{"id":614,"date":"2018-09-30T19:43:36","date_gmt":"2018-09-30T19:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bmwmotorcycles.local\/product_news\/edelweiss-the-best-of-europe\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T16:43:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T20:43:38","slug":"edelweiss-the-best-of-europe","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/bmwmoa.org\/news\/edelweiss-the-best-of-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Edelweiss: The Best of Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"

TROP D\u2019ACCIDENTS. RALENTIR. (Many accidents! Slow down!)<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

The yellow warning sign for motorcyclists screamed \u201cfun ahead\u201d as we sped past vineyards, golden and glistening with dew in the early-morning, late-September sunlight.\n<\/p>\n

This was day four of an Edelweiss Bike Travel nine-day tour, and the pace had quickened considerably as we headed into the Vosges Mountains. Sweeping bends tightened into whiplash-sharp coils as the road steepened by exponential degrees.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"

By now, we\u2019d broken into two groups. Behind, content with a more leisurely pace, our two lady riders, their spouses, and a sprinkling of others, mostly on Harleys. Ahead, myself, plus a six-pack of middle-age pals from Colorado here to ride. Bj\u00f6rn Greibig, our 28-year-old tour guide on a BMW R nineT, poured on the gas. He tore through the mountains like Raffaele de Rosa. Perry Cogburn, on an aggressively agile Ducati Multistrada, stayed glued to his tail and I, on a BMW R 1200 GS Adventure, to Perry\u2019s. It was exhilarating as we leaned through the curves at the max and exited near the redline for an absolute philistine thrill.\n<\/p>\n

I was still grinning inanely five fun-filled hours later as we augered down through the hairpins to Ribeauvill\u00e9, with its half-timbered 14th-century buildings leaning drunkenly over meandering cobbled streets resembling a Hollywood stage set.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"

\u201cIf we knew our kids were riding like this, we\u2019d take away their keys,\u201d said 61-year-young Perry, laughing, as we dined that evening on mushroom soup and lamb stew washed down with a hearty Alsatian Sylvaner.\n<\/p>\n

I\u2019d signed up with Edelweiss Bike Travel for its \u201cBest of Europe\u201d five-country tour, looping west from Erding (43 km northeast of Munich) through the Black Forest, Alsace, northern Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the Austrian Tyrol, and Bavaria.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"

I rode R 1200 GS Adventure Triple Black, complete with keyless ignition and personalized monogramed leather notebook. At home, I ride a 2009 R 1200 GS Adventure. This was my first time riding a water-cooled GSA model. The difference left me slack-jawed as we swept through the rolling hopland of Franconia and across the Fr\u00e4nkische Alb uplands, north of Erding. Not only did this bike have a far more precise gear box, Shift Assistance Pro, throttle-by-wire, and other high-tech gizmos, it had a 25 percent increase in ponies that generated blistering acceleration as we scattered fresh-fallen leaves on the straights. The bike seemed infinitely more refined and responsive, teasing the twisties with the gazelle-like agility of an F 800.\n<\/p>\n

The first day\u2019s undulating terrain proved ideal for familiarizing ourselves with our bikes. Giant wind turbines studded the hilltops, their blades scything a leaden sky overlaying a precise checkerboard of fields farmed with Teutonic efficiency. Long scimitar curves gradually gathered into tighter arcs as, beyond Eichst\u00e4tt, we dipped down through forested hillsides to dance alongside the River Althaud. At Dinkelsb\u00fchl\u2014an archetypcal walled medieval town seemingly pickled in aspic\u2014we joined the scenic \u201cRomantic Road\u201d stitching together a quintessential fairytale Germany of Middle Age villages pinpointed from afar by church steeples topped by pomegranate-shaped domes.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"

I\u2019m English. I feel warm, fuzzy pride for Stratford-Upon-Avon, Oxford and York. But my bubble burst as we rode into Rothenburg\u2014Germany\u2019s largest and best preserved walled city\u2014at the end of our day\u2019s 270-kilometer ride. \u201cWowww!\u201d I exclaimed predictably as we passed through the Galgentor Gate into a time-warp of iconic medieval Germanic cuteness. The sloping cobbled lanes were well-worn and slippery. I rode on the pegs. Mostly spared from Allied bombing in WWII, Rothenburg\u2019s higgledy-piggledy houses date back to the Crusades. Our lodging, the 12th-century Hotel Reichsk\u00fcchenmeister, packed a thousand years of history beneath its eaves. A striking counterpoint, my chicly rehabbed accommodation was a honeypot of contemporary styling and accoutrements.\n<\/p>\n

From Rothenburg we turned west through the rippling farmland of Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg. At the hilltop town of Langenburg we corkscrewed into the valley of the River Jagst on the L1025. The flexuous, fastidiously manicured highway unfurled flat and fast, scrolling in broad arcs past a quilt of golden wheat, purple flax, and bottle-green meadows. We broke for lunch at Kloster Sch\u00f6ntal, a palatial Cistercian monastery and extravagant Baroque cathedral. The sun was now struggling to break through, and crepuscular rays streamed down like a celestial blessing. But chill autumnal showers stung like a wildcat\u2019s bite as we sped west through M\u00f6ckmuhl for Mosbach. I kept the traction control in \u201cDYNAMIC\u201d and \u201cRAIN\u201d modes.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"

The swooping curves and horseshoe bends limning the River Neckar delivered us to Hirschhorn\u2014a great place to break at the hilltop castle-hotel, with a Rapunzel tower and a sensational view over the valley, carved deep into the wooded hills of the Odenwald uplands.\n<\/p>\n

Edelweiss, wisely, operates a strict no bottles and throttles policy. I enviously eyed a tourist knocking back a glass of foamy Erdinger Urweisse.
\nSoon enough we arrived in Heidelberg and the Hotel Hirschgasse, an ivy-clad, rambling, 15th-century gem heaped with antiques. This being Oktoberfest, the town\u2019s \u00fcber-historic core was thronged. Every plaza hosted a music concert (from medieval to oom-pah-pah and techno) crammed with beer-swilling celebrants served by Dirndl-clad wenches.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"

We burst out of town, streaking south on the Autobahn in a devil-take-the-hindmost dash for Karslruhe. I took the GSA well over the ton. When my throttle hand started to tingle from the vibrations, I eased off and watched tour leader Axel Allgaier disappear on a Triumph Tiger 1050, tailed by Perry on his 1078cc air-cooled V-twin. Then David Briedenbach flashed past on a hypersonic speed test aboard a 160hp BMW K1600 GTL. He clocked 250kph before his wife Jeri, riding pillion, tapped his shoulder: \u201cEnough!\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The real fun began south of Baden-Baden as the B500\u2014Germany\u2019s oldest panoramic highway\u2014coiled sharply into the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) like a viper that had been stamped on. The writhing snake of a road required hyper-attention and a judicious, nonstop interplay of throttle and clutch. I kept my eye on the Ducati\u2019s bootylicious rear end as Perry and Axel taught a masterclass in calm, composed mountain riding. I loved it\u2014and so did the bike. Superbly balanced, the GSA displayed massive athletic credentials as it powered effortlessly uphill on the switchbacks and flew through the fanged bends like a buck.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"

Drizzle and clouds couldn\u2019t dampen our dopamine day. Nor even the dense veil of cold fog shrouding the gunmetal-gray Mummelsee\u2014at 1,036 meters elevation the literal high point of the celebrated \u201cSchwarzwaldhochstra\u00dfe,\u201d acclaimed as one of Europe\u2019s top ten driving routes.\n<\/p>\n

Then down through tight hairpins to Freudenstad, and on through Wolfach and Schweighausen\u2026over the Rhine and into France\u2026and along the \u201cRoute du Vin\u201d to postcard-perfect Ribeauvill\u00e9, nestled in a valley framed by vineyards\u2014golden corduroys on the hillsides\u2014and hilltop castle ruins.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"

Edelweiss had classified day four as a \u201crest day.\u201d The three ladies opted for spa treatments and shopping. \u201cHell no!\u201d the guys exclaimed as one, opting for our adrenalin-fueled \u201cRoute des Cr\u00eates\u201d loop through the Vosges Mountains. Our high topped out at Collet du Linge (987m) and the Mus\u00e9e M\u00e9morial du Linge WWI battle site. Talk about an antidopaminergic! This somber and emotionally wrenching memorial museum occupies a rocky mountaintop ridge crisscrossed with rock-lined trenches, bunkers, and rusty barbed wire barricades. Here the Germans organized their defensive positions to prevent the French advance on Colmar. In the summer of 1915, more than 17,000 men died in intense hand-to-hand fighting, involving flame-throwers in trenches mere meters apart. I departed feeling melancholic.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we ride through the Black Forest again, and we\u2019ll have fun riding the twisty roads into Switzerland,\u201d said Axel at our next-morning briefing. I hadn\u2019t imagined the Black Forest to be so mountainous, so cut through by steep gorges. But back across the Rhine we were soon climbing through dark forests of fir and spruce on a tortuous mountain switchback that delivered us to Kandel\u2014a wind-swept pass at 1,242 m, with vast views over the Rhine Valley. Then down, down, down at an exhilarating Daytona pace to Hexenlochm\u00fchle for cappuccinos and Blackforest cake in an old mill-restaurant festooned with Cuckoo Clocks.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"

Bj\u00f6rn showed me the Gear Shift Assist Pro. I soon got the hang of this wizard gadget, enabling me to power up through the gears on full throttle, while deftly blipping the gas for clutchless downshifts into the curves. Plus, the GSA\u2019s lean-angle-sensitive dynamic traction control tightened up the suspension in the tight stuff and whipped my back end into line when it started to break lose on throttle-to-the-stop exits. But Bob, ahead of me on a R 1200 RS and pushing hard to keep up with Perry, twice almost lost his rear end as he fishtailed going into tight curves at speed. Then he misjudged a bend, careened over the center line into a guard rail, and went down. Fortunately, no traffic was coming the other way. He was shaken but unharmed, and the bike sustained only minor damage.\n<\/p>\n

We rode on for a picnic lunch in a meadow on the edge of Naturpark S\u00fcdschwarzald. Edelweiss\u2019s purpose-designed support van (driven each day in rotation by Axel, Bj\u00f6rn, and our third guide, Mike Woltering) featured retractable shelving and on-board refrigeration. Impressive! We lunched on a King\u2019s banquet: salad, sausage, ham, cheeses, sweet pepper, breads, fruits, and wine gums and Toblerone chocolate.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"

Soon came the Swiss border and Schaffhausen, with an obligatory pause at Rheinfall\u2014a raging whitewater spectacle (the largest waterfall in Europe) spanning 150 meters and tumbling 23 meters with a Harley\u2019s roar\u2014before checking into the Hotel Promenade.\n<\/p>\n

We awoke to blue skies\u2014finally\u2014and the start of an incredible day. First up, Lake Constance, with its peninsulas surging into Caribbean-blue water. At Ermatingen we turned south to follow intestinal B roads through archetypal Swiss landscapes of lime-green meadows munched by cows wearing bells, quaint villages pinned by church spires, and Swiss chalets adorned with red, pink, and purple geraniums. The distant Alps drew us on as the scenery built like a Mozart concierto.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"

Beyond Urn\u00e4sch we spiraled up into the Alpstein beneath an intense Paul Klee cobalt sky. We lunched at Schw\u00e4galp beneath the jagged S\u00e4ntis peak\u2014at 2,501 meters the highest mountain in Switzerland\u2019s Alpstein massif. While most of the tour group rode the cable car for a magnificent panoramic vista, I stayed below to photograph. The lead group\u2019s tight-pack race pace was killing me! After lunch, I switched to the second group, strung out, with each person riding at their own slower pace. I could photograph each as they passed, then overtake them to await their passage further along the route. Coulda, shoulda figured that out long ago!\n<\/p>\n

Above Gams we stopped to take in the breathtaking view over Leichtenstein\u2014a mega-wealthy, pipsqueak principality embedded deep in the Alps. We seesawed downhill into the fairytale nation and within minutes crossed to the Austrian border. Benoit, from Canada, stripped off his Joe Rocket Ballistic riding suit, donned sneakers\u2026 then sprinted into Austria and back, to the amusement of the border guards.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"

The grandeur built in crescendo as we clawed past ski resorts of the Tyrolean Alps. Looping in sensuous curves, the FaschinaStra\u00dfe snaked through long tunnels to deposit us at Furkajoch, a mountain pass (1,760 m) with stupendous views. Then down dizzyingly through Damuls to climb once again, on the Bregenzerwaldestra\u00dfe (B200), through classic Tyrolean hamlets framed by sheer, snowcapped mountains. Above Schr\u00f6cken, a long, fast, banked, and curving climb atop stilts slingshot us up the final switchback to the Hochtannbergpass (1,679 m), separating the watersheds of the mighty Rhine and Danube rivers. The sky was thick with pewter clouds, ominously threatening snow as we pulled in to the Wanderhotel J\u00e4geralpe, hunkered beneath the pass.\n<\/p>\n

The next morning, I looked out on a wintry landscape, the ski resort buried beneath fresh snow and a charcoal sky. The GSA\u2019s temperature gauge displayed 4 degrees C as we set off in snow flurries! We cautiously descended the switchback to Warth and the Lechtal Valley, framed by serrated summits shrouded in wispy clouds. Warming coffee and light lunch awaited at Schloss Linderhof, where Edelweiss had included a guided tour. Inspired by Versailles, the baroque palace\u2014the smallest of three palaces built by \u2018Mad\u2019 King Ludwig II of Bavaria\u2014drips with enough gold to make Trump green with envy.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"

We were now only two hours from Erding. We sped through Bavaria, weaving a convoluted route between two major storms to arrive wet and elated at the end of a spectacular nine-day tour.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Professional travel writer\/photographer and motojournalist Christopher P. Baker (www.moto-journalist.com) has written and photographed for publications from BMW ON to National Geographic Traveler and Playboy. His many guidebooks include <\/em>Back Roads California: 24 Leisurely Drives plus five titles in the National Geographic Traveler series. A Cuba specialist, he wrote the award-winning <\/em>Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro\u2019s Cuba and leads motorcycle tours of Cuba<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

This article originally published in <\/em>BMW Owners News in March 2018. Photos copyright Christopher P. Baker, used by permission.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TROP D\u2019ACCIDENTS. RALENTIR. (Many accidents! Slow down!) The yellow warning sign for motorcyclists screamed \u201cfun ahead\u201d as we sped past vineyards, golden and glistening with dew in the early-morning, late-September sunlight. This was day four of an Edelweiss Bike Travel nine-day tour, and the pace had quickened considerably as we headed into the Vosges Mountains. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"template":"","news_type":[149],"class_list":["post-614","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","news_type-moto-news-reviews"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bmwmoa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bmwmoa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bmwmoa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bmwmoa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bmwmoa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/614\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bmwmoa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bmwmoa.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news_type?post=614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}