First European Tour

[WilliamM]

Embarking on my first European tour next week - could be a bit of a baptism of fire as I've not been riding that long but no better way to get some serious miles under my belt. Got all my documents and cover sorted so now just waiting for the off. Starting off from Manchester and getting the ferry from Hull to Europort then a long drive to Heidelberg in Germany (hopefully in time to see the champions league final). From there to the Furka pass the back up through France and Belgium and back on the ferry to hull - 5 nights for the lot.

Anyone else off on an adventure this summer?

[GazzyG]

Already done mine - 1500 miles through France and a bit of Germany. All on a 35 year old bike to boot, haha!

Have fun on your trip, you'll have a great time!

[benp1992]

Off on mine this friday encoperating Holland,Germany,Luxembourg,France,Belgium and France again before back to the uk 9 days away

[Steve D]

I'm off Friday week. This'll be my 4th Euro trip first two on my Burgman 650. 2012, Nice, 2013, Lake Garda. 2014 on my FJR to Lake Garda again. Four of us normally take a few days to get there, the wives fly out and we stay with them for a few days and then home. This year we're trying something different. We've hired a Villa in the South of France. We are leaving in Friday and getting there on Saturday, the wives are flying out on Saturday. We are going to dump all our luggage in the villa and go out for some mountain road riding each morning while the wives sunbathe around the pool, shop or just generally spend our money!

[Mr Fro]

I'm off Friday week. This'll be my 4th Euro trip first two on my Burgman 650. 2012, Nice, 2013, Lake Garda. 2014 on my FJR to Lake Garda again. Four of us normally take a few days to get there, the wives fly out and we stay with them for a few days and then home. This year we're trying something different. We've hired a Villa in the South of France. We are leaving in Friday and getting there on Saturday, the wives are flying out on Saturday. We are going to dump all our luggage in the villa and go out for some mountain road riding each morning while the wives sunbathe around the pool, shop or just generally spend our money!

Now that my friend is a holiday.

[Ali in Austria]

I'm fortunate, life is now one long holiday and I live in the middle of Touring Country

WilliamM if you going to Heidelberg and they are of interest to you then the Technic Museums at Speyer and Sinsheim are well worth a visit: http://www.technik-museum.de

Some ideas for passing through Austria: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid= ... sp=sharing

or playing in the German Alps: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid= ... sp=sharing

....... and to head south from Heidelberg:

The Castle Road - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Road

The Romantic Road - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantic_Road

[Steve D]

When we went through Austria last year, we went over the Grossglockner high alpine pass. At about 10mph because it was foggy! If we hadn't have had satnavs, we'd never had known when the bends were coming up!

http://i1294.photobucket.com/albums/b602/Stevedalton57/67E8CBA7-9DDE-4516-A3BB-D129C6F91B3E_zpsu6ghcifs.jpg

[Guest]

me and my mate went over the grossglockner last may.. had a full day. did it in both directions 3 times and had it all to ourselves. marvellous day.

so soon after it had been cleared there was still plenty of snow, though the road itself was completely clear. just to show how deep the snow is when the clear it:

http://i.imgur.com/ZZiggabh.jpg

Should be on everyones 'bucket' list.

[dave_d]

Only ever driven it! Need to get my bike over it!

[Pete]

How on earth do you folks do trips the likes of Calais to the south of France in a day? I'm going away with the missus for 10 nights last week of August, heading for Switzerland (Interlaken) and planning on 3-4 days to get there. Lesson I learnt last time I did a European trip is that France is BIG! Takes a lot longer to get anywhere than you (or rather I) think, looking at Google Maps.

Unless you're prepared to sit on the toll roads all day to get to the final destination that is!

[Steve D]

Well, I've never done Calais to the south in one day but believe me, if you are going to the good roads in the south, the first 500 miles of France are just shit, flat, straight, boring motorways and you just have to grit your teeth and get on with it. It helps that being in Essex, we are just over an hour or so away from the Euro tunnel. A few weeks ago without knocking our bollocks out we did Essex to Beaune on our first day which was 486 miles just blasting it on the toll roads and then the second day was spent getting to Tourrettes sur Loup in the south to a villa where we were staying for a week doing a bit of motorway and some good roads and then doing ride outs each day. A few years ago we got home in one day from Chamonix - 661 miles door to door - and I was on a 650 Burgman scooter at the time! If you were coming from up north and planned to just get across the channel on day 1 staying near Calais, the south would be doable in one day. Easy.

Last year we went to lake Garda but instead of going through France, we went through Belgium, Lichtenstein, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Switzerland was the dirtiest, shittiest country we went through (at least the bit we saw of it) and the only country where they absolutely hate bikers - bikes are not allowed to filter in traffic and if you try to, they block you or try to knock you off! I'm not joking either.

[Guest]

How on earth do you folks do trips the likes of Calais to the south of France in a day? I'm going away with the missus for 10 nights last week of August, heading for Switzerland (Interlaken) and planning on 3-4 days to get there. Lesson I learnt last time I did a European trip is that France is BIG! Takes a lot longer to get anywhere than you (or rather I) think, looking at Google Maps.

Unless you're prepared to sit on the toll roads all day to get to the final destination that is!

 

Pure masochism.. and not uncommon either. Ive seen people post about riding to Austria in a day.. which strikes me as just as awful. why put yourself through this at the very start of what is supposed to be a holiday. My Normal route is across Belgium and to do that as quickly as possible and then once Im in the Ardennes, slow down.. slow down a lot. preferably by getting off the autoroute and striking across country, Once I'm past Namur. From that point on its a joy. Either head into Luxembourg and the German Eifel, or Wind my way south and east across the Northern Vosges and over the Rhine into the North end of the Black Forest. From the south end of the BF its either skirting Switzerland via France and the over the Jura Mountains and into the French Alps.. or head directly east, keeping a little North of Lake Constance (Bad traffic on the 'coastal' road) and then into the Allgau, the 'Alpine' region of Germany on the northern border with Austria. from there.. either head south into the Tyrol.. and over the Timmelsjoch into Italy for Garda... or carry on into the Southern Tyrol for the Dolomites... or further east into Carinthia which is a great base for forays into Slovenia.

If you're heading for Interlaken. DO NOT miss a ride into the Lauterbrunnen Valley. its stupendous.

http://i.imgur.com/Bqwq2OB.jpg

[Steve D]

How on earth do you folks do trips the likes of Calais to the south of France in a day? I'm going away with the missus for 10 nights last week of August, heading for Switzerland (Interlaken) and planning on 3-4 days to get there. Lesson I learnt last time I did a European trip is that France is BIG! Takes a lot longer to get anywhere than you (or rather I) think, looking at Google Maps.

Unless you're prepared to sit on the toll roads all day to get to the final destination that is!

 

Pure masochism.. and not uncommon either. Ive seen people post about riding to Austria in a day.. which strikes me as just as awful. why put yourself through this at the very start of what is supposed to be a holiday. ..

 

Depends whether you consider your holiday to start from the moment you leave your door or arrive at your destination. Nothing wrong in getting to Austria in a day if that's where you want to be based for the rest of your break. There's plenty that get up at 3.00am, spend a couple of hours travelling to an airport, check in and then spend another 2 or 3 hours sitting at the airport, then get on a 7 hour flight followed by a 2 hour transfer to get to their resort. It sometimes has to be done. Unfortunately, the first and last part of many holidays is spent travelling to and from the destination/resort. If you've only got 7/8 days on a motorbiking holiday in the south of France, you don't want to spend 6 of them getting there and back - hence our 661 mile dash home from Chamonix - who wants to stop and book a room halfway along a French Motorway?

[Guest]

How on earth do you folks do trips the likes of Calais to the south of France in a day? I'm going away with the missus for 10 nights last week of August, heading for Switzerland (Interlaken) and planning on 3-4 days to get there. Lesson I learnt last time I did a European trip is that France is BIG! Takes a lot longer to get anywhere than you (or rather I) think, looking at Google Maps.

Unless you're prepared to sit on the toll roads all day to get to the final destination that is!

 

Pure masochism.. and not uncommon either. Ive seen people post about riding to Austria in a day.. which strikes me as just as awful. why put yourself through this at the very start of what is supposed to be a holiday. ..

 

Depends whether you consider your holiday to start from the moment you leave your door or arrive at your destination. Nothing wrong in getting to Austria in a day if that's where you want to be based for the rest of your break. There's plenty that get up at 3.00am, spend a couple of hours travelling to an airport, check in and then spend another 2 or 3 hours sitting at the airport, then get on a 7 hour flight followed by a 2 hour transfer to get to their resort. It sometimes has to be done. Unfortunately, the first and last part of many holidays is spent travelling to and from the destination/resort. If you've only got 7/8 days on a motorbiking holiday in the south of France, you don't want to spend 6 of them getting there and back - hence our 661 mile dash home from Chamonix - who wants to stop and book a room halfway along a French Motorway?

 

Im not even going to bother with the airport analogy.. because its a laughable comparison.

who said anything about taking 3 days to travel just 550 miles from calais to chamonix? so that would be just 183 miles per day. sorry fella, if you're going to add anything useful to this discussion you'll need to do better than that. 183 miles a day? I would split that 550 in two.. if only for a chance to get off the motorway and see a little of the french countryside en route. find a decent B&B well away from the motorway and chill out... then next morning a bit more countryside before rejoining the motorway for the final leg. THAT is what a holiday means to me.

for the return.. then 550 miles isn't much of a drudge - a rest then another 110 miles to home. not when you have your own bed to look forward to.. and a day maybe to recover.

Austria is rather different... you're talking nearly 800 miles. and doing that in a day is just awful. and how do I know this? because Ive done it myself.. but this was at the end of my holiday and i had my bed to look forward to... and a day to recover.

but, we're all different. and a balance needs to be struck. i would much rather arrive at my ultimate destination tired rather than completely exhausted. its not much of a biking holiday if you arrive and are so worn out that you can't face going for a ride the next day. i tend to think this way because i organise yearly trips away with a mixed bag of bikers.. and some will be on bikes that are, shall we say. less than ideal for long distance riding. So, although I am used to long distance rides.. i don't 'just' think about myself.. if i did. then people wouldn't want to come with me year after year. And for the purposes of THIS thread.. on a forum that has all sorts of riders on all sorts of bikes. being realistic about peoples limitations is. I reckon. the way forward.

[Steve D]

I don't live in Calais. Stopping halfway from Chamonix to home is a two day trip, not three and there's not much 300 miles from Calais that warrants a stop. Like you, we all had beds to go home to. So sorry if you feel that my post is not of any use to this discussion but there are others on this site too you know. If that's how you feel, there's no need to waste your precious time replying.

[Guest]

I don't live in Calais. Stopping halfway from Chamonix to home is a two day trip, not three

 

indeed... seems a good idea to me for the outward journey. break it in half so you don't arrive shattered.

 

you don't want to spend 6 of them getting there and back

 

3 days there and 3 days back. seems a bit daft, as well as a contradiction to your latest comment. (above)

2 days there.. and a day to get home.. where you can collapse in a preprepared heap. far more sensible.

personally i reckon anyone considering such a trip.. with the ultimate destination more than 600 miles from their front door would do well to not take that distance for granted.. or its effect. particularly if your normal riding is fairly low key. and your bikes isn't a 'tourer'. with all the creature comforts that goes with one of them. factor in a break en route. make the ride down in part, part of your holiday. 600 miles of motorway is my idea of hell and i wouldnt wish it on anyone - inexperienced in what after all IS endurance riding.

[Steve D]

Perhaps I didn't explain myself properly. This year was only my fourth European trip. The past two years we went to lake Garda. On our trips (there's four of us all on tourers with panniers - an FJR, a Tiger sport, a R1200RT and a MultiStrada). We always meet up and stay with our wives. So, last year to get there, we went via few countries - France, Belgium, Lichtenstein, Germany, Austria and Italy, leaving on the Saturday, stopping for two nights and getting there on Monday when the wives flew out. We then parked the bikes up for the duration and spent time with them until they went home. What we didn't like was going round these fantastic roads on the way there and back fully loaded down with top box, panniers, tank bags and tail packs and carrying half the wives luggage 'cos they only wanted to take hand luggage, the lazy cows! They were always moaning that they only got three days holiday so this year we tried something different. We booked a 4 bed villa in the South of France for a week, set off on Friday, slogged it out and got there on Saturday when the wives flew out. We could then unload all our luggage in the villa and have rides out each day without all the luggage to bog us down while they lazed around the pool. On previous trips we only blasted it home as getting there was part of the trip but on this one we blasted both ways as the 'holiday' started and finished in the south of France. Everyone was happy!

[John933]

How on earth do you folks do trips the likes of Calais to the south of France in a day? I'm going away with the missus for 10 nights last week of August, heading for Switzerland (Interlaken) and planning on 3-4 days to get there. Lesson I learnt last time I did a European trip is that France is BIG! Takes a lot longer to get anywhere than you (or rather I) think, looking at Google Maps.

Unless you're prepared to sit on the toll roads all day to get to the final destination that is!

 

It's how you start. But look at 500 mile's as about the max in one day. That's if the sun is out. In the rain and how hard, is just about half. Then there's the crossing. If you are starting in the uk. Taking in the crossing. Get there, wait to load, wait to un-load. That's a couple of hour's out of your day. If the clock's are against you. Time difference in France, it could be as much as three or four hour's lost.

It's swing's and round about's. But the first day to me, is get as much mile's under you as you can.

John933

[Guest]

My tactic is slightly different.. I book an early morning chunnel crossing and stay the night before at ashford. at the travelodge. so that means.. if I get a 9am crossing. Im heading out of the chunnel on the french side at about 10:30 local time. a 9am crossing means a fairly lazy start to the day... and that suits me just fine. the travelodge is just 12 miles or so from the chunnel and theres a tesco en route for cheaper petrol. brim the tank and thats that sorted for a good part of the day. by the time i need to refuel its about lunchtime.

it adds to the price obviously.. but it makes for a more leisurely start. ashford is 220 miles from my front door and its all tedious M1/M25/M20. doing it all at once... say, The Eifel to home in one go is 490 miles.. which is fine coming home. but not something I'd like to do at the start of a holiday.

[Yvanka]

Well, I've never done Calais to the south in one day but believe me, if you are going to the good roads in the south, the first 500 miles of France are just shit, flat, straight, boring motorways and you just have to grit your teeth and get on with it. It helps that being in Essex, we are just over an hour or so away from the Euro tunnel. A few weeks ago without knocking our bollocks out we did Essex to Beaune on our first day which was 486 miles just blasting it on the toll roads and then the second day was spent getting to Tourrettes sur Loup in the south to a villa where we were staying for a week doing a bit of motorway and some good roads and then doing ride outs each day. A few years ago we got home in one day from Chamonix - 661 miles door to door - and I was on a 650 Burgman scooter at the time! If you were coming from up north and planned to just get across the channel on day 1 staying near Calais, the south would be doable in one day. Easy.

Last year we went to lake Garda but instead of going through France, we went through Belgium, Lichtenstein, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Switzerland was the dirtiest, shittiest country we went through (at least the bit we saw of it) and the only country where they absolutely hate bikers - bikes are not allowed to filter in traffic and if you try to, they block you or try to knock you off! I'm not joking either.

 

Include The Netherlands next time, we have fantastic roads, like they're (almost) all newly asphalted.

France indeed is quite tedious, maybe think of taking a little detour past the coast!

On your way to Italy, you went the wrong way when it comes to roads... Hahahah. The roads in Belgium are horrible.

You go though! I hope I'll become more like you when I reach the magical age of 21, or at least 19 so I can drive a more suitable bike!

[Steve D]

Totally agree about Belgium. Never again!

[Stu]

We found some nice roads I Belgium!

[Six30]

We found nice roads in Belgium to .

[Guest]

We found some nice roads I Belgium!

 

same here. and you don't need to look too hard for them either. 'some' of the motorways especially the E42/E19 are particularly bad. but the main motorway that passes round Brussels E40 and then heads south to join the E411 are great. for good roads you need to get OFF the motorways though and particularly head into the Ardennes, south and east of Namur. it should come as no surprise that the vast majority of the recommended roads on "best biking roads' are in this area.

I can only assume that people judge Belgium based purely on the Motorway. thats like riding the M25 at rush hour on a monday and assuming all UK motorways are the same.