A starter for ten

A few thoughts on touring our way.

(This) Idiots Guide to Motorcycle Touring in Europe

Introduction.

You’ll note that this is not a definitive article on motorcycle touring. Every experienced motorcycle tourer will have their own particular approach and needs specific to them so I’ll start off with the principles of our approach.

1.       Nothing is set in stone

a.       OK, that may not be strictly true.

b.      The dates of the crossings from the UK onto the continental mainland are fixed once we’ve decided our preferred landing and departure points.

c.       Budget is also set early on. Though it may be ignored while actually touring

2.       Pre-travel research is undertaken

a.       Agreeing which areas of Europe we’re aiming to travel

b.      A rough schedule to understand if our hopes are reasonable

c.       Understanding if suitable accommodation is readily available

d.      A quick sanity check on budget

3.       Transition days – ie. Days to get to the start of a section of tour – major roads are acceptable though with an eye on finding more scenic or interesting alternatives if possible.

4.       Route planning for the following day happens each evening while on tour .

5.       Accommodation is booked on a daily basis as we develop the route during the tour.

6.       Neither cities nor culture are on the agenda.

7.       Mountain passes and interesting roads with scenery are on the agenda.

8.       Stops for coffee must be accompanied by cake.

9.       Lunch is preferably a picnic on a mountain. Unless there’s a café or restaurant with cake and a fine view

Equipment.

I really ought to develop my own checklist of kit, but I tend to use the list on the website Old Gits Checklist as the basis for the tour having ridden with them to Andorra a few years back. Brexit may have changed it. I have yet to check.

In terms of bike gear, I wear textiles for most tours, though will wear my touring leathers for chillier climes (eg. Scotland!). My good lady wears textiles as the only kit she owns, but will zip in liners if necessary. The bike we currently tour on has panniers each with a 30 litre capacity and a mid-sized top box. We have a pannier each for clothing with the top box being used for waterproofs, maps, iPads and Kindles, and bottles of water, leaving space for picnics.

In our panniers we each pack ten tee shirts, ten sets of underwear (I’m reliably informed that three pair of bra will cover a fortnight’s touring), ten pairs of socks, a pair of trousers (and a skirt in her pannier) and one pair of light weight shoes (guess who packs two pairs!). In addition we pack some long sleeves breathable “layers”. Our tee shirts are mostly those used by backpackers.

Waterproofs are two pieces: Trousers are Berghaus Deluge Hydroshell one size larger than we wear for hiking to fit over our normal bike kit, chosen because they’re easy to get on having a near full length zip on each leg and is proven waterproof. The jacket is a “Racer” from Infinity in fluorescent yellow, chosen for being waterproof, but also to save having to carry a separate hi viz top for touring in France. I don’t think they’re available now. 

Waffle.

We generally aim to tour in the window of late August through to the end of September. Initially we did this because, in looking at going to the Alps, a bike magazine suggested September as a good time to go. For us it worked because it’s slightly out of season, so not particularly busy, and the weather tends to be good. It does mean that ski villages tend to be closed, so coffee stops and overnight accommodation may be thin on the ground in those places. It has rarely been a problem, though.

Depending on where we’re heading our preference is to catch the ferry either from Harwich to Hook for tours to the Alps, or Portsmouth to Santander for tours around Northern Spain (eg. Picos and Pyrenees). Living in Norwich*, journey to the ferry or train from Kent to Calais is not a lot of fun with having to travel the A11, M11, M25 and M20 to get there so avoided wherever possible. Harwich is 90 minutes away and we can set out after the rush hour has subsided, arriving in time for an overnight journey, waking up for an early start on the continent the next day. To get to Portsmouth we use a route via Oxford and avoid the M25 – it’s not a lot of fun but with the ferry departing around 5.30 we can amble down with plenty of contingency for diversions (by diversions, I mean coffee and cake).

*We now live in Cumbria so we’ll probably use the Newcastle to Amsterdam ferry. 

Route planning is undertaken with reference to the relevant map of the area. We carry Michelin Maps to cover the areas we’ve planned to tour around. The weather forecast is used as a guide – we’ll try to skirt around areas of bad weather if possible. From our pre-travel research we’ll have an outline plan of the direction we’re heading so at this point we’ll look for interesting roads and scenery: identified by roads with a green border and usually lots of twists and turns and elevation changes. We’ll enter this route into the satnav directly and continue extending it until the satnav indicates that there’s around six hours of riding.

Navigation is usually simple, we follow the satnav’s directions, stopping at opportune moments to admire a view, take photos, sit and drink coffee / eat cake / buy a picnic / take lunch.

Accommodation tends to be small, privately owned boutique hotels or B&B’s, each readily found on booking.com. On our last tour we found there to be plenty of 4G hotspots for this purpose, otherwise we’ll find a café etc. with wifi. For us a room with en-suite is essential, and we prefer hotels that provide food in the evening, or with a restaurant within easy walking distance so can sit and have a glass of wine. On the whole these hotels are in remote locations so bike security is not too much of an issue, though I do fit a disc lock as a disincentive. On the rare occasion we find ourselves in a city or large town then I will look for a hotel that offers garaging facilities wherever possible. After a week or so we’ll look for a hotel that does an overnight service wash (the Logis chain are a good bet) so our washing can be done and dried overnight while we eat, drink and sleep.

Late risers on holiday, we’ll have a leisurely breakfast and generally start the day’s riding around 9.30. Around 4pm, or four hour’s riding (yes, we stop that often), we’ll estimate where we’ll be in another hour’s riding and look for a hotel in broadly that area using booking.com. In poor weather we may leave the previous night’s hotel later, take longer café breaks, and find a hotel which we can book into earlier.