Touring Planning next years euro trip anyone ?

Hi Eric, I'm planning on doing it late May next year and currently planning doing it on my own.

 

I see.....................

 

Good......................................................................

 

I'm off to Sardinia next year - twice... Once on the bike, once in the back of a Mercedes Sprinter. The rest of the time I'll be frolicking around the Alps

Was all over Sardinia this year but with a VW camper van Boy, do they have lovely roads there!

Corsica will have to wait 'til 2018...

 

Sorry about the length of time to reply.

It took us roughly about 10 hours from Kemnay (Inverurie) to Portsmouth. We did allow 12 but got there well early. We had 2 fairly brief stops on route and from what I remember there were no real traffic hold ups. Much as I hate the trip to and from the channel ports, if I have to do it I'd rather be on the bike than in a van. The real bummer is tyre wear - around 1300 miles for the round trip to the channel ports. Given that I struggle to get much more than 4.5k tyre life on the FJR when touring (around 2.5K on local roads), it's a fair chunk of rubber wasted on British motorways. This does piss me off a bit but next year we're getting the boat to and from Spain rather than to St. Malo and home via Ijmuiden. Hopefully plenty of rubber for the good roads. Going to split the journey up from channel port on the way home - our daughter lives near Manchester so might stay there.

 

Yes back to the tyre ware factor, anything lost here in the U.K. Makes me feel ripped off too as I despise using hard earned, over taxed, tyres wasted here when I could be rolling around proper slaloms in nice weather with nice scenery than this over packed shit hole of a country!!

 

Part of me wants to follow you in your rear view mirror!

 

You'd be more than welcome mate

 

Anyone thought of doing a pitstop and getting tyres re

Anyone thought of doing a pitstop and getting tyres replaced whilst out in Europe. I know it doesn't keep tyre wear down but if it's timed for when you normally have a tyre change. At least you'll be on the twisties with new rubber and used the old rubber on the motorways

 

I got tyres fitted in Istanbul in 2012 - cost me nearly £500! Same trip and needed another set in Salzburg - €480. I thought about changing tyres in Germany last year and they were a bit more reasonably priced but I couldn't wait for 3 days till they arrived.

 

Pre order?

 

Must be a pain worrying about tyres before you even get there.What about changing just before you get on the ferry(I expect you've already thought of that) then it's a fresh set to go with.
Though I'd rather be on the bike rather than a van,it's the journey not the destination etc.
We had a gut turn up last year for a 1300 mile trip with a tyre with no more than 500 left in it,wasted half a day getting it sorted in France

 

Is it best to book definite sailings or can you just rock up and get on.

 

No definite answer to that one, Yorkshireman, as everything always depends on your circumstances

As a rule of thumb I tend to watch prices and if they don't go up I wait for as long as possible. After all, it is nicer to not have to worry about definite times...

 

Hi Yorkshireman, on that particular crossing Newhaven/Dieppe, the tickets seem to stay pretty-much the same price until the week before, but if you just rock up and buy at the port, it'll cost you more because it's not an internet price, at the port, I'm sure. It's worth knowing that I've bought tickets in the past and arrived early or late for my crossing and they just let me through.

Just be a bit careful about peak holiday periods when stress levels are a bit higher.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I'm in the very early stages of planning a trip next year to hook up with a pal who lives in Spain. If I go to his gaff I'll probably sail to Santander, if we meet in France down the west coast then probably use the above route. Cheers.

 

Yorkie, if your sailing into Santander with Brittany ferries, get your ferry booked sooner rather than later.

Brittany Ferries operate a fluid pricing system, their prices go up the closer to a departure date.

Dave

 

Hi Dave if you do go to Corsica here are a few routes (they organize tours but you can look at the routes they take )
http://www.we-rent-motorcycles.com/...-touring-in-corsica-a-guide-to-the-best-roads

 

Hi Dougie and thanks. Don't know why I didn't see your post earlier, but there's some good stuff there so cheers for that.