Norden 901 Expedition 5000km Austria to UK Ep2

I was invited to an event in the UK called the Adventure Bike Rider Festival, but instead of flying in to talk to the crowd, I thought I'd fly to Austria, borrow a bike, then ride to the festival. And so Husqvarna lent me a new Norden 901 Expedition. I rode straight down to Italy to catch up with my good friend Giovanni Sala. The bike was okay? Yeah, yeah. I got a feel for Norden's capability off-road. We ate and drank with Joe's mates. They made me test a grass track. Then Joe and I rode out to another event as special guests. We did some demos. I had a mad ride with Joe. I said my goodbyes and now I'm on my own heading for the mountains. Basically, I've got about another week up my sleeve to get across Italy, Switzerland and France to then jump a ferry to get to the ABR Festival in Warwickshire, United Kingdom. To just show up in Europe without a detailed plan of tracks and routes is not ideal, especially if you only have a two-week window to ride across five countries. But thankfully, there's an online network called the Trans Euro Trail. Downloadable routes of the best adventure bike trails across Europe. I only have time to ride a few of them, but I'm linking up the ones that will basically take me in the direction I need to go. Right now, I'm trying to hit a waypoint I placed on one of the sections of the TET in the western part of Italy. I've taken a random track to try and intercept the section of Trans Euro Trail I'm trying to get onto. Yeah, I'm just keeping it, keeping the bike aimed on the GPS and homing in on the trail. So, we'll just get what we get. See where I end up. Far out. Man, you can get lost in this area for days. Right, reassessment. Back in the rocks, on the hunt for the Trans Euro Trail. Oh, she's a lot of slick clay under there. Getting closer. Be some gnarly downhill. Let's take it on, eh? That's it down there. It's got to be down there. Yeah, it's down this hill somewhere. Oh, what are we gonna get? Oh, I hope it's not a dead end. It's not looking very promising. I should be able to turn around there. Is it? It is. You better climb out of here, Norden. Okay, all right. Nice and straight. Let's go. Three, two, one. The big dark. She's getting some drive. Righty-o. We're close, but still so far. Oh, this has got to be it. That's it. That's the Trans Euro Trail right there. I found it. It's got to be it. I'm on it. So now I want to make sure I'm going in the right direction. Yeah, I want to go left. Don't want to go back to the sea. Some downhill charger on a husky. What a section. Getting up in the clouds now. Feeling right at home on the husky now, like it's got a, it's very intuitive. You know, you first hop on them and they're big and they're, it actually felt a bit high in the bum, little bars, sitting on top of a very dirt bike, like, but yeah, now just when you're on the pegs and if you just look straight ahead and register only your hands and feet, you could well be on a, an intro bike, like a TE300 or something. The, the configuration is exactly that. And they're just so deceiving because you just start looking at lines like you're on a dirt bike and you got to remind yourself that you're on a big unit. But man, they just are so stable off-road. They ride off-road so well. This is more like the valley. Huge mountain range. Few huskies. Right. So I'm trying to intercept the second part of the Trans Euro Trail Italia. It's a 500k section. It's got a heap of passes in it. So I don't know which ones are going to be open, but I'm basically going to latch onto it in 4k's, intercept it at the southern end of it. And I want to work my way parallel the, the border of France, up the Italian Alps, all the way to Switzerland. That's the plan. We'll see what unfolds. The waypoint I placed to intercept the next section of Trans Euro Trail has fallen well short of the track itself. Ciao Sir! But it seems Olmeite in the truck can recognise exactly where I'm trying to get to. Olmeite spoke zero English. Again, I'm trying to intercept the Trans Euro Trail. He showed me where I need to get to. Whether or not it's going to be passable on the nav, it just stops. But he seems to think, from what I could gather, that I should be able to get across to it. The moto has just reached the end of the map, and I am heading into the nothing. The Italian Alps. The tricky part with these mountain passes, the tracks themselves may be very drivable, but you can ride all the way to the top, only to be completely blocked by snow. Quite a magical joint I would say. I wonder where this goes. I'm off the map, but bugger it, just follow it. It's pretty cool. That should, this should be it. We should be on the Trans Euro Trail. Yep, this should be it. We should be on the trail. I'm just going to roll with it, and we'll get what we get. I'm on. I'm on the trail. The Norden, it's got a bit of a spring in its step. What an epic find. What an epic climb. Norden wants to go. The climb continues. Alpiguri. Straight ahead. Wow. Far out. I was going to go down there, but she was a bit tight. Don't need to go all hard and drove. Just, you don't want to get any momentum off that edge. That's gnarly. What a truly magnificent piece of Italian trail. Wow. So good. The Norden, just floating over the rocks. It's made for this terrain. And again, given my production window, yeah, I kind of have to cruise through this landscape at a reasonable pace to hit all my waypoints and yeah, create this video, get to where I need to be, pay the bill. Norden just loves it. It just loves it. Right. Where are we off to now? No words, but one. Wow. I have a feeling this is going to be pretty mind blowing. right hander indeed. Meh, the rock, the rock and tumble. Sometimes you make lucky mistakes. In my excitement of latching onto this epic piece of the Tett, I've failed to assess my bearing and can cut back up this epic motorway to resume a north heading on section two of the Tett. That was like a 50cc or something just lit. Hello. What's happening? What's happening? We take the wrong direction from the top. And so now you're turning around to go back? Yeah, to Piemonte. Back to Italy, Italia? Piemonte. That's in Italy, right? It's Italy, yes. Good. But we take the wrong direction from the top to tender. Where are you from? We came from the south. We have done the borderline. No, you're like, you're, you're from the north. You're like, what is your country? A German. German? Yeah. Yeah. I'm a Australian. So I, I'm lost. Yeah, I'm, I'm the one who's lost, my friend. How's the, uh, Africa Twin? You know, I have an old one, a 92 XRV 750. Yes, right. But that is better. Well, this is not mine. Oh, no. No. Rented. No. No. Did I say it properly? Yeah. They gave it to me. No. Yeah. You are a lucky guy. Yes, I am. No, I'm one of those annoying YouTube people. Ah, okay. And I'm riding all the way to the UK for a, to attend a festival. Yeah. And I have to talk a bit of people, do a bit of writing, and then I give them the husky. Do you have a YouTube channel? I do. Yeah. What is it? It's a German name. A German name? Hey, Riemann1. Which after much consideration, I have finally changed the title to my actual name, Adam Riemann. So if you haven't yet subscribed, you'd better hit that button right now and click on the notification bell too. I'm just following the GPS. Ah. Trying to get to a hotel. Hotel. I'm there. Is it just here? And the motor is right there. And my wife is there. Oh, we're high. And there is the boss. There's the boss. Ciao. I made it. The hotel only accepts cash, or he wants cash. So I've got to get some Eurobanker. Here it is. I enjoy the complete randomness of the places I find, the people I meet. It's in these times you learn things about the world you may have otherwise never known. I'm despised. Remember that people would like to thank God because of the departure of the Arabs. We had from 800, not 1000 in this time, 800 to 1 and 200, 250, an Arab domination. Yeah, but thanks God it was peaceful. They were living together. How many? More than 400 years. The Arabs were in this region? In this region and maybe one of the etymologies or the name Limone could be layman. That means in Arab a peaceful place. Cheers. Hello, sir. Where are you from? I'm from Australia. What? No, you're Edwin Rieman. Yes, I am. No, you're kidding me. How do you even know who I am, sir? Because you said Australia and I know your voice. Oh, really? Nice to meet you. What are you doing here? I take Ted Road section two. Yeah, me too. And it's I went and it's closed because of snow. Yeah, I just went. Oh, hang on. This way is closed. Yeah. You can't get through? Yep. No matter what? It's starting a little bit and then it's completely. Oh, you will not even get through. And I stayed there the night, made a nice trip work. Yeah. Amazing. So there is another turn to the left here. Yeah. Another road to the left. Yeah. I might try that one. Yeah. Let's go. You want to ride? Sure, man. I can't believe this. What are you doing in Europe? Yeah. What am I doing in Europe? Exactly. Anywhere. In the middle of nowhere, man. In the middle of nowhere. And I found you. What are you riding? A CRF? 450. 450? Good on you. You look perfectly set up. Where are your warhorses and your iron? Because I came from the bottom of the valley and I went around a gate. I'm not the only bandit. You're a bandit too. But you saw the left, the other road. Let's give that a try. Let's go. I saw this track further back here. We'll give it a go. See if we can get through up the top here and where it may lead. That sketch is. Oh, he's down. Oh, he's down. I might go give him a hand. He's strong. He's strong for a little lad, but he's tired now. Come on. You got this. She's away. The black ice, man. It stops you in your tracks. Let's give it a try, huh? What did you, did you watch some video on how to prepare the filter? Your video I watched. Guess what? I have knee braces like you told in the other video. And you have knee braces? What else? What else have you learned from the channel? A lot. A lot? You're German, but you're not German. Where are you from? I am born in Korea, but came to Germany by adoption. Ah, awesome. It's nice how everything is cleverly woven to suit your intentions. Accidentally heading south on the Tete yesterday, which led me to the epic cliff trails, detoured me through France to meet the big German, to then stay at a beautiful village, and now find a real deal Motology film subscriber in the Italian Alps. And then I realized you have your own channel and stuff. The Motology channel. Yeah, I was doing those KTM rally videos as the video, yeah, videographer. So I was actually hired to ride the event and film their event. But the bonus for KTM is that I would put the end product, the whole video, on my channel as well. Yeah, it was very nice footage. Yeah, a lot of people enjoyed it. It was a good experience for me. The cuts and all the stuff. That's kind of how I got so familiar with the big adventure bike stuff. Those videos, the BMW Safari videos, and then inevitably buying my very first adventure bike, which is the Warhorse. In Norway, wasn't it? In Norway, yeah. You go to Nordkapp. Yeah, to Nordkapp. So that's where I'm planning to go, basically to the end of this Tete section. Today? Yeah, so look, I'll be on the Tete. I'm sure I'll cross paths with you again. Yeah, you just ride at your own pace. That's where I'm going to be, and maybe we'll catch up tonight, but who knows where. Well, Daniel and his Honda, eh? So interesting, the people that you meet inspired by your work, but it's also a novelty being able to slide in under the radar and let other people blow your cover accordingly. But here you have the Himalayan. Yeah. Himalayan, Himalayan. I was just there. What are you doing with the Himalayan? I just did an adventure, same ----. They give me a bike, I ride through the mountains, I make stories. Understand? Of course. Oh, let's take a picture. Okay, why not? Good. And you sign. I must continue. Hard work, yeah. It's a tough job, but somebody has to do it. Oh yeah. I'm on a mountain in Italy, somewhere in Italy on a mountain, on the northern, on the Husqvarna, the big one. Did you have a nice time at school? Yeah. If it ain't me old mate, Daniel. Daniel, son. I was just calling home. Yes, I thought I'm up, I'm up high, there's reception here. And because it's my daughter's ride on bedtime. So I just, wherever I am, I stop and I try and say goodnight. Check in, say goodnight. Yeah. waited for Daniel to catch up and camped out with a fellow traveler. But I have used up my days in Italy. I need to start straight lining it for Switzerland. That was another massive day. I found a little hotel. And once again, I'm sleeping above the husky. Look at the Norden, just like the stallion tethered out the front of the saloon. She's a head turner. Sticks out like a sore thumb in this environment. Anyway, let's eat. I'm starving. I need protein. Do you have steak, cow, meat, steak, cow? I don't have, no. I have only the sandwich and the bread, it's homemade. What about, what about fish? No fish, no. No meat? No. Antipasto? No, I only eat sandwich or pizza. Okay, pizza it is. They want to be sending it off these cliffs. Do you wonder if an Alpine Stars jacket, the back pocket anyway, has ever been used to stow a whopping grate?