First Euro Trip

when it reconnected to my Carpuride it tried to start the route again diverting us to the start.

You can avoid that by selecting where to join your bespoke route. That is made easier still if you follow MyRoute’s ‘Best practice’ of having a shaping point every 5 km / 3 miles.

:beerjug:
 
The sorting things as we go along is ok but not great, we didn't have enough of a plan of what we wanted to see or do, booking hotels on the fly can be really expensive and limited availability.

There are those that claim that ‘Winging it, mate” is the only way to go…. Right up until the point that it ain’t.

A bit of time taken to plot things out and (not least) finding something to see along the way, rather than just riding from A to B to C, often pays dividends.

But hey, it’s fun (in a way) finding out what works and - more importantly - what doesn’t work for you.

:beerjug:
 
Looking good!

Winging it however in the middle of summer (where accommodation concerned) doable but either crap or mega expensive.
You can get away with it at the beginning or the end of the season, whilst still carrying certain amount of risk in not getting what you want for the money you are willing to part with.
In my own I’d try to wing it, but if in the group of riders or even worse with my other half, I’d hear no end of complaint and/or foul language.
Mrs Berin and I found the same. We were finding accommodation on the fly, worked ok but in all honesty was an almighty faff on the road. Worked more or less Ok till we got to Epernay.

It was hot, it was late, we’d ridden a long way. There was one room left in the region, at a hotel just outside Epernay. It was called, I think, the Royal Champagne.

Now it was good, the evening meal was fabulous, the view was magnificent and they graciously gave us a glass of champagne each as we waited, hot, sweaty and grubby in the lovely foyer amongst folk getting their Ferrari’s and Bentley’s parked.

That night cost pretty much the same as the rest of the holiday.

Since then I do more planning. If there’s a particular place we want to stay I book in advance, which also has the advantage that when we get up in the morning we know where we’re going and how to get there.
Unsurprisingly, nice places that are reasonably priced are booked up, but you can usually get in at a Campanile by the motorway somewhere, I suppose.
 
I like to wing it for one-nighters between longer stops, but shorten days so we can start keeping an eye out after ~3:30pm for a "zimmer frei" sign, overall have had great rooms at great prices, in Bormio I walked into a gaff and it seemed a bit pricey, and then they wanted to "upsell" me a suite, I declined and ended up in a huge room with bed, sofa, large bathroom and balcony, I think it was all they had, hence the keen upsell.

Another time we got a 2 bedroom family unit in Austria for a song, the one time it went wrong was when we hoped to get a place on a pass on our way into Switzerland and failed to find a space, ended up paying a lot for a very average room in a town centre Hotel above a multi-storey car park in Thun, but it was clean and comfy, the town was nice and we knew the risks of winging it.

With the amount of Hotels on websites now it is much easier to just book a day ahead, or even stop at lunch time and find a room, the amount of smaller gaffs on booking / hotel sites has exploded, and internet access is much easier to get than 10-15 years ago, sadly I think there are less hotels and B&B's now though.
 
I’m glad it’s going well!

I don’t say ‘drive on the right’ with any humour. All too often, maybe towards the end of a long day or after a fuel stop, I’ve seen folk drive on the left and go the wrong way around roundabouts.

Take care and have a great trip!
A friend of mine forgot that cardinal rule on a France trip. He missed a turning, went into autopilot on the road while he was considering his alternatives rode head on into a car that was coming the other way and died instantly.
If you do fk up don't panic and trust your Sat. Nav. to put you right.

I, on the other hand, having stopped to enjoy the view over Lough Melvin in County Fermanagh merrily set off at pace on the RHS of the road when I almost met the same fate as my pal when a poor unsuspecting driver came round a blind bend and only missed me by a inches. Entirely my fault and I still feel bad for the poor driver even now.

Great write up, thanks for taking the time. Enjoy the rest of your holiday.
 
Thanks for the comments all, definitely food for thought for the next trip.

An update on Hotel Rietzer Hof, they advertise a restaurant attached, show lovely pics of it but they don't mention it didn't reopen after the pandemic, there's nothing else around either so a quick trip on the bikes to get snack was the answer.

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You can avoid that by selecting where to join your bespoke route. That is made easier still if you follow MyRoute’s ‘Best practice’ of having a shaping point every 5 km / 3 miles.

:beerjug:
Thanks for this Wapping, I committed the cardinal sin of changing tech a few weeks before a trip and not getting used to it in time.

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Thanks for this Wapping, I committed the cardinal sin of changing tech a few weeks before a trip and not getting used to it in time.

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No problem.

There is one fairly tarnished golden rule: Never carry out a software update, 10 minutes before going on a jaunt. I guess the same could apply to switching to a new app.

The forum’s dedicated GPS section is pretty helpful, if you get stuck.

:beerjug:
 
Tiger woods wrote a book years ago called ,

“How I play Golf”

He was at pains to explain why it wasn’t called,

“How to play Golf”

There’s no right or wrong.

Take advice, process, decide, execute.

After 2 days, repeat above.


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