First post, lovely site, plenty of good information here I see, of which I'll be reading plenty.

In the initial planning stages of a European tour with two mates where we'll rendezvous in London then head off around Europe.

This is the provisional route I've mapped out:

Google Maps

We're probably looking at about 28 days in July for this trip, to cover 4,500 miles / 7,200 km's. Which may be a bit ambitious... Does this look a doable distance?

More then likely planning on staying in a mixture of B&B's, Hostels, Formula 1's, camping, friends places, whatever works I guess.

Any tips for a first major trip around Europe would be welcome. Main concern is the time/distance ratio. The 28 days is pretty much set based on work commitments.

The route is quite flexible apart from the London to Barcelona leg, and having to end up back in the UK. But our preference is more based on the Balkans/Eastern Europe, so may even look at going Praha - Calais and skipping stopping in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Hi Rusty,

I did 3500km in 8 days with a LOT of time off the bike having a proper holiday. We were 2 up with all our gear on an Yamaha FZ6.

So to answer your question...you have loads of time, that is the last of your problems.

I use hostelworld when I am travelling...Hostels & Youth Hostels Worldwide - Online Bookings

Read the reviews of other people, it really helps to decide where to stay. I have never been to a hostel where you cannot find places out of the way for bikes.

Steve

[quote=Rusty O'Hara;225345]
Any tips for a first major trip around Europe would be welcome. Main concern is the time/distance ratio. The 28 days is pretty much set based on work commitments.

8000km in 4 weeks is possible, if you ride 285km per day...
seriously...i would focus on certain parts of europe and come back next year.
if you are in france in july, i would recommend the "stella alpina" meeting 2nd weekend.
Picasa-Webalben - airhead - stella alpina...

why would you ride along the french côte d´azur in july? you will get from one traffic jam into the next.
i suggest to ride the cevennes and the sea-alps instead.

__________________
regards...
-=airhead=-
http://www.euroheads.org

I did about 6000km in 2,5 weeks last sept/oct and that was on a 1972 Suzuki T350 2stroke.
I found germany to be very nice and there is plenty of cheap accomodation along the B roads

Hello Rusty,
I've just looked at your planned route, and would advise you to check if your vehicle insurance covers you for Serbia, as a lot of UK ones don't. If you have to buy a Green Card at the border, you will find it is quite expensive.( 120 euros for a car) Plus the motorway through Serbia is a toll road. Also, be very careful not to use any credit / debit cards to pay for things in Serbia, and only show a small amount of cash to anyone you have to pay, like toll roads, or filling stations.
Have agreat time.
Regards,
Martin T Jeffes,
Sakar Hills Touring Park,
Harmanli,
South Bulgaria.

Hey Rusty, what dates are you looking at doing this trip, i am going over there and doing something like that, we arrive on the 12th june for for a month. Locky.

__________________
Happyness is not around the corner, happyness is the corner.

Hey Rusty,

It is doable, absolutely. I did during the fall of 2006 10,000 km around the Balkan countries in 40 days, same daily average. I do not believe that you can do much more then this mileage per day over a month length tour. Remember you have to refuel, to have some coffee/soft drink breaks, have a light lunch, visit a museum, taking photos etc. It all take time and Of course it depends on your self discipline of waking up in the morning and getting a good night sleep.
BTW, I will be on the same roads on your eastern part at the same time, coming from Norway to Greece.
Have fun

Time sure flies when your having fun, no?

Five months later, both mates are have dropped out, so I'm on my own.

Where to start from.....

Hi,
I'm doing a tour with a friend in eastern europe. We start in Brussels on 4th of July and come home between the 5th and 9th of August.
This is our route!

vdh-be, i'm doing similar to some of your route, but not as far north / south (a smaller loop)!

Your section from Kosovo/Montenegro through croatia, and part of your romanian identical to mine.

Which direction are you going (i.e. clockwise or anti-clockwise?). What are you riding, we will wave to you on our way past We leave Salzberg 27th July, heading clockwise to romania, bulgaria, kosovo, montenegro, croatia, slovenia, returning home about the 8th august I think.. I think we'll be coming through Montenegro / croatia about the 1st of august!

well, if you're waving anyway, look out for a white dr with two girs on it. we're leaving belgium july 10th, heading for igoumenitsa end of july. coming down through slovenia, croatia, bosnia, kosovo, macedonia and albania.

see you!

I will keep an eye out. I think you might have skipped town before I get there though! We'll probably only get to kosovo / montenegro around end of july also, by then you will be in greece!!

Good luck

Well, I'm going shortly, have no plans, so I'll just have to wing it I guess.

Plan is to buy a bike (Thinking BMW F650) or whatever I find in the UK, point it in the direction of Dover and see where the next month takes me, then sell the bike when I get back.

Not sure what I can do before I go except think about places I may like to go on the way...

Good luck with it. If you are anything like me, you will spend way too long looking at maps, and realize you can't really make decisions until you get there, but I keep looking anyway It's europe, it's summer, it will be hard to have a terrible time of it!!!

hi. mike engliman living in romania. if you make istanbul turkey your should head towards the black sea and follow the coast line through bulgaria and into romania. billliant views good roads and a 3-4star holel with breakfeast on the sea front should be no more than 30 euro for two recently made this trip. in romania stop at vama veche. about 20 kms passed the bulgarian boader. small villlage right on the beach cheap clean small hotels poeple camp on the beach, fun layed back place where the young like to part. great bike themed bar with good food you can buy from the takeaway next door and eat in the bar just buy a drink or have one of the pizza and watch the chief spining and tossing the based then cooked in traditional itatian wood burning pizza oven all these places have someone who speaks english.
then a days ride to braov center of romania on the b roads and over the mountains with excellent quality roads where can stay with us. have all the tools you need to give your bike the once over and i can take you on some brill rides one of which is tran frag highway to the top of a moutain only open 6 weeks of the year as there is glassier at the top someone told me there more than a hundered bents. or we can get your on some enduro bike we have and do a ride through the forestry mountains.
from brasov you have an easy days ride to hungarian board and it takes 4 hours to cross hungary if you are wanting to head to wards chek repub
if you need to contact me in case you have problems or breakdown have van so can recover you and fix the bike.
email mcraven 'at' yahoo 'dot' com p.m me if you need my phone number
happy travels
regards
mike