after some advice!

[ghost-rider]

hiya all, im looking at planning a few trips this year, and one of them is into europe, as ive never been over the channel yet by bike or car, now ive been looking at starting in france either via the tunnel, or possibly the boat to le harve etc., but what im struggling with is, is trying to work out the possible distances to travel, and how far is realistic to travel in our given time, which is 16 days, in the uk, me an the missus can realistically do about 250/300 miles a day, including breaks etc. and a bit of sight seeing etc., looking at the map of france we would of possibly liked to head down towards brest etc., and then work our way down the coast to la rochelle etc., but because i just dont know how much is possible within 16days this is where i become stuck, is more possible in this time limit, or is this too much given the size of france???, this is where i need guidance

cheers, Andy

 

[Sooty09]

Your right, France is a big country. I work there every few weeks and travelling by car with shared driving on the motorways still takes ages. By bike I find the daily distances of 200miles best after making a few very long days to reach the holiday area.
The only part of France I have found disappointing is the Atlantic coast below La Rochelle.
There is so much variety of landscape its impossible to make a recommendation without knowing your requirements and likes.

Don't try see it all at one go, choose a region which most interests you, all are do-able in 16 days. look at photos on Google earth, check out the roads on street view and explore. Normandy is full of old villages and castle towns and is almost local.
English is widely spoken and I have yet to meet a truly unfriendly local.

If you and your Mrs enjoy the first tour I assure you that two weeks or more will be set aside each year to explore other regions.

Riding on the left is easy after the first few miles, ride a few mph below your home riding rate and do nothing extreme to bring yourself to the attention of the local police.

 

[ghiribizzo]

Andy - have a search for Wapping's posts on here. Maybe you could hook up with him on of taster trips over to France?

Em - Sooty09 - over there you're meant to ride on the right!

 

[wessie]

In 16 days you could do a lap of France visiting the four corners but you would have long days & be moving hotel every night. Some people like this sort of trip. I prefer to stay somewhere for a few nights and then explore that area in daytrips.

France has so much to offer to suit many different tastes. Make a list of the sorts of things you are interested in and then do a bit of research to find out which parts of France meet your requirements e.g. if you want to see some spectacular chateaux then go to the Loire, if you are interested in WW1 or WW2 history then visit the Somme or Normandy. For me, I'm attracted to riding in the mountainous regions so I am attracted by the Alps, Massif Central, Gorges du Tarn/Ardeches, the Vosges & Jura. Wine regions are also a good way to pick somewhere to go: I've enjoyed trips to Burgundy, Beaujolais, Champagne & Alsace just because drinking the wine from the region has inspired me to do a bit of research.

 

[Sooty09]

Em - Sooty09 - over there you're meant to ride on the right!

So that's what Im doing wrong.

As it happens I don't have a problem in France on the right, it almost feels natural after the first few miles, but on one or two occasions after I have returned home I DO get it wrong and on silly junctions reverted to riding on the wrong side!!

 

[Wapping]

Hi Andy, 16 days away is excellent, even allowing half a day to get from Brum to somewhere on the Channel coast to make a crossing you will have loads of time to get anywhere and see lots

Just before we set off, a few of the usual questions:

(1) When are you going?

(2) What made you decide on going to La Rochelle over say, Lyon, Nice or Lille?

(3) Do you plan on getting to La Rochelle and then staying there? If so, how long do you want to stay put for?

(4) What do fancy on the end of each day? A town, a village, a field? Camping, one star or five star hotel?

(5) Roads? Motorways, A roads, B roads, goat track?

(6) What sort of things do you want to do on your days off? Museums, views, chateaus, WW2, WW1 , cathederals, old towns, quaint villages?

Obviously if you plan on going to the west of France, starting in Brum, a ferry to Caen or St Malo might well make good sense. Though, with so much time, the train across is quite possible, too.

Richard

 

[hughguzzi]

Been a couple of times, I recommend the overnight ferry, book a cabin and set out first thing in the morning in France. Use the first day to get the main distance under your belt (4-500miles) as northern france is quit flat and I think dull (do the war stuff on the way back if you have time) - So get to the interesting bits on day 2 - could be East for Alps/central massif/gorges or South for wine regions and then the med & Spain - but be surprised - they drive quicker and are less forgiving than the brits - but do see and give bikes room way better. I'm going again this summer, cant wait !!

 

[stephen.stallebrass]

Pack a tent and ride. Stop when you see something interesting. Sleep when your tired and eat when your hungry. Traveling is easy, don't over think it. I suggest you wild camp as much as you can, its free and exciting. Stay in hostels, they're cheap and you'll meet loads of other travelers. Vagabonding is a great way to travel. Stick to minor roads and you'll have much more fun. Just use motorways when you need to get somewhere quickly, like when you realise you only have 24 hrs to make your ferry home.

Bon Voyage.

 

[mylovelyhorse]

Pack a tent and ride. Stop when you see something interesting. Sleep when your tired and eat when your hungry. Traveling is easy, don't over think it. I suggest you wild camp as much as you can, its free and exciting. Stay in hostels, they're cheap and you'll meet loads of other travelers. Vagabonding is a great way to travel. Stick to minor roads and you'll have much more fun. Just use motorways when you need to get somewhere quickly, like when you realise you only have 24 hrs to make your ferry home.

Brilliant advice, spot on. Couldn't agree more.

Cheers

m

 

[Jester]

but what im struggling with is, is trying to work out the possible distances to travel, and how far is realistic to travel in our given time, which is 16 days, in the uk, me an the missus can realistically do about 250/300 miles a day, including breaks etc. and a bit of sight seeing etc.,

cheers, Andy

250-300 miles will be hard to keep up after a few days. My rule of thumb is 150-180 a day max, allow 2 hours for a long lunch stop at a nice cafe off the beated track where you can sit outside and watch the world go by. If you do 250+ allow a complete day offf every after 3 days. Believe me, tiredness creeps up without you realising, be careful and enjoy it, it's a holiday after all.

 

[mcinlb]

Regarding distances per day, a good bit of advice of here before which I found to work well was -
Your average speed on A / B roads will be around 50 mph and in the mountains about 30 mph. I always planned to stop at around 4 - 4:30 pm, gets you cleaned up and out and about for a few beers prior to looking for a place to eat.

Followed this plan on the RDGA and RN in France in 2012 and still managed 7 - 8 hrs travelling with lunch stops.

 

[Riders Rest]

One day I am going to beat Richard to a thread asking for advice on riding France, one day

Me and the then new Mrs did a similar trip to the one you are talking about back in 2004, we only had 14 days but circumnavigated France I know things have changed, and we were on a bit if a budget, ie staying at F1's to save carrying camping gear, so nothing exciting regarding accommodation but should give you an idea of what you can acheive in a day the route is similar to what most would recommend so I blogged it at the time at: http://whereistonynow.co.uk/france4.htm if you use the menus of the blog you will see other trips we have done together since then.

I know everyone has different ideas on what a trip/tour is and what you should see or where you should ride... but unless your Mrs is into camping then I would suggest leaving the tent at home, it's great to wild camp and ride til you drop when you are solo or with a group of likeminded people but when you are with the Mrs she is going to expect a holiday on the bike so choose accordingly unless you want this to be her last trip .

you might also consider riding to a base and spending some time in one or two areas and taking in daily rideouts to places of intrest (i am sure the roads will be great where-ever you go) So it might be a good idea to determin what it is you want to acheive and what the Mrs wants to acheive from the trip and then work that into where you go and for how long, or whether just to do a different location each night?

If it is your first time over the water driving/riding then some tips can be found here www.ridersrest.eu/tips.htm

I also did a trip in 89 2 up full camping gear 9 countries in 10 days with a bird I had only known a week Great riding trip, didnt see much other than scenery on a K100RS

 

[Damien]

France is a great country with fabulous roads,food, wine, scenery etc.

Be aware however, that they are much less flexible when it comes to eating times, if you go looking for a late lunch at 3pm in rural areas you will be very limited.

Enjoy.

 

[Peirre O`Bollox]

What is acheavable?
Without doing huge mileage per day ...................

For me, not counting overnight ferry crossings to Zeebrugge I`m planning this summer to do the "Tour de Corse" trip again in 18 days, 2 days will be rest days. The longest leg will be 353 miles of autoroutes to get to Beze for the night from the Zeebrugge ferry, then the rest will be in the region of 180-210 miles per day, some much less. The route wil be varied to include the RGA, the Vosges, and Jura, Corsica, Italy (Pisa Florence & Marinello), the Alps & Switzerland, and back through france (Alsace) and a long 285 mile blat via RN & autoroute across to the Somme region before bimbling back towards the ferry*
The accomodation planned is mainly Hotels, B&B`s and a couple of hostels thrown in, with the majority being a different place each day, with the exception being Corsica, with 4+1+1 nights in 3 places, so no camping is involved.
There will be time for lunches, picture taking and flower pressing




*thats if I don`t turn south towards Faro .............


I suspect the OP might like to think over & discuss with SWMBO what they want to see/do and come back here with their ideas, then more specific info can be given.
This will avoid the thread going off tangent with various members pushing their own ideas

 

[Bem]

... ive been looking at starting in france either via the tunnel, or possibly the boat to le harve etc... 16 days.. to head down towards brest etc., and then work our way down the coast to la rochelle etc... this is where i need guidance
cheers, Andy

Looking at your situation with me rose tinted specs, I wonder if the following distillation of your question plus the answers to date look something like this:

day 1
Channel crossing to Le Harvre or Cherbourg
day 2
Cherbourg to Brest (central area)
day 3&4
pootle around dolmens, history etc
day 5
La Rochelle
day 6
Rest and pootle
Day 7,8,9
Wander up the Loire, stopping wherever, following the river closely - more chateaux than can be chat upon (Tank and mushroom museums in Saumur for contrast!)

That should take you around to Nevers in Burgundy, or thereabouts, which allows for plenty time to pamper yourselves at a luxury hotel for two nights - recharge the batteries!

Then a gentle able back home - Sorted!

Or ignore all this and just follow the weather.

 

[Wapping]

I think you now have all your questions answered.

Enjoy your holiday.

 

[I am Spadger]

miles miles and miles

16 days, you'll have the time of your life, wifey and I have been doing a trip to Europe at least once a year for around 21 22 yrs, one thing you'll find is in general the whole of Europe is very pro biker, we have only once in that time pre booked our hotels and that was to accomodate a visit to some war graves around the Somme area in Albert. I know everyone gets hung up on doing big miles everyday, but you dont need to and to be honest why, yea I once rode from Newcastle to st tropez inc a ferry in less than 24hrs , but hey I saw sweet fa and was knackered for days, there's some fantastic regions to explore, dont beat yourself up by just covering the miles. Route Napoleon could be a good first trip taking you thru the Alps and finishing on the south coast brilliant roads and sights, whatever you do I'm sure you'll enjoy it and thanks to the Romanians you've got a head start on the food tastes. Good luck, John, ps. I think there's a site called bestbikingroads.com which gives you details of the route as well as others.

 

[Wapping]

You now definitely have all your questions answered.

Plan nothing

Take a tent

 

[I am Spadger]

You now definitely have all your questions answered.

Plan nothing

Take a tent

Feck 'um

You could definitely ride the Route Napoleon, which is nowehete near La Rochelle. But, hey-ho, who cares.

Sorry, thought the lad was just asking for advice in general, 16 days offers up a lot of possibilities, I would'nt tent it , but each to their own, I've always had an idea of a route, but never planned where I stop in case I see something I like, again matter of choice, La Rochelle, you could travel on and take in St jean de Luz, Biarritz and a bit of the Pyrenees, like I said you'll have a great time , enjoy

 

[mylovelyhorse]

250-300 miles will be hard to keep up after a few days

No, it really isn't. You get used to it very quickly and the feeling of moving on like that, day by day, is just fab. My longest trip was 11k miles in 5 weeks and when I got home I really, really missed riding on and on. Lovely. It's a drug, it really is.

At any moment if I could I'd drop everything and ride and ride, I really would. A lot more than 300 miles a day too.

Cheers

m