Author: frank

  • Klausenpass

    The Klausenpass (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klausen_Pass) is one of the few higher altitude passes that is open already in May, and it is close by. It takes a bit over an hour with normal traffic to get to the start of the pass, but, if you are like me and have your navigation system (iPhone 7) in some…

  • Living and travelling in Zurich

    My job, by accident and choice, brought me from Wermelskirchen, a quiet, boring little town north of Cologne, Germany to Zurich in Switzerland. Some data to compare: Wermelskirchen, 35.000 People, speaking one language. Zurich 417.000 with 135.000 of them being foreigners. Wermelskirchen is in the middle of nowhere with no public transportation and the questionable…

  • The Bernina Express

    For my wife’s birthday, we went to Chur on a Friday night and stayed in a very nice Hotel, the Romantik Hotel Stern. We had a nice, spacious room, and excellent food. It looks like a reservation for the restaurant is required, as the place was packed both nights we stayed there. Early Saturday morning, we…

  • Leaving Marrakech

    I stayed 3 nights in Marrakech, in a very nice riad which was run by a very friendly French man, it was time to leave and head for the Saharacamp. Leaving was not easy for me, Marrakesh has an elusive magic, the evenings at Djemaa el-Fna with th snake charmers, boxing fights, story-tellers, the exciting drum music,…

  • From Fes to Marrakech

    2 days later, at 9:30 am, I am leaving Fes, departing with the same constant drizzle as the day I arrived. I am on the way to the N8, the main road to Marrakech. Temperature is a good 9 degrees. Unfortunately, the road is going up into the mountains. After 20 km it becomes colder,…

  • Landfall

    Unloading and finally back on the ground At 6:30 the rooms had to be cleared. As regular loudspeaker announcements in French indicated this since 5:00, there is no chance that you are missing this. One announcement also came in English, which you should pay attention to, since it announces the gathering  point for the respective parking garages. At around 7:40,…

  • The road to Fes

    A little detour to Fez From Nador I went over the N15 to Guercif. A good 120km which were easy to drive without any traffic. Klaus, Gérard and Kerstin, whom I met on the ferry before, joined me shortly after Nador, so we were in a 4 motorcycle convoy. Every now and then there was a…

  • The life of a passenger: riding the ferry

    Getting on the ferry When I arrived, another R1200GS was in the parking are, which I was directed to as a motorcycle rider. Later, s a full Touratech ADV advertising machine arrived. It turned out that we all would meet again at the Saharacamp, we had only planned different routes to get there. In fact the…

  • On the way to Marocco

    On my way to Sète I started on a Friday afternoon in the middle of March. The weather in the “Bergische Land”, an area north of Cologne in Germany,  was cold and cloudy, but behind Cologne it cleared up, it became sunny and the temperatures rose to 18 degrees – beautiful weather for the country roads between the…