Eastriding2002
Registered user
Well having been back 10 days or so, I thought it time to post up my first trip abroad on a bike. I'll apologise in advance for the length of the post as well.
I'd been planning it since October 2006. I'd decided I wanted to get the hotels etc. in place and then sort out the routes between.
As I was being accompanied by Mrs. ER it was not to be just a pure biking trip but a holiday for her as well, with this in mind I booked two hotels for 4 nights each in the middle of the 15 night trip. First major decision was whether to travel out of Hull, a 3 mile trip from home and then through Belgium into France and beyond, or travel to Dover and cross over to Calais.
300 reasons sprang to mind and Dover, despite the long haul down there became the crossing point. It put an extra 550 miles or so onto the journey, but the savings more than compensated.
The plan was as follows:
Night
1: St. Omer Ibis
2: Reims Ibis
3: Dijon Ibis
4-7: Chamonix Chalet Blanche
8-11: The Dolomites Hotel Col di Lana
12: Zurich Ibis
13: Nancy Ibis
14: Reims Ibis
15: St. Omer Ibis
Most days kept to less than 200 miles, I don't mind longer days but again it's Mrs. ER's holiday as well.
The trip down to Dover was pretty uneventful, across the humber bridge and down the east side of the country. Very little congestion until we hit the M.25 area. Managed to hit Dover at 1:45 well in time for the 4:10 ferry, early enough in fact for us to get on the earlier crossing ( well done P&O)
White? more a dirty grey / brown, and not a bluebird in sight!
We managed to get off the ferry in good time and we arrived at our first nights stay, an Ibis hotel in St. Omer. I'd chosen this because of it's proximity to Calais, yet it came as a complete suprise to me. Expecting some sort of industrial town, I was met with a pretty little town with a stereotypical market square surrounded by bars and restaurants. Perfect!
Sat around here
And had one or two of these!
Next day was up bright and early and headed for Reims, a short jaunt of around 150 miles. Had the first taste of the "peage" and the quietness of the roads. Arrived in the baking mid-day sun ready for a shower and a walk into Reims.
BIG mistake, "mad dogs and englishmen" sprang to mind. Sweltering and with blistered feet we sat in Reims centre.
Like most towns and cities we visited it appeared to be dominated by the cathedral.
It was Reims where I realised my first planning "mistake". To make things easier ( I've a sat nav, so that was a silly thought anyway!) I'd booked the en-route hotels mainly on the outskirts of the towns for ease of access. The downside however was the distance from a lot of the sights!
Next was Dijon, and on the way down our first and possibly only "moment" of the trip, coming off a roundabout the front end slid, wobble, foot down, nippet opened, and recovered. It did however make me paranoid of roundabouts and overbanding on the exits for the next two weeks! 180 miles saw us safely in Dijon, no pics here as it was in the suberbs, and too hot to be bothered going anywahere!. It was a case of sit down, a few beers and then a walk down to the Buffalo grill to test their wares. Lovely!!
Next day we set off for Chamonix, and a 4 night stay in the Chaelt Blanche ( star of the C4 "No Going Back" series) This involved heading for Geneva before climbing into the Alps to Chamonix. It was this leg of the journey where we really started to see the scenery change.
Time for a break in Switzerland I think, and for Mrs. ER to chase a local butterfly for a pic, she needs to get out more I think!
Geneva came, a big city, hot and sticky when we arrived, with the added delight of tram tracks in the road, so here was my next paranoid moment! As we were here it seemed daft not to have a snap of the fountain, which came as a suprise to me as I assumed it was well into the lake and not near the edge!
Once out of Geneva Mrs. ER became busy with her on-board camera work, so apologies for bits of head and shoulder but she did OK I think. It was without doubt the most stunning views I've ever ridden in, well until later that is.
Watching ahead for the elevated roadway we'd seen from down the road.
So by around 3pm we arrived at the Chalet Blache, and awaited the arrival of Alastair and Debbie the owners. Once inside we couldnt exactly complain about the view!
The plan for Chamonix was to lay the bike up for a few days and just enjoy the place, and with views and scenery like this it was a pretty easy thing to do. We bought a pass to give us access to the cable cars and tramways of the area and set about ( with our Japanes followers!!) to do the touristy things.
We went up the Aguille du Midi cable car, across into Italy and back on the Helbronner system as well as the smaller cable car system in Chamonix and the victorian built tramway up Mont Blanc. The Victorians apparently decided to build this up to the top of Mt Blanc, only stopping when the realised you couldn't build tracks on glaciers! Again the pics speak for themselves I think, apologies for overdosing on views and mountains!
Climbing any stairs at this height became a struggle, yet you get some nutters doing this!
Chamonix itself was a very picture postcard type town, obviously geared up for tourism but without appearing to be too commercialised. Food and drink was plentiful and at not too bad a price. the one thing we did notice was that we found ourselves taken photos at every corner as yet another view appeared.
Italy thataway!
A view down on Chamonix
After 4 relaxing (at times!!) days in Chamonix it came time to travel on towards the UKGSers recommended hotel in the Dolomites. First stop was the Mont Blanc tunnel
Entrance just visible after the twisties!
Certainly a strange sensation travelling underground for 10 miles, we then had another 320 miles or so to the Dolomites. The first 50 miles or so involved us going through more tunnels than I've seen in my life, I got to the stage where I was sick of hearing Mrs. Sat Nav tell me "lost satellite reception" However, later in the trip we would have welcomed the shade. We hit Milan and the traffic changed, for only the 3rd time we saw lots of cars, trouble being here that the temperature had hit 36 degrees. I have never ridden in heat like it, despite several stops for fluids and a cool down it was a struggle, I could see Mrs. ER in the mirrors and she was struggling. Even with jacket left open and visor up, at 60-70mph the wind was no cooler than when stood still! We had this for perhaps 120 miles, never was a rise to altitud e more welcome!
We arrived at the hotel, hot and bothered but having enjoyed the last few miles, the tek up to the Passo Pordoi involves a 12km section from Canazei which had 33 hairpins and to my counting nigh on 80 bends.
The plan for here was much the same as Chamonix, relax and take it easy. Again the pics probably speak more than a 1000 words.
View from the hotel
Passo Pordoi sunset
The Hotel Col di Lana. Matteo the owner speaks superb english and all the staff make you feel welcome at all times. The food included in the price was superb as well.
We did the usual cable car jaunt as well as a day on the bike to Cortina, now this was approximatel 45 miles and must have had more hairpins and corners than I've ridden around in 25+ years of riding! I've managed a few pics of the local ones, but these must be the best roads for riding on I've ever seen.
Bends aplenty with the hotel just to the left of the craggy peak on the right of the pic.
After Pordoi it was time to start heading home, next stop Zurich. This involved a trip through Austria. It was the leg in Austira where we encountered our one and only spell of rain, but boy did it rain, the roads were awash, speed down to 35-40mph and then we cam e to a halt, great, belting down with rain and we get sat in it. A tunnel was closed or some mishap had occured. Anyway, ride to the front and wait. They send us around the mountain to calls of "off rout" from the yankee voiced sat nav, ignoring her I managed to pick up the route and carry on towards Switzerland.
Italy towards the Austrian border.
Rain ahead!
The weather again brightened slightly, although never too hot on this leg.
Zurich was probably the worst place we stopped, out in the superbs and poor weather meaning we spent the evening at the hotel, meal was average as well.
Onto Nancy, did a lot of autoroute style roads and then the sat nav sent us off down some obscure track to a superb and twisty little road through the hills, this really broke up the day for us.
We arrived in Nancy again around mid-day, this time we used our heads and the wonderful French public transport
1.2 Euros and your anywhere you want to be on the route. We headed once again for the centre and had a relaxing lunch in the centre of Nancy.
We did pass this on the way, strange or what!
So here we enjoyed the sun and watched the world go by.
We then tracked back to Reims, St. Omer once again and then home.
2300 trouble free miles in total. The GS returning 50mpg or better for the vast majority of the journey, only less when in the Dolomites and doing 100 miles in 1-2 or 3rd gear! Sat Nav was almost faultless, only faults being my route making errors and my via point on the wrong side of the dual carriageway trick again! Vacuum bags were a godsend in the panniers and Gelert bag.
Driving abroad I did notice that much fewer people speed, they're happy to tootle along at what ever limit is posted. Lorries tend to stay in the inside lane, seldom do you have the old juggernaut holding traffic up as he passes his mate at 0.01mph quicker. Austria was probably the most notable for good driving, lorries NEVER strayed from the inside lane and most folks stuck to the limits. Overall bike awareness was much higher than in the UK.
I also noticed how everything was spotless, services, even lay-bys were all immaculately kept, compare that to ours here!
Would I do it again, you bet I would. I would however change a few things from how I did it this time. I'd do longer legs between stops, but stop for longer in places. I'd pick hotels or B&B's nearer town centres. I'd take less gear, especially big shoes!
I've also now started my collection of on-board pannier stickers from places visited!!
Andy T
I'd been planning it since October 2006. I'd decided I wanted to get the hotels etc. in place and then sort out the routes between.
As I was being accompanied by Mrs. ER it was not to be just a pure biking trip but a holiday for her as well, with this in mind I booked two hotels for 4 nights each in the middle of the 15 night trip. First major decision was whether to travel out of Hull, a 3 mile trip from home and then through Belgium into France and beyond, or travel to Dover and cross over to Calais.
300 reasons sprang to mind and Dover, despite the long haul down there became the crossing point. It put an extra 550 miles or so onto the journey, but the savings more than compensated.
The plan was as follows:
Night
1: St. Omer Ibis
2: Reims Ibis
3: Dijon Ibis
4-7: Chamonix Chalet Blanche
8-11: The Dolomites Hotel Col di Lana
12: Zurich Ibis
13: Nancy Ibis
14: Reims Ibis
15: St. Omer Ibis
Most days kept to less than 200 miles, I don't mind longer days but again it's Mrs. ER's holiday as well.
The trip down to Dover was pretty uneventful, across the humber bridge and down the east side of the country. Very little congestion until we hit the M.25 area. Managed to hit Dover at 1:45 well in time for the 4:10 ferry, early enough in fact for us to get on the earlier crossing ( well done P&O)
White? more a dirty grey / brown, and not a bluebird in sight!
We managed to get off the ferry in good time and we arrived at our first nights stay, an Ibis hotel in St. Omer. I'd chosen this because of it's proximity to Calais, yet it came as a complete suprise to me. Expecting some sort of industrial town, I was met with a pretty little town with a stereotypical market square surrounded by bars and restaurants. Perfect!
Sat around here
And had one or two of these!
Next day was up bright and early and headed for Reims, a short jaunt of around 150 miles. Had the first taste of the "peage" and the quietness of the roads. Arrived in the baking mid-day sun ready for a shower and a walk into Reims.
BIG mistake, "mad dogs and englishmen" sprang to mind. Sweltering and with blistered feet we sat in Reims centre.
Like most towns and cities we visited it appeared to be dominated by the cathedral.
It was Reims where I realised my first planning "mistake". To make things easier ( I've a sat nav, so that was a silly thought anyway!) I'd booked the en-route hotels mainly on the outskirts of the towns for ease of access. The downside however was the distance from a lot of the sights!
Next was Dijon, and on the way down our first and possibly only "moment" of the trip, coming off a roundabout the front end slid, wobble, foot down, nippet opened, and recovered. It did however make me paranoid of roundabouts and overbanding on the exits for the next two weeks! 180 miles saw us safely in Dijon, no pics here as it was in the suberbs, and too hot to be bothered going anywahere!. It was a case of sit down, a few beers and then a walk down to the Buffalo grill to test their wares. Lovely!!
Next day we set off for Chamonix, and a 4 night stay in the Chaelt Blanche ( star of the C4 "No Going Back" series) This involved heading for Geneva before climbing into the Alps to Chamonix. It was this leg of the journey where we really started to see the scenery change.
Time for a break in Switzerland I think, and for Mrs. ER to chase a local butterfly for a pic, she needs to get out more I think!
Geneva came, a big city, hot and sticky when we arrived, with the added delight of tram tracks in the road, so here was my next paranoid moment! As we were here it seemed daft not to have a snap of the fountain, which came as a suprise to me as I assumed it was well into the lake and not near the edge!
Once out of Geneva Mrs. ER became busy with her on-board camera work, so apologies for bits of head and shoulder but she did OK I think. It was without doubt the most stunning views I've ever ridden in, well until later that is.
Watching ahead for the elevated roadway we'd seen from down the road.
So by around 3pm we arrived at the Chalet Blache, and awaited the arrival of Alastair and Debbie the owners. Once inside we couldnt exactly complain about the view!
The plan for Chamonix was to lay the bike up for a few days and just enjoy the place, and with views and scenery like this it was a pretty easy thing to do. We bought a pass to give us access to the cable cars and tramways of the area and set about ( with our Japanes followers!!) to do the touristy things.
We went up the Aguille du Midi cable car, across into Italy and back on the Helbronner system as well as the smaller cable car system in Chamonix and the victorian built tramway up Mont Blanc. The Victorians apparently decided to build this up to the top of Mt Blanc, only stopping when the realised you couldn't build tracks on glaciers! Again the pics speak for themselves I think, apologies for overdosing on views and mountains!
Climbing any stairs at this height became a struggle, yet you get some nutters doing this!
Chamonix itself was a very picture postcard type town, obviously geared up for tourism but without appearing to be too commercialised. Food and drink was plentiful and at not too bad a price. the one thing we did notice was that we found ourselves taken photos at every corner as yet another view appeared.
Italy thataway!
A view down on Chamonix
After 4 relaxing (at times!!) days in Chamonix it came time to travel on towards the UKGSers recommended hotel in the Dolomites. First stop was the Mont Blanc tunnel
Entrance just visible after the twisties!
Certainly a strange sensation travelling underground for 10 miles, we then had another 320 miles or so to the Dolomites. The first 50 miles or so involved us going through more tunnels than I've seen in my life, I got to the stage where I was sick of hearing Mrs. Sat Nav tell me "lost satellite reception" However, later in the trip we would have welcomed the shade. We hit Milan and the traffic changed, for only the 3rd time we saw lots of cars, trouble being here that the temperature had hit 36 degrees. I have never ridden in heat like it, despite several stops for fluids and a cool down it was a struggle, I could see Mrs. ER in the mirrors and she was struggling. Even with jacket left open and visor up, at 60-70mph the wind was no cooler than when stood still! We had this for perhaps 120 miles, never was a rise to altitud e more welcome!
We arrived at the hotel, hot and bothered but having enjoyed the last few miles, the tek up to the Passo Pordoi involves a 12km section from Canazei which had 33 hairpins and to my counting nigh on 80 bends.
The plan for here was much the same as Chamonix, relax and take it easy. Again the pics probably speak more than a 1000 words.
View from the hotel
Passo Pordoi sunset
The Hotel Col di Lana. Matteo the owner speaks superb english and all the staff make you feel welcome at all times. The food included in the price was superb as well.
We did the usual cable car jaunt as well as a day on the bike to Cortina, now this was approximatel 45 miles and must have had more hairpins and corners than I've ridden around in 25+ years of riding! I've managed a few pics of the local ones, but these must be the best roads for riding on I've ever seen.
Bends aplenty with the hotel just to the left of the craggy peak on the right of the pic.
After Pordoi it was time to start heading home, next stop Zurich. This involved a trip through Austria. It was the leg in Austira where we encountered our one and only spell of rain, but boy did it rain, the roads were awash, speed down to 35-40mph and then we cam e to a halt, great, belting down with rain and we get sat in it. A tunnel was closed or some mishap had occured. Anyway, ride to the front and wait. They send us around the mountain to calls of "off rout" from the yankee voiced sat nav, ignoring her I managed to pick up the route and carry on towards Switzerland.
Italy towards the Austrian border.
Rain ahead!
The weather again brightened slightly, although never too hot on this leg.
Zurich was probably the worst place we stopped, out in the superbs and poor weather meaning we spent the evening at the hotel, meal was average as well.
Onto Nancy, did a lot of autoroute style roads and then the sat nav sent us off down some obscure track to a superb and twisty little road through the hills, this really broke up the day for us.
We arrived in Nancy again around mid-day, this time we used our heads and the wonderful French public transport
1.2 Euros and your anywhere you want to be on the route. We headed once again for the centre and had a relaxing lunch in the centre of Nancy.
We did pass this on the way, strange or what!
So here we enjoyed the sun and watched the world go by.
We then tracked back to Reims, St. Omer once again and then home.
2300 trouble free miles in total. The GS returning 50mpg or better for the vast majority of the journey, only less when in the Dolomites and doing 100 miles in 1-2 or 3rd gear! Sat Nav was almost faultless, only faults being my route making errors and my via point on the wrong side of the dual carriageway trick again! Vacuum bags were a godsend in the panniers and Gelert bag.
Driving abroad I did notice that much fewer people speed, they're happy to tootle along at what ever limit is posted. Lorries tend to stay in the inside lane, seldom do you have the old juggernaut holding traffic up as he passes his mate at 0.01mph quicker. Austria was probably the most notable for good driving, lorries NEVER strayed from the inside lane and most folks stuck to the limits. Overall bike awareness was much higher than in the UK.
I also noticed how everything was spotless, services, even lay-bys were all immaculately kept, compare that to ours here!
Would I do it again, you bet I would. I would however change a few things from how I did it this time. I'd do longer legs between stops, but stop for longer in places. I'd pick hotels or B&B's nearer town centres. I'd take less gear, especially big shoes!
I've also now started my collection of on-board pannier stickers from places visited!!
Andy T
