I had given Russia some serious consideration and at this stage won't be going as I have a huge trip already( to me anyway) . The visa application and particularly the small window I can access on the visa means I would have to plan my entry to be precise.. With many thousand kilometres to travel to get there I am not sure about meeting an exact date.. You are right it would be an interesting visit regarding military history.. This is my first extended trip and hope it's the first of many more.. In 2017 I hope to focus on Russia and surrounding borders using this trip as a shake down for what's to come..thank you for the advise .. I appreciate your knowledge..cheers Phil

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Dooby

As e´one is promoting his favorite home spots, I may put my 2cts into the thread, with what to avoid. Just to make your trip diverse and convenient. You are planning your trip around the european summer=peak season at mostly every coast. You might want to avoid (or at least know about) the too crowded, pricey and traffic jammed touristic areas in July/August:
- generally French coast (Atlantic & Med): full, pricey
- Med . coast of Spain & France: pricey, crowded, Disney-cliche of the Med or concrete jungle tourist traps
- Italian Adria, north
- coastal main road E65 of the eastern Adria towards Dubrovnic
- coastal road Norway (Stavanger/Bergen/Trondheim): great view, mostly blocked by caravans, overtaking nearly impossible

Except Norway (theres is no alternative coastal route), all of the above can be visited mostly without traffic jams or tourist traps, but only by detailed map research for detours around the hot spots. I´d skip the far north of Norway. These Fjords are awesome, but still just Fjords, all the way up.

With that in mind, your fancy for war sites & mountain passes starting the loop from the UK for only 4 months, I´d recommend the following loops clockwise:

- UK
- northern France (WWII Atlantik Wall, Brittany, Normandy)
- BeNeLux or more southwards towards i.e. Verdun WWI-sites, Vogeses
- speed up through Germany
- Baltic Loop: Denmark, Stavanger, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallin (plan around Midsommer/21st June)
- ex. Soviet-Satellite/Balkan-Loop: Poland, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Bukarest, Istanbul, Zagreb
- alpine WWI/II Route: Slovenia, Austria, Swiss, Italy, France (you could spend 4 months here without doing a single pass twice)
- Med-Loop: incl. Ferry: Genova/Nizza - Corsica-Loop hop to Sardinia, Ferry Porto Torres-Barcelona
- Back to UK via Andorra

Enjoy

Agree with all of the above except the last - Andorra is the dump of the world, it absolutely sucks, I know, I have to go there three or four time a year!

OK, in detail - to get to that art of the Pyrenees you travel the worst and mist congested and dangerous roads in the entire Pyrenees, ju ride through what amounts to a big trading estate inhabited by homicidal drivers - I'm not kidding - and you have to pass an EU frontier at each end. I ask you, is that your idea of fun?

Regs

Simon

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Great info there.. Thank you.. I have been lucky enough to be able to extend my trip now to almost 4 1/2 months ,, and expecting some holiday traffic as you described.. I will only be on the French coast briefly before heading north then east to Luxembourg follow the Rhine north to Koblenz .. ( more holiday traffic no doubt) probably a free run from there to Denmark. More traffic on and off to Stavanger .. I am avoiding most big cities if I can or unless I need to go there. I guess travelling in spring summer autumn comes with traffic but will be taking alternate routes where possible.. I think I will relish Eastern Europe and the open roads, then I hit the Alps .. Whole new ball game there too I expect.. Cheers ...

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Well, you might be right due to more experience with Andorra. I did the Pyr only once, following some former Tour de France - Stages and found it very nice there. Didn´t notice a difference in Andorra, that single day. Just mentioned it, as one has to cross the Pyr to get there. Axe le Therme is a nice stop. Coming from Barca, one could miss the Pyrs by driving directly up to Bilbao - Biarriz.

Regs

Hi there,

Everyone has their own taste of course - but you don't have to go through Andorra to get to Ax-des-Thermes. Go via Puigcerda/Bourge-Madame and cross the Col de Puymorens.

But a far better route from Puigcerda would be the D118 towards Axat.

Enjoy ...

Simon

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Good tip.

We came over Perpignan that trip, so went to AxelTherme first. Do not remember the precise route or roads.

I just recommended the Med-leg via Corsica - Sardinia - Barcelona, because one could avoid one of the most (in my eyes) overrated, crowded, jammed and costliest areas in the Meds, those between Nizza and Perpignan (except Beauduc, it´s a nice beach), but could have a piece of the Pyr-cake, too.

From my experience (have been at nearly every single windsurfable beach around Europe, following the wind forecast), Corsica and Sardinia beats any other Med-area by far. Still picturesque without the big tourist-bunkers and a huge fun to ride on & off road. Sardinia is one of the last places in Europe, where wild camping and beach driving is tolerated, except in August.

Cheers

Hey Simo I see you will be passing my way , down the south of France , Avignon area . When you get down this way give us a shout you are welcome to tent up in the garden refresh , washing ,etc there are some great places to see in the area .
Cheers tinoo

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Tinoo, that's a very generous offer, thank you. If all goes to plan I should be in your part of the world early/mid September, if you are around & I'm am passing I will look you up...looks like a lovely part of the world you live in.. Cheers Phil

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For WWI and WWII you should stay at http://www.bikersbedsfrance.co.uk/where_are_we.html. Ian is very knowledgable about the local history.

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Various bikes in differing states of repair.

Hey Simo.
How are the plans ngoing?

Larry

Hello Simo.
As from the latest map is obvious, that you will bump in to Russian border - Kaliningrad is on your route between Lithuania and Poland. Fix that if you do not intend to visit Russia. Besides there is a lot of military movement lately going on there.
South of Poland is nice, pretty roads along the Kaliningrad border. Near Ketrzyn there was a Hitler's command base in WWII, it's called "Wolfs Lair".
STUTTHOF concentration camp is on your way to Krynica Morska peninsula, but Krynica Morska itself is not an object to put on your list.
Up above Gdansk there is a long dune seaside (they say it biggest in Europe), place Leba (Lebsko lake).
I live in Vilnius, Lithuania, if there will be a demand of accomodation contact me at gmail : aidasass@gmail.com
Best wishes
aidas

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