2013 Euro Tour - Beginnings of another Experience of a Lifetime

Originally Posted by Spank86

That all sounds positively bucolic.

I don't want to hijack your thread but I'll just leave a link here to my write up of my one and only euro trip attempt a couple of years ago.

http://www.triumphrat.net/ride-trip-...m-wearing.html

Lol, by all means mate you carry on. I'll have a read now.

Edit: OMG Spank, I'm reading your post and you reminded me of Tolouse! I also made the same mistake and went on the twisty, circular roundabout thing into the City. BIG mistake. Was going pretty quickly, or so I thought, until a Bandit came out nowhere and pulled some impressive lean on that roundabout. But I got seriously lost in that city for an hour or so. Traffic was a nightmare.

And I did the 147!

I wasn't going quickly at all, not back then loaded with panniers and no sleep.

Doing the usual British 5-10 mph above traffic rate sensible stuff and bloody hell was I outclassed. Bunch of loonies.


All great fun though, when things go a bit wayward are usually the best bits of a trip.

So here's where I stopped for the night (found a nice spot in the back doorway) ...



... after failing to sort the lights. Left in the early hours heading South. Didn't know how far I would get but I was determined to press on while the riding was good and my energy was high.

This is where I got to by 10am:




That's 150 miles in about 4hrs of non Peage riding. Glorious fun! Here a quick vid showing how nice a day it was and a brief walkaround Tours.

To add a little to the story, here's how my day went. Set off at about 5.30, went to my first petrol station where I'm glad to say my card worked. Picked up a Michelin Map of France (very good idea for any tourer - its pretty much all you need, as I would discover) and literally pointed to a place south from where I was and headed off.

In truth I was tired. The nights sleep was not comfortable. Had a few stray dogs sniffing around (probably hoping I was dead or something) so almost slept with one eye open. I had a few snacks so food wasn't an issue and the true benefits of being a man meant never worrying about having a wee. But I was eager to press on as the scarlet sky seemed to take forever to break into true sunshine. I was still thinking about getting caught by the police and heard a lot of stories, so figured I'd wait for it to get a bit lighter.

So off I went eventually and map in hand - or in tank bag - we found what turned out to be some of the most awesome road I'd ever ridden. The fact that I did 150 miles in 4hrs doesn't sound impressive. Maybe so, but I was being particularly cautious and getting used to the signage.

I can tell you that after a couple of hours as I went through the Valley I was at one with the bike. Music in my ears, the road was music to my tires. The Bike thanked me for these smooth long open roads and never missed a beat. In fact, not once during this trip did I have to worry about the bike (More on my abuse later).

A most awesome first day saw me get to Tours just after 10. The roads and riding was simply so good that I continued past each checkpoint and would have gone through Tours were in not such a beautiful small city.

The city itself is worth seeing as a tourist attraction. There is a lot of Art and Architecture; it has many historical features and was important to France's industrial history; yet the overall feeling this place gave was that of a young vibrant but relaxed place with more to offer than appears on its surface. I realised quite quickly, after walking around the city for a day that I would have to come back if I wanted to scratch this surface.

Found a hotel overlooking the main square for 60Euro (ouch, but after a day sleeping rough I figured I deserved it). This turned out to be a bargain as the room could have held a house party. Massive. All the mod con's with tasteful big French furniture, especially the bed in which I promptly fell asleep and slept soundly for six hours before venturing out for some food.

All in all a very good second day. Next Up, heading further south, more awesome roads and Barcelona in 3 and a half days.

I'm now thinking I'll have to extend this years tour to at least 16 days

Hijacking my own thread a little. Here's a short trackday vid from the summer featuring in my new SV650 Trackday Video thread here - http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.p...0#post2815000:

Nice........I hope to do that once day

Right, updates planned during the next few weeks:

- More ideas about dates, activities and roads;
- Video / Pics and write up of the Journey to Barcelona and my stay there;
- Booking the time of work so then this trip is set in stone!

By end of March I hope to have decided on the date, booked the ferry and confirm the route. If achievable, I'll book accomodation in advance but its more likely I'll just save some details for whilst I'm out there.

So without further ado ...

Dates - Ferry prices as of today, here are some likely tour dates.

1) 8th / 9th June - 20th / 21st June- Overall 12-14 days. Newhaven to Dieppe - £88 or Portsmouth to Le Havre / Cherbourg approx £105

2) 26th / 27th June - 11th / 12th July - Overall 15 - 17 days. Newhaven to Dieppe - £86 or Portsmouth to Le Havre/Cherbourg - £105

3) 12th / 13th July - 26th / 27th July - Overall 14-16 days. Newhaven to Dieppe - £86 or Portsmouth to Le Havre/ Cherbourg - £105 approx.

Possible main activity

Apart from the riding of course, the following festivals coincide with the dates above:

1) Sonar (Barcelona): 3 day international music and arts festival (day tickets available) - http://www.sonar.es/es/2013. So a liesurely stroll from Le Havre etc to Barcelona by 13th June (5 day from Le Havre)

2) Worldwide Festival (Sete, France): Week long festival (daily tickets available) - http://www.worldwidefestival.com/en/sete/home-sete.html. Nice ride to the South coast by the 1st July (5 day ride from Le Havre).

3) Benicassim (Valencia): 4-5 days festival on the beach (1 day ticket available) - http://benicassimfestival.co.uk. This would mean being in Valencia by the 18th July (5 days ride from Le Havre).

[Doinitmyway]

Lots of things coming together - and coming apart for this years trip!

Time booked off work - Check!
Chunnel bookings made - Check!
Bike booked in for service - Check!
Another Org'er joins in! - Bonus!
Another mate drops out - aww frip
Checks £ against EUR - oh ffs and it's still heading south
Do you dont you sort out a bit now......

Nothing will blunt the eagerness taking over though - really looking forward to going 'back'. You got any firm ideas on places???

Chris

Roads

This map looks good - http://www.bestbikingroads.com/motor...nce-__804.html

Landing in Le Havre, a good route seems to:

Day 1 - Le Havre - Liseux - Gace - A28 (Alencon) - Le Man - Tours

Certainly doable in one day, there are many routes avoiding peages. This is roughly what I did last year and I didn't pay "Un Euros"! Tours is a cultural and vibrant place with lots to do and see. I promised myself I'd do this part again.

Day 2 - Can be a rest day if Tours is occupying enough, but can push on to A10 (Le Chatellerault) - Chauvigny - E62 (Belac) - Limoge or unto Peyrat Le Chateau. Thats about 280 kilometers of riding.

Day 3 - If Day 2 wasn't a rest day, then Day 3 will be. There looks like some good roads down to Chamberet within the forest which didn't do on the last trip, so an impromptu rideout can be had.

Day 4 (Long Day) - Peyrat / Chamberet - Treignac - Mandaille St Julien and get over to St-Flour. Then join the E11 for the ride to Millau. I don't know how easy it will be to get from Chamberet to St Flour but the ride down to Millau is stunning. Definately some great roads and you can always pay the toll for the viaduct if you want to say you did this famous road.

However, there are many other viaducts around and, again, the roads are amazing. This will be a long ride so may have to be re-thought but it is acheivable - 315km.

Day 5 - Depending on what activity/festival is chosen the route can then be Millau - Montpellier - Sete (143km) or Millau - Barcelona via Perpignan and Girona (400km).

The Barcelona ride would be another long one but not as involving. But then once in Barca, I reckon 2-4 days of the city would be a good period to stay as there is so so much to do and see. This route is timely for Sonar but maybe a re-think for a more direct alternative to Valencia (Benicassim) due to the extra mileage.

Then, Journey back along the Spanish border or through the Loire Valley. The choice is the rider's/group. But 4-5 days at a liesurely pace could easily be allowed to get back to Le Havre etc.

If anyone has any thoughts, feel free to chip in.