Originally Posted by
Trev
Sorry I'm a bit old school and don't do the bike/video thing, once you've seen one video of 'X does wherever' then you've seen 'em all ; ) I only took 6 pics on the whole trip, just enough to remind me of where I went, will try to post a couple.
Itinerary was:
Wednesday - left home (near Ringwood) Wednesday midday for run to chunnel across Sussex downs, took bloody ages and loads of speed limits and traffic meant not as much fun as I'd hoped, would have been better off doing M3, M25, M20 as I usually do in the car. Tunnel crossing, £49 one way, hour and half motorway blast to Aalst - 350 miles in total
Thursday & Friday was visiting expo in Brussels so NC stayed garaged while I hitched a car ride in with colleagues on Thursday, took bike to expo Friday, did show and left 4pm heading South via Dinant, stayed on Belgian/Luxembourg border near Bastogne
Saturday across Luxembourg (lovely roads, very quiet, lots of bikes out) into Germany near Konz and then South to Stuttgart for the night to meet a friend for a beer.
Sunday - West from Stuttgart into France to Epinal, lovely windy roads some almost Alpine like in places, night at Bourbonne les Bains (middle of no where) in a one star hotel that left me wondering how they got the star! Lovely dinner though.
Monday - Westish past Auxerre, Chartres, looking for (and failing to find) tyre shop, night at Pithivers
Tuesday - still looking for (and finding to find one with 160/60 - 17 in stock) tyre shop, North West to Caen, 4.30pm ferry (£58 one way), off ferry at 9.30pm to p*ssing rain for hour ride home, welcome to England!
Total mileage after leg to Brussels was 1723 in four and half days, some days could have done more, some days went a little too long before stopping for the evening. I agree, theres' s lot of cobblers talked about what you need to go touring, no doubt more kit, different bike will make it easier/faster/posier (take your choice) but my advise is just do it. You haven't got to clock monster miles, stick to the prescribed bikers destinations or ride in a group. A bike you trust, kit your comfortable in (preferably waterproof), map (although mine was hopeless and still managed ok), mobile/smart phone for emergencies, cash and a willingness to meet new people and of course the right docs, legal bits, etc
I enjoy riding in the UK and really haven't travelled enough of it on a bike to make a fair comparison but busy roads, some truly scandalous road surfaces and some lemons still insisting on proving they can out ride Rossi on a Sunday morning do make it less than enjoyable at times.
