Today we have another straight shot 478 km north east to Leipzig.
The initial plan was to wander up the small roads and we did this for the first 2 hours. It then began to POUR rain and after 45 min of this we were finally able to get on the highway. Now this was not very pleasant with the heavy rain and the speed of the cars, but at least we were making some miles. Finally about 150 km from the city the rain stopped and we were able to get back off the highway.
We had booked a hotel that was the closest to the Leipzig BMW. The rain started again despite that we did go out to find a wand car wash to get the bikes cleaned up for their hospital visit. It was unfortunately still raining in the morning for the 5 km trip to the dealership. We had pre-planned with the service department here to drop the bikes today so they can have a complete once over after almost 200,000 km. We really want them to have a good once over and some new parts before we set out east and to the Stans. They will also get some new Heidenau tires. We have decided to prophylactically change out both clutches, despite the fact that they are both working perfectly. We will also have the cam chain tensioners replaced. The water pump on the 800 has a minor leak and we will get a new one. The issue with the dash display on the 800 has gotten worse. The bike runs perfectly, but when hot and at low RPM the entire dash goes wild. The lights all start flashing on and off, the fuel goes to zero km to go, and the gauges go wild. If you give it a few revs it stops. The GS 911 has dozens of fault codes, but once cleared it says the bike is functioning perfectly and it is. This issue started several months ago, but rarely. In the last 2 weeks it has escalated to frequent (turned out to only be a frayed wire!). They will have the bikes for 4 days, but they say they will be done in 3. That said we have a few days with a rental car to tour about. We left the gear and went out to the airport to get the car. By the time we got back a few hours later both bikes were completely stripped down…so i bet they will be done on time with German efficiency.
First stop is to go to the laundromat for clean clothes and YEAH clean suits. Then we made a trip to Louis for some much needed replacement items. New shields, pin locks, and detents for the helmets, new rain pants for Sara that unzip the entire length of the leg to make them so much less frustration to get on and off, some new Rok straps, a chain tool, and for Dan some new riding socks and gloves!
Now we have decided to go the 130 km east to Dresden and on the highway at 150-170 km an hour it doesn’t take long. About 15 km from town torrential rain started and we were so glad to IN a car!
We had a hotel near to the market square. We had three days of down time to explore the city. Dresden is a very nice city, but of course it has been totally rebuilt since it was decimated from the bombing in WW2.
We did the usual walking around the old city center and actually joined one of the “free” city tours.
This is the cool architecture of the new synagogue.
There is a very good restaurant on the main square “ the Augustiner” with great food and excellent beer.
It was a fun way to kill a few days waiting for the bike service. There are some nice views of the city at sun set.
These two started singing opera outside the church in the main square and it was truly mesmerizing!
We headed back to BMW Leipzig and a promised all the work was done and the bikes were all ready to go. A big thank you for your excellent service work!
We were lucky to have Gaila from Motosoul offer to store the bikes for us. We set them up in one of the garages at the Motosoul’s 17 th century castle or Schloss. We disconnected the batteries, covered them up and stored the riding gear.
Now to fly to Frankfurt and Madrid to drop off most of our gear and pick up the things we had stored there since last April. This included the equipment we had left there for the 900 + km walk we start this week from St. Jean Pied-de-Port France to Fisterra, Spain on the Camino de Santiago de Compostella. This will take us 6 weeks.
Our friend Antonio wanted to show us some things off the beaten track around Madrid. The first was a very unusual Cathedral.
“Justo Gallego Martínez (born 20 September 1925 in Mejorada del Campo) is a former monk who has been constructing a cathedral-like building on his own in the town of Mejorada del Campo in the Community of Madrid, Spain, since 1961. He has named the building Nuestra Señora del Pilar. It has neither any planning permissions, nor has it the benediction of any church authority.”
Next we visited a nearby village that is getting set up for the annual bull fighting.
Sara’s very favorite summer refresher. Tinto de Verano
There is a hill top near the city center of Madrid where people gather to admire the sunset.
Here in Spain all roads lead to Madrid not Rome!
