Take 25% less of everything you think you need, then throw away a load more stuff. We all do it, carry too much stuff. Make sure you have RAC 5* including european cover. Carry a few fuses, bulbs and a puncture kit with compressor.
1st tour advice
- Thread starter geezer2005
- Start date
geezer2005
Registered user
I will be looking at 14 days.
Just had a look at the "Rides" tour of Spain, looks a decent route.
J biker
Registered user
Prefer a small group of close mates (maybe 4 as optimum) Absolutely nothing to be scared of. Sounds like you can speak some Spanish. Booking .com and a smart phone with maybe the 1st and last night booked to fit in with return ferry or whichever method of getting you and the bike there. Avoid peak time and there will be plenty vacancies. Done tours of France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and this year Spanish Pyrenees. Never used a tour company as it takes away the freedom IMO. also never know what sort of speed other people think is quick (or slow!). Tend to er towards fast rather than slow touring...been told of a group last year that complained if speeds went over 65mph...not for me then.
Agree with other comments that taking in the whole of Spain probably not the best idea. It is big, easy to look at maps and think ''yeah, thats easy..''. Done that a few times with France and ended up doing some serious last day miles which spoiled things. Long motorway stints just to get to next destination are boring, interesting routes take longer.
I would say a few days in the Pyrenees a must, including the awesome n260 and area around Sort.
Always look back at the 1st France trip in '08 as the best. Booked cross channel ferry for a Saturday out and Saturday back with nothing booked for accommodation. 4 of us on sportbikes with soft luggage and a few euro. It did get interesting once or twice late at night finding somewhere to stay...adventure?? Happy days.
Best advice. Pack light. Fit new tyres. Service the bike. Make sure you know people going with you well enough to still be mates after 2 weeks. It can get testy.
Agree with other comments that taking in the whole of Spain probably not the best idea. It is big, easy to look at maps and think ''yeah, thats easy..''. Done that a few times with France and ended up doing some serious last day miles which spoiled things. Long motorway stints just to get to next destination are boring, interesting routes take longer.
I would say a few days in the Pyrenees a must, including the awesome n260 and area around Sort.
Always look back at the 1st France trip in '08 as the best. Booked cross channel ferry for a Saturday out and Saturday back with nothing booked for accommodation. 4 of us on sportbikes with soft luggage and a few euro. It did get interesting once or twice late at night finding somewhere to stay...adventure?? Happy days.
Best advice. Pack light. Fit new tyres. Service the bike. Make sure you know people going with you well enough to still be mates after 2 weeks. It can get testy.
A full lap of Spain as your first tour abroad, or should you use a tour company?
Well, you've covered a pretty broad spread there, haven't you.
Let's start at the beginning with you telling us a bit more about yourself and your plan, perhaps?
When next year?
What is your general riding experience, outside of this being your first trip abroad? Long term UK rider? Past your test last week and fancy taking your restricted FireBlade away? 10 miles to the local bikers' cafe and back once a month to chill with like minded souls or 150 miles before breakfast and 500 in a day, stopping for nobody or anything? Motorway and A road King or Queen of the twisties and every goat track inbetween?
How long between arriving in Spain (riding there and back, talking the ferry, flying down????) and leaving the peninsula do you have in mind? A day, a week? A fortnight? A month or more?
Do you like people / bikers or do you think that they are all knobs and you'd rather be on your own?
Answers on a post card to the usual address and we'll take it from there.....
Well, you've covered a pretty broad spread there, haven't you.
Let's start at the beginning with you telling us a bit more about yourself and your plan, perhaps?
When next year?
What is your general riding experience, outside of this being your first trip abroad? Long term UK rider? Past your test last week and fancy taking your restricted FireBlade away? 10 miles to the local bikers' cafe and back once a month to chill with like minded souls or 150 miles before breakfast and 500 in a day, stopping for nobody or anything? Motorway and A road King or Queen of the twisties and every goat track inbetween?
How long between arriving in Spain (riding there and back, talking the ferry, flying down????) and leaving the peninsula do you have in mind? A day, a week? A fortnight? A month or more?
Do you like people / bikers or do you think that they are all knobs and you'd rather be on your own?
Answers on a post card to the usual address and we'll take it from there.....
An organised tour sounds like a living hell to me, as has been said, a satnav, booking.com, keep off the motorways.
If you have a mate that you enjoy riding with , all the better but as you have mates over there, solo is certainly feasible.
I used to be a bit macho and try to cram the miles in but now realise that finishing the ride by about 6 is ideal.
Set off, stop somewhere for lunch, study map, select appropriate town(within 3 hours/200miles), tripadvisor or booking to find a hotel and just go for it.
Definitely book a night at Monasterio del Leyre - dirt cheap pukka manastery with bonkers good caviar!
N260, Sort, follow ya nose, loop round, Picos ferry back from Bilbao/Santander
Stuff of dreams...
If you have a mate that you enjoy riding with , all the better but as you have mates over there, solo is certainly feasible.
I used to be a bit macho and try to cram the miles in but now realise that finishing the ride by about 6 is ideal.
Set off, stop somewhere for lunch, study map, select appropriate town(within 3 hours/200miles), tripadvisor or booking to find a hotel and just go for it.
Definitely book a night at Monasterio del Leyre - dirt cheap pukka manastery with bonkers good caviar!
N260, Sort, follow ya nose, loop round, Picos ferry back from Bilbao/Santander
Stuff of dreams...
I have been touring abroad for the best part of 25 years, and constantly feel the need to juggle doing my own thing and touring with a company. However ... the company I go with are good personal friends, which is why I choose to occasionally go with them.
The benefit of going with a company, is that they have buying power. With twenty or so people on a tour, they are in a position to approach hotels and get a good deal. The boss of the company that I sometimes use ( www.msltours.co.uk ) will tell you that if you replicated his tour but paid for it yourself (so we're talking the set menus, the wine on the dining table, the accommodation ... ) it would cost you half as much again. Of course along side that buying power is the craic in the evening and meeting new friends. (If you click on the link and go to 'galleries - Corsica' you'll see Cato
).Organised tours are not the hellish 25 bikes in convoy, people will naturally fragment into their little splinter groups and within a day or two you'll suss out who you'll enjoy riding with. On the Corsican tour I've just done, we (mrs and I) became very friendly with a couple from Liverpool, who have become great friends and we now keep in touch!
However ...... !!
I also love doing my own thing! That may be pre-booking and having a very much determined itinerary, or that may be completely winging it and not knowing where i'll be staying each night.
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showth...r-holiday-Pyrenees?highlight=him+her+pyrenees
Each have their merit, and each have their drawbacks.
My recommendation if it's your first time abroad on your bike would be to go with a tour company.
MSL tours will happily modify your tour. If there are friends you want to stay with, you could ask them (Gloria) to put you on the tour but only by so many days and that by (say) day 7 you're going to peel off and do your own thing, but could she arrange a return ticket for you? I have done this with them a couple of times and mixed organised with my own thing - and it's probably the best of both worlds!
I sort my own tours which have sometimes covered the same routes as organised tours. Whilst I don't always go for the same level of hotel, we always find that by booking ourselves that the price for everything is the same as the tour companies. However that includes everything- crossings, petrol food drink etc. we have had a few ropey hotels, but most are clean , comfortable and provide great hospitality. Riding in a small group gives you the opportunity to book into the smaller establishments that the tour operators can't use. At the end of the day you have to go with whatever you are comfortable doing. I personally like planning my own routes & booking accommodation myself. There is lots of info on this site & lots of people who will help with advice on routes/ accommodation etc.
Myke Rocks
Registered user
Just go and do it.
My first European trip was a solo one. On a Dr800. About 4000 miles in 9 days, including 1093 miles in one day. I enjoyed it, because I was my own master, and could do what I wanted when I wanted. I would not, however recommend such distances.
As others have said, do not take too much with you. Spain on a motorcycle is warm.(Normally) Do not be tempted to ride without gloves or a jacket.
If going in a group, 5 is an absolute maximum. 2 or 3 is superb.
Don't be hung up on acommodation. You will always find somewhere.
Be careful of Roundabouts, twisty roads where there is no white line, and you forget and end up on the wrong side of the road, and most important, T junctions entering dual carriageways.
Take a good map, and a satnav.
Each fuel stop (Circa 300km,) Plot in about your route for the next 2/300km.
Be prepared to stop and take photos.
4 years ago, my son left Ireland on a Honda Deauville, and rode solo to Italy and back, equipped with nothing more than a mobile phone with a satnav in it. (No map)
He had passed his test 2 years previously, and had never driven or ridden on the other side of the road before.
He says he had a brilliant time.
Myke
My first European trip was a solo one. On a Dr800. About 4000 miles in 9 days, including 1093 miles in one day. I enjoyed it, because I was my own master, and could do what I wanted when I wanted. I would not, however recommend such distances.
As others have said, do not take too much with you. Spain on a motorcycle is warm.(Normally) Do not be tempted to ride without gloves or a jacket.
If going in a group, 5 is an absolute maximum. 2 or 3 is superb.
Don't be hung up on acommodation. You will always find somewhere.
Be careful of Roundabouts, twisty roads where there is no white line, and you forget and end up on the wrong side of the road, and most important, T junctions entering dual carriageways.
Take a good map, and a satnav.
Each fuel stop (Circa 300km,) Plot in about your route for the next 2/300km.
Be prepared to stop and take photos.
4 years ago, my son left Ireland on a Honda Deauville, and rode solo to Italy and back, equipped with nothing more than a mobile phone with a satnav in it. (No map)
He had passed his test 2 years previously, and had never driven or ridden on the other side of the road before.
He says he had a brilliant time.
Myke
mcinlb
Registered user
All good advice and varied points of view, my 2p worth is that I sometimes go with a tour and use it as a reccy for another visit on my own.
On "escorted" tours there is no requirement to stay with or follow the "guide" as long as you know where the hotel is for the night(satnav).
I have used tours several times in the past visiting areas I have not been to myself, a good way of finding some of the better roads and routes for future inclusion.
Each to their own............
On "escorted" tours there is no requirement to stay with or follow the "guide" as long as you know where the hotel is for the night(satnav).
I have used tours several times in the past visiting areas I have not been to myself, a good way of finding some of the better roads and routes for future inclusion.
Each to their own............
Still no clearer as to whether the bod has set aside a day, a week, a fortnight or a month for his lap of Spain.
POL382
Registered user
As you'll rapidly learn when you frequent thse pages (and you being ex-plod'n'all will know).... It's best to check, as you only later learn that the 14 (or however many) days often turns out to include at least four days spent trolling from their house to the edge of their start point and back again.... and that they really do need to spend at least six days visiting their mum's sister's dog's puppies, several hundred miles away from their intended route and destination. 14 can very rapidly become four.
So, out of the 14 days, he's reserved himself.... how many does he plan to move forward on en Espagne and how many to sit stroking his puppy? When you know that you'll be able to employ your local knowledge to complete a suggested virgin tourist lap of Spain, or not. I and others look forward to it, as I've already got the Ride route!
The limelight is on.... don't be bashful, please.
I want to tour Spain next year and will be my first motorcycle tour.
Is it advisable to go with a guided tour company, or a pre-planned tour from a company or take the bull by the horns and do it myself?
I would like to do a "lap of Spain"
Any advice gratefully received
In 1980 i passed my bike test and bought a bmw.
Six weeks later i set off and did a lap of spain/portugal with my girlfriend on the back. My first time riding abroad.
All so very very simple..
We got off the ferry in Santander and turned right.
Nothing planned or booked in advance, took no bank/credit cards, had no breakdown insurance (bmw's never breakdown) just stopped whenever we'd had enough riding for that day and stayed in B&B's.
It's europe, a hotel on ever corner, restaurants on every street, petrol stations every mile, hospitals no more than 20 minutes away.
Why the feck pay someone for you to simply ride your own bike ? . Madness.
If you can control your own saliva and read without moving your lips you can ride anywhere.
And that's basically how i've done all my many many tours around foreign places (even when the wife was on the back 4 months pregnant
), and still tour abroad in exactly the same way. Pack, go, don't over think it.
POL382
Registered user
Never mind trying to distract from the fact that you missed his 14 day quote, a simple 'I must have missed that' would have sufficed!
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