Evening folks, i bought a v-strom 650 a few months back with the idea of doing a trip of Europe next summer, i've allready been to Ireland on it a couple of times and i class the bike as the very best i have ever owned.
Now for the Europe part, my plan is to travel from Callais to Belgium (Bastogne), thru luxemburg to Germany (black forest), to Switzerland (alps), to northern Italy (Turin), to France again (millau viaduct), to Andorra, to Spain (Santander) for the ferry back to Plymouth.
Im estimating this trip to take 10 days from Callais to Santander including 2 days off for sightseeing, im not planning to use motorways or toll roads (except for millau viaduct) and would like to keep my milleage down to about 200 to 250 miles per day.
Being a total newbie to long distance travel im wondering does this sound feasable or am i being very naive with my planning?
Any hints comments or suggestions would be very welcome folks.
Thanks in advance.

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My trip to Millau (France) and back 2009.http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...u-france-43474

IMO it is doable - I was afraid as I read that you would say you plan to ride back to the UK!
However, you will not have a lot of time for sight-seeing along the way. You will value those 2 days dedicated to "tourism".

You may have to accept diverting onto motorways in order to make some distance to your next location - this could depend on the time of year and the general traffic combined with the twistyness of the roads that you choose to ride.

Cheers,

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Dave

Im planning a similar trip from Calais down through Alps to South France, along med coast to Malaga in Spain then travelling via Santander to plymouth.

I did the Alps tour last year as an organised event via a company in UK. We drove down through various places away from Autoroutes etc. We passed through various mountain passes before stopping at Menton for a day. That portion took 6 days about 200-250 per day. We had a day off before driving north a bit more direct.

This time I want to go the same way but travel through southern France to Spain.

Might even get to go to Morocco for a couple of days. Will let you know more when its planned - hopefully.Still working on route so any suggestions & points of interest along the way woul be apreciated also.

Regards
Steven

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Steven
Perth to Perth 2012

If the Autoroute goes direct to where you want to be, use it. The tolls aren't extortionate and it gives you more time riding the good stuff.

Taken from the D41

It's a very impressive structure.

Thanks for the replys everyone.
Walkabout, i see your point about having to use the motorways to make up some time, and i expect i will have to use them maybe from Turin to the Millau viaduct, otherwise in your opinion is 200-250 miles per day on European a roads a hard slog or fairly easy?
Stevenkirk that trip you took last year is very similiar to what im planning at the moment, makes me want to go right now, especially seeing that pic of the viaduct that flying doctor posted, i saw it for the first time on an episode of Top Gear last year, it looked amazing.
Im taking the v-strom to Ireland again on Sunday for 4 days, hopefully the weather will stay fine!

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My trip to Millau (France) and back 2009.http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...u-france-43474

Adrian,
Now I realise that we all have different ideas of what an optimum mileage day is but in case it helps I did a couple of leisurely bimbles around France last year, one a bit under a week and the other a few days over and I averaged around 180 miles a day.
I found it quite leisurely, which it was, and it left me sufficient time to take in a race meeting one day and some time around war grave sites on another day. Plenty of time for sightseeing in fact.
I also managed to arrive at my destination around tea time each day because that's what I wanted to do.
Anyway, enjoy it whatever you do and hope your weather stays dry this weekend.

Hi Adrian,
In the last 12 hours you have received replies to your query that are all perfectly valid and I agree with all of them (some days you will ride longish distances and on other days you will be stopping frequently for breath-taking views, sight seeing of whatever, torrential downpours blah blah &, yes, you can end up doing more than you prefer in order to catch some ferry or other - the Long Way Down people are doing exactly that right now and Ewan is not happy!); there are still factors that no one knows about you, such as "will you be carrying a pillion passenger and, if so, does he/she give you "grief" at every fuel stop?".

Very glad to hear that you are off on a short trip soon - no doubt you will use this to get a feel for your own preferences in the daily distances debate.
Let us know what you think after that!

Cheers,

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Dave

I have zillions of pictures from my tour last year, I even made a DVD, not quite long way round and Im not as pretty but I enjoyed it. Anyway here's one of the many passes we went through.

Attached Images

 

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Steven
Perth to Perth 2012

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

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"Life is too short to drink cheap wine!"

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!
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.

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My trip to Millau (France) and back 2009.http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...u-france-43474