Thinking about next year’s tour.

[Pie man]

21 hours ago, bonio said:

Aaannnd? Where's it going to be?

as  Gerontious has said,  I will be pondering for many months yet. I have to pick a destination or maybe it will be a theme this year. Unsure what or where yet.

 

I'm not a fan of AirBNB, would rather stay in a hotel, bar, food and beer. So Booking dot com for me. 

[Steve_M]

16 hours ago, Gerontious said:

 

ssshhhh. You should know that heavy pondering over 6 months cannot be interrupted. We should know by the end of March. I did the sums.

 

my own pondering took less than 5 minutes. Fortunately I don’t really need to make plans… in fact with chaotic weather being the new normal it seems best to me not to become fixated on a specific goal. I will chase the sun wherever that leads me. Get to Calais and take it from there… just looking at the forecast the night before. Take each day as it comes and see where I end up.   

We’ve been doing that since 2013 (2016 excepted as finding hotels in Scotland in August is nigh on impossible). 
 

Next year, though, we hope to visit a couple of days we missed due to this years little biking hiatus.

[Pie man]

A little bit of fun 

 

So far I've ruled out.

My Great Escape Tour. 

In the running

Swiss Alps & The Names Bond Tour. 

Alternative

Austro - Bavaria & Where Eagles Dare Tour. 

Long Shot

Annecy  Savoie & The Massif Tour. 

Last Resort

Schnapp to it & The Tennessee Mosel Whiskey Tour. 

 

[Pie man]

 

Closures Passes 2025 | Moppedhotel

 

Know which passes are closed or events are on in 2025

Edited November 6, 2024 by Pie man

[Pie man]

Some of the passes noted for next year 

 

Faschinajoch. Silvretta HAR. Otztal. Timmelsjoch. Jaufen. Giovo. Stelvio. Foscagno, Bernina. Malojo. S. Gottardo. Nufenen, Furka. Sustern. Brunig. Grand Ballon. RTE Des Cretes & Colmar. Le Honeck. 

[Gerontious]

8 hours ago, Pie man said:

Some of the passes noted for next year 

 

Faschinajoch. Silvretta HAR. Otztal. Timmelsjoch. Jaufen. Giovo. Stelvio. Foscagno, Bernina. Malojo. S. Gottardo. Nufenen, Furka. Sustern. Brunig. Grand Ballon. RTE Des Cretes & Colmar. Le Honeck. 

So basically the Vosges. Switzerland and the western Tyrol. (North and South)

 

you missed out the Umbrail - which, in my opinion is by far the best route to the summit of the stelvio. You also missed out Gavia - which is great fun. But needs to be treated with a great degree of respect as it’s quite dangerous in places, south of the summit.

 

the odd one out in that list is the Otztal. Which is a valley and not a pass. (Tal = Valley) The pass at its south end being the Timmelsjoch. If you’re the type for ticking off achievements - then turn up the Glacier road. (maybe that what you mean by Otztal? ~ The Glacier road)
 

And record your altitude as you emerge from the tunnel as at ‘that point’ you’re at the highest achievable elevation (on tarmac) in Western Europe (aside from Spain) but it’s a bit of an anticlimax aside from that. As the road goes downhill again to the restaurant and ski lift. And there’s nothing much there to mark the altitude.

 

i really like the Otz valley, one of the more picturesque valleys at that end of the Tyrol. And not much traffic either unless you’re there during the holiday season or the weekend. (Shudder)

Edited November 19, 2024 by Gerontious

[Steve_M]

16 hours ago, Pie man said:

Some of the passes noted for next year 

 

Faschinajoch. Silvretta HAR. Otztal. Timmelsjoch. Jaufen. Giovo. Stelvio. Foscagno, Bernina. Malojo. S. Gottardo. Nufenen, Furka. Sustern. Brunig. Grand Ballon. RTE Des Cretes & Colmar. Le Honeck. 

And visit the Timmelsjochen museum while you’re there? Well worth the fee.

[Pie man]

@Gerontious its great having good folk on here that have touring experience. If I'm honest its still early days, but its good to put something out there for others to chip in. I make ref to Otztal because I am looking for 007 Elements, somewhere in the Gaislach Mountain. Its the Spectre film location and I think it is only accessible by cable car, home of Hoffler Klinik.

 

One of my favourite passes is the Timmelsjoch. I'm not keen on the Stelvio, but I would like to make my way to Como and then up and across Switzerland, you're right I do miss some good passes but I can't do them all. This might just be a pipe dream yet but I will get to somewhere. I may miss Como and take in the Umbrail, but it all depends on time. Not so much ticking off achievements, but I do need a point of interest or I will end up going nowhere. 

[Pie man]

@Steve_M Good shout, I was actually up there last year, sadly the museum was still closed. 

 

[Gerontious]

I only suggested the Umbrail as it’s a fairly pleasant ride to the start of it at Santa Maria and it’s very nice anyway, quiet by comparison. It also joins the stelvio very close to the summit and then if the original intention was to ride up and then back down the north side. You can then ride back down the north side and take in the quite stunning views. I think riding down that road is a far better experience than riding up it. It’s also much easier to safely pass ‘slow’ tourist drivers.

 

But the Stelvio is a road I make a point of avoiding now as it’s such a massive tourist trap. Which can be completely ruined if you catch up with a line of cars stuck behind a coach going up.

[Steve_M]

2 hours ago, Pie man said:

@Steve_M Good shout, I was actually up there last year, sadly the museum was still closed. 

 

When was that?  We were there on 10th September last year (2023) and it was open.

[Pie man]

@Steve_M I was there early in the season. Monday 27th May @11:15am to be precise. The toll booths were open and you could ride through (only about 30 yards before you come across the first barrier closed and locked). 

[Pie man]

Well this is a first for me, and once again I have a busy year with very little time for moi, (or so the wife tells me ) so tonight I pulled the pin and actually booked my tour accommodation, its a mixture of Hotels and Camping and I use the term camping loosely, not a huge fan of camping, but I thought I would give it another go. Just need to book the Chunnel. Not where I thought I was originally going to go (due to lack of moi time), but somewhere I've always wanted to go, but always avoided. 

 

[Shepherd]

45 minutes ago, Pie man said:

 Just need to book the Chunnel. Not where I thought I was originally going to go (due to lack of moi time), but somewhere I've always wanted to go, but always avoided. 

 

If you're going before end of June, look at booking it soon - 20% off a lot of dates at the moment.

[Pie man]

21 hours ago, Shepherd said:

If you're going before end of June, look at booking it soon - 20% off a lot of dates at the moment.

Good Shout out  Just looked at the dates and I have until 12th Jan to book, just working out my outbound and inbound times. 

 

Eurotunnel Booked - so that's the train booked, hotels booked and campsites booked. FFS I don't know what's come over me, I usually leave everything until the last minute 

Edited January 7 by Pie man

[Steve_M]

Ferry crossings booked: Hull to Rotterdam and return, 14 days apart in the middle of September. Booked early to take advantage of the 20% discount offered by P&O Ferries with a £20 cash back from my bank (expires tonight). 
 

 

[S-Westerly]

I need to win the lottery so I can afford to fly my bike to the USA. My brothers are doing a roadtrip by car from Houston to Vancouver in May. Really like the route but not the car.

[Yorky]

43 minutes ago, S-Westerly said:

I need to win the lottery so I can afford to fly my bike to the USA. My brothers are doing a roadtrip by car from Houston to Vancouver in May. Really like the route but not the car.

Hire one over there ?

 

[S-Westerly]

40 minutes ago, Yorky said:

Hire one over there ?

 

Looked at that but the cost would be almost as much as shipping if not more, especially as I'd be crossing into Canada. Plus I don't really want to do that many miles on more interesting roads on a Harley!

[Pie man]

Wish I could afford the Hull - Rotterdam Ferry 

 

 

[rob m]

A week booked off work for a little trip to the Eifel 5th- 10th May. Eurotunnel booked too. Accommodation will be booked when I'm over there, depending what I do/end up. There was a nice hotel I stayed at last year that's 5 minutes from the Nürburgring or an Air BnB in Adenau that was also cheap so might see if they are available.  Other than that, no plan at all, just a few GPX routes in the Garmin and see how it goes.

 

[Steve_M]

1 hour ago, Pie man said:

Wish I could afford the Hull - Rotterdam Ferry 

 

 

We’ve compared costs of using this ferry vs the channel tunnel and there’s not much difference by the time you factor in additional hotel and travel. There’s also the consideration that I really don’t want to travel to Dover from here when Hull accessible.

[bonio]

Tell us more about the 20% discount deal thing would you @Steve_M?

[Pie man]

I've also compared costs and the Hull-Rotterdam is more than double. I was Quoted £445 for the Ferry compared to £95 for the Tunnel. you can add £65 for accommodation, I think its the long boring slog to the Chunnel and back that kills any trip. The good thing about the ferry, two and a half hours and I would be home, instead of the 5 hrs now. 

 

 

[Steve_M]

1 hour ago, bonio said:

Tell us more about the 20% discount deal thing would you @Steve_M?

Reduced by 20% for Sunday to Thursday crossings, apparently. I didn’t check to confirm but my good lady said she had.

 

 

Edited January 17 by Steve_M