Sergeant Pluck
Registered user
Hello again Denis!!
Thanks for your PM and interest, and here's a mini-report until my piccies are done, then i'll try a full one!
London to Greece, via French Alps and Italian Dolomites - 3300 miles.
I didn't go to Istanbul in the end - when it got to d-day, the reports were that if you didn't have a ticket for the England/Turkey football match - you wouldn't get into the country! Don't know how true they were but decided not to risk it and instead I messed about it the Pindos mountains in Northern Greece, near the Albanian border - which more than made up for it. Fantastic scenery, real wilderness-type countryside, plenty of opportunity for trying some off-roading on semi-surfaced mountain passes. I based myself at Vrachos Camping (highly recommended) in Kastraki, which is underneath some rock formations called Meteora. Here there are 24 (i think) 12th century monastries built on top of impossibly tall rock pinnacles and are amazing to look at. How they were built, god only knows, scuse the pun!
Also I stayed at Monodendri, another amazing little village near a huge gorge. I'd thoroughly recommend spending a bit of time in this area - the roads are dead quiet with a mixture of surfaces, with loads of twisties (quite technical riding so knackering) - the scenery is quite stunning and the people are extremely friendly in a very honest kind of way. I saw eagles here, a large snake, and strangely some wild tortoises shagging!! Just be careful if you wonder far from the beaten track - take a very good map and fill up whenever you can. I actually ran out of petrol in the middle of nowhere after following a 'dud' sign to a petrol station - long story, will embellish it later with pictures! And also remember that greek signposts out in the sticks are all in greek (obviously!) so thats an alphabet of triangles, squares etc and very difficult to dicypher whilst on the move. Or even whilst stopped, lost ;-)
To get to this part of Greece I took a ferry from Italy to Igoumenitsa, then followed the (most excelllently twisty) road to Ioannina, then on toward Kalambaka and Kastraki via an astonishing mountain pass who's name i forget temporarily. This is a main road and in good condition and its also a fantastic ride with loads of twisty bits as well as long sweeping bends etc. And vistas which change all the time.
My route to Greece took me first via the French Alps - the Savoie region including the legendary run from Albvertville thru Bourg St. Maurice etc. I think this was my favourite run of the whole trip, I loved it - I'm sure most of you have done this road but if not, get yer butts over there - its just brilliant. The GS simply comes alive on these roads!! It was sooo good i did it twice, and each time I was virtually the only vehicle on the road. Then I hacked it across to the Italian Dolomites, stunning scenery again, but i didn't enjoy the roads quite as much here because lower down, many of them are tree-lined so you can't see round the corners, and because of the shed-loads of coaches full of german tourists - how dare they!! But once again the scenery is spectacular. Every 3rd bike here seemed to be a GS.
From here I rode down to Venice and got a ferry to Igoumenitsa in Greece - 21 hours! So on the way back I travelled to Ancona in Italy instead - 15 hours, much better! Probably goes without saying - but it's good to try to time your ferries so that you travel at night and don't waste valuable day-light riding time. I got all the way across Italy in one go on the way back - no problem, which allowed me one more bash over the French Alps before the long haul across France to Cherbourg and the ferry home.
All-in-all, a fantastically successful and enjoyable first solo trip - 3300 miles with only one minor petrol related hitch on the way!!! It really cleared the way for a longer, more exotic trip next year...
Kit-wise, everything worked spot on.
Bike: standard '02 1150GS (non-ABS). I was getting about 200 miles to the tank - 225 was my highest. The day I ran out of petrol, I had to freewheel down the mountain road into the village where the petrol station was. Had I had servo-assist brakes, this wouldn't have been possible. I felt vindicated in my decision to not buy a bike equipped with integral braking and all that - less was definately more that day!
Tourances. Excellent dry and wet. They were both a bit worn when I left, but they've still got a 1000 miles or so left in them I reckon. Rear tyre is squaring off bit. Ah actually, I did have a couple back-end slides when I first got to the twisties in Greece which unnerved me a bit. Then I realised the extra heat would probably affect the PSI, so I let the tyres down by about 2 or 3 PSI - problem solved. I guess Tourance are quite sensitive to tyre pressures.
Panniers: standard black plastic BMW's with top-box. I know they don't have the kudos of ally panniers, but for me they worked just great; lockable on the bike, removable off the bike just like suitcases - they were really good i thought. They even shook off any damage when I dropped the bike (stationary) one day! That baby is heavy naked - but fully-loaded it's a bugger if you get caught off-guard.
Tent: Northface RoadRunner 2. Top-notch, kept me warm and dry - (very cold at night in the Dolomites).
Other notable good things;
HG Tuareg Rallye Strides. excellent, waterproof enough in the bits of rain I experienced which wasn't much, and nice and cool whilst remaining protective in the hot heat of Greece.
Sidi Couriers (boots). still excellent after 3 years of daily use.
Sheepskin seat cover: brilliant, really makes motorway riding comfortable.
Tobinators: goes without saying - don't leave home without them!
MD Walkman: the combination of this, my seat cover, and the tobinators meant that long journeys (I had three days of 12 hour plus, petrol-stop-only riding) were no problem at all. It would have been much more difficult without these three things, particularly on motorways.
Thats it!!
Dennis - let me know if you have any other questions and i'll happily try to answer them - what route are you planning?
pr0ne
Oh, by the way, if your planning to camp (i camped every night apart from one) be a bit careful as most of the French/Italian mountain campsites close at the end of september - i got caught out on the way home - but it wasn't really a problem as i just camped at a parking spot by the side of the road, fine.
Thanks for your PM and interest, and here's a mini-report until my piccies are done, then i'll try a full one!
London to Greece, via French Alps and Italian Dolomites - 3300 miles.
I didn't go to Istanbul in the end - when it got to d-day, the reports were that if you didn't have a ticket for the England/Turkey football match - you wouldn't get into the country! Don't know how true they were but decided not to risk it and instead I messed about it the Pindos mountains in Northern Greece, near the Albanian border - which more than made up for it. Fantastic scenery, real wilderness-type countryside, plenty of opportunity for trying some off-roading on semi-surfaced mountain passes. I based myself at Vrachos Camping (highly recommended) in Kastraki, which is underneath some rock formations called Meteora. Here there are 24 (i think) 12th century monastries built on top of impossibly tall rock pinnacles and are amazing to look at. How they were built, god only knows, scuse the pun!
Also I stayed at Monodendri, another amazing little village near a huge gorge. I'd thoroughly recommend spending a bit of time in this area - the roads are dead quiet with a mixture of surfaces, with loads of twisties (quite technical riding so knackering) - the scenery is quite stunning and the people are extremely friendly in a very honest kind of way. I saw eagles here, a large snake, and strangely some wild tortoises shagging!! Just be careful if you wonder far from the beaten track - take a very good map and fill up whenever you can. I actually ran out of petrol in the middle of nowhere after following a 'dud' sign to a petrol station - long story, will embellish it later with pictures! And also remember that greek signposts out in the sticks are all in greek (obviously!) so thats an alphabet of triangles, squares etc and very difficult to dicypher whilst on the move. Or even whilst stopped, lost ;-)
To get to this part of Greece I took a ferry from Italy to Igoumenitsa, then followed the (most excelllently twisty) road to Ioannina, then on toward Kalambaka and Kastraki via an astonishing mountain pass who's name i forget temporarily. This is a main road and in good condition and its also a fantastic ride with loads of twisty bits as well as long sweeping bends etc. And vistas which change all the time.
My route to Greece took me first via the French Alps - the Savoie region including the legendary run from Albvertville thru Bourg St. Maurice etc. I think this was my favourite run of the whole trip, I loved it - I'm sure most of you have done this road but if not, get yer butts over there - its just brilliant. The GS simply comes alive on these roads!! It was sooo good i did it twice, and each time I was virtually the only vehicle on the road. Then I hacked it across to the Italian Dolomites, stunning scenery again, but i didn't enjoy the roads quite as much here because lower down, many of them are tree-lined so you can't see round the corners, and because of the shed-loads of coaches full of german tourists - how dare they!! But once again the scenery is spectacular. Every 3rd bike here seemed to be a GS.
From here I rode down to Venice and got a ferry to Igoumenitsa in Greece - 21 hours! So on the way back I travelled to Ancona in Italy instead - 15 hours, much better! Probably goes without saying - but it's good to try to time your ferries so that you travel at night and don't waste valuable day-light riding time. I got all the way across Italy in one go on the way back - no problem, which allowed me one more bash over the French Alps before the long haul across France to Cherbourg and the ferry home.
All-in-all, a fantastically successful and enjoyable first solo trip - 3300 miles with only one minor petrol related hitch on the way!!! It really cleared the way for a longer, more exotic trip next year...
Kit-wise, everything worked spot on.
Bike: standard '02 1150GS (non-ABS). I was getting about 200 miles to the tank - 225 was my highest. The day I ran out of petrol, I had to freewheel down the mountain road into the village where the petrol station was. Had I had servo-assist brakes, this wouldn't have been possible. I felt vindicated in my decision to not buy a bike equipped with integral braking and all that - less was definately more that day!
Tourances. Excellent dry and wet. They were both a bit worn when I left, but they've still got a 1000 miles or so left in them I reckon. Rear tyre is squaring off bit. Ah actually, I did have a couple back-end slides when I first got to the twisties in Greece which unnerved me a bit. Then I realised the extra heat would probably affect the PSI, so I let the tyres down by about 2 or 3 PSI - problem solved. I guess Tourance are quite sensitive to tyre pressures.
Panniers: standard black plastic BMW's with top-box. I know they don't have the kudos of ally panniers, but for me they worked just great; lockable on the bike, removable off the bike just like suitcases - they were really good i thought. They even shook off any damage when I dropped the bike (stationary) one day! That baby is heavy naked - but fully-loaded it's a bugger if you get caught off-guard.
Tent: Northface RoadRunner 2. Top-notch, kept me warm and dry - (very cold at night in the Dolomites).
Other notable good things;
HG Tuareg Rallye Strides. excellent, waterproof enough in the bits of rain I experienced which wasn't much, and nice and cool whilst remaining protective in the hot heat of Greece.
Sidi Couriers (boots). still excellent after 3 years of daily use.
Sheepskin seat cover: brilliant, really makes motorway riding comfortable.
Tobinators: goes without saying - don't leave home without them!
MD Walkman: the combination of this, my seat cover, and the tobinators meant that long journeys (I had three days of 12 hour plus, petrol-stop-only riding) were no problem at all. It would have been much more difficult without these three things, particularly on motorways.
Thats it!!
Dennis - let me know if you have any other questions and i'll happily try to answer them - what route are you planning?
pr0ne
Oh, by the way, if your planning to camp (i camped every night apart from one) be a bit careful as most of the French/Italian mountain campsites close at the end of september - i got caught out on the way home - but it wasn't really a problem as i just camped at a parking spot by the side of the road, fine.
