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Route Planning Where to go, when, what are the interesting places to see
Photo by Andy Miller, UK, Taking a rest, Jokulsarlon, Iceland

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Andy Miller, UK,
Taking a rest,
Jokulsarlon, Iceland



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  #1  
Old 13 Oct 2013
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as many countries as possible in a week
HI everyone. On a whim I have a week of work and want to cross from dover to calais and hit as many countries as possible in a week on my ktm 990. Any ideas or guidance appreciated. That's friday to Sunday.
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Old 13 Oct 2013
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France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland, Germany. Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Andorra, and Liechtenstein can all be done in a week. But all you will see will be the side of motorways, motorway toll booths and motorway service stations !

Why not just do a few countries - could do a nice scenic route down to the KTM factory in Mattighofen and back ? Down through France, through the Black Forest in Germany and across southern Germany towards Munich before hitting Austria (could just get a bit of Czech Republic as well) before heading back via Switzerland, Italy and France.
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Old 13 Oct 2013
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Originally Posted by pebble35 View Post
France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland, Germany. Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Andorra, and Liechtenstein can all be done in a week. But all you will see will be the side of motorways, motorway toll booths and motorway service stations !

Why not just do a few countries - could do a nice scenic route down to the KTM factory in Mattighofen and back ? Down through France, through the Black Forest in Germany and across southern Germany towards Munich before hitting Austria (could just get a bit of Czech Republic as well) before heading back via Switzerland, Italy and France.
I agree.

I've covered 6 in a day, as below (or was it 7?), but it wasn't by "first choice" - just a bit of a rush to the channel ports.
I've never really understood the need to "collect" counties; but blink, just a bit, and you will miss them anyway - they all look much the same (especially from the autobahns) when travelling, if you don't make the effort to stop.

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Originally Posted by pebble35 View Post
France, Belgium, Luxembourg, ....... Germany. ...... Austria, ....... Switzerland, and Liechtenstein
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Old 13 Oct 2013
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Originally Posted by pebble35 View Post
France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland, Germany. Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Andorra, and Liechtenstein ....
Might as well zig zag a couple of times and throw in Slovakia, Slovenia, maybe Monaco...and if determined to hit Andorra, you're going to find yourself in France at some point, and awfully close to Spain. You could play that game endlessly, which is why I'm not looking at a map to find more possibilities.

But as pointed out above, in most cases the only thing that differentiates one country from the next is found off the motorways--and often requires that you turn off the bike and be relatively still for a while. Plus that kind of riding seems a bit beside the point on a large dual sport like your KTM. Or maybe that's just me.

Standard advice: as long as you're liking it, ride your own ride in your own manner.

Mark
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Old 13 Oct 2013
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Yes I guess your right. A bit of a pointless jaunt really. I'll take your advice, enjoy the ride and get some sites in along the way.
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Old 14 Oct 2013
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I agree with the others - don't dash through countries just for the sake of it. Having said that, you can easily eat in three countries in a day whilst still seeing parts of each: breakfast in France, lunch in Belgium and dinner in Luxembourg. From Luxembourg into Germany, back through Netherlands and Belgium to Dover. You'd visit five countries and have plenty of time to look around each within a week.
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Old 14 Oct 2013
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Why not spend each night in a different country and report back on the differences and relative merits of their local s
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