April 3(ish) for 2 weeks to Eastern Europe
 

I have 2 weeks off work at the beginning of April. Is a brief trip to Eastern Europe a non starter due to the weather and time required? I fancy France, Switzerland, Hungry, Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland and home again (UK) Camping or cheap hotels. Southern France/Spain etc don't interest me but they would appear to be a safer bet in terms of the weather. I've just always wanted to go see Chernobyl (Morbid fascination) and this may be my only chance this year so would like to combine it with a bike trip.

I'll be traveling alone probably and don't do a massive amount of sightseeing but do like my little stops to take pictures.

Oh, and hello, my first post on HUBB after reading it for probably a couple of years now and dreaming.

Hi Modman, Welcome to the HUBB

Unless you are doing an "Iron Butt" run then it will take you at least a week to get to Ukraine and back from the UK and that is with good solid days of riding to cover the 1500 miles or so from UK to Chernobyl. Crossing the Ukraine border and "sightseeing" at Chernobyl will take up another day which leaves you just 5 or 6 days to cover Poland etc.

Always do-able but other factors to consider are :

What if it rains for 2 weeks solid - do you really want to travel 400 mile days everyday in driving rain.

Crossing Switzerland/Alps etc (or any mountains for that matter) often takes twice as long because of the nature of the roads and traffic on them. - 50 miles alpine is a whole lot different to 50 miles on the M1 (or perhaps not these days !)

But if it's what you want from an adventure then why not go for it - the simple solution is to head east and see what distance you cover - if you haven't arrived at your destination by the first week then it is unlikely you will make it back in time - just turn around and stick it in the box for next time.

Martin

Hi
Have to agree with the last post , it is just short of 900 miles just to get to Torun in Poland and thats two days riding . Personally i would settle for a few days in poland , drop into slovakia via the dukla pass , south of lublin , then via eger , a rest day at Lake balaton and home in three days via salzburg . That will still mean a fair amount of riding but nothing like what you have planned .
i visit my mate in slovakia alot and its 958 miles to his front door , then spend two days with him and straight back .Even on a zzr1400 its a tiring trip - def not a hoilday :(

Thanks for the two helpful replies. It seems like it's just a little too much at the moment and like you said Martin, if it rains then that would change it even more. I also have a strict deadline to be back in the UK for which I cannot miss under any circumstances, so it seems just a little too risky. Thanks for your suggestion Chris, I'm going to get the map book out now and have a look at the places you have suggested and see what i can work out.

Thanks again.

Daniel

Hi
if you like you can email me on hgpines@hotmail.co.uk if you want any more help . Am pretty on top of that part of the world so hopefully can point you in the right direction :scooter: