Europe trip - Returning home

On the whole trip we had a combination of sunny and rainy weather. However the biggest challenge was saved for last. At the Brennero pass.

After the snow machines cleared the road and the heavy snow fall stopped, we where on our way. Next stop the ferry boat in Venice and then back home to Greece. (A few days later we went swimming )

Europe Trip - Austria and Germany

 Austrian alps, just coming out of the pretty town of Uderns.

KTM Pride.

Close to the German/Austrian boarder

We thought this was the closest we would get to the snow.

The beautiful Fussen area, with two stunning castles.

Fellow riders

Europe trip - Driving through South Germany

Autobahn!

Europe trip - Heading to, and Czech Republic

From Poland to Czech Rep.

Inside the Skoda factory, just north of Prague.

Prague, off course!

Europe trip - Polish forrests

Polish forests.

Ready to Race.

A nice monastery in Czatachowa.

Europe trip- Czestochowa, Poland

The Jasna Gora church in Czestochowa, is the most famous in Poland. 
Here, motorcyclists from around Europe gather every year to ask for a safe journey.

KTM 990 Adventure S, Europe trip (Part 1)

Our trip started off on a stormy day from Athens, Greece. 

Headed off towards the port of Patras (a distance of 250km). All though the initial Attiki odos and national road to the ancient town of Corinth is great (with toll costs being around 3.5 euros), the road from there to Patras is probably the worst you will find in Greece, due to unfinished road-work (for the last few years). A shame really considering that this is the road that connects us to Europe. Mostly 1 lane in each direction with no protection from the oncoming traffic, it’s quite dramatic in the rain, especially at night and with a motorbike. The tarmac needs attention as previous lane-lines have been blacked out with a very slippery when wet paint... However the view both towards the sea on your right and the tall mountains on your left make up for it, especially in daylight. And when you approach Patra, you get a stunning view of the new Rio-Antirio bridge.

As we left our house late in the day, we just made the ferry to Venice for about 5 minutes. That was certainly due to our 999cc companion, as it took us and our 100kg load easily through the extreme weather conditions to our destination. The wind and rain protection the bike gives is great, and in combination with our new KTM PowerWear rain suits, we hardly felt any moisture on our skin for the whole trip. Fully loaded I managed to get 220km out of 16litres of regular unleaded fuel (at the time 1.85Euros/Litre, in Athens).

The ferry trip (Patra-Igoumenitsa-Venice) is a total of around 34 hours.

It sounds quite a lot but if you have a cabin then the trip can actually be regenerative.     

Arriving at Venice, I set the GPS with our next destination, Klagenfurt, Austria just 300km north-east. Our initial target was to complete the trip in small increments and as bad weather greeted us off the ferry in Italy, it seemed we would spend the night in this pretty Austrian lakeside town. However when we entered the first long tunnel in Austria we came out the other side, only with the need to pull over and unpack our sun-glasses.

This being the case we took advantage of it and continued another 350km to arrive in Vienna later on in the evening. 

But as we could only find a room with near 200Euros for the night, we decided to stay just north of the city where the accommodation was less expensive and gave us a traditional feeling.

Europe Trip with the KTM 990 Adventure S

We have just completed our trip throughout 6 countries. GREECE, ITALY, AUSTRIA, POLAND, CZECH REP, GERMANY. Around 4500km, wonderful time and the bike exceeded my ambitions. More information on this to come shortly... 

KTM 990 Adventure S, loaded up for the trip.

Extra touring parts include: Side Gobi cases, Tank bag, Extended carrier plate, KTM roll bag (with additional luggage secured on top), Garmin Nuvi 510 GPS with Touratech bracket, Touring windscreen, Touratech seat, and maybe the most important change I've made to the bike but cannot be seen in the pictures is the KTM PowerParts throttle cam (Using the #500). This cam has made the bike's throttle less responsive, improving it greatly in my opinion. Easier to drive off road, over bumps and of course on trips. It also improves fuel consumption.

Extended carrier plate from KTM-PowerParts.

It measures around 40cm at widest and 32 at narrowest side. It was worth every cent. In combination with the KTM roll-bag, loading and unloading is made easy and secure. Also it eliminates any contact the luggage had with the indicator lights.

Touratech GPS bracket for KTM 990 Adventure

Sweet bracket from Touratech. Lockable.

The GPS is the Garmin Nuvi 510. Waterproof and snowproof (as I recently found out :)

KTM 990 Adventure in the snow...well sort of..

It is not very often that the temperature goes to just over freezing around Athens.
This picture was taken on Mt. Immitos looking towards the south of Attica (Near Voula).