2714 miles to Slovakia and back on a Honda Forza 350

2714 miles to Slovakia and back on a Honda Forza 350

On a busy Monday morning I headed across early to Folkestone from Bristol, very much enjoying the 350 Forza and its high screen which makes for some pretty quiet motorway miles.
I love using the Eurotunnel as it means if you are making good time it quite often gives you the option of an earlier crossing for no extra charge, and with that I was back in France again. An hour or so later I was in Arras checking in at a Kyriad hotel and off for a cake and burger. Arras is such a lovely place to stay with a nature reserve on the towns doorstep which is the perfect place to unwind and watch the fuzzy ducklings zipping around the water and goats lazily enjoying their day.

Like every morning I get up early and am on the road by 8 at the latest, preferring to get my 5 or so hours riding done so I arrive at around 2 and have the afternoon to explore somewhere new.
The following day I headed to Wiltz which in my opinion is one of the most beautiful of small towns. From the castle you can walk down through the grounds to the lower road and then back along the river. Quiet and relaxing. And the roads around the Ardennes are great fun: twisty, switchbacks, smooth tarmac, wonderful!

The next couple of days were a little boring, I had to get some miles under my belt so used the motorways to speed me to Wurzburg and then across to Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic. This was my first stop off for two nights as I really wanted to explore the town, and what a town it is. I think it’s a Unesco site, and the castle perched overlooking the town and the little alleyways and river made for a great day off the bike.

The following morning I took a back road ride across the lower part of the Czech, into Austria, getting stopped at every traffic light in Vienna and then into Slovakia and on to Bratislava, getting the obligatory shot of my bike and the castle when I arrived. I stayed just out of town and walked in to the centre in the afternoon and found it to be a vibrant and relatively cheap city to visit. Definitely one to come back to at some point.

The next day I headed right through the middle of Slovakia and ended up at Vysoke Tatry which was high up in the Tatras mountains and took another day off to enjoy some walking up the mountains. The trails were well marked and my only concern was that bears had attacked a couple a short while ago and killed the lady. It was only a few miles from where I was walking so I was a little concerned and kept my eyes peeled. No issues though. I didn’t want to have to fight a bear as I didn’t need new slippers…
As I was in the vicinity I then rode up over the Tatras mountains and into Poland stopping at Auschwitz and spent the afternoon on a tour of the Auschwitz-Birkenau sites.
Oh. My. Word. I think if you had to sum it up in one word it would be harrowing. But a second word would be Essential. I’m so glad I went but it will take me weeks to process some of the things you see there. 🙁

From Auschwitz I rode the southern part of Poland and crossed back into northern Czech Republic again. I found the roads in Poland a little boring. It was pretty flat and the towns really sprawl along the major roads so as soon as you get some decent speed up you’re back down to 50kph on the outskirts of the next town. As I got nearer my destination which was a place called Ardspach my sat nav took me down a little road which got smaller and smaller until it was essentially a dirt track. This is definitely not what the Forza 350 excels at. In fact it was quite a nerve racking ride for a couple of kms but fortunately came out unscathed.

Ardspach is a little known area in the north of the Czech Republic which has hundreds of sandstone pillars in a forest region. This was my next day off and so carrying lunch with me I spent most of the day exploring the area by foot. It really is quite a magical place and certainly wouldn’t look out of place in game of thrones or (if you can remember it) Krull. Again, highly recommend visiting if you’re in the region.
From here it was a diagonal ride to the south west of the Czech Republic to the spa town of Karlovy Vary, a lovely little town where they happened to film the casino part of Casino Royale but pretended they were in Montenegro.

2 more days of 250+ miles were needed to get me across to Heidleburg and then Rocroi. The Forza 350 is really very good at motorway miles.

This trip was just another 2714 miles which means I’ve now ridden over 22,000 miles on the continent in the last 5 years, mostly on 125s, so have some good experience when it comes to touring.
From Rocroi it was just a 5 hour cross country jaunt back to Calais then a morning crossing on the Eurotunnel and then home.
Some stats:
16 days, 3 off the bike
2714 miles travelled
105 miles walked
Best mpg: 94.92!!!