Portugal or bust
 

I found Portugal (North of Lisbon) to be one of the best Euro-tours I have done. People were surprized and welcoming at every stop. B&B and food reasonalble (away from the coast), and some of the best roads in Europe.And green, warm and quiet. Except Sunday near Porto, that is BIKE day. 100s of bikes going east to the hills. (Great). Picos are good if oldy worldy, Potes campsite (Fuente De) cable car is a must, but nothin at the top. I'll be back.

Hi Foreigner,

Sorry for responding so late to this thread but I thought I'd just give you some extra confidence do these trips. I'll leave it to others to recommend good routes to you and will just add that you're never too 'green' to go for a trip like this.

My wife and I are currently in India as part of our round the world motorcycle honeymoon. Originally we were going to ride 2-up on a bike but eventuallu decided that she would appreciate the trip more if she was riding so she took her test (having never even ridden a scooter). When we left London in April she had 1 day and 60 km of experience. She's never ridden on a motorway before and 3 hrs after leaving home was riding on the 'wrong' side of the road!

The French countryside was the perfect place to spend her first few days of riding, as it's perfect surfaces, empty roads and motorcycle friendly drivers. Within weeks she's ridden through Rome, Tirana & Istanbul (all at rush hour) and has since completed what is left of the KKH in Pakistan.

So, my advice is go for it. You're clearly not over confident (ie a danger to yourself) othereise you wouldn'y have posted this thread, so you'll ride at pace that YOU are comfortable with.

Hope you have a fantastic time and that it makes you want to plan more trips for next spring and summer! You live in Motorcycle riding heaven after all!

Go for it!
 

If you have time and funds, do it.

Only consideration would be get some good winter jacket pants etc.. So you are comfortable. Heated grips will help you as well.

With Ninja 250 I would choose curvey roads enjoy low speed but technical riding. Definetely stop as small towns visit lost relatives friends on the way.
I agree the stops may be the best part of the journey.

Make notes of kawasaki mechanics and service stations just in case.

Enjoy the ride...

Hey mate,

I think what you're doing is fine! Go for it, just be sensible and witty. If you can do that, you can do anything. Don't try things that are too far out of your experience band until your comfortable with it.

My example is, a few months ago I decided I was going to do a RTW trip on a motorbike I didn't have (at the time) with a license I didn't have too. So one Thursday I got my license, the next day I flew to Canberra from north Queensland and drove 2400 km back on my new DR650. An amazing experience in itself. Just take it steady until your comfortable with your skill level and don't try overshoot it! Enjoy it mate! Nothing is impossible.

Best of luck,
Rossy.

Hey guys, thanks for the replies and sorry for responding so late, haven't been back to check in a while! I've now completed my trip to Frankfurt and it all went fine. I'm going to blog about the details, so will post that on the ride tales forum (hopefully it'll qualify even if it's a small trip :)). And my trip to Milan has been extended to 9 days, so i'll be passing by the south of France too (will post details on the blog too but later on).

bigdoozer - Thank you for the tips on the north of Portugal. It's definitely something I want to do so i'll keep the spots you mentioned on my list!

Bobduro - Thank you so much for the encouragement. It's nice to hear from people who have been there and done it. Since I have few biker buddies, most of the messages I get from conversations with others (especially family) are fear and worry, so it's good to get some encouraging messages too! Thanks again for the response, and have fun in India!

nomadb - thanks, I'll make sure to note down some addresses, definitely a good tip! As I mentioned above, my trip to Milan has been extended, so I'll be visiting the Gorges du Tarn, the Gorges du Verdon and the southern coast of france on the way there. If it's really nice in the south, I may just skip Milan altogether. If the whole trip is nice, I may just never return to Paris :| I have a winter jacket ready fortunately, but need to do something about the gloves. Still deciding between purchasing a good pair of winter gloves (like Furygan Land), heated grips, or heated glove liners. The only thing that worries me about heated grips is the outside facing the wind - is this ever a problem?

brianrossy - thanks for the sound advice! Since my trip to Frankfurt is complete, I'm getting a sense for where my limits are. I got lost on the way back trying to find a nice road to ride on, and instead of 500/600km, I had to do about 800 instead. It was a very interesting experience, and i enjoyed it, but 800 in one go is waaay too much :) I'll be sticking to 400 max per day, and the trip to Milan has been extended to 2500-ish in 9 days. Can't wait!

Ready to Ride
 

There is a guy called Emilio Scotto, about your age at the time. Who bought a Goldwing as his 1st bike , learnt to ride and set off around the world alone.
His journey lasted 10 years and he did 500,000 miles. So your ready when you get the urge. His book is called THE LONGEST RIDE.
Get out there and do it.

Thanks chef jules, less than 6 days to go, i'm almost ready for it! :D