S.A.P. Tour 2003

S. A. P. TOUR HOTEL 2007

For the first time in the history of a standard SAP Tour
the event took place in a hotel for 6 nights.











The participants got their first tour day in reasonable weather - and it would be the weather that was going to play a major role on this tour! To get things rolling we started with a ferry boat ride. The day progressed into the Alps with overcast weather in the morning, which brightened up by midday........this was all about to change though!!







By the second, third and fourth day's Switzerland had been plunged into some of the worse weather I had experienced in 10 years. Continuous rain resulted into flooding and landslides in the central Swiss areas, exactly where we were! This was not good!!

There were a lot of glum faces amongst us and if there is one thing that a motorbike tour guide hates its a living nightmare caused by bad alpine weather. We were now reduced to public transport, bar's, cafe's and walking the street's for the next few days!
In times of adversity one must turn to more pleasant distractions - So we all trundled down to Interlaken in the rain and visited Hooters for a hot drink and hot chicks...One of the hooters girls was from Poland...Much to the delight of the Polish Sapper's a GROPE photo was arranged! Participants also took quality wet time to discover Meiringen, Breinz and Lucerne by themselves.
		Note the white socks. Typical Brit tourist!


If continual rain wasn't enough, snow set in and that was the end of our sapping activities at altitude until Friday. By that time some of the intrepid participants had decided to pack up and return home.




So it came to pass.....Physically and literally, the remaining sap participants that held out till Friday, after spending a lot of time in bar's, recuperating in the gym, sauna, and beer bottich, eating, singing, and sleeping, managed to get out on the road again.




Overall the tour was a new experience for me and it showed the participants just how devastating Alpine weather can be. As motorcyclists I think that most of the participants came away from this tour with a large respect for mountains. Most were resolute and stuck it out till the end and I got the impression that they were filled with desire to return to the Alps again.....Next time in better riding conditions of course :) ******************************
Here are some interesting and funny pictures from the tour
Marek's	Alpine moth	Alpine Hardley	Nufenen Pass	PRZYJEMNY Nice
Locomotive	Feeding time	Horny	Marek's	The Weather oricle
Gottard Pass	Polish Pass	Self explanatory really!	This one also!	Chuff Chuff
Alpine fornaaa	Alpine Aaaaaaa	Any good weather?	Front-side	Back-side
Sleepers	Horny again	Two way directional radar - It flashed at least 12 bikes when we went past - No one got a ticket!	Another sleeper	Posing
Thanks to all participants for making 2007 SAP Tour Hotel a memorable one.
Special thanks to Paddy for sticking this week out and for being my right-hand man and co-tour guide.