See Naples and die

So I left this morning on my mighty steed to complete my ascension to knighthood by vanquishing the saracen armies threatening the city of Naples, jewel of t...wait wrong century! Naples today is a dump!
But I did leave for Naples, or Pompeii to be more precise were I’ll lead a team of foolish slaves...err...motivated students to unearth its hidden treasures. Treasures so great that they defy the imagination! Finally we may be able to determine the previously unknown function of two Roman workshops!

But I wander off

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Ps.Somehow I managed to mount the luggage in such a way that nothing can be opened, everything is blocked by something else even the rear case.

I left this morning after the morning rush, wonderful fairly relaxed trip through Germany. Divine weather, bit warm in the south of germany (31 celcius) in my black leather suit, but otherwise great. No noticable traffic jams, and only 2 german car drivers tried to kill me!

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Made it almost to the Austrian border. And after many full hotels I even found a hotel + breakfast for under 55€ with a room left, moments before I would otherwise have decided to camp next to the autobahn in an act of pure spite, mostly aimed at myself for not making a reservation a couple of days ago. But all is well  

A nice little town to stop on the way is Balzano (Balzan) just below the Austrian Border into Italy.
Superb "Old Town".
Keep the story and photos coming and many thanks for sharing.

There's a lot of volcanic activity in the world at the moment. I wouldn't get too close to Vesuvius, you know what happened last time.

Oh boy, you could have visited me in Augsburg!!

Next time

Travelling through Austria took longer than expected due to much rain and a massive traffic jam in south germany (I did ofcourse filter past it, but it still goes much slower). Wet roads plus my inexperience at riding in mountainous terrain made me cross Austria well below the speed limit, much to the chagrin of a ‘Polizei’ Van which followed me for almost an hour, no doubt hoping to catch me doing something illegal! Well not with that rain

Only odd thing that happed was a flashing service triangle and a red oil icon after turning on the ignition right after refuelling while standing on a rather steep slope. I’m assuming that combination caused an oilsensor error. After turning it off and on again all was fine.

Currently camped near the Stelvio national park.
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Where will You head on to? On Saturday, my friends and me will shoot off for a one week 3000 KM bike trip to the curvy streets around Bozen. I'm curious to see how my 1400 ccm torque monster behaves in the mountain passes.

Saterday I hope to arrive at Pompeii

Uuch, a little bit too far, close miss!

Sought refuge in a hotel rather than camping due to heavy rain with the famous tuscan lightning. Today took much longer than expected due to a massive traffic jam near florence, including an incredibly long tunnel in which it was 50 degrees celcius. Filtering through an italian traffic jam was absolutely zero fun, many drivers purposely blocked or even cut me off, and some even honked at me (probably the ladies!)

Also got the oil sensor error again today after a stop, which went away only after starting the enginge, turning it off, then restarting. Is my oil sensor failing?

motor-timothy wrote:

Sought refuge in a hotel rather than camping due to heavy rain with the famous tuscan lightning. Today took much longer than expected due to a massive traffic jam near florence, including an incredibly long tunnel in which it was 50 degrees celcius. Filtering through an italian traffic jam was absolutely zero fun, many drivers purposely blocked or even cut me off, and some even honked at me (probably the ladies!)

Also got the oil sensor error again today after a stop, which went away only after starting the enginge, turning it off, then restarting. Is my oil sensor failing?

Possibly. I had the same problem after a similar journey.

Arrived at Pompeii this afternoon. Arrived at the 5 minutes away accomodations 1.5 hours later due to a sign saying Zona Traffico Limitato. After riding circles for over an hour, totally soaked in sweat due to traffic congestion + 30C I finally found a route to the appartment that didn’t had me cross this italian terror zone, which automatically fines any and all trespassers with a state of the art camera system. While talking to two lovely receptionists at a nearby hotel they told me the restricted zone is only for busses/trucks and I could have just passed That’s what you get for not being able to read italian in Italy!
Oil issue keeps randomly popping up, but only after short stops. Also got a left turn indicator error which immediately went away.

looking good :-)

Rode to the Vesuvius yesterday. Took a nice alternative road, which turned into a rather scary experience as halfway up the hairpin riddled road changed from asphalt to some sort of slippery stone blocks like those often found in the center of medieval towns. And they were covered with sand and gravel and contained many holes and bumps. It was not a very enjoyable ride needless to say. After finally riding all they way up, the bloody entrance was closed due to forest fires having devastated the area last year. They could have placed a bloody warning at the beginning of the road but noooh!

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Bastards!

So had to ride all the way back (which admittedly was fun, engine off and in neutral) then to the other side of the Vesuvius. I had the choice to take local roads or go autostrada. I foolishly took the first option and ended up in an hour long traffic jam. But in the end I reached the Vesuvius, hiked to the top, shot some nice pictures before heading back to Pompeii.

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Vesuvius crater

This time I took the autostrada, and of course just as I was accelerating > 180km/h a bird decides to commit suicide launching itself into my chest. Thankfully all was well (not for the bird though) and I only had a jumpscare!

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Bay of Naples

Mission accomplished.

You are having adventures. Good luck with the rest of your time there.

Guzzi factory trip on the way home?

No, I’m not really a die-hard guzzi fan. Going out of my way to see a factory or motorcycle museum would not be my idea of fun unless I’m like going through the town anyway or they did like a free checkup on my bike.

So I left Pompeii monday and arrived in the evening at an area in Italy named “cinque terre”. 625km in one day of riding
Found a nice camping and decided to stay for a day to do the hiking trails this region is famous for. Basically its 5 towns on cliffs fairly close together, connected by steep mountain trails. So I spend 6 hours today walking in 32 degrees celcius having ‘fun’! Tomorrow I’ll just ride through the area on the GRiSO, even more fun!

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Tomorrow I’ll continue my trip to France, where I’ll assist for 3 weeks in an archaeological project involving a cave and Neanderthals
But I have 5 more days to get there, which means extended stays at the Italian riviera near Genoa, the French region of the Massif Central, including a visit to Cantobre, Montpellier, the Cevennes national park and of course the Pont-du-gard!

maybe drive a bit north and visit the Guzzi factory

Sounds like an epic trip, Tim!

Pete (Street)

Today was epic! Cinque terre by motorcycle is my best motorcycle experience to date. Amazing. Unfortunately there are not many spots where you can park and take a photograph.
However the most exciting part happened this evening. I’m now halfway between Genoa and Monaco/France. Unfortunately this part of Italy, also known as the Ligurian Riviera, is quite expensive. Even a single night with my small tent can easily cost 40€.
So during my pitstop I found a bed & breakfast for 55€, booked it, and got hopelessly lost as the street it was in didn’t show on my nav.
So I stopped at a huge villa where a man was watering his garden. Of course he didn’t speak english, but after some improvisation he then offered to my surprise to lead me to the b&b on his motorscooter. Which turned out to involve a long unpaved mountain goat path made of sand and gravel, barely the width of a car, with hairpins at an angle of at least 30 degrees.

I think I’ve lost 2 kilo’s worth of sweat.

When I got there, the b&b turned out to be an elderly italian couple who don’t speak english’s house of which they rented the guestroom. They were incredibly surprised I made it up there by motorcycle, the man repeated laughingly for like 15 minutes “by motorcycle, madonna, by motorcycle “  

I realized I didn’t have dinner yet, and there was no way that I would go down and up that mountain path again. Then I had an interesting google translate chat with the woman. I explained I’m an archaeologist from Pompeii, then she offered me food and I ended up with a whole meal including excellent wine!

I’m now prepating mentally to go down that path again tomorrow, what a day!

The trip is very interesting-keep the updates coming please (and pictures if you can)
Ciao.

Timothy, I'll give you this for nothing (I've seen too many people become unstuck) - DON'T USE YOUR FRONT BRAKE. Use gears and rear only, go slow, stand on the pegs, use your body as the counterbalance. Dead/injured heroes - or a ride within your limits - to me it's an easy choice.

Good luck on the descent.

My apologies if I offend

Oz1200Guzzi wrote:

Timothy, I'll give you this for nothing (I've seen too many people become unstuck) - DON'T USE YOUR FRONT BRAKE. Use gears and rear only, go slow, stand on the pegs, use your body as the counterbalance. Dead/injured heroes - or a ride within your limits - to me it's an easy choice.

Good luck on the descent.

My apologies if I offend

You don’t offend!

So I made the descent and by a hair it almost ended in disaster. Part of the about 500m long path consisted of 2 stone strips spaced at a distance so a car could ride over them. Between the strips - loose gravel. On the outside of the strips loose soil and a 20meter drop (on both sides at the hairpin). The strip was only about 50cm wide.
Needless to say staying on this strip with a GRiSO is ‘challenging’ especially at a steep slope combined with tight corners and a hairpin. I ended up in the hairpin with the front wheel next to the strip in the loose soil, and for a moment I thought the bike would tip over. I was able to hold her with all my strength, and then spend 5 minutes contemplating how to get the GRiSO back on the strip. The rear wheel was still (barely) on the strip but getting the bike back on the strip meant the rear would end up in the loose soil for a moment. Somehow I managed, the rear got just enough grip on the soil not to slip! Obviously I had lost another 5 liters of sweat and by now I’m in France eating figs near Marseille to replenish my energy.