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Repeater

From 4 to 11 August, another TOURENFAHRER experience week took place in the Palatinate. The ‘Waldhotel Eisenberg’ was once again the base for the 19th event as part of the popular THT – the TOURENFAHRER Hotel Tours.

After the great success of last year’s TF Experience Week in the Palatinate, a repeat was practically a must. Around three quarters of the participants had already been here for the first time or had been guests at this centre before. Some of them knew each other, but even those who were travelling for the first time immediately felt at home and were warmly welcomed by the old hands. The atmosphere was relaxed throughout the week and everyone particularly praised the community. There were no fixed seating arrangements or group formations, so there were always stimulating conversations and new acquaintances.

This time, too, there were personalised T-shirts as well as various Rukka suits and biker jeans from Axxus for extensive testing during a day tour. And as the Waldhotel is also a Honda test ride hotel, five current models were available for test rides at a fair price.

There were five guided day tours during the six full days on site. ‘Should we make a GS group?’ joked Claus, looking at the hotel car park. But that didn’t matter when it came to organising the groups. Everyone lined up in the appropriate category of ‘brisk’, ‘normal’ or ‘leisurely’, which did not differ dramatically in terms of speed. After all, you stick to the rules ...

The route was once again planned and guided by the ‘Pfalztourguides’ Dani and Sascha, supported by tour guide Nam. They know the region like the back of their hands and had prepared attractive day tours with an average length of 250 kilometres especially for this event. ‘There’s just too much to see to fit it all in just one week,’ explained Dani. Nevertheless, some classics were not to be missed: the Dürkheim giant barrel, for example, the Johanniskreuz or the giant bench near Leimen are simply part of a Palatinate week.

Another interesting stop was the Westwall Museum in the south of Pirmasens. Construction of the Gerstfeldhöhe fortress, which began in 1938, was abandoned in the summer of 1940 in favour of the Atlantic Wall. Today, visitors can take a guided tour of the battle positions, corridors and equipment – at an average temperature of eight degrees. In the warm sunshine, however, the participants sat on the terrace of the Kyrburg and enjoyed the beautiful view of the Nahe valley.

The visit to the Niederwald monument near Rüdesheim am Rhein, which commemorates the unification of Germany in 1871, was steeped in history. It is one of the monumental memorials from the German Empire, such as the Barbarossa Monument on the Kyffhäuser, the Deutsches Eck in Koblenz or the Hermannsdenkmal near Detmold. Inaugurated in 1883, it has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley since 2002.

On the ‘rest day’, i.e. the day on which there was no guided tour, most of us still travelled by motorbike. Favourite destinations were the Adlerbogen on the Donnersberg near Dannenfels and the Potzberg Wildlife Park. The attraction was the large birds of prey show with eagles, vultures, falcons, kites and buzzards as well as two Andean condors.

No one was bored on the magnificent tours through the Palatinate, the Soonwald, the Hunsrück and the Rheingau. Hotelier Claus took the opportunity to ride a motorbike himself and joined one of the three groups again and again. After the tour through the North Palatinate mountains, he was pleasantly surprised to realise: ‘I’ve never been where you're riding around in my life.’ So there is still plenty of potential for another Palatinate Week. If you would like to take part, you should make a note of 3 to 10 August 2025.

The participants
Alfons: BMW R 1250 GS • August: Suzuki LS 650 Savage • Bernd: Yamaha Tracer 9 GT • Bianca: KTM 390 Duke • Claus**: Honda Hornet 750 • Constantin and Barbara: BMW R 1250 RT • Dani*: BMW F 800 GS • Eckard: Honda CB 1000 R • Harald: BMW R 1200 GS • Hilke: Honda CBF 600 • Josef: BMW R 1250 GS • Jürgen: Honda CBF 600 • Klaus: BMW R 1200 R • Lutz: BMW R 1200 GS • Marco: BMW R 1200 GS • Michael: BMW R 100/7 • Michael and Iris: Honda Pan Eurppean 1300 • Moris: Yamaha Tracer 7 • Nam*: Triumph Rocket 3 • Ralf: Ducati Multistrada V2 S • Reinhard: BMW R 1200 GS • Roman: BMW R 1250 GS • Sascha*: Ducati DesertX • Stefan S.: BMW R 1250 GS • Stefan W.: BMW R 1250 R • Stefan: Yamaha Tracer 9 GT • Toni: Yamaha Tracer 7 GT • Winnie: Honda Africa Twin
* Tour guide     ** TF host

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