Europe on a motorcycle

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03/06/2016



My wife, Julia and I are relatively new to motorcycle touring. We have had a couple of big trips, a week around the UK, 1700 miles, a week around Lake Garda, 2400 miles and a week in Northern Spain 900 miles. This time we are going all out.

The plan is to take the Tunnel to France, the ride into Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra and Spain before catching the ferry from Bilbao and home to Portsmouth and then Southampton.

The last few weeks have been spent planning routes, times and booking accommodation. More on that later. We are both quite happy in the saddle and have ridden up to 550 miles in a day (Southampton to Oban) without breaking or falling out. This time we are trying to keep the days below 250 miles, although day one is about 360. Day one is really about clearing France. We have ridden those roads before and just want to get into the trip. We will be catching up with France later as we ride the south coast from Monaco to the Pyrenees mountain's.

I suppose I should mention the third member of the party, the bike, Big Tigger. Big Tigger because its bigger than my first Triumph Tiger, which was the 1050. That bike took us on the UK and Oban trips mentioned above. Bought in 2010, it covered 15k miles in 2 years and was traded for the all new Tiger Explorer 1200 in 2012. 4 years and 31k miles later the Explorer is still with us and with no sign of moving on. Its just a great bike for what we do. There are faster adventure bikes, but they don't have the carrying capacity. There are more capable off road adventure bikes, but I have no plans to ride the Dakar 2 up. Most are just too tall to manage at slow speed on in difficult conditions with a pillion and full luggage. The Tiger, for me can traverse a forest trail 2 up, and much many miles on any road surface without any trouble and that's what I want.

OK enough for now.



David

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Comments

[Selina]

What about floods and fuel?
Have you a back up plan??????

[Selina]

What about floods and fuel?
Have you a back up plan??????

[Molly]

Question
Hey David, did you try www.bikesbooking.com for motorcycle rental in Europe?

[The Grifflets]

Hi Molly, No, I use my own bike for my trips. Part of the fun / challenge for me isn’t travelling on a bike, it is traveling on my bike. Looking at shipping it to America in 2020 and riding coast to coast David

[Bhagyashree P.]

Very Nice!
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