I was planning on taking 2 months off to do africa in summer 2009 with my brother but plans changed and he cant go so i was thinking more now on the idea of doing europe but only taking 1 month.

I would be travelling with a friend who is hopefully gonna get the finger out this summer and get his test and get a bigger bike than a 125. Havent figured out what yet but probably a 250-400cc bike. At the moment ive a Yamaha XT660R which will do the trip i plan easily also my friend doesnt might doing high milage days as long as he gets feed.

O yes and both of us are students so everything will be cheap as possible, staying in a tent nearly all the time during the trip. Luggage is soft luggage, we will be carrying petrol containers just incase but we dont mind stopping ever 100miles for petrol, breaks up the jounerys and allows us to eat/snack. We dont mind travelling on motorways but would like to try and avoid them as most will understand they are just a means of getting my A to B and not really that exciting.

The main plan so far is to go from Northern Ireland to England and stay with a few relatives for free. Get some form of transport over to France then head down to the Milliau Bridge in the south. Head east towards Monaco just to say we've been there then further east towards the Stelvio pass in Italy. Finanlly are last port of call so far is the Nurburgring, ive been there once and want to visit again. Then from here travel back home to Northern Ireland again (possibly from bordeaux to Rosslare)

What i would like to know is are there any places along this route any of you advise us to visit? We both are construction minded so like building/structures/good roads etc not really into the musem stuff or arty scene. Also i like to visit places of natural beauty like large lakes, mountains etc etc.

Any information very welcome, thank you

Maxwell...don't do it. Its too expensife in Europe. If you are a student, Europe is appauling with a motorbike. I'm a student and on my way now...Joe's Travels ( i think we met on XT660.com)

Think 60/70 euros a day with camping. If you insist though, my reccomendation is Albania to Lake Ochid.

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Thanks
Joe

Sounds a bit like the trip I'm doing next month. I'm heading down to Riva del Garda for a couple of days and doing the Stelvio and Rombo passes as a day trip while all my luggage is left at the youth hostel there. From there, I'll head to Berchtesgaden, via Cortina to see the Kehlsteinhaus which may be interesting for you if you like buildings and architecture.

Das Kehlsteinhaus :: Home

From there, I'm taking the Alpine road to Lake Konstanz, through the Black Forest to the Nurburgring before heading up to Amsterdam for my ferry home.

Apart from Europe being expensive (BTW, there is plenty of information in here about that, including the current £-Euro exchange rate) you will never get going if you keep waiting for someone: check out various long threads in here about people getting together and see how many drop out at various stages.

I recommend that you make up your mind what you want to do, let people know on here (traveller seeking traveller) if you are so inclined and then go for it - then you have control of what you are doing!
-- Who knows how many riders there are on the roads compared with on this website, but you will meet up with other riders as you go: in each case, you decide if you want to ride with them for a while or split.

BTW, go to Morrocco, free/wild camping with the occasional guesthouse - see all the threads in here and there are loads of mountains.

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Dave

Very true. My mates have no interest in going any further on a bike than Whitby for fish and chips. It's taken me 2 years just to convince one of them to go to Holland for the Moto GP in June, which is why I often travel alone.

Just book your ferry (or Eurotunnel) ticket and go for it.

Cheers for all the info keep it coming

JoeSheffer
I have budgeted around 100E a day or so thats why i plan on visiting relatives in england to try and get extra for europe. I understand the trip will cost alot of money but ive read of many places that i can stay in a tent for around 20E a night which is not too bad i think. Cant remember you from the XT660 forum. Do you still use it??

craig76
Riva del Garda looks good might drop by that, have already been to Das Kehlsteinhaus :: Home
but it was very good when i went apart from when we got to the top it was slightly cloudly. Some of the other places are just to far out of reach like crotia. I plan to try and stay within the well travelled countrys as i dont want to wonder too far from the beaten tracks if you know what i mean.

Walkabout
I have my mine made up that im going but have a few close people who are also looking into either doing part of the trip with me or the whole thing. 1 of the people being my Dad with possibly my Mum who have been with me to all our other trips. I have 3 friends 2 of which have alreay passed there tests and looking into getting bigger bikes, and the other is the guy who still hasnt the finger out yet but he will dont worry.

Ive toured parts of europe already but stayed in B&B and hotels etc but i want to try and go more adventurous this time and stay with a tent as much as possible as i want to go for more a sight seeing hoilday as before it was more travel for 2 days, stop at a place for 3 days go again type stuff. This hoilday i want to be more of a 150-200miles a day to some place stay for a night or 2 then move on towards another spot.

It's a nice place. Stayed there when I toured northern Italy by hire car in 2006. The World Cup was on at the time so the atmosphere was brilliant. There's a youth hostel right in the historic centre of town, close to plenty of bars and places to eat. There is a campsite but it's hardly worth bothering as I only paid 18 euro's for bed and breakfast at the hostel which also has decent showers and secure parking.

Nice job. Hostels would also bee on our staying places as long as they are cheap enough and 18euros seems very good as you also get breakfast.

Craig - if next month is May / early June don't bank on the Stelvio being snow free.
Over at alpineroads.com they're having bets about when it will open - somewhere between
May20th and June 15th they think.
Check it yourself at WebCam - Banca Popolare di Sondrio

onya max.

we aussies aren't all that cashed up when it comes to euopean prices either, but my girlfriend and i last year travelled five months in europe and only paid for accommodation 14 times, including campgrounds. sure we have a number of friends too but only couch surfed another month or so in total. that's several months of free accomm, great laughs and a different european adventure.

rest of the time we just camped more or lkess where we felt like it, keepng a low profile at times and respecting private property when it was clear that was what it was. thing is, when we asked permission to camp on their land, people usually kindly sent us to the local campground. they just didn't seem to clock what we wanted to do. made for some laughs!
check out our blog for tips and a laugh (different entries despite the name): Out for a spin: Free camping
and:Out for a spin: Free camping

keep it upright, enjoy,
andy.

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www.outforaspin.blogspot.com

Thanks for the link. I leave on the 21st of May and probably reach Riva somewhere around the 24/25th. I did have a idea that it may be snowblocked but didn't really consider it too much until I'd already booked the ferry and time off work.

I have read somewhere that the Giro d' Italia cycle race is using it in the 1st week of June and afterwards, it will open to all traffic. Still plenty of other places to visit if it's not, maybe Monza.

Last time I was there, I almost convinced the guy in the paddock office to let me have a couple of slow laps round the circuit, that was until he realised the car belonged to Hertz and not me.