Took a trip to Turkey last year but unfortunatly didnt make it. Always meant to do a ride report so here goes.
As usual the ride to the ferry terminal was a wet one, 20 miles with a fully laden bike for the next 3 weeks. The bike as usual was bullet proof and the early morning run up the peninsula to Belfast let me know that all was good for the trip.
There would be two of us riding the trip, gathering one other rider once we reached europe.
The conversation with other riders went something like......me "where you heading"... them" going to scotland for a bit of touring, what about you?"...... me"oh off to turkey"
then wait for the look of 'aye dead on'
some of the quay vipers were on there way to applecross for the day
we got about 20 miles into scotland and the heavens opened, but we had plenty of time to get across to newcastle for our sailing to amsterdam that evening, so I messed about with the twat nav for a bit and we were now completely at the mercy of the strip of pink tarmac.........unfortunately I set it for shortest route including unpaved roads. I was now the scottish apologising champion for that one
after a bit of sightseeing we arrived on time for the Saturday night crossing to amsterdam along with a (front) porch rally and some bikes with a lot of bling our bikes still covered in mud 222miles, total 242miles.
now anyone who has ever been to Newcastle upon tyne will know that it is the number one party town in the uk, Amsterdam, well we all know what thats famous for so you can imagine the scene. once on the boat we had an early night as we had a big day ahead of us...........and there are no pictures of the hen nights birthday parties etc,if they ever make ferries uncovered I'm fooked. The plan the next day was to get on an autoban and eat some miles down towards the Alps. After waking up with a bit of a sore head(I think I had a bad sandwich) we met up with the third bike near eindhoven and headed south. nothing much to report that day, I had a cruise control thingy that came in handy and found out that the Germans dont like it when you filter I later found out that its illegal to filter. arriving innsbruck around tea time we found a cheap(50euro) hotel, a mcdonalds and crashed for the night.654 miles total 896miles.
The view from the hotel window the next morning, the 'holiday starts here'
The plan today was to get to venice for the 5pm sailing, at 250 miles we had decided on an early start to arrive in venice around lunchtime and do a bit of sightseeing in venice.
The plan quickly changed once we got into the mountains and the time just flew by
After messing about for a while we set the twat nav for the motorway to venice and as is traditional for going to catch a ferry left ourselves with not enough time to get there. On the italian autowhatevers there are toll booths which have a half gate and a picture of a motorcyclist painted on the road in front of them. To us that meant that bikes were free which is great, I'm starting to like the Italians already. we ate mile after mile until overshooting our turn off and eating mile after mile looking for the next exit. when we got to the exit we came to a barrier, I smiled looking at the attendant thinking yes I'm on a bike open the barrier kind gentleman.It was then I realised that the tolls were not free and my grasp of the Italian language did pick up on the words polizia and 70 eruo fine. Thinking what to do we decided to act dumb(normal) and as the vehicles behind started to become a bit of a motorway traffic jam and the guy in the toll booth started to get a bit flustered we sat until he finally charged us 3 eruo each just to get rid of us.
Next stop venice.
There were some stunning pics to be had of venice on the way out of harbour
When we looked at booking this boat there were three options cabin seat or deck. We booked the deck thinking that once it was dark we would sneak into the lounge area and set up camp.........was not to be we were locked out, the deck means the deck. It was a nice night so wasnt too bad. If you are a smoker and go on this boat take plenty of fegs as they dont sell any on the boat for some reason, next stop igoumenitsa
my bed for the night, quality
more to follow
As usual the ride to the ferry terminal was a wet one, 20 miles with a fully laden bike for the next 3 weeks. The bike as usual was bullet proof and the early morning run up the peninsula to Belfast let me know that all was good for the trip.
There would be two of us riding the trip, gathering one other rider once we reached europe.
The conversation with other riders went something like......me "where you heading"... them" going to scotland for a bit of touring, what about you?"...... me"oh off to turkey"
then wait for the look of 'aye dead on'
some of the quay vipers were on there way to applecross for the day
we got about 20 miles into scotland and the heavens opened, but we had plenty of time to get across to newcastle for our sailing to amsterdam that evening, so I messed about with the twat nav for a bit and we were now completely at the mercy of the strip of pink tarmac.........unfortunately I set it for shortest route including unpaved roads. I was now the scottish apologising champion for that one
after a bit of sightseeing we arrived on time for the Saturday night crossing to amsterdam along with a (front) porch rally and some bikes with a lot of bling our bikes still covered in mud 222miles, total 242miles.
now anyone who has ever been to Newcastle upon tyne will know that it is the number one party town in the uk, Amsterdam, well we all know what thats famous for so you can imagine the scene. once on the boat we had an early night as we had a big day ahead of us...........and there are no pictures of the hen nights birthday parties etc,if they ever make ferries uncovered I'm fooked. The plan the next day was to get on an autoban and eat some miles down towards the Alps. After waking up with a bit of a sore head(I think I had a bad sandwich) we met up with the third bike near eindhoven and headed south. nothing much to report that day, I had a cruise control thingy that came in handy and found out that the Germans dont like it when you filter I later found out that its illegal to filter. arriving innsbruck around tea time we found a cheap(50euro) hotel, a mcdonalds and crashed for the night.654 miles total 896miles.
The view from the hotel window the next morning, the 'holiday starts here'
The plan today was to get to venice for the 5pm sailing, at 250 miles we had decided on an early start to arrive in venice around lunchtime and do a bit of sightseeing in venice.
The plan quickly changed once we got into the mountains and the time just flew by
After messing about for a while we set the twat nav for the motorway to venice and as is traditional for going to catch a ferry left ourselves with not enough time to get there. On the italian autowhatevers there are toll booths which have a half gate and a picture of a motorcyclist painted on the road in front of them. To us that meant that bikes were free which is great, I'm starting to like the Italians already. we ate mile after mile until overshooting our turn off and eating mile after mile looking for the next exit. when we got to the exit we came to a barrier, I smiled looking at the attendant thinking yes I'm on a bike open the barrier kind gentleman.It was then I realised that the tolls were not free and my grasp of the Italian language did pick up on the words polizia and 70 eruo fine. Thinking what to do we decided to act dumb(normal) and as the vehicles behind started to become a bit of a motorway traffic jam and the guy in the toll booth started to get a bit flustered we sat until he finally charged us 3 eruo each just to get rid of us.
Next stop venice.
There were some stunning pics to be had of venice on the way out of harbour
When we looked at booking this boat there were three options cabin seat or deck. We booked the deck thinking that once it was dark we would sneak into the lounge area and set up camp.........was not to be we were locked out, the deck means the deck. It was a nice night so wasnt too bad. If you are a smoker and go on this boat take plenty of fegs as they dont sell any on the boat for some reason, next stop igoumenitsa
my bed for the night, quality
more to follow
)
must of been with you that day. 
