Hi everyone,
With a little bit of luck and star alignment, I will be another starter for a tour of Europe this NH summer. I have been in touch with Chris, another Hubber, and will hopefuly soon be arranging with him the purchase of a suitable bike for the trip. I am now looking at the inusurance side of things, as in travel (health) insurance as well as bike and gear cover.
The plan, if it could be called that, is to arrive in the UK in early June, spend no more than a few days collecting the bike and arranging said insurance, then head down to Brighton and catch up with a mate there. Then it's over to Plymouth and a ferry over to Cherbourge. From there I will head south then east over to northern Portugal. After that, it will be a matter of deciding where to head to next, using the guide book and this site, of course.
I am planning to be on the road for around 90 days, keeping an eye on the SBK and MotoGP schedules and generally just following the road.
I will be needing the sage advice of the members of this site for recommendations of good b&b's, hostels etc. I will not be carrying camping gear as I am not keen on the idea of 3 months living in a tent.
I'm looking forward to this trip as well as meeting lots of members of the site.
Cheers,
Gav.

I hope you manage to make your dream come true.

I will tell you my story and you can think about your own position.

I am a UK citizen but I live in Denmark. I have been here 7 years. Last summer I bought a bike on E-Bay UK and had it registered in my name at my brothers address in England. That in itself is a bit dodgy because I do not live there.

When it came to "Legally" insuring the bike I could not find anyone to touch me, not even Carol Nash Insurance. In the end I took advantage of a "potential" loophole by insuring it online. The online form asked if I had been a resident in the UK for 2 years and of course I had. It did not stipulate when those 2 years were but probably meant immediately before the insurance was to start.

In the end as was insured as I could be within the circumstances.

There is obviously a way of getting insured if you live abroad but I just could not find it. I could have registered the bike in my brothers name and been added as an additional rider I suppose, but I am not sure.

ACCOMODATION

Do an internet search for F1 Hotels, they are mainly in France with one or two in Switzerland. They are clean, warm with lots of hot water and are about €30 per night and sleeps 3, this includes continental breakfast. There are lots and lots of them and are often positioned on the outside of towns so they are easy to find.

We use Hostelworld.com wherever we go and they really should change their name because I have never stayed in anything that resembled a hostel. Some of the accomodation has been outstanding. A tudor mansion in Brugge; an old monastery near Pisa and an apartment 2 minutes from The Arena in Verona, Italy and they were not expensive.

If you are going to Switzerland I would suggest you spend 2 nights at the Eiger Guesthouse in Mûrren (Hostelworld.Com) near Lauterbrunnen. We did this last summer on the way to Verona. Mûrren is a traffic free town up a mountain. You park the bike in the underground car park at Lauterbrunnen and take the cable car and cog train to Mûrren. You walk 20 paces and you are at the Eiger Guesthouse which does great food and and the views over the Jungfrau and the Eiger are WOW. We walked in the mountains for 2 days before carrying on with the trip. It was about the best decision of the trip, a great experience.

Don`t forget to visit the Moto Guzzi Factory and museum at Mandello del Lario on Lake Como............I am a Guzzi rider.

I hope you can get something worthwhile out of my ramblings.

Steve

Hi Gav
If you have planned to go through the Touraine region(it's worth for it's castles..) on your way from Cherbourg to spain, give us a call for a . we can also arrange accomodation (we have two houses and only occupying one) for you if you like. We have ride almost all of Europe and can give you good advices.
We also do GP and SBK and this year programm for is (France and Catalunya GP)
see you
Laurent

__________________
http://www.transam2011.fr
http://www.ride-in-tours.com/

Hi Steve,
I figure that I may have to do something a little dodgy in order to get around the insurance issue, but others have done it before, so there must be a way. If necessary, I could get it insured in my brothers' name and just add myself as a nominated rider. I thought that I had plenty of time when I was thinking about this before Christmas, but it doesn't look that way now.
Thanks for the advice about "hostelworld". I was not aware of them before so will definitely be looking them up. The Eiger Guesthouse sounds like my kind of place and I have just bought myself a new pair of hiking boots so a stroll around the hills could well be in order.
We have some of the F1 motels here also and I have stayed in one in Sydney. Yes, they have plenty of hot water etc, but to be honest, I found it a bit sterile. Handy if there is nothing else, but definitely a distant second choice.
If I recall correctly, the Guzzi factory is in the north of Italy, yes ? If so, I will make a point of going to visit. I ride a BMW, but I have friends here are are Guzzi nuts, so it has to be done, really.
Cheers,
Gav.

Hello Laurent,
Thanks very much for the invitation. The idea of dropping by for a quiet ale sounds very appealing. At this point, getting over to the Touraine region might be a bit out of the way for the initial part of the trip, but there is certainly nothing set in stone about an itinerary. From looking at a map, it looks like that area is around 200km east of Vitre, which, depending on ferry timing, could be a good first day ride on the continent. I am hoping to keep the actual time on the road to about 200km per day, depending on GP's etc. I have absolutely no idea if there is anything worth stopping for in Vitre, it is just a location on the map at this stage.
Cheers,
Gav.

Gav,

The Guzzi Factory is at Mandello Del Lario, it is right next to Lake Como. Look at a map, right hand side of the lake, slightly down of centre.

I agree with you about the F1 hotels but good if you cannot find anything else.

Try Couchsurfers.com as well. We are members...it is free and there are a couple of biker sections on there as well.

We used Couchsurfers in France and had the best time.

In fact a couple of riders from Turkey who are riding to Nordcap, will be staying with us in July.

It is a really good site.

Steve

Steve

Hi Gav,

regarding your itinerary, it looks like you're heading south through the shortest way. Vitré is a very nice middle age town with a beautiful and old architecture, really a nice place to stop. But if you have planned to go south from vitré (let's say, Nantes, and then following the atlantic side) let me tell you that the road are not particulary scenery.. Of course depending on the time you have, I will suggest that you go into mainland (Limoges and Dordogne, Lot,) where the roads are awesome and the scenery typical from what you expect France to be. And on top of that there are no much trafic (and few cops). I can help you on the best spot to see and to go through if you're interested as I have ride this part of France hundred times....
Will you be in Catalunya for the GP ?
For the ale : brown or pale ??

see you
laurent

__________________
http://www.transam2011.fr
http://www.ride-in-tours.com/

THINK CAREFULLY BEFORE TELLING LIES TO GET INSURANCE COVER!

I still can't believe that some people think that because they have a piece of paper then it means they're insured!!!
The bottom line is simple......do it right or don't do it at all. Obtaining cover under false pretences is worse than not having it in the first place. In the event of a claim against you the insurance company will make their full investigations about your policy and look for any opportunity to avoid paying. When they find out you told lies (which they will !!) they'll rub their hands with great enthusiasm and tell you to f**k off.
If you're going to be deceptive then you'd be better off to print a fake policy yourself and save the premium. It'll be worth EXACTLY the same as a policy bought with lies. I'm not recommending you do this...I'm saying it to hopefully show you how useless your insurance would be.

Chris

__________________


"Life is too short to drink cheap wine!"

Cheers Kyrnos,
It looks like Vitre might be well worth a look then. My initial thought was to try to get to the north of Portugal a quickly as possible and not worry too much about how scenic the route was, but if I can do it and enjoy the view at the same time, then why not ?
As far as the Catalan GP is concerned, I am not sure where I might be by that stage, but getting to a couple of either the GP's or the Superbikes rounds is something I will definitely be concentrating on. That may require making decisions a little closer to the race dates.
And about the ale, pale will do nicely.
Gav.

Hi Chris,
I will be making attempts to get genuine insurance for the trip, but failing that, I am left with no option but to bend the truth in order to get the "piece of paper" which will enable me to actually travel. At the moment it looks like you must be resident in the UK for at least 3 years in order to satisy their criteria. I cannot be the only foreigner who is or has been in this position. If that is the case, then no foreigner would be able to ride a bike anywhere around Europe, which is a lttle odd to say the least. I appreciate your thoughts, but I will do what I have to do in order for this trip to happen.
Cheers,
Gav.

I agree. I don't know the answer to the problem but I think this is not a smart way to go.

I think most people who do this and 'get away with it' only do so it because they didn't have an accident and the insurance was never actually called on.

I'm not clear on why you can't buy the Green card insurance for Europe. I had to- according to my shipper they won't clear my bike through Customs in Germany without it.


...............shu

Hi Gav,
Ok that sounds good to me. Anyway reaching spain and Portugal is quiet easy and fast (you just usually loose time when crossing the pyrennées because it's always rain...). I will be in spain myself for the Jerez GP and visiting Gibraltar.
By the way have you got the dates set up for your road book as you just mentioned "this summer". I will gone begin of august (in Scotland) and back on the 15th. I hope you won't passing by at that time...
The s are in the fridge already
cheers
laurent

__________________
http://www.transam2011.fr
http://www.ride-in-tours.com/

Hi Gav,
I thought I'd add my bit to your (and mine) insurance delema. I did some quote requests with dummy details, stating 3 months residence (the time I will be there) and an international licence, and recieved quotes back. As I have not yet finalised my bike paperwork, I haven't applied for the actual insurance yet, so I guess there are no guarantees on it. I just thought I'd let you know my experience of it so far.

Ed

__________________
There's more than one way to skin a cat.

I had a look on the Carole Nash site and went through their policy application, but when I said I wanted it for the beginning of June, it said that, basically, I was making the application too early. So I will wait a month and have another look at it. Having the Brit license may be a help, but, whichever way it goes, making a claim in the event of an accident will bring the whole thing down in a heap.
For the life of me I can't understand why it is so difficult to get cover. Surely, if you're prepared to pay, the insurers shouldn't give a rats about whether or not you're a resident. What do the hire companies do ?

Hi Gav,

regarding your itinerary, it looks like you're heading south through the shortest way. Vitré is a very nice middle age town with a beautiful and old architecture, really a nice place to stop. But if you have planned to go south from vitré (let's say, Nantes, and then following the atlantic side) let me tell you that the road are not particulary scenery.. Of course depending on the time you have, I will suggest that you go into mainland (Limoges and Dordogne, Lot,) where the roads are awesome and the scenery typical from what you expect France to be. And on top of that there are no much trafic (and few cops). I can help you on the best spot to see and to go through if you're interested as I have ride this part of France hundred times....
Will you be in Catalunya for the GP ?
For the ale : brown or pale ??

see you
laurent

Hi Laurent,
Not long to go now mate. I have made a reservation at a b&b near where the WW2 D-Day landings took place in Normandy, for the first 3 days of the trip, starting on June 1st. It is only about 45km from Cherbourg, so it will give me a good opportunity to get a little experience of driving on the "wrong side" of the road Do you have any idea of distance from where you are to that area, as I may decide to head from there to you for the next leg of the trip ? I'm looking forward to that !

Cheers,

Gavin.