Everyone needs a break from time to time. Same for us – after 5 Days on the road, we decided yesterday that we would add an additional – drive free – day in Diano Marina. Instead of a travelogue, today, just some impressions of what we were up to. (Add a generous afternoon siesta for me). A walk along the beach, then drive to Diano Marina old town. We then decide to have our hair cut and be shaved. Go back to the beach… it’s still really quiet there. (First wave of tourists start arriving […]
TDAF2016 – Day5: Italianità on the Ligurian coast
Our travelogue for today is short. Since our aim is to be on a much more relaxed schedule than last year, we leave from Menton at 9am after sleeping well in our very basic hotel. All our battery indicators are back to normal, since we’ve allowed for a full and normal charge and are looking forward to meaningful information by our onboard computer. (Since we only changed the maximum charge voltage yesterday, our computer was trying to cope with the fact that we were still able to recuperate over 500Wh into the battery although it was ‘full’ from its point […]
TDAF2016 – Day4: One of the best roads for TWIKEing…in the world
Welcome to the fourth day of TDAF2016, a yearly adventure with TWIKE 560 making its way to the sea after 3 days relentlessly crossing some of the highest (and the highest) passes in Europe. No passes were crossed off our list today. This, however, doesn’t mean that we didn’t get to climb a few hills… below 2000m 🙂 Spoiler alert: Lots of fun, heart-wrenching sounds, beautiful roads and places you have to visit coming up. After some very fitful sleep we are engaged in long conversations with the other guests and owners of the Grand Chalet. They absolutely wanted us […]
TDAF2016 – Day3: Europe’s highest pass vs. TW560
Welcome back to the third day of this year’s TWIKE adventure to southern France. Today, again, we have a tasty mix of 2k+ alpine passes from our list waiting for us: 2361 m Col d’Izoard – France 2108 m Col de Vars – France 2715 m Col de la Bonette – France 2350 m Col de la Lombarde – France/Italy After spending the night in a very old and rustic place, we are greeted by yet another brilliant day with its first golden sun-rays filtering through the many trees around the property. We pack our stuff and set […]
TDAF2016 – Day2: Welcome to the French Alps
Part of TDAF2016 is about the ‘AF’ – the Alpes Françaises and TW560’s ‘task list‘ of highest roads in Europe which kicked-off last year with the visit to the highest road in Europe. Today we crossed-off following passes from our list: 2188 m – Little St Bernard Pass – France>Italy 2770 m – Col de l’Iseran – France 2645 m – Col du Galibier – France 2058 m – Col du Lautaret – France Spoiler alert: it was – yet again – an amazing day! After some fitful shut-eye I wake to heavy rain, dark grey and low-hanging clouds. Yuk. […]
TDAF2016 – Day1: TW560’s fitting 200k anniversary
Time flies when you’re looking forward to something! Just a blink of an eye ago, our counter on this site showed 7 weeks to go…and already it’s time to get in our trusted TWIKE for a new 10-day adventure across Europe. Although we had sustained torrential rainfalls during the last week – if someone told me that we were going to be driving through rain for our first day of TDAF2016, I insisted that our first day crossing Switzerland would be a picture-perfect day. The more I spoke about this first, perfect day, the more convinced I was that […]
TDAF2016: all systems GO!
We’re on the road! Really looking forward to our newest TWIKE adventure, TDAF2016. As usual, we’re going to be posting a travel log update about once a day. Follow us: with our GPS location updated every 5 minutes and accessible through an interactive map!
TW560’s *New Battery Pack Installed*
I’ve been hinting at this for a while now: TW560 is getting a major battery upgrade. Today, I’m very happy to report that the first phase of this upgrade has been completed. My TWIKE is definitely ready for our upcoming 11-day, 2500km yearly trip, TDAF2016. This upgrade has been in the making for a very long time – more than 18 (!) months, to be precise. Yet again, since this is a major investment in a 15-year old vehicle, I definitely wanted to invest all the time necessary to thoroughly evaluate and compare all options: Buy original packs from Fine […]
TDAF2016: Planning update
Planning for TW560’s 2016 adventure – TDAF2016 – is complete… well, as complete as it needs it to be 🙂 As last year’s trip pushed our limits somewhat, JC and I decided that this year’s trip would be focusing on the nicer sides of TWIKEing: Mountains & the sea. Fortunately, we live in a corner of this planet where both these things are easily reachable. Even more relaxing will be the fact that I’ve ordered and am waiting for a 52Ah lion-battery which should give us a 480km+ range on one charge (hoping it will be ready in time). With […]
560@ … TWIKEs in Interesting Places (TIP) – A campaign for 2016
TWIKE’s are timeless pieces of design. Every time I enter an old Italian city center square or a French village, a TWIKE doesn’t feel out of place – It just … seems to belong there and represent a past future we’re still waiting for. After having a little fun at a Tesla store end of last year … …and entering Indian shopping centres… I thought to myself: which other interesting places exist where a TWIKE could enter and be photographed to create a stunning and thought-provoking image of a TWIKE? I’m sure you know of a place and maybe know […]