Schwarzwald

So two 250 km Black Forest tours later I think I'm ready for the Alps. That was about 9h of awesome scenery, first gear switchbacks, 80 mph sweepers, mountains, passes, valleys, all basically starting minutes from my parents' place. Who knew? The start of the Black Forest is about 30 min away from here, but just getting there on the well maintained German "Landstrassen" is a joy. Lots of fields with rolling hills and no one around. To be sure on some sections you run into traffic, but that can usually be dispatched rapidly, though there were a few teeth gritting passages stuck behind trucks.
The valleys of the Black forest are dotted with loads of little spa villages. Some for the air, some for mineral springs. I, of course, tried to make haste and get past them and the tourists contained within. One wonders what all the tourist cars do for the air quality. The crowd of motorcycles on the road there on weekends do the rest to upset the tranquility. Rode up one mountain that had a 60 kmh (40 mph) limit to keep the noise down. Oi. Earplugs, people, earplugs :)

Still figuring out the the bike cam. I decided to keep it mounted on the bike, but I'm still trying to figure out the best spot. Did one attempt yesterday that resulted in unusable video due to vibrations, because the mounting arm was too long. Oh well. Getting the hang of making clips and frame grabs.

I think I'm used to the BMW now. Doesn't handle much different from the Tiger, which is good and not too surprising. Same type of seating position, similar power, similar weight. The BMW is about 50 lbs heavier, both have 100 hp, which is sufficient, since high speed isn't an option with luggage anyway.

Apart from riding, I'm chilling, hanging out with my sister's family - Judith, Eddie and nephew Jamie, which is very nice. I don't normally see that much of them when I'm here, which is too rare as it is.

Tomorrow, I'm off for Italy, well Austria really. I'll be staying overnight in Innsbruck and then Fri morning I'll be setting off across the Brenner pass for Valdobbiadene. Planning on riding about 5h tomorrow, half on secondary roads and half highway. All highway did not seem very enticing. If I get into Valdo in time, I'll take a quick run through the Dolomites before meeting my parents at the Prosecco winery (not sure if that makes it a prosecorria?).

Today is final prep day. Do my first load of hand wash - oh joy, do some route planning, pack the bike. Ready to roll...