checked the oil level, brakes and lights – all fine.
When I check the oil level I just put it on the center stand and take a look at the sighting glass. The bike is never really in the same spot and a few degrees out of the vertical will vary the level in the sighting glass so just for my peace of mind I added 100 mill of oil. More damage is done by running an engine with too little oil than with too much of oil.
Packing the camping kit is done by a checklist so I will not forget anything. I’ve been camping for years and the list is fairly complete, be it that I change some things depending on my mood or destination.
Camping kit -tent, sleeping mat, sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner, tarp, and a small camping stool – all go in a roll bag that is strapped on top of the pillion seat.
Clothes and toilet bag are in the right hand soft pannier (for those interested: Lomo bags), and kitchen kit and food for four days are in the right hand pannier.
Two smaller bags are attached to the crash bars on either side of the tank, holding a cover and a bungee and a little squeeze bottle with chain lube (80-W90), the other bag containing some tire repair kit and two spare tubes. Why I bring the tire repair kit I don’t really know, I wasn’t able to mount the new rear tire two weeks ago, the new Mitas E-07 was very, very stiff. Maybe when the bike suffers a puncture and I am in a place where a professional tire service is very much not available I’ll be forced to do it: necessity is the mother of perseverance.
The tank bag holds maps, first aid kit, camera, money. The top case holds a spare pair of gloves, a pair of rain trousers and is used in general to hold my helmet when I stop.
A cheap telephone holder on the handle bars and a usb outlet enable me to use google maps on the go.
I planned to leave Leiden around 08.00 AM and being in Luxembourg some five hours later. So Monday morning saw me setting of around 10.00 AM, returning at 10.30 AM to pick up the bottles with methylated spirits and petrol for my camp stove that I forgot and leaving again at 10.35AM. Temperature was somewhere between 18-20 C and traffic was easy. On motorways I ride around 90 kph, the same speed as trucks drive. I can hold that for hours on end and it gives me the opportunity to look around, and at the same time it returns a good fuel consumption. I stopped once for coffee, making my own coffee with hot water from a thermos bottle.
Fifty kilometers before my destination I chose the option ‘avoid motorways’ in the navigation and was riding nice smaller roads twisting through the forests, and at three thirty I arrived at the campsite where I would spent my first night, parking the bike on the side stand close to a tree so that the tree roots would prevent the side stand from sinking into the ground.
Most of my camping gear is intended for solo backpacking and is perfectly usable for motocamping as well, but I thought that when I was motocamping a bigger tent would be more practical and I bought I three man tent a while ago. For pitching a first time it went quite well, and it makes organizing tent life a lot easier with so much space. Weight wise it is not light at 3,5 kg but on the bike that is not a real issue.
The rest of the day and the evening was very pleasant, eating ramen noodles, reading, having coffee and biscuits and chocolate and drinking beer and eating crisps.
Next morning I got up at 08.00 and after breakfast I packed up and loaded it all on the bike. I failed to see that the bike was on a small incline and when packing it slowly moved forward, off the sidestand and it fell against the tree. I lifted the bike upright and saw a dent in the left hand side of the tank, and some paint damage as well. Not a good start of the day, very definitely not a good start. The damage can be repaired, but the cost of this repair will probably be the same or more than the price of a new tank….
When all was well packed on the bike I rode to the village and got the tank filled up. I checked carefully if there were any leaks, but the tank seemed to to be holding the petrol, and I set off to Sarrebourg in Alsace-Lorraine keeping to motorways, arriving there at 11.30.
Before I left home I had made a list of village names that were connected by the smallest roads that were visible on the map: I put the name of the first village in google maps and after reaching this first village I put in the next name. I spent most of the afternoon touring through Alsace-Lorraine enjoying the riding and the scenery. Blues skies overhead, the temperature being 22-26 C and great roads made it a nice afternoon.
The German sounding placenames tell of the contested history, and the halftimbered houses betray the German architecture. Old villages and lots of farmland alternated with forests keep your eyes busy. Good thing the roads were not very busy.
The rear tire was brand new and made for wonderful riding on the twisting roads through the hills and valleys. Even with all the luggage the handling of the Himalayan is smooth.
Shifting gears is very easy and accurate now that I put the gearshifter in a lower position. With all the weight of the luggage and going downhill the brakes had no problem stopping the bike.
When planning this trip I noticed that I would pass waterfall that was mentioned on the map and I stopped there to take a look at it. The waterfall – le Cascade de Nideck- itself is some seventeen minutes walking from the parking place: no problem considering it’s a good path, going downhill dropping some two hundred meters. The waterfall is a beautiful sight to see, and after taking some pictures I walked back to the parking place. What goes down must go up? I had to clinb two hundred meters up again and the waterfall being in a forest, the forest being in a valley meant that there was little or no wind, I was wearing motorcycle trousers and carrying my tank bag and bike jacket and I was sweating like a waterfall myself. When I got back to the bike I had to put on a dry shirt, the one I was wearing was literally soaking wet.
The area has few towns and cities, and petrol stations are scarce and as soon as the ‘Trip F’ started blinking, meaning that I only had 150 km worth of fuel, I started to be on the look out for a petrol station. At 17.00 hours I was in the town of Villé filling up. Life is much brighter and feels a lot more comfortable with a full tank. As chance had it there was a campsite at the other side of town and after filling up I headed that way.
After the tent was pitched I fired up my camp stove, a forty year old Optimus 8R, and made macaroni with half a smoked sausage, half a paprika and some tomato soup. The rest of the evening was spent reading and as soon as the light started to fade I went to sleep.
Next morning I woke up quite early and was on the road before 8.30. I went inside the town centre and had breakfast on coffee and croissants. Then I was headed north again, in the general direction of Luxembourg, first through the Rhine valley and then crossing borders between Germany and France, avoiding motorways.
The roads were good, the scenery filled with hills covered in wine fields and again the weather was nice. At midday, outside Saverne, a town on the French side of the border, I passed a shopping centre where I had a big plate of fries and a coke at a kebab restaurant. As usual I was puzzled by the amount of alcohol that was consumed at that time of the day by the French workers, some whom I suspected to be lorry drivers….
Even on the long stretches going uphill the Himalayan kept going without getting out of breath. I feel no need to change anything about the bike performance wise.
At three in the afternoon Echternach, a village in eastern Luxembourg came into sight and I headed for the campsite where I had been before. After parking the bike in the field where I would pitch my tent I first changed into shorts as it was very hot in the sun. Sitting in the shade of a tree and enjoying a cool breeze I felt happy. I don’t need much to feel good…. Later that afternoon I remembered to lube the chain.
The last day I again woke up early. Little to no condensation on the tent so packing up was quick and easy. At 8.30 I went north again, sometimes through Luxembourg, sometimes through Germany. The first German village I passed through had a bakery where I breakfasted with coffee, a chocolate croissant and a pudding roll.
Last town of Luxembourg I stopped to fill up on cheap petrol, petrol in Luxembourg is about € 0,30 per liter cheaper than in Holland. And even on the few liters that I needed to fill up the Hima I felt good: every penny of tax that I don’t have to pay to the Dutch government is a bonus.
Crossing Belgium to get to Holland I passed the Haut Fanges, a high wetland. East Belgium is very pretty. Well, apart from Liege of course.
The last two hundred kilometers to home are familiar to me and not really interesting so I kept on the motorways, arriving home late in the afternoon, feeling very pleased with this outing.
Luxembourg is a small but beautiful country which offers good touring. Alsace-Lorraine in the north-east of France is a part that has a disputed history, being part of Germany or part of France alternately, it currently being French. On the map it looked nice with lots of twisty roads, lots of forests and small villages and exploring it seemed a good idea.
The bike – a RE Himalayan- is in good condition, rear tire new, front still OK, checked the oil level, brakes and lights – all fine.
When I check the oil level I just put it on the center stand and take a look at the sighting glass. The bike is never really in the same spot and a few degrees out of the vertical will vary the level in the sighting glass so just for my peace of mind I added 100 mill of oil. More damage is done by running an engine with too little oil than with too much of oil.
Packing the camping kit is done by a checklist so I will not forget anything. I’ve been camping for years and the list is fairly complete, be it that I change some things depending on my mood or destination.
Camping kit -tent, sleeping mat, sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner, tarp, and a small camping stool – all go in a roll bag that is strapped on top of the pillion seat.
Clothes and toilet bag are in the right hand soft pannier (for those interested: Lomo bags), and kitchen kit and food for four days are in the right hand pannier.
Two smaller bags are attached to the crash bars on either side of the tank, holding a cover and a bungee and a little squeeze bottle with chain lube (80-W90), the other bag containing some tire repair kit and two spare tubes. Why I bring the tire repair kit I don’t really know, I wasn’t able to mount the new rear tire two weeks ago, the new Mitas E-07 was very, very stiff. Maybe when the bike suffers a puncture and I am in a place where a professional tire service is very much not available I’ll be forced to do it: necessity is the mother of perseverance.
The tank bag holds maps, first aid kit, camera, money. The top case holds a spare pair of gloves, a pair of rain trousers and is used in general to hold my helmet when I stop.
A cheap telephone holder on the handle bars and a usb outlet enable me to use google maps on the go.
I planned to leave Leiden around 08.00 AM and being in Luxembourg some five hours later. So Monday morning saw me setting of around 10.00 AM, returning at 10.30 AM to pick up the bottles with methylated spirits and petrol for my camp stove that I forgot and leaving again at 10.35AM. Temperature was somewhere between 18-20 C and traffic was easy. On motorways I ride around 90 kph, the same speed as trucks drive. I can hold that for hours on end and it gives me the opportunity to look around, and at the same time it returns a good fuel consumption. I stopped once for coffee, making my own coffee with hot water from a thermos bottle.
Fifty kilometers before my destination I chose the option ‘avoid motorways’ in the navigation and was riding nice smaller roads twisting through the forests, and at three thirty I arrived at the campsite where I would spent my first night, parking the bike on the side stand close to a tree so that the tree roots would prevent the side stand from sinking into the ground.
Most of my camping gear is intended for solo backpacking and is perfectly usable for motocamping as well, but I thought that when I was motocamping a bigger tent would be more practical and I bought I three man tent a while ago. For pitching a first time it went quite well, and it makes organizing tent life a lot easier with so much space. Weight wise it is not light at 3,5 kg but on the bike that is not a real issue.
The rest of the day and the evening was very pleasant, eating ramen noodles, reading, having coffee and biscuits and chocolate and drinking beer and eating crisps.
Next morning I got up at 08.00 and after breakfast I packed up and loaded it all on the bike. I failed to see that the bike was on a small incline and when packing it slowly moved forward, off the sidestand and it fell against the tree. I lifted the bike upright and saw a dent in the left hand side of the tank, and some paint damage as well. Not a good start of the day, very definitely not a good start. The damage can be repaired, but the cost of this repair will probably be the same or more than the price of a new tank….
When all was well packed on the bike I rode to the village and got the tank filled up. I checked carefully if there were any leaks, but the tank seemed to to be holding the petrol, and I set off to Sarrebourg in Alsace-Lorraine keeping to motorways, arriving there at 11.30.
Before I left home I had made a list of village names that were connected by the smallest roads that were visible on the map: I put the name of the first village in google maps and after reaching this first village I put in the next name. I spent most of the afternoon touring through Alsace-Lorraine enjoying the riding and the scenery. Blues skies overhead, the temperature being 22-26 C and great roads made it a nice afternoon.
The German sounding placenames tell of the contested history, and the halftimbered houses betray the German architecture. Old villages and lots of farmland alternated with forests keep your eyes busy. Good thing the roads were not very busy.
The rear tire was brand new and made for wonderful riding on the twisting roads through the hills and valleys. Even with all the luggage the handling of the Himalayan is smooth.
Shifting gears is very easy and accurate now that I put the gearshifter in a lower position. With all the weight of the luggage and going downhill the brakes had no problem stopping the bike.
When planning this trip I noticed that I would pass waterfall that was mentioned on the map and I stopped there to take a look at it. The waterfall – le Cascade de Nideck- itself is some seventeen minutes walking from the parking place: no problem considering it’s a good path, going downhill dropping some two hundred meters. The waterfall is a beautiful sight to see, and after taking some pictures I walked back to the parking place. What goes down must go up? I had to clinb two hundred meters up again and the waterfall being in a forest, the forest being in a valley meant that there was little or no wind, I was wearing motorcycle trousers and carrying my tank bag and bike jacket and I was sweating like a waterfall myself. When I got back to the bike I had to put on a dry shirt, the one I was wearing was literally soaking wet.
The area has few towns and cities, and petrol stations are scarce and as soon as the ‘Trip F’ started blinking, meaning that I only had 150 km worth of fuel, I started to be on the look out for a petrol station. At 17.00 hours I was in the town of Villé filling up. Life is much brighter and feels a lot more comfortable with a full tank. As chance had it there was a campsite at the other side of town and after filling up I headed that way.
After the tent was pitched I fired up my camp stove, a forty year old Optimus 8R, and made macaroni with half a smoked sausage, half a paprika and some tomato soup. The rest of the evening was spent reading and as soon as the light started to fade I went to sleep.
Next morning I woke up quite early and was on the road before 8.30. I went inside the town centre and had breakfast on coffee and croissants. Then I was headed north again, in the general direction of Luxembourg, first through the Rhine valley and then crossing borders between Germany and France, avoiding motorways.
The roads were good, the scenery filled with hills covered in wine fields and again the weather was nice. At midday, outside Saverne, a town on the French side of the border, I passed a shopping centre where I had a big plate of fries and a coke at a kebab restaurant. As usual I was puzzled by the amount of alcohol that was consumed at that time of the day by the French workers, some whom I suspected to be lorry drivers….
Even on the long stretches going uphill the Himalayan kept going without getting out of breath. I feel no need to change anything about the bike performance wise.
At three in the afternoon Echternach, a village in eastern Luxembourg came into sight and I headed for the campsite where I had been before. After parking the bike in the field where I would pitch my tent I first changed into shorts as it was very hot in the sun. Sitting in the shade of a tree and enjoying a cool breeze I felt happy. I don’t need much to feel good…. Later that afternoon I remembered to lube the chain.
The last day I again woke up early. Little to no condensation on the tent so packing up was quick and easy. At 8.30 I went north again, sometimes through Luxembourg, sometimes through Germany. The first German village I passed through had a bakery where I breakfasted with coffee, a chocolate croissant and a pudding roll.
Last town of Luxembourg I stopped to fill up on cheap petrol, petrol in Luxembourg is about € 0,30 per liter cheaper than in Holland. And even on the few liters that I needed to fill up the Hima I felt good: every penny of tax that I don’t have to pay to the Dutch government is a bonus.
Crossing Belgium to get to Holland I passed the Haut Fanges, a high wetland. East Belgium is very pretty. Well, apart from Liege of course.
The last two hundred kilometers to home are familiar to me and not really interesting so I kept on the motorways, arriving home late in the afternoon, feeling very pleased with this outing.