Newbie tourer looking for tips!

[lolliver]

Hi guys! I'm off on a 10 day touring session around Spain with my dad in the beginning of May, do any of you veteran tourers have any advice to impart for a newbie?

I'm guaranteed to forget something really simple otherwise =P

I've got euro breakdown cover, EHIC card, travel insurance, bought panniers and a tank bag and I've serviced my bike recently .. Can't think of much else tbh!

[Snowy]

Hi guys! I'm off on a 10 day touring session around Spain with my dad in the beginning of May, do any of you veteran tourers have any advice to impart for a newbie?

I'm guaranteed to forget something really simple otherwise =P

I've got euro breakdown cover, EHIC card, travel insurance, bought panniers and a tank bag and I've serviced my bike recently .. Can't think of much else tbh!

Take your documents and spare bulbs with you. Make sure you have contact info with you incase you lose your cards or cash. Don't forget to drive on the right after you have stopped for food or fuel - thats when most people forget :D

And enjoy the pro-bike attitudes they have on the continent :)

[Jon_W]

As above.

Take it easy, nice steady average speeds concerve fuel and mean you can enjoy the views more!!!!

Jammy bugger!!!!!! 8-)

PS; remember the signs are in kilometers not miles!!!!! :D

[lolliver]

Take your documents and spare bulbs with you. Make sure you have contact info with you incase you lose your cards or cash. Don't forget to drive on the right after you have stopped for food or fuel - thats when most people forget :D

And enjoy the pro-bike attitudes they have on the continent :)

Thanks for that! Didn't even consider taking bulbs with me ::) And yeah.. I'm a bit paranoid about driving on the wrong side of the road over there! Never driven/ridden on European roads before.



As above.

Take it easy, nice steady average speeds concerve fuel and mean you can enjoy the views more!!!!

Jammy bugger!!!!!!

PS; remember the signs are in kilometers not miles!!!!!


Thanks for the advice, I'll have to retrain my brain to look at the numbers on the inside of the speedo! =P

[Jon_W]

Check this out. Is intesesting...

http://driving.drive-alive.co.uk/driving-in-spain.htm

[Swanny]

Watch out for the police hiding on slip roads with speed cameras. If they catch you they will rob you :-/

[silly_simon]

Not sure about Spain but don't know if you have to have a hi-viz vest incase of breakdown etc, Or is that just for car's ??

[Nikki]

And yeah.. I'm a bit paranoid about driving on the wrong side of the road over there! Never driven/ridden on European roads before.

Dont worry its actually much easier than it seems.

My tip - be prepared to feel bloody miserable when you get back to riding on UK roads - they suddenly seem so busy, overcrowded and crap in comparison to what you'll enjoy :)

[Nikki]

This might help too

http://www.visordown.com/forum/forumthreads.asp?dt=4&URN=9&V=6

but dont worry too much, you'll probably forget something. Just enjoy it :)

[voodoo]

check your insurance is valid abroad as some need notifying/adding

oh and make sure you carry a few euros with you as the toll roads are everywhere

as everyone else says, enjoy yourself 8-)

[mick_benson]

in spain you must have passport, licence and all bike doc's with you every time you ride,
if you get stopped by the police you pay the fine on the spot they will take you to cash point, or they impound your bike till you do pay,
as said spare bulds are leagal requirement over there,
oh something really silly over there they only stop for red zebra crossings not for the black and white one's we have
they recomend that you ware a HI-VI when riding but they dont enforce it,

have fun, i did ;D ;D

how are you getting from uk to spain???

[Scotty]

A couple of other points about riding in Spain - headlights on at all times is compulsory, you'll be fined if you don't. On new bikes it's less of a problem as the lights illuminate automatically, on older bikes where you can switch them off you could inadvertently leave them off, try to remember.
Another point that isn't widely known is that bikes must have at least one mirror (on the left side ideally if there's only one) - on road bikes this isn't normally a problem, but off-roaders don't tend to have mirrors and Jaa and I got nailed by the Guardia Civil for it three years ago >:(

[lolliver]

@Jon
That's an interesting link, a couple more bits that I hadn't thought of thanks =)

@Swanny
That's definitely good advice, don't much fancy getting frogmarched to a cashpoint to pay a fine :o

@Nikki
Cheers for the link! I've basically resigned myself to forgetting at least one thing lol ::) Gunna be great fun either way!

@Voodoo
Arghh I didn't even think about ringing the insurers! cheers =D And yep, I'll take some coinage with me. Do you have any idea how much the tolls are on average?

@ESSEX
Thanks for that! Couple more things I didn't know about =)
We're getting the ferry from Plymouth to Santander then I think we'll pick a random place on the map and set off. More fun that way :) Where did you go to?

@Scotty
I didn't know that, I'll make sure that I leave the lights on then. I tend to leave them on over here out of habit so it should be ok. :)

[mick_benson]

We went from Portsmouth to bilboa, I can say next time I will be doing dover to calais and ride all the way down, the 24hr(32hr) crossing was horrible never again

[Ducatista]

Have you checked that your travel insurance covers you for motorcycling.
Most don't, so you might find you're not covered unless you bought a specialist policy.

[lolliver]

We went from Portsmouth to bilboa, I can say next time I will be doing dover to calais and ride all the way down, the 24hr(32hr) crossing was horrible never again


:o What was wrong with the crossing? I was hoping to just sleep for most of it to be honest.

Did you tour all over Spain when you were there, or just stick to a certain area?



Have you checked that your travel insurance covers you for motorcycling.
Most don't, so you might find you're not covered unless you bought a specialist policy.


Ahh that's an interesting point. I booked my travel insurance on the ferry website, alongside booking my ferry tickets. I'm hoping they've taken into account that I specified that I'm taking two motorcycles with me?
When the documents arrive in the post I'll take a look at them to make sure.

[RedSoul]

We went from Portsmouth to bilboa, I can say next time I will be doing dover to calais and ride all the way down, the 24hr(32hr) crossing was horrible never again


Totally agree....we did the boat from Portsmouth to Bilboa and decided next time definately ride down.

[Ducatista]

What was wrong with the crossing?

The bay of Biscay is notorious for being rough.
Take precuations e.g. sea sickness tablets.


I was hoping to just sleep for most of it to be honest.

Take something that helps you sleep.
I find the Paul Mckenna recordings work really well for me - the hynoptic trance ones, doesn't matter what the subject is, they seem to work equally well.
I also find Kalms tablets helps, but whatever works for you.

[lolliver]

What was wrong with the crossing?

The bay of Biscay is notorious for being rough.
Take precuations e.g. sea sickness tablets.


I was hoping to just sleep for most of it to be honest.

Take something that helps you sleep.
I find the Paul Mckenna recordings work really well for me - the hynoptic trance ones, doesn't matter what the subject is, they seem to work equally well.
I also find Kalms tablets helps, but whatever works for you.

Didn't realise it was a rough crossing! Never mind.

Thanks for the advice regarding seasickness tablets etc, something else I hadn't considered! This thread's turning out to be quite insightful ;D

[Ducatista]

Oh and presumably you'll have ear plugs anyway, but a lot of folks use these ferrries for a booze cruise.
We had a particularly noisey couple next door one time and the walls are quite thin so we could hear every moan and that's quite difficult to sleep through.

So don't forget to use your ear plugs at night as well.

[mick_benson]

i would say the crossing going was ok nice and calm slept well all good.
coming back was very very differant, the 24hr crossing took 32 hours, we went upto the top deck (the only place you can smoke) and the waves came over our head, thats the tenth deck :-)

[Snowy]

i would say the crossing going was ok nice and calm slept well all good.
coming back was very very differant, the 24hr crossing took 32 hours, we went upto the top deck (the only place you can smoke) and the waves came over our head, thats the tenth deck :-)


Ironic reading this with "The Perfect Storm" on the box :)

[mick_benson]

i would say the crossing going was ok nice and calm slept well all good.
coming back was very very differant, the 24hr crossing took 32 hours, we went upto the top deck (the only place you can smoke) and the waves came over our head, thats the tenth deck :-)


Ironic reading this with "The Perfect Storm" on the box :)


;D ;D ;D ;D

maybe not that bad

[Dex]

I loved the 24 hour ferry (santander to Portsmouth) when I came back from my Pyrenees tour in July.


Mind you, it didn't hurt that we were in a Commodore class cabin so we got to sit on our private balcony and enjoy the bay of biscay being flat as a pancake.

A lot of the time travel sickness is made worse by tension - so if you worry about getting sick, you will get sick. As well as medication and trying to keep an eye on the horizon it really help to have a way to distract yourself, anything that takes your mind off it if you start to feel a bit rough. Booze is not good for this, but music, audio books or Paul McKenna are all good.

Northern Spain is gorgeous, even the motorways are fantastic - all twisty roads following the mountains and coast with lots of tunnels for being immature and noisy in (suited me perfectly).

As for general touring advice, take less kit than you think you should. Make three piles - essential, desirable and luxury. The essential kit is everything you must take - passport, phone, docs, cards. Everything else is optional, its mostly only worth taking kit you "expect" to use rather than things you "might" use. If something is cheap, readily available and you might not use it anyway - then why not just buy it down there if you need it rather than drag it around with you. I always take a load of old socks, boxers etc so I can bin them when they're dirty near the end of a tour - leaves room for gifts, souvenirs and cheap cigs!

[lolliver]

I loved the 24 hour ferry (santander to Portsmouth) when I came back from my Pyrenees tour in July.


Mind you, it didn't hurt that we were in a Commodore class cabin so we got to sit on our private balcony and enjoy the bay of biscay being flat as a pancake.

A lot of the time travel sickness is made worse by tension - so if you worry about getting sick, you will get sick. As well as medication and trying to keep an eye on the horizon it really help to have a way to distract yourself, anything that takes your mind off it if you start to feel a bit rough. Booze is not good for this, but music, audio books or Paul McKenna are all good.

Northern Spain is gorgeous, even the motorways are fantastic - all twisty roads following the mountains and coast with lots of tunnels for being immature and noisy in (suited me perfectly).

As for general touring advice, take less kit than you think you should. Make three piles - essential, desirable and luxury. The essential kit is everything you must take - passport, phone, docs, cards. Everything else is optional, its mostly only worth taking kit you "expect" to use rather than things you "might" use. If something is cheap, readily available and you might not use it anyway - then why not just buy it down there if you need it rather than drag it around with you. I always take a load of old socks, boxers etc so I can bin them when they're dirty near the end of a tour - leaves room for gifts, souvenirs and cheap cigs!

That is great advice! I'll definitely take a book with me then =)

I definitely want to head up into the Pyrenees whilst I'm in Spain, just hope I don't get lost up there ;D

Great idea about the old pants and socks, I'll definitely do that.

[Dan505]

Take tyre sealant, helps deal with unwanted punctures (wish i'd had some 3 days ago ;) )

[lolliver]

Take tyre sealant, helps deal with unwanted punctures (wish i'd had some 3 days ago ;) )

Good call, I'll pop into Halfrauds later this week. Sorry to hear that you needed it though, were you far from home? :o

[Dan505]

bout 5 miles, no drama tho. topped it up and limped home. seeming as no ones mentioned it yet...don't forget your bike either! :D ;D

[wiltshire builders]

I always take a thick rubber band to wrap around the front brake/right bar. It reduces the chance of the bike moving in rough seas. Obviously keep it in gear too.

Mini chain lube, cable ties, electrical tape, chinagraph pencil for writing directions on the tank/fairing

Copies of all documents just incase, spare bike key and lock key and swap it with the other rider

Good luck! :)

[goz1960]

Last trip I did I found the gaffa tape came in handy [smiley=lolk.gif]

[lolliver]

I always take a thick rubber band to wrap around the front brake/right bar. It reduces the chance of the bike moving in rough seas. Obviously keep it in gear too.

Mini chain lube, cable ties, electrical tape, chinagraph pencil for writing directions on the tank/fairing

Copies of all documents just incase, spare bike key and lock key and swap it with the other rider

Good luck! :)

lol more stuff I hadn't thought of ;D heading off this Sunday, can't wait!! Still trying to strip down the stuff I'm taking to the bare essentials currently :)

[Dan505]

have a good trip, hope it goes smooth for you both [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[wiltshire builders]

Last years trip to Italy over 10 days I took a Kriega us 20 tail pack and an r 25 rucksack.
It comprised of 3 pairs of socks and pants (1 to ride in, 1 for the evening and 1 to wash) 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of linen trousers, 1 pair of trainers, 1 pair of board shorts, 3 wicking base layers to ride in,( if you can use morino wool you can get away with 1 as it never smells), 3 t-shirts for the evening and a wash bag (decant everything into small containers that will hold just enough to last the trip.) Lynx do tiny deodorant sprays that take up no room although you will smell like a 14 year old boy.
My friend Neil did the same trip but with just the r 25 rucksack. He took minimal to a new level.

[Snowy]

Last years trip to Italy over 10 days I took a Kriega us 20 tail pack and an r 25 rucksack.
It comprised of 3 pairs of socks and pants (1 to ride in, 1 for the evening and 1 to wash) 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of linen trousers, 1 pair of trainers, 1 pair of board shorts, 3 wicking base layers to ride in,( if you can use morino wool you can get away with 1 as it never smells), 3 t-shirts for the evening and a wash bag (decant everything into small containers that will hold just enough to last the trip.) Lynx do tiny deodorant sprays that take up no room although you will smell like a 14 year old boy.
My friend Neil did the same trip but with just the r 25 rucksack. He took minimal to a new level.

Went to France for a few days camping and doing the Normandy Beach run ... one of the guys took a toothbrush. Seriously, that was all he took. Had to stay upwind after a while ;D

[Swanny]

Yea toothbrush only is the way to go, need clean clothes just buy some cheap stuff from the hypermarket :)

[wiltshire builders]

Last years trip to Italy over 10 days I took a Kriega us 20 tail pack and an r 25 rucksack.
It comprised of 3 pairs of socks and pants (1 to ride in, 1 for the evening and 1 to wash) 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of linen trousers, 1 pair of trainers, 1 pair of board shorts, 3 wicking base layers to ride in,( if you can use morino wool you can get away with 1 as it never smells), 3 t-shirts for the evening and a wash bag (decant everything into small containers that will hold just enough to last the trip.) Lynx do tiny deodorant sprays that take up no room although you will smell like a 14 year old boy.
My friend Neil did the same trip but with just the r 25 rucksack. He took minimal to a new level.

Went to France for a few days camping and doing the Normandy Beach run ... one of the guys took a toothbrush. Seriously, that was all he took. Had to stay upwind after a while ;D
He brushed his teeth? What a gaylord! ;D

[lolliver]

have a good trip, hope it goes smooth for you both [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Cheers mate! I'll pop some pictures up when I get back =)



Last years trip to Italy over 10 days I took a Kriega us 20 tail pack and an r 25 rucksack.
It comprised of 3 pairs of socks and pants (1 to ride in, 1 for the evening and 1 to wash) 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of linen trousers, 1 pair of trainers, 1 pair of board shorts, 3 wicking base layers to ride in,( if you can use morino wool you can get away with 1 as it never smells), 3 t-shirts for the evening and a wash bag (decant everything into small containers that will hold just enough to last the trip.) Lynx do tiny deodorant sprays that take up no room although you will smell like a 14 year old boy.
My friend Neil did the same trip but with just the r 25 rucksack. He took minimal to a new level.


I've got a little topbox, some textile panniers (Oxford First Time Panniers) and a tank bag; so should have plenty of room to fit everything in hopefully. I'm taking similar amounts of stuff to what you took by the sound of it! And yep, mini Lynx's are a great call! I'm sure I can get over the 14 year old boy thing ;D

[Gamer]

Remember to secure rain cover on your panniers - I've lost one when rushing to catch ferry in rain :)
Still put everything in bin bags (or similar) in case you are on motorway and do not want to risk ticket by stopping on hard shoulder to put covers when rain catches you!!!
Some do laminate documents in case of bad weather.