Correct me if i'm wrong, but did a Google search for EU countries 2011, and Croatia, Serbia, Albania, Bosnia and Macedonia aren't in.

I'm wrong, I think you are right.

John933

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To buy petrol in Europe. Pull up at station. Wait. Get out a 20 Euro note, then ask someone to fill up the bike. Give person money. Ride away. Simple.

Doesn't mean we have to write it off, just another thing to consider.

We shall see what we shall see.

John933

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To buy petrol in Europe. Pull up at station. Wait. Get out a 20 Euro note, then ask someone to fill up the bike. Give person money. Ride away. Simple.

Hay Lee, this looks a great trip, but finding 4 to 6 weeks would be difficult. i'll keep a eye on this thread and see how it goes.
All the best
Julian

To be honest thats the reason I posted it this early. However, doesn't mean that someone with only a week or 2 available couldn't keep in touch and join in halfway, or start together and peel away early.

First thing out of the way, picked up a 2008 Transalp on Friday. Appears to be just the job, comfortable, decent range, and should out last religion.
Now all I need to do is use the bugger!!

Perfect bike for the job, let us know how you get on with it.

I was talking to a couple of Dutch guys in September when I was in Italy. They said that riding in Croatia was great as was everything else in Croatia. They said Greece was just too hot for riding and very expensive.

Just in case it helps.

Steve

If you go to Auschwitz, you got to visit the Salt Mines in Krakow, only an hour or so down the motorway. I've been there twice already.
And if you visit the Milau Bridge the gorge it spans is a great ride (North from the Bridge).
Rory

I live in Prague in the Czech Rpublic so if you are passing through let me know. I can show you some great routes and places to visit. Hungary, Austria and Germany is only 2 hours ride away. I run a Expat Motorbike club here in Prague so we can support you if you get any problems and show you some good cheap pubs.
We are planning a trip to Norway, Denmark and Sweden next year so you can join us if you want, We did a 9 day trip of Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and Lichtenstein this year just 3666kms so I have planty of maps and advice about routes for there.
Glad to help where I can, good luck.

Lee:

I usually do a 4 to 6 week ride in Europe every year, starting out of Switzerland.

One thing I have learned over the past 10 years is that it is better to focus on "one region" per year, rather than being too ambitious about hitting a whole bunch of different countries. If you get too ambitious about covering ground, all you are going to see is the yellow stripe on the road and the gas stations at the side of the road, and they all look the same no matter where you go.

This year, I did a tour "around" the Balkan region. Literally around, because I didn't want the insurance headaches that come with going into most of the former Yugoslavian countries, so, I just circled them all. There's a post here that shows my route and has some comments.

I think that you got things correct when you wrote:

However, I think you might have made one math error - 5,000 miles total (which is longish, but certainly do-able in 6 weeks) does not equate to 2,500 miles out and 2,500 miles back. After you factor in wandering around, looking at interesting places, staying in the same place for a few days on several occasions and using that place as a base to do day trips from, I think that the furthest you should plan on getting from your home base is about 1,250 to 1,500 miles straight-line distance, maximum. This is particularly true because you ride like I do - staying off the motorways and sticking to the smaller roads. When following those kinds of routes, 100 miles on the odometer usually equals about 60 miles as the crow flies.

So, I suggest to you that you pick a 'region' - could be Northern Europe (Benelux, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Northern France) - maybe even stretching east into Austria; could be the Iberian peninsula; could be Eastern Europe; could be South-Eastern Europe (like I just did) - but for goodness sake, don't try to cover the whole darn continent, you will just wear yourself (and your tires) out and not really see much of any place at all.

I've always preferred to plan my trips as 'circles'. This allows me to easily keep a perspective on how much time I have left vs. how far I have gone, plus, if I get really interested in what I see in the first half of the circle and wind up spending 80% of my time on the first half of the planned trip, I just abandon the second half of the circle (save it for next year) and head straight back home when my vacation time is up. You can see an example of that on the map I posted - I did the portion from Patra (Peloponnese) to Zurich airport in 36 hours.

Some additional thoughts, generic in nature:

- You mentioned that you like to have a day or two a week when you are not riding the bike. Me too. Never underestimate the benefit of sleeping in the same place 3 nights in a row - it is like a vacation within a vacation. It's possible to travel continually and stay in a different place each night for about 5 to 7 nights in a row, at which point you will get pissed off with the burden of packing things up each day (most especially if you are camping!). Plus, after 5 to 7 days of riding from city to city, you will want to 'not even see the friggin' motorcycle' for a day, which means staying 2 or 3 nights in one place.

- Also consider that you might find a place that has a lot of interesting stuff around it, and elect to stay in one place for 3 to 5 days and make day trips out and back in different directions. This is generally more relaxing than riding to a different town every day, no matter how much you enjoy riding the bike. It's also a heck of a lot less expensive... you get to know the place you are staying in, food and lodging costs drop, and you don't spend as much time in the saddle every day. The days suddenly become 25% longer, because you don't have to break camp in the morning, and set up again in the evening - you just 'come home' to whatever hotel or campsite you are staying at.

- Weather has a huge effect on how much you will enjoy the trip. On my tour this past September, the daytime high temperatures didn't drop below 30°C until I got off the ferry in Italy on October 1, and I never once took my rainsuit out of the bag. So, the time of year that you plan to do the riding should, in theory, significantly influence your choice of where to go.

Michael

The 'too hot' bit depends entirely on the time of year. I rode across Greece in late September this year, and the temperatures were perfect (about 28 to 30 each day).

I do agree with the 'expensive' part - the VAT in Greece is staggering. My food and hotel costs in Greece were nearly double what I was spending in Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey (Istanbul excepted).

Michael

Are we going to move this up a stage. Rather than keyboard the travel.


Next thing we need to to is get every one to say where they are. Then find a place that's not too far for every one. The longer distance people may be-able to stay over night in one of the party's house's who is going. Any way we will work that out later.

I'm in Norfolk west coast King's Lynn area. May be look for a pub lunch and a few pop's for them that take a . The up side is. If you can't make it to the meet then it's a good chance that you're not going to travel.

So let's see what we get.
John933

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To buy petrol in Europe. Pull up at station. Wait. Get out a 20 Euro note, then ask someone to fill up the bike. Give person money. Ride away. Simple.

I did Greece (in July) this year, did Croatia(in August) last year. No problems with either country but if I had to choose it would be Croatia very time. Greece was viciously overpriced and for me a tad too hot for riding. Croatia was also very hot but more bearable, the prices are more reasonable as well. The scenery both static & moving was out of this world..
In the past 4 years I've done pretty much every European country South of the UK both EU & otherwise. Some of them you can't get insurance from the UK to cover you at a sensible price, you are right in that the cover you buy at borders isn't worth the paper...but some times it's all you'll have. It's generally been cheap as well apart from going into Serbia, 80 Euro for a month....
I've never had a problem with bike security. I take decent locks, most places you stay at will have somewhere to put bikes that's away from prying eyes & hands...
having done Southern Europe to death my preference is now East, I made as far as Kiev in July, then went South to Odessa, crossed into Moldova, Romania & Bulgaria before heading into Greece.
I'd be keen to hook up with you guys at some stage, if you have a meet up please let me know. Whether I can make it away at all next year is debatable due to work commitments but if I can I will!

Regards,

John

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A big boy did it and ran away.