After advice from someone who's done it

I once left my tank bag in a service station on the peage. It had my passport and ferry tickets in it!
Luckily the waitress chased after me.

Did she have a motorbike too? :p

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Originally Posted by BB

Did she have a motorbike too? :p

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She was on a pedal bike. Passed me like I was standing still!

That's amazing ............. ;)

;););)

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Originally Posted by QB1

I'm thinking of taking a little trip to the Alps next year and hoping for some tips from others who've done it.

I don't think I can get away for more than a week and wondering if that's not long enough? I'm happy to do 400-500 miles a day in the UK so not worried about a long days riding.

Any other tips, passes to do and routes to take etc would be much appreciated.

Thanks

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A week is sufficient, I did a trip back to Italy a few years ago and and I got to Switzerland in just over a day.

Left Oxford right after work on a Friday, stopped in Dover for the night as I have friends there, left in the morning not too early and was in Switzerland around 8pm, mind that I lost a huge amount of time as it poured down all the way through and when it stopped my radiator fan jammed and blew the radiator around Colmar, wasn't fun... but without that problem I would have probably made it there by mid afternoon.

Considering a day and one back you've got 5 days to enjoy there.

Stelvio is lush, it obviously isn't a fast road, take it nice and easy and enjoy the scenery. Then it depends what you're after... With a week I would go through Belgium, stop in Bruges, go south through Saarbrucken and the Black Forest, get into Switzerland, Stelvio, lakes (Como, Lugano and Maggiore), then off to the Matterhorn and back through the Mount Blanc, which is a bit of a rip-off, I think they charged like £20 to go through, might be more.

Some suggestions:

1. Hide a credit card and 50 euros on your bike
2. Hide a spare key on your bike, round your neck or give it to a mate ( on the same trip as you!)
3. Get a copy of the RIDE GUIDE to EUROPE ..... the top 20 rides in Europe. Try the Grossglocker High Alpine Road, or the Col du Petit St Bernard ..... routes are on www.ride.uk.com
4. Avoid the Mt Blanc tunnel and the Tunnel de Fréjus. Instead, go OVER the mountains; It's FREE and the views are much better than from the Inside of a tunnel!
5. If you do 500 miles a day, you are unlikely to have much time to enjoy the views and take in the sites. It would be cheaper to go 4 times round the M25 each day. Country road are more enjoyable, but expect to do 125 to 200 miles a day. So, alternate between the two.
6. Take out proper European breakdown cover, such as RAC.
7. Take a GPS and some maps.
8. If you arrive at your hotel around 5pm, you can shower, have a beer or two, and get a meal. If you arrive at 10 pm you are unlikely to get any of them, unless, of course, you are staying in a 4* or 5*, with room service.
9. Go with one or two biker mates .... you'll have lots of fun.

:cool: :rolleyes:. Richard

Enjoy your trip