Swiss Alps 2002

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During the previous evening it was decided that we were to return home a day early to split the journey up. That is, if Patto's bike was ready. While we waited to hear from the garage we took a last look around the town for presents.

Leave the hats lads, please...

We decided to pack and go down to see Kid, then sort out a payment the Police were owed for attending the accident. While we were there we took a look at Kids bike. It was not as badly damaged as I had thought it might be, mostly plastic damage. Anyway it was going to be returned to the UK. We all thought it a little crazy as surely the shipping cost and repairs would be more than the bike was worth?

We moved on to Gisler Motos, hoping the bike would be ready. When we got there at it was all smiles. The bike had been shipped to a BMW dealers and fixed there, then returned. When we got there they were just refitting the plastic.

This was the cause of all the trouble...

The Ignition sensor, It's  mounted at the front of the engine. You might want to carry a spare, this one cost a lot of money.

Bill paid, we saddled up and headed out. It was good to have Patto back on the road, just a pity we were leaving Kid behind. At least he was in good hands and we would see him soon when we got back to the UK.

The run out of Switzerland on the A2 road was uneventful. The customs at Basel appeared to be deserted, I suppose they were busy catching people coming in for the vignette road toll, or is that just me being cynical?

The weather was improving as we joined the A35 Strasbourg road and we made good time. We reached Strasbourg just in time for the evening rush hour. and it was slow going. Leaving Strasbourg behind I was looking for somewhere to stop for the night but none were advertised on the motorway. A sign saying Peages (Toll Booth) 20Km forced us off the road at the next exit. Stopping for fuel at a nearby filling station we we told in sign language that there was a cheap hotel just around the corner! We found it no problem but it didn't immediately look cheap.

The L'Escale (The Stopover) Hotel & Restaurant, 197a Avenue de Strasbourg, Brumath.  It was about £6 per night each and £2 for breakfast! With an adjoining restaurant and bar we were fixed up for the night. When I looked for the hotel later on the Net this link to a old PDF file was all I could find. The prices given are in French Francs, now defunct. Don't bother clicking the link unless you have Acrobat reader installed to read the file.

It wasn't until we got in our rooms that we found out why it was cheap; pealing wallpaper and broken doors. But it was ensuite and the bedding/towels were clean so not to bad really.

The evening meal was a good laugh. We could speak no French, the waitress could speak no English. I managed to recognise 'fromage' as cheese and veal as young cow but the rest made fools of themselves making clucking noises for chicken while trying to make themselves understood. Amazingly we all got what we expected and it tasted pretty good.

Later, when we talked to the owner in the bar he said he had only been in one year, having bought the place run down and cheap. He and his wife were trying to build the place back up to a good standard. He had made a good start in the bar, it was decorated in a modern French style and it looked as if he had already built up some trade.

So with 200 miles behind us it looked like an easy run of 300 miles to Zeebruge tomorrow.

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