Rocking and rolling through Europe to see legendary band AC/DC

Christof Gonzenbach and his wife Irma packed up their Harley-Davidson^® Freewheeler^™ for an epic trip from Gran Canaria to Madrid to see their idols AC/DC, stopping off at three unforgettable events along the way

On the morning of 31 May, we boarded the ferry in Las Palmas, which took us to Cádiz in southern Spain in just under two days. After disembarking, we crossed the Puente de la Constitución bridge and headed north past the pretty town of Olvera.

We passed Granada with a view of the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Nevada and rode on to Guadix with its picturesque old town and cave district, where there are around 2,000 dwellings carved into stone. They are still inhabited and offer a year-round living temperature of around 20C, despite extreme temperature differences between summer and winter.

Thanks to a lot of motorway tolls in Spain being abolished (we’re staunch toll refusers), we made good progress. However, this isn’t the case in France, so on our way to Italy we rode through mountain valleys to Briançon and then via the ski resort of Montgenèvre to Susa in northern Italy.

Over three days, we made our way through Lombardy and Veneto, past Turin and Novara, Milan and Brescia. We spent our last night before entering Croatia via Slovenia. We reached our first destination along the coast of Istria.

Rolling into Medulin
The 31st European H.O.G.^® Rally in Croatia, was the first event of our trip. Thousands of Harley-Davidson enthusiasts from all over Europe and beyond gathered at the southern tip of the Istrian peninsula around the city of Pula and the popular seaside resort of Medulin.

Bill Davidson opened the event, and highlights included an exhibition on the 40-year history of the Softail^®, a number of rock bands and the Custom Bike Show. The flag parade was on Saturday morning in Pula, and we represented the Las Palmas Chapter, Islas Canarias in the first group of around 2,500 participants.

Our next event was Days of Thunder, one of the oldest biker gatherings in Austria. The journey through Friuli in Italy and Carinthia to Tyrol in Austria, as well as the rocking rally itself, filled the third week of our trip. Things got going right away in Kössen. We met a few members of the Sun Hill Chapter, Switzerland, to which we belonged as founding members for 25 years from 1992 to 2017.

On Saturday, we took part in the ride to Grander Schupf in a convoy of more than 150 bikes, before the festival reached its climax with the presentation of a charitable donation and prizes for the oldest bike, best custom bike and biker who’d travelled the furthest. In the latter category, no one could have beaten us. On our journey from Gran Canaria, we had already covered well over 3,500km. Our prize was a sturdy leather belt with a personalised plaque.

After more than three intense weeks, we treated ourselves to a week’s break in Switzerland. We chose a very original place to stay – a cabin in the shape of a lighthouse at the TCS campsite in Horw, near Lucerne. From the terrace, there was a fantastic panoramic view of the surrounding mountain ranges.

Then we were off again, this time to attend the 15^th Dax Motors n’ Blues Festival near Biarritz. With stops in Besançon, Moulins and Angoulême, we crossed France towards Dax, a thermal spa resort. This is both a regional music festival and a meeting place for motorcyclists and lovers of classic American cruisers.

We had some time for sightseeing and took a photo tour through Bayonne in southwestern France before crossing the border into Spain to spend the night in Oiartzun. The next day we spent hours strolling through San Sebastián, visiting the Buen Pastor Cathedral, walking along the beach promenade to the town hall and wandering through the old town to enjoy the famous regional tapas in Constitución Plaza. Then we headed south on picturesque roads over the Urbasa mountain range to Vinuesa.

The following day, we reached the Madrid area, where we paid a quick visit to the local Harley-Davidson dealer before relaxing in the nearby Parque de Polvaranca.

Powered up for the grand finale
We saved the best event till last – the AC/DC Pwr/Up Tour on 12 July at Estadio Metropolitano, Atlético Madrid football club’s stadium. The surrounding streets were dominated by the legendary Australian rock band that has been going strong since 1973, and in the huge arena, T-shirts, caps and other memorabilia such as the famous flashing devil horns were for sale.

At 9.30pm, AC/DC took to the stage: lead guitarist and co-founder Angus Young, singer Brian Johnson, rhythm guitarist Stevie Young and new additions Matt Laug on drums and Chris Chaney on bass guitar, ready to rock the stadium in front of more than 55,000 fans. The show ended with For Those About to Rock (We Salute You) and cannons firing at full blast.

After seeing the best rock band in the world, it was time to head home, which involved two days of riding from Madrid to Cádiz through the sweltering heat of Andalusia, another 37 hours on the ferry to Gran Canaria and 60km home from the port. In just over six weeks, we covered around 8,000km on the Freewheeler^® – we didn’t break down once, and thanks to skilful weather observation, we never had to put on our rain gear!