Paging the European tourers (again)
in [UK Motorcycles]
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From: Timo at Work on 30 Jul 2010 14:55 On Jul 30, 11:28 am, TD <topper.dog...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > 450-mile days > From To Distance(miles) Suggested time (hours) > London Strasbourg 490 8 I've done similar distances (Ashford to Mulhouse) on both bike and in the car. It's a bit of a PITA on the bike... > Next - booking accomodation. I want to book as little as possible, as > naturally it would be nice to have some flexibility - ride more or less on a > given day etc. But is this a wise move? How difficult is it likely to be to > find accomodation on the day? I know it's a big question but there must be > some sort of conventional wisdom. I'd book ahead if possible, especially if you're travelling during holiday time. Unless you pack a tent or fancy sleeping in a ditch from time to time.
From: wessie on 30 Jul 2010 15:35 TD <topper.doggle(a)gmail.com> wrote in news:i2v5k0$6s2$1(a)news.eternal-september.org: <snip> I would pre-book accommodation for 2 reasons a) if you are doing 450 miles a day the pre-booked accommodation focusses your attention on doing the miles b) finding accommodation can be a PITA if you are tired and don't speak the lingo. At this time of year, turning up on spec can be eye wateringly expensive as the exchange rate is a killer. As an example, I stopped in Reims on the way home recently: city centre Mercure prebooked �40, turn up on spec 90 euros. France is easier than Italy to turn up on spec as they have loads of cheap motels along the autroutes you can fall back on. A 450 mile day is okay. Several in sequence are unpleasant. especially if it is 30C or more. Start early. Attempt to do over 200 miles before you stop for lunch. I tend to do 70-80 mile chunks then stop for 5 mins to stretch limbs,take on fluids. Every other stop is a fuel stop, although the bike will do over 200 miles per tank. I've no idea about travelling south of Milan but I would suggest you alter the 1st part of your route to: 1. overnight Reims 2. Reims to Meiringen/Interlaken which is about 400 miles on motorway (you will need a 40CHF vignette for Swiss motorway) 3. Interlaken via spectacular passes - you choose there are several options - into Italy and stay somewhere near the southern end of the Italian Lakes. 4. Milan area to Pescara on motorways about 400 miles This route will give you one day to play in the mountains rather than 4 legs on primary routes. If you aren't going to treat the journey as a holiday then take a plane. Pre-book ferries as they don't run every 30 mins like Dover ferries.
From: Thomas on 30 Jul 2010 15:42 On Jul 30, 11:28 am, TD <topper.dog...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > I've come up with a couple of itineraries for London -> Brindisi using Google > Maps. The first has 300-ish mile-days, the second has 450-ish mile-days. > > Be interested to have opinions from any of the tourers in terms of the > viability of these routes. ... > Next - booking accomodation. I want to book as little as possible, as > naturally it would be nice to have some flexibility - ride more or less on a > given day etc. But is this a wise move? How difficult is it likely to be to > find accomodation on the day? I know it's a big question but there must be > some sort of conventional wisdom. In ten weeks from May through mid-July, I didn't book a single room and had no problem finding hotel space. The most I paid was 50 Euros a night, average was closer to 35. (Cheapest, and not the worst by far, was 15.) > Finally , this could be the first and last tour I do for a while. Sat Nav > would be useful but it's not worth splashing out loads for a single trip. Michelin maps on a tank bag are cheap and efficient.
From: Timo at Work on 30 Jul 2010 15:51 On Jul 30, 12:02 pm, TD <topper.dog...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On 2010-07-30, Timo at Work <tim...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > > On Jul 30, 11:28 am, TD <topper.dog...(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >> 450-mile days > >> From To Distance(miles) Suggested time (hours) > >> London Strasbourg 490 8 > > > I've done similar distances (Ashford to Mulhouse) on both bike and in > > the car. It's a bit of a PITA on the bike... > > Ah. But some inhabitants of this parish basically told me I was a complete > poof for thinking about doing any less. *shrug* Sure, they've probably got iron arses, but as someone who's riding quite a lot (well, used to, lack of bikes and current US biking license is cramping my style a little) I would think that's quite a lot of miles if you want to enjoy yourself. > Yes, mid-end August. I don't fancy sleeping in a ditch, or in fact, ending up > in a ditch at any point[1]. Book ahead, set GPS to hotel but if you're planning the route, use some of the time you have gained by not having to knock on tons of doors to spend some time off the motorway. You'll go stir crazy on a bike if you do 500-600 miles on the motorway. Well, at least I do.
From: Mark Olson on 30 Jul 2010 16:29
Timo at Work wrote: > On Jul 30, 12:02 pm, TD <topper.dog...(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> On 2010-07-30, Timo at Work <tim...(a)gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> On Jul 30, 11:28 am, TD <topper.dog...(a)gmail.com> wrote: >>>> 450-mile days >>>> From To Distance(miles) Suggested time (hours) >>>> London Strasbourg 490 8 >>> I've done similar distances (Ashford to Mulhouse) on both bike and in >>> the car. It's a bit of a PITA on the bike... >> Ah. But some inhabitants of this parish basically told me I was a complete >> poof for thinking about doing any less. *shrug* > > Sure, they've probably got iron arses, but as someone who's riding > quite a lot (well, used to, lack of bikes and current US biking > license is cramping my style a little) I would think that's quite a > lot of miles if you want to enjoy yourself. My recent extended trip was a revelation. Previous trips had been planned with multiple back-to-back 400+ mile days in order to maximize time at the supposed destination. Having the luxury of 3 weeks to do about 4000 miles meant we could cut back to 250-300 miles/day max, with occasional stopovers of 2 or 3 days in one place. There is absolutely no comparison in the enjoyment factor. I'll still do one or two long days in the saddle to get to somewhere that are unavoidable due to scheduling constraints, but I now appreciate the value of traveling at a relaxed pace and focusing on the ride rather than the destination or the pre-planned stopping points. PS A very significant fraction of riders on the road in the USA probably don't have a motorcycle endorsement on their driver's licenses, I am not making that up (confirmed on various online forums by people's own admissions). The Governator is (was?) a perfect example. You're bound to run across a cornflakes box with a coupon you can send in to get your endorsement, as no doubt that's where the majority of riders I see got theirs. |