La Coupole
Hewn from the soft chalk, I wandered on my own through rough cut tunnels and chambers carved through the rock by labourers overseen by the German Army, the sound of running water never far away and despite the outside heat in the open air there was a cold chill and damp which quickly penetrated down through my jacket into my bones. An eerie place, yet I could not help but be in awe of the massive civil engineering efforts that were delivered at a cost of 1000’s of lives to create La Couple. The huge bunker was built by the Todt Organisation between 1942 and 1944 and was the base for launching the V2 rockets against London. The complex was bombed mercilessly by the Allies and the scars of the high explosive detonations can be seen in collapsed chambers and offset concrete caps and arches. La Coupole was abandoned during the summer of 1944, after the Normandy landings and is now slowly being reabsorbed back into the tranquil french countryside.
Picos de Europa 2016
The best laid plans of mice and men go up in smoke with the european civil unrest which culminated in my travel plans being cancelled by my insurance provider at 23:00 on the night before I was due to leave the UK… now I am not a reckless man nor neither am I stupid, and to travel when expressly discouraged by the FCO and my Insurance Provider to me just seemed foolhardy… so I took the ribbing and rebooked at short notice all my crossings. So in 2016 having been north (twice) and east (twice) I have decided to go south again to explore the dirt trails of the Picos de Europa.
The Picos are really three separate mountain ranges with a network of maintain trails and passes split midway by the Cares Gorge. I am relieved to know that after my nights in a bivvi bag in the Scandinavian forests in both 2013 and 2015 that the native cantabrian brown bears are reportedly very timid and will avoid human contact but even then the thought of a 150kg bear snuffling in my pannier is one that might wake me when the wild boar or hedgehog trundle past my head!
We will not be moved
I found these iconic statues of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels whilst looking for shade (and an ice cream) in the Marx-Engels-Forum which is a great open park in Berlin, a place for relaxation, surrounded by fountains and picnicking families. Whilst much of Berlin has been rebuilt, the site of these two great memorials is on the land in past occupied by the Old Town quarter which was heavily bombed during allied air attacks when most of its buildings reduced to ruins. For some reason after the war, the ruins were cleared but nothing replaced them and the open space remains. Despite the peaceful facade, the Marx-Engels Forum has been the subject of public controversy, with some saying it is an unwanted reminder of austere past times stepping past the political arguments, I welcomed the shade and respite and pondered on George Santayana’s wise words “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” as I ate my decadent western ice cream.
Stretching my Legs
Testing and preparation are the two key points to ensure a successful road trip. As it was last week when I found myself alone for the first time on an early morning Eurostar bound for Calais and onward to Berlin. The plan was to test the new DCT Africa Twin in anger – to see what was missing and what would break. I am pleased to report that in the first 1800km since leaving the UK apart from about 80ml of oil being used by my ScottOiler and frequent stops for fuel, all is well with the Honda. Pit stops have become lengthy as almost inevitably a few people come and talk about the bike and the travel plans – there are only a few CRF1000D’s on the road in mainland Europe and so far I have only seen one other bike perched on a dealers trade stand when I stopped at the Spinner Brucke bike meet. Onwards to Berlin and a true autobahn speed test.