France
 

This thread has developed into a good discussion of Europe with some excellent information.

I recommend that anyone takes a glance at the map posted by Matt to see just how big France is: starting at the channel ports, I rode around the "outside" a few years ago, down the West coast, "along the bottom" in and out of the Pyranees, and back up the East side - took about 2 weeks, but I can't remember how many days or 1/2 days I spent sight-seeing.

:offtopic:Can you guys write up about the new Tiger in the Tri forum; seriously, I would not think of looking in here if I wanted to know about that bike (and I do want to know!).

Adrian,
The red "camping" sign: I have 50p that says there is a "no" behind the Pan's headlight!!!!!:rofl:

Failte Matt, thats in interesting trip you took, a lot of miles, nice website too! How do you like Gallway? great town for the 'craic' if i remember correctly. :clap:
Im begining to realise that i may have to shorten my trip or else spend a few long days in the saddle on the motorways if i want to do it all in 10 days (as chasetheday suggests).
How are motorway tolls paid in Europe? do i need a prepaid ticket or do i just pay at a kiosk as i enter the motorway?
I serviced a Triumph bonny for a customer today and he had just come back from a trip to france, he too highly recomends the Millau viaduct and the Gorge de Tarn ( grand canyon with trees as he put it)
Walkabout......because im an optimistic sort of person im going to see your 50p and raise you another 50p the the sign reads "free" camping.:biggrin:

The only other image I have of the red sign is a short video and it is difficult to read the other lines on the sign; however I can read that line ...

It says, "Camping - Cars". I don't recall seeing a camping area (we weren't camping on our trip so we weren't looking) but it all seemed pretty new. The sign is opposite the main entrance and indicates mainly where to park.

Ah! That will be no bikes then!!:rolleyes2: :( :innocent:

Maybe, by camping cars they mean there is an area for campervans, no campsite required.

Yep, mighty craic in Galway, for sure. Just a pity I've only got a few more months here before heading on again.

Motorway tolls, as I recall:
Germany, prepaid card system at most fuel stops.
Austria - Switzerland, vignette system. You pay the toll at the border and get a sticker to put on the windscreen.
Itay - toll booths every so often

I don't recall seeing anything in France, Belguim or Luxembourgh, which means they either run a prepaid system and I didn't notice, or the motorways are free... (not very likely).

Cheers,
Matt

No way is France free, in general anyway.
On arriving at a toll booth for the first time you just take a ticket to get the barrier to open - when leaving the tolled section, you pay - cash or you can use a credit card; they all have staff in the pay booths.

Some of the people I know who live in France have a detector thingie in their car, fixed on the windscreen, which opens the barriers automatically and takes the right charge straight off a credit that is pre-paid. This is very handy indeed when driving a right hand drive car!

The thing is that there are some free "A" roads in France - anywhere near an international border tends to be free, I guess because, otherwise, you would go over the border and use the Motorway system of the adjacent country.

Also, they can be free where there is no alternative "N" route running in the same general direction: this appears to be sensible so that those who don't want to pay do not get off the motorway and block up the adjacent minor roads.

All of this shows up on the Michelin map symbols for the French roads; with a close study of them, you can travel quite some distance without paying tolls + I understand that all major toll bridges in France are free for motorbikes - the Pont de Normandie certainly is/was last time I went that way.

Also for the Michelin maps, look for the green edging on the road symbols - these are the scenic routes.

keeping off the pay motorways in France ( Peages)
 

If you go to Viamichelin.com to plan a route (for all europe) you can select to avoid paying. you can also select scenic routes.

generally what happened when France built its motorway network it left the old road system intact for local traffic. Much of the motorway traffic is pan European goods vehicles.

The Uk largely destroyed the old A road system. There is very little of teh old A11 left butthe old A30 in Devon is mostly still there but either unclassified or listed as a B road.

Changing the subject slightly, anyone know the route to edinburgh taken bythe riders in 'The leather Boys' ? I know the tail end bit was on teh A702 and A72. the beginning Was the M1 when it went from the A406 to teh centre of Birmingham

I just had a look at the viamichelin site (thanks oldbmw) it makes planning a trip very straight forward, i also just finished loading the bike up for the trip home to Ireland in the morning, going to hit the sack soon so i can get an early start.
Thanks again everyone for all your help, ill report on the Ireland trip when i get back (Thursday or Friday).
Bye for now.

Being a total newbie to long distance travel :welcome:

Louis Làmour said" Too often I hear of men speak of the miles covered that day, rarely of what they had seen"

My advice is don`t worry how far you can travel in a day. You may travel 10 miles down the road and find something you do not want to miss. I did that in the Harz mountains in Germany and stayed for 2 days without moving on. I made some life long friends.

It is not about how far you travel or how many countries you visit. It is about the experiences on the journey.

It took me a while to realise it too.

Hello Adrian
 

It's great to read that you want to spread your wings and go touring a bit further. As usual, many others who have much more experience than me have given great advice. That's why I always use HU as my first port of call with any travel queries. But to get back to your original question...................

In 2001 I decided that I wanted to do some Euro touring. I wanted to do some riding on the wrong side of the road and I wanted some guaranteed sunshine. Like you I had 10 days to spare. Coming from Ireland I sailed from Rosslare to Roscoff (Brittany), followed the west coast of France to La Rochell, Bordeaux, went inland to Lourdes, crossed the Pyrenees, went down through Spain, stopped off at Torrevieja, went on to Malaga then returned through Central Spain, over the Pyrenees again, to Poitiers then to Cherbourg for my return sailing. I know it's a completely different route to the one you're thinking of but I'm sure the mileage wouldn't be too dissimilar so the same rules would probably apply. It was a great trip and I made it in 10 days. What did I see??? Absolutely bugger all!!! Sure, I was everywhere, but I didn't have time to stop for a cup of tea! I really enjoyed the experience but I regretted not taking longer to do it. So my only advice is this......don't find yourself being punished by time limits on a trip like yours. You want to really enjoy it so at least have time on your side. Take at least 14 days and stretch it to 18 or 20 if you can. The likes of the Black Forest is amazing and you could easily spend 3 or 4 days there.
In June this year I went to Holland, Belgium, Germany and took 19 days. A great trip and the timing was very good until my bike had a big wee in Holland on the way home.

Hope your plan goes well.
Chris

Hello again, got back from Ireland Thursday night, had a great trip, my family didnt know i was coming home so it was a case of kill the engine at the gate and freewheel around the back of the house, then stroll into the house and allmost kill my mother with fright!:rofl:
The v-strom was excellent, 230 miles to a tank! ferry was smooth and the weather was ok.
Its got me thinking about my European trip and all the advice im getting here, i think im going to do a lot more motorway miles than i had originaly planned and this should give me more time to "sight see" at places of interest, as Steve and Chris pointed out (thanks) theres no point doing massive miles and then realising that i havent actually seen anything.
So far im thinking along the lines of the Millau viaduct, Gorge de Tarn, a trip into Andorra and some of the northern tip of Spain, all places i actually want to see.
P.S. Chris1200, nice to se someone else here from the Emerald isle besides me.:thumbup1:

As you're planning on passing though the Alps you might want to take a look at the alpine roads site.

I'm thinking of a similar trip next year, UK - Alps - Milau bridge - ferry home from Bilbao, probably in about 12-13 days, so I'm also interested in the advice offered.