alps/germany trip june

[smithy_6_7]

Hello
ill be going on a trip to the alps jun 4th 2016 is the date we.

After looking reading for a while using basecamp and some amazing routes that you guys on here have done and uploaded wapping thank you for the work you out in to the routes truly amazing.

So as this is my first trip im not to sure on where to go sounds stupid but all i know is that i will be leaving through the tunnel and i will be in france at 8am on the sat morning heading to Strasbourg for the first hotel and the only hotel iv booked. which is day 1 done.

from there i have hit a blank there seems to be so many goods routes and passes.
the down side for me is the 2 other people that are coming want to camp which is ok and they will be riding sportsbikes.
i was looking at doing the RDGA but then i came across some other routes in germany the B500 and also the stelvio pass and the sustenpass.
i need to be back in to the uk early sat morning.

im not asking anyone to plot a route just would like some heads up on goods roads/passes i dont want to exclude germany if i can miss out a few passes or if thats worth it or is the RDGA worth doing as a first trip.

Any help you guys can give me would be great you have already helped me by reading other forum post and poeples blogs.

cheers

smithy

 

[Wapping]

To get started, can we just have confirmation of the dates, please.

Out: Leave the UK via the tunnel on Saturday 04 June and ride to Strasbourg for the first night

Return: Arrive back in the UK via the tunnel on Saturday morning, 11 June

In other words, one full week away.

If not, on what day do you have to be back in the UK?

 

[smithy_6_7]

To get started, can we just have confirmation of the dates, please.

Out: Leave the UK via the tunnel on Saturday 04 June and ride to Strasbourg for the first night

Return: Arrive back in the UK via the tunnel on Saturday morning, 11 June

In other words, one full week away.

If not, on what day do you have to be back in the UK?

yes Wapping thats right one full week.

 

[Wapping]

Great, thank you.

Can you do me one favour and look to see if something like the pre-made one week tour in RiDE magazine might do you.

It's actually 8 days but by lobbing in some motorway on the last day you could easily make it 7 days.

Go to: http://www.ride.co.uk/magazine-routes/routes-from-ride-magazine

Scroll down the page to: May 2012 Ride tour of Europe with its different routes for each day

If so, you are very nearly there.

Now the tricky bit....

1. It gets cold in the Alps camping, particularly when the sun drops down behind the mountains. Many hotels are cheap, particularly if you all share a room together.

2. The RiDE tour is a different overnight stop on each day. Taking a tent down and putting it up each day is a pain in the butt.

3. Are you really determined to go to the Alps in the first week of June. The motorway passes will be open but some / most of the non-motorway popular passes may well still be shut.

Depending on your answers to the above, we can move on.


PS If it were me, in the first week of June, on my first trip and I wanted to camp, I'd maybe look at something different than the Alps. You could make a really good two centre holiday, based in the Black Forest and then across the Rhine into the Vosges. A great ride down and a great ride back, too. That way, you'd get the tent up and leave it up for two days, then move and have another two days, then come home. On the two days that you left your tent up, you could just ride out in just about any direction and come back to the campsite; making life much easier.

 

[smithy_6_7]

Hi wapping thanks for that i dont have to go to the alps there was never a destination really when i started looking at the alps this was a concern that because its the start of June some of the passes will be shut.
the camping side has is a sore subject i do not want to camp but im willing to to do and will be the last time. the two friends who are coming along with me have no idea where we will be going anyway as they refuse to read maps or dont want to just because i have the Nav 5 even though i have this i still have maps. (very sore subject)

But anyway if you can suggest somewhere that is warm that has good roads similar to the alps then im all ears.

Bit more on the 2 friends that are tagging along one will share a room one wont they are not the fastest of riders and i dont mean i like scratching but if there miles to be done i get them done where they like to dordel a little bit.

this is why Germany sprung to mind

Cheers Smithy

 

[Wapping]

OK, now we are cooking with gas.

You plan to go Calais to Strasbourg on day one. Let's leave that alone.

Download the free ADAC map of the Black Forest and Vosges, from here: http://www.fim-europe.com/index.php/touring/european-maps

It's this one, all on one page: http://www.fim-europe.com/images/maps/map9_onepage.pdf

You can maybe see that if you base yourself in say Freiburg or Todtnau, you can go in lots of directions and you can ride the B500 to get there. You would be right in the middle of the Black Forest. You could also run down to Switzerland and see the Rhine Falls at Schaffhausen, bottom right hand corner.

http://www.rheinfall.ch/en/

Then jump across westwards, left to Colmar / Munster and the Vosges opens up. Come home to Calais via the Morvan and you'd have a great week away, trust me. Your friends need not go fast. I took a bunch of bods down to the Vosges and the Black Forest for a week and some if them were no speed merchants, trust me. We all got everywhere together, with no problems.

PS Do get yourself some decent maps, which are very cheap and less if you split the cost between the three of you. Mapsman sells them in tidy bundles. Trust me, again.

http://www.mapsman.com/store/

 

[Wapping]

PPS

I just Googled: camping Freiburg Germany and some great campsites popped up. The same good results when I Googled: camping Black Forest Germany

I also Googled: camping Vosges France, with excellent results

Play around; it's free, you can't break it and they can't touch you for it.

PPPS

You could do much worse than getting this bundle: http://www.mapsman.com/store/product.php?id=579 and riding route 5 in the book. £36 divided by three, you do the sums.

 

[smithy_6_7]

Now we are cooking thank you wapping.

Now coming from a man with experience is it better to have a base, or to just ride and find the next campsite.
IMHO i can see the benifits of pitching tent and leaving it for a few days going off to explore and not having to faf around putting it all back up again wasting precious time.

Again Wapping thank you, you have a serious knowledge base when it comes to this sort of thing.


Also is there any downloads for base camp dosent matter if not ill make some routes up.

 

[smithy_6_7]

PPS

I just Googled: camping Freiburg Germany and some great campsites popped up. The same good results when I Googled: camping Black Forest Germany

I also Googled: camping Vosges France, with excellent results

Play around; it's free, you can't break it and they can't touch you for it.

Iv just done the same and i agree seems to be plenty to choose from. should keep the campers happy with there massive bags on the back they will square the tyres within the first day.

 

[Wapping]

Now coming from a man with experience is it better to have a base, or to just ride and find the next campsite.
IMHO i can see the benifits of pitching tent and leaving it for a few days going off to explore and not having to faf around putting it all back up again wasting precious time.

Also is there any downloads for base camp dosent matter if not ill make some routes up.

Me? I'd create a base and avoid faffing.

I created routes for the Black Forest and Vosges, which should download OK. You'll need to adjust them to suit. I am using an iPad so cannot test them.

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showth...ack-Forest-Alsace-and-Vosges-and-some-extra-s

Me? I'd create them myself, based on where I decided to base myself, ripping the ideas out of lots of sources. Have a look at: http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php/416453-Germany-calling

Follow the links. OK lots are in German (which I don't speak) but you can work it out and.... Once again.... You can't break it.

PS I added some bits to my previous posts. Links to help you etc.

 

[smithy_6_7]

Thank you very much Wapping i owe you a few pints for that.
ill do a write up when i get back or when on route.

Again thank you

Smithy

 

[Wapping]

Excellent. Job done or very nearly; the rest is down to you. Look forward to the trip report and your hints and tips for anyone doing the same or similar.

If you do get stuck, do sing up; someone will help you. Enjoy your holiday.... And do make sure your two mates do some work, too.

Richard


For anyone looking at this thread, it shows how quickly a holiday can be planned using just an iPad and the Internet. In about two hours, just by entering simple search phrases into Google and with a bit of hunting around, a complete week's holiday came to life.

Diary / save the links to ADAC and Mapsman, which will cut the two hours down further for other holidays. It's really easy once you get going.

 

[Wapping]

Smithy, here's the Kurvenkoenig routes for the Black Forest. More than enough, as there are 14 of them.

http://kurvenkoenig.de/motorrad/schwarzwald-breisgau.html

To get the GPS downloads you have to join the free forum. I guessed how to join and got there in the end. You can create the routes from the sites maps anyway and it's good practice for your Nav V and BaseCamp skills. Take no notice of anyone who tells you it's crap. They are numpties who couldn't find their arse with a mirror *

The Tourenfahr site has ideas for the Vosges and Black Forest, too. I can't open them up on my iPad but they'll be fine, I'm sure.




* That's a joke by the way. Or maybe not. Or maybe it is.....

 

[leedude03]

All good info above from Wapping, if you do get to the vosges and are camping there is a nice little municipal campsite just on the outskirts of kayserberg, in walking distance from the beautiful village. as are most of them along the route de vin. a really picturesque part of france. coordinates for camp site 48.148624, 7.254022 camping municipal keyserberg

 

[Rocketman]

B500 not all it's cracked up to be ,fine if you're passing through on route to somewhere else but for me all the roads around it are where it's at

 

[Wapping]

Guys, keep it simple for the OP on his first jaunt with his two chums, please.

The whole motorcycling world has heard of the B500 through the Black Forest, in exactly the same way that they have heard about the Stelvio and the Cat & Fiddle. Everyone wants to ride them at least once, if only to then announce - to everyone and anyone that might be listening - that they have decided that the B500, the Stelvio and the Cat & Fiddle are crap and not worth bothering with.

In his opening post, the OP fellow mentioned the B500 and Strasbourg, which (near enough) join up. It's also useful as it runs near enough north south, through the Black Forest so he can take it to get to a possible campsite hub, from which he can explore outwards, taking in lots of roads that sit outside of the B500.

Instead of saying the B500 is not as good as the surrounding roads, why not help the fellow by creating some downloadable Garmin based routes (or even just a route plan, written out road-by-road and town-by-town) that Smithy can take to avoid the B500 in its entirety and still get him to where he wants to go. That would be a great service.

 

[DING-DONG]

It seems as the Germans are now putting weekend closures on certain roads, so maybe worth taking this also into consideration.

http://www.mintelonline.de/Streckensperrungen/

 

[Wapping]

German rules will not apply to England, post Brexit. UKGSer has spoken.

PS Keep it simple for the OP.

 

[Snowy]

Wapping, you truly are a gent...

I will also be planning something similar for September and your posts have been most helpful and supportive. I'm very much a beginner with my twat-nav too so your tips have been great. Thank you.

 

[alan29]

Great thread.