European Trip, How far is too far?

[Allan]

Stelvio Obsessed -

Your Holiday (?) does not sound like fun; more like an 'endiurance contest.' Too many miles and too few days. I have traveled most of the destinations you have listed, on motorbike and with an automobile, and I would only consider doing about 1/3rd of your planned trip in those same amount of days. Traveling 2-up on Autobahns/Autostradas/Autoroutes is scary, fatiging and utterly boring - and July is the worst month possible.

Pick a couple of must-do destinatioins, get off the 'beaten' path, stop a lot for photos, long lunches and general sight-seeing. Avoid any city with more than 30k inhabitants. Get an early start but be certain to be at your hotel by 4 p.m. Experience the culture of the places to are visiting - don't be concerned about keeping to a schedule.

It's all about quality over quanity.

 

[Stelvio Obsessed]

RJVB Was it you who sent me some information about Guernsey, about a year ago?

It wasn't me but I wonder who it was as there's only about 10 people that own a Moto Guzzi here!

Moz Has he or she sat for hours on a bike? Day after day? On motorways?

Believe me, its one thing to do such trips when you're riding (at least you're alert) but you may very well kill off any inclination for them to go with you again...

She has never sat on a bike for more than 3 hours before and not a high speeds but here is my evil plan :woohoo: Hopefully after the first few days the desire to go as far as Rome will subside and we can have a much more leisurely ride around France! lol

Allan Your Holiday (?) does not sound like fun; more like an 'endiurance contest.' Too many miles and too few days. I have traveled most of the destinations you have listed, on motorbike and with an automobile, and I would only consider doing about 1/3rd of your planned trip in those same amount of days. Traveling 2-up on Autobahns/Autostradas/Autoroutes is scary, fatiging and utterly boring - and July is the worst month possible.

Pick a couple of must-do destinatioins, get off the 'beaten' path, stop a lot for photos, long lunches and general sight-seeing. Avoid any city with more than 30k inhabitants. Get an early start but be certain to be at your hotel by 4 p.m. Experience the culture of the places to are visiting - don't be concerned about keeping to a schedule.

It's all about quality over quanity.

I agree with almost all your comments except not visiting a town with over 30k would prevent us from going to some fantastic cities and the stress of getting in and finding accomodation should be worth it for both the sites, atmosphere and peace from the other half!

Doing a 1/3 of the distance would allow for a more casual, gentle trip but I like a bit of endurance/challenge thrown in although after a week I may come round to your way of thinking. I think the revised plan is a good one and if its too much it can easily change.

Cheers.

 

[RJVB]

FWIW, there are many hotel chains, at least here in France, that offer simple accomodation, that are strategically located on the outskirts of many places, allowing easy access and departure and that can be reserved by internet. I'm thinking of B&B hotels, Formule-1, Première Classe, Village-Hotels, Etap, Campanile, Ibis, etc. They typically have (free) parking place, which isn't at all evident inside the bigger cities.

 

[Brian UK]

Has she only been on the bike in Guernsey, or further afield?
Remember there is a vast difference between the blanket 40mph limit on the island, and the German (and other countries') motorways.
Just keep your plans flexible.
The chains mentioned above are great, mainly because you normally don't need to book in advance, just book in on the machine by the entrance with your credit card, so you can afford to be flexible.

 

[Wonder B]

don't know about the Monaco-Rome trip but as far as Paris to MOnaco via Millau I think it is almost impossible... If you'd go straight on to MOnaco via the Vallée du Rhône and riding on highways it would still be a very long day but Millau is not exactly in that direction...
Check out that map :
http://maps.google.fr/maps?hl=fr&q=Mill ... 1&ct=title

If you want to spend more than a minute looking at that bridge (as one should!) it will lengthen even more that trip.
Also during the holiday season getting out of Paris can be time consuming too...
If I were you I'd go down and stop at nomad's place (I'll accept 10% of the bill as promoter LOL:silly: ) and do the rest of the trip the next day... Just enjoy the fabulous Corrèze roads and scenery while you're at it.
I can't comment much on the rest of the trip.
All I know is that driving at high speed on the German highway is a bit scary because even if maintaining a 'reasonable' 160/170 kph speed, the ultra powerful cars that will overtake you are not 'occasional', but very frequent. I was stunned last year (coming from a country where you just can't ride over 130 kph (at least not for very long before getting caught by radars or highway police) at how fast people drive over there... you really have to focus because they are not 'very nice' to people who force them to brake or slow down on the high speed lane.

 

[leafman60]

I agree with pretty-much everyone else on here. You are trying to cover too much distance ! Sheeze, youre going to miss all the good riding ! The stretch along the Mediterranean from Genoa to Pisa !, the Tuscan wine country !, quaint little towns like the fortress city of Siena, all of those.

Ive made the trip from Rome to Venice in a day. You have to run the Autostrada and triple digit speeds to make it.

Scale back. Take the smaller roads. You'll be very glad you did. And, yes, do Lake Como and the Stelvio Pass.

 

[eimers01]

Greg,

Interesed in visiting us?

https://www.guzzitech.com/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=2&func=view&catid=46&id=9562

Greetz
Dikkiedik

 

[Holt]

RJVB wrote:

Molded bricks? But Legoland is the other way up!

- AND, I'll dare to say, not worth the effort!



(Been there when the kids were at that age. If I'll ever have grandkids, going to Legoland will be over my dead body! )

 

[Mike.C]

I have been following this thread with interest as "one day" I might get to take a Stelvio to some of the places mentioned....

The only advice I can give is this: It is a common rite of passage trip to "do a lap" of this big island of Oz - some 12,000km in total. One acquaintance of mine is leaving this Saturday on his GSA - and now for the good bit - three weeks is the plan, and that's on roads where you can ride all day and not see a single car or other living person - he is going to be, shall we say, a little saddle sore!

From what I can see your trip plan is somewhat similar in riding pleasure but with the added disaster of lotsa traffic - doesn't sound like fun to me.

 

[RJVB]

A shortlist of passes you could take

http://www.gattostanco.it/CollezionePassi.html

(gatto stanco ... tired cat ... riding his Stelvio too much I guess )

 

[mark1960]

I like to be on the move.......but that trip sounds a real grueller

 

[RJVB]

On a similar vein, I'm invited to a marriage near Aosta, Italy, meaning I have to make the return trip from/to Paris in not more than 4 days. It's neigh impossible to go there other than by car or bike under those constraints, and I'm debating very much whether it'd be a good idea to take the bike. I've done 500km journeys in 6.5 hours, but this is about 300km more...

 

[Bluntly]

I like to take detours and stop where I like when I like so although I think that your trip is feasible you will miss out on a lot of things on the way, the odd fixed point is OK on a trip but a daily schedule seems like being at work, to me anyway.

 

[Holt]

Whattare you afraid of?
I won't brag, but I'm regulary doing 800 km trips on the 750, when on vacation. I've done similar to Ironbutts on it. It is no problem. My idea of an afternoon ride is about 400 km.
Son& I are planning a trip to the Pyrenees in July. We've got 10 days for the journey, and since we're going through the French alps, as it seems right now - avoiding Switzerland - I doubt we'll make it. But we'll sure give it a try!
Or; "El camino amigo, el camino y nada mas" :lol:
You need a bike which is sorted out for you and mainly your body, and yes, you may be tired, but there is a meal and a bed at the end of the day trip, I suppose?

 

[Cat City Rider]

Whattare you afraid of?
I won't brag, but I'm regulary doing 800 km trips on the 750, when on vacation. I've done similar to Ironbutts on it. It is no problem. My idea of an afternoon ride is about 400 km.
Son& I are planning a trip to the Pyrenees in July. We've got 10 days for the journey, and since we're going through the French alps, as it seems right now - avoiding Switzerland - I doubt we'll make it. But we'll sure give it a try!
Or; "El camino amigo, el camino y nada mas" :lol:
You need a bike which is sorted out for you and mainly your body, and yes, you may be tired, but there is a meal and a bed at the end of the day trip, I suppose?

A meal? Yes. A bed? During the holiday season? Not so easy in my humble opinion. Not without reservations. Tough to "wing it" during the holidays. Traffic jams at borders? I got stuck in one that backed up from Spain to Marseille. It took four hours to go from near Marseille to a turnoff near Beziers. All the lemmings were off to Spain. Got stuck in a "Bouchon" (traffic jam) from hell near Lyon due to a truck accident. Two hours dancing the pee pee dance on that one. inch:
No room at the inn in Clemont-Ferrand (some kind of convention).
Arrived in Saint-Affrique after a long day in the Georges du Tarn and driving across the Causses, (not to be missed, a fantastic area) can you believe it? all the hotels were closed! Merde! Holliday weekend you know (this was in the off season) a hotel closed? Good grief! We had to drive all the way to Castres and wound up exhausted, in a "Gay" hotel. Who was to know? It was nicely decorated though. :? It was like sleeping in a castle in a grand bed.
I love France but if you wing it on a tight schedule, even during the beginning of the holiday season, you need to be prepared for surprises that will trash your itinerary. I have no experience outside of France but I suspect things are not much different elsewhere.
All my trips to France are treasured and most things do go right, including having lunch with Rene in Paris.

 

[Holt]

Admittedly I haven't been to France since the mid-seventies, but once or twice a year, every years since god knows when, to Italy and the eastern Mediterranian countries - slightly off-season like July or September, as the season there is August - and never been let down in respect of a bed. But I'm also avoiding big cities. Best roads and places are always rural, IMHO.
We'll see what happens. Maybe carrying a small tent is a bright idea?
Borders? We're in Schengen, buddy.