Of course I did not turn back as one may have guessed.

So my ludicrous dash for Sursee failed, but all good. It’s not like I am short on time. The next morning I visit a local mechanic and ask him about changing to winter tires. He said I’ll be fine during the day since the snow melts and regardless of tire type snow will always get you in trouble anyway. Unless you got spikes of course. I got to hear my impeccable German skills in action and managed to suppress my cringing. Had some good laughs at the expense of BMW too: “BMW? DIE SIND SHEISSE!” the mechanic exclaimed with a face of disgust. Unsurprising since the good man had a big Japanese flag hanging high and mighty in his workshop. He explained how he only had seen one Honda Transalp engine go bust under 100.000km.

Mechanic was camera shy though and ran away:


So standing wide and firm on the ground with our arms crossed and our backs slightly arched backwards we looked down on the bike and nodded approvingly in silence. This bike shall not fail me.

Onward to Sursee but first I made a little detour to a small city named Kloten. The Dutch will understand.


Once in Sursee I met with family who I had not seen for over a decade. Stayed with them a few days and went for a day ride to Luzern.



A beautiful Swiss city cut in half by a river that ends in a lake. A couple of impressive wooden bridges hundreds of years old stretched from one side of the river to the other. Looking up at the ceiling you can see triangular panels with restored biblical paintings on them.



This is not a pose:


Alp is always posing:


After another couple of days with family I continue on through the Alps.

An Alp in the Alps. It never gets old. Though this time there is snow and now the Transalp logo has become reality. The little things I tell you. I ride in direction of Chur and am just blown away by the snowy mountains.



I have never been skiing so all of this is new to me and I am having a blast. I head out in direction of the Fluela pass disregarding the signs saying it is closed. I ignore many of these signs and higher up I end up at a snowy dead end.



This is the end:


Brilliant sight! Though no surprise. This is due the unfortunate timing of my trip since most passes open in May but the snow makes up for it and there are still alternative winding roads through mountain tops surrounded by meters of snow. This was the case when I had to detour back through the Julier pass. Fantastic. Recently I saw the GoPro footage on a quality lcd and the blue, grey, white contrast is simply stunning.

I spent the nights camping in the snow and it did get pretty damn cold during the night. Usually no lower than -5. I had to sleep with leggings, socks, shirt and hoody on and still it was not comfortable. Lies on the label of my sleeping bag but I knew what I was buying when I got it. Any bigger and it would not have fit in the top case packing setup.

What could possibly go wrong:




Speaking of which. I had the tent and sleeping bag next to each other in there and on top I would put the laptop which was tucked away in a memory-foam zip case. This would proof to be a durable solution in order to keep my laptop in working shape during later parts of the journey. Pro tip: leave a peace of foam/cloth between the keyboard and screen when you close it. I did not and now there are friction wear lines on the screen.

Wooooohooooooosshhhhwoooooooosshhhhhhhhwoooooossso oooooo:




On my way to and through Italy I encounter some very nice roads but slowly the snow is disappearing. By the time I get to Trento the snow is gone.



I camp in the mountains just outside of the city and the next day I head in direction of Venice.


Wanna get high:



An hour after I leave Trento the Alps are becoming smaller in my rearview mirrors and by the time I get to the Veneto province the peaks have been reduced to a silhouette on the horizon. I wave goodbye but not farewell.

Turns out the iPhone overheats easily and I realize how useless it is going to be as navigation once I get to the hot countries:


On the main road leaving Trento I run out of petrol. Them Italians and their bloody automated cash payment only petrol stations! I am still very much in card mode. Walk into the petrol station bar and explain my cashless situation. A senior man says come with me and we leave after he chugs his second drink since I got inside. We get into his car and he drives me to the next town where I can use an ATM and afterwards he drives me back to the petrol station. He had a bit of trouble staying in his lane but all good. Back at the station I buy us drinks and afterwards I am on my way again.

On my way that is into the urban hell that is Veneto province. Hours on end of doing 50, 60, 50, 70, 50, 60, 50, red lights and serious traffic. This went on almost all the way to Venice. Little did I know this was the worst stint of my whole journey so things only got better after that mentally exhausting experience. I cross the beautiful bridge into Venice and end up on Piazzale Roma. The place is bustling with pedestrians, cars and busses.


I stop on the far end by the water and the moment I get off the bike to take a picture I get yelled at from all directions. I run into one of the small streets to take a few pictures and run back to the bike in order to avoid getting fined and towed away.

No time to ask someone to take a picture of me:



Fill up on food, drink and petrol and get ready for the ride to Croatia. Also slip in to something more comfortable and take off all my thermal clothes:


No time to stick around now. I was on my way to meet a friend in Croatia and the day was running out of light. I geared up for a long late noon stint.

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VIDEO Series YT - '91 Transalp RTW: Europe, Middle East, Central Asia, East Asia, Australia > New Zealand