All photos related to this blog entry can be found at Grant & Julie

Autumn is coming to Europe. The signs are there for the reading. The lush summer greens of the forests are hinting at it with flashes of red, yellow and orange, the evenings are whispering a little cooler and as we ride the wind causes a flurry of chatter amongst the fallen leaves.

Crumpet in SwitzerlandWhilst stopped in Metz we took a day ride of about 120 kilometres. We breakfasted in France, had morning tea in Luxembourg, popped into Belgium for a picnic and afternoon tea before heading back to France for dinner.

It is still such a novelty for us to visit three countries in one day.

Luxembourg City was easy to navigate around and surprisingly not very trafficked, unless you count the innumerable tourist buses parked in every conceivable space. We stayed long enough to sample their superb espresso like hot chocolate, fine pastries and confusing French/German language.

We tasted Belgium, Arlon to be precise. Arlon is one of Belgium's oldest towns, settled by a mixed Celtic German peoples before the Roman conquest of the Gaul. Today it has some of Belgium's richest archaeological museums and chocolate factories, including Ferero Rocher we learnt later! Doh.

'The Great European Hot Chocolate Taste Test' continued and the Belgian coffee shop we visited produced a fine specimen, however it came in a close second to the Luxembourg competition.

Amazing things happen on the highways in Europe, we hope this phenomenon continues.

If there is a major traffic hold up ie road works or accident and the flow is stopped or crawling, cars and trucks (if at all possible) move to the outer edges of the road allowing a clear aisle through the middle for motorcycles to pass through unimpeded.

We were shocked and perplexed when we first noticed the cars parting like the Red Sea under Moses's direction and fellow motorcyclists taking advantage of the new space and slipping through.

We discussed this sensation with fellow road users who could not understand our wonder as they consider it road manners and the right thing to do. Road users in Australia have a lot to learn about sharing.

Germany and the Odenwald (Odin's Forest) was to be our next port of call, we were to visit more travellers from our time in Argentina.

Mattias, Mary, Julian, Holgar, Martine, Grant

Back in 2007 Holgar and Martine were touring with their BMW sidecar outfit and with their Daughter Mary and her then Fiancé Mattias. Our paths crossed several times including at the 'Great Motorcyclist Christmas Party of 2007' in the Ushuaia National Park.

Now Mary and Mattias are married with a child of their own, Julian, 4, and Holgar and Martine have a new house and CNC workshop in Wald Michelbach.

Holgar and Martine still have the South American outfit, the tyre cover which we all signed and are currently restoring another outfit so Mary and Mattias can continue with motorcycle travel, Julian in tow, or on the side perhaps.

We had a great few days with everyone. The 'Slalom Hill Trials' were on in a nearby village and we spent the day watching cars competing for the fastest times up the mountain, eating wurst, enjoying the fine weather and German culture.

A visit to the Sinheim Auto & Teknik Museum was remarkable and unusual day. Covering 30,000m2 in area, this museum is the only place in the world where both supersonic passenger jets (the Concord and the Tupolev TU-144) are on display. You can board each plane and see how they were laid out, complete with mannequins dressed in the fashions of both France and Russia of the time, and glimpse into the respective cockpits.

The Tupolev TU-144 was said to be a copy of the Concorde, yet it flew earlier and has enough differences in its design to warrant it as a unique aircraft. It is also somewhat unique in that The USSR being as secretive as it is has allowed this vehicle to be displayed outside of its borders.

Tupolev TU-144

The museum also houses a large collection of Dance Organs which you can play for a Euro a song. It is a strange eclectic museum with a huge amount of shop-store dummies dressed up and displayed in action poses. At times this is quite disconcerting
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Holgar took us on a delightful ride through the Odenwald. We travelled for miles and miles on lovely twisty back roads, through tiny mountain villages all the while never really being very far from base.

We stopped for a visit to the Schmuckers brewery for a beer and bretzel (deliciously savoury bread pretzel, goes extremely well with beer). Grant sampled his first beer in over 30 year and came to the conclusion that he would' stick to wine’.

A family dinner at a local restaurant eating traditional Odenwald fare concluded our all but brief stay in Germany. We had received word that we had a house sitting assignment in Rome and needed to start making tracks south, especially as we wanted to catch up with folks in Switzerland.

Plugging our route into Google Maps, making our mandraulic GPS (writing the instructions down), taking screen shots of the way on the iPad. We were set.

Lake Constance (Bodensee) here we come.

Or so we thought.

Following our plans: A5 south; switch to the A8 towards Stuttgart; next the A81 south out of Stuttgart... There were road works at the interchange, but we followed the detour and everything looked great. Not far now.

The road kept going and going. Exits were passing by, the road signs did not make sense, the sky turned black, very black, We kept checking... yes we were on the A81. Stopping for refreshment and bearings, we checked and checked again... this must be the right way; we must almost be at the exit for Constance. Back on the bike and lightning flashes to the left and to the right, we keep going.

Two storm fronts are on either side of the highway with a narrow window of blue sky that mirrors the road, we follow it. Lighting continues and now we can hear the thunder through our helmets and it is getting darker and colder.

It starts to rain, big heavy hard drops, wait a moment that's not rain it's hail. We push on. The storm does not last that long but now the rain has settled in and we seem no closer to our destination.

Stopping at a petrol station for fuel and directions we discover the ugly truth. We were a almost back where we started – just east. Where did it all go wrong? Our nearest city was Nuremberg, even thought it was further east, not south, we headed there as daylight faded. A hotel room beckoned, we were cold, tired and frustrated. Oh well we can say we visited Nuremberg after all.

Awakening to heavy rain we breakfasted, discussed our options for the day, went back to bed for a an hour intending to stay for the day but then rugged up and set off south. This was an excellent opportunity to try out our new heated jackets and gloves.

Plugging in and setting off we relished the feeling of riding in the rain essentially wrapped up in an electric blanket.

Apart from being drenched (stupid jacket waterproof liners are no longer waterproof after a whole six months and not that much rain... what’s the point Collins?? Grumble Grumble) we arrived at Lindau on the Bodensee and the border of Germany, Austria and Switzerland. At least we were now on the right road, but with a flat battery!

Fortunately for us there was a mechanic just up the street. He checked the battery and gave us a bump start and we rode the bike to a local Motorcycle Accessories shop where they undertook another test on the battery and it seemed to be charging again... What was going on?

Using our powers of deduction, discussions with real life people, Google searches, emailing, calculating wattage, reading forums etcetera we came to the unhappy conclusion that perhaps we were overloading the electrical system and it could not keep up with demand.

Yet again we listened to a sales man, believing they had our best interests at heart, only to be sadly disappointed and kicking ourselves for being so foolish and trusting.

It turns out that the amount of additional electricity output available, after everything on the bike is running, is less than needed to run two jackets and four gloves. Thank goodness we did not have the socks on as well! We had to re-consider our plans for using the heated gear. For now we will just disconnect everything and come up with something before it gets too cold.

Things sorted and into Switzerland and fine weather. We purchased new rain coats and decided to wear them, thus compelling the rain gods to stay away, and they did.

When in Switzerland, if you wish to drive on the Autobahn you need to purchase a Vignette for about 40 Euro's (valid for 12 months there are no other options) or you could take a chance and drive on them without a Vignette but you run the risk of being caught, 200 Swiss Franc fine and have to buy it anyway. All non Autobahn roads are free.

A quickie lunch with Suzanne, our lovely Swiss/Australian friend from home, in Wil, was a great treat, then onto Lucerne and Marcel's home.

Marcel, another Argentinean connection, and his partner Karin welcomed us and made us feel at home in their apartment. This was to be a flying visit and Marcel had planned a ride out to the pre-Alps and the Grimsel pass. Treated to spectacular weather we rode high into the mountains along with just about every other Swiss motorcyclist taking advantage of the great weather and spectacular scenery.

So we tasted a few countries, just a sample like a box of Swiss chocolates and it has left us wanting more. We hope to return next Spring/Summer and spend a bit more time exploring and visiting these regions.

It has been such a lovely time catching up with so many people we met from our last trip, reacquainting ourselves with them, learning about their post travel lives, sharing ours. There is something special and connecting about motorcycling and travelling.

Who said you need a big bike to ride around the world