Now that's bragging ..... you can do it on a 125 FFSThanks allI’ve said it before and I’ll say it again I love this forum.
Next debate is do I take the 1150 or 1250
How good is motorcycling on the continent?
- Thread starter PapaHayd
- Start date
That’s got me tempted for the bank holiday weekend. £375 for the return ferries though and I’m 2 hours from Portsmouth. Would make a change from doing Wales again though
well, it's better if you can extend by a few days and wander down to Meyrueis near where the Tarn and Jonte gorges merge. I have pencilled this in for September, after my May/June trip to Spain. Can't be doing with rushing about now I have given up working.
As for Wales, draw my bedroom curtains and there it is, River Severn and Long Mountain with the Kerry Ridge on the horizon.
Holiday allowance won’t allow this year unfortunately otherwise I would pick cheaper days.
I’m Cirencester based so 1 hour and I’m in Wales and was at uni in Aberystwyth so have a love for it. Clock off work on Friday I can be in Brecon with the tent up sat in a pub for dinner, big loop Saturday and bumble on home on Sunday and be back in the office Monday.
Now that's bragging ..... you can do it on a 125 FFS
Anyone can ‘Do it’ on just about anything
I suppose they bump the price up considerably over a BH? I’ve quoted a random weekend (+2) in June, and it’s half that and change!
Yep - the Friday night 23:30 sailing is the most expensive part which makes sense given you don’t need time off work to be ok it.
There’s a 3pm from Portsmouth to Caen which I might be able to make work. That makes it a £250 weekend which isn’t cheap but might be doable. Returns sailing at 16:30 gives me 2.5 days of riding …
I feel OP may have inspired something here!
As the OP has shelved the Chunnel idea, dropping it in favour of a crossing to the north west of France for his virginal long weekend, here’s some comment:
A. “Do the war stuff, mate”
The Normandy D-Day beaches, always appear here as a ‘Must do’. The challenge is that the beaches are big, not least as the allies had to land no less than three separate army groups simultaneously. So, which bit should he chose over the no less than 50 miles between St Mere Eglise in the west to Caen in the east?
The other challenges are: If the fellow wants to ride his motorcycle, he’s maybe not going to be doing too much on two wheels, if he’s walking around on two legs looking at ‘stuff’. Not least, if he wants to see lots of ‘stuff’ he’ll probably be hitting the main roads, which is maybe not the most exciting way of going from A to B. People moan about the roads of north east France being dull *; if it wasn’t for D-Day, I’d bet that few bods on motorbikes would go to the north west coastal strip of France by choice.
If though he wants to ‘Do D-Day’ (and has his Garmin XT2 primed) this, lifted straight off the RiDE magazine’s website is not too bad:
It downloads well. Here it is displayed in Pocket Earth. Ignore the red lines, they are something else I was working on for somebody:
B. “But I want to ride my bike and ‘experience’ a bit of riding in Europe”
After all, this was the theme of his opening post. If so, he’ll probably need to skip the ‘Must do D-Day’ and head away. Thankfully, the same RiDE website has lots of off-the-shelf suggestions, designed specifically for just such a jaunt.
Yup, he’ll maybe have to amend some of the suggestions to fit into his long weekend time available, but it’ll make a pretty good (and safe) place to start from. Not least, all the GPX files download well.
Got a link, mate?
Natch, mate.
www.ride.co.uk
What do you think, PapaHayd?
* They are not, necessarily.
A. “Do the war stuff, mate”
The Normandy D-Day beaches, always appear here as a ‘Must do’. The challenge is that the beaches are big, not least as the allies had to land no less than three separate army groups simultaneously. So, which bit should he chose over the no less than 50 miles between St Mere Eglise in the west to Caen in the east?
The other challenges are: If the fellow wants to ride his motorcycle, he’s maybe not going to be doing too much on two wheels, if he’s walking around on two legs looking at ‘stuff’. Not least, if he wants to see lots of ‘stuff’ he’ll probably be hitting the main roads, which is maybe not the most exciting way of going from A to B. People moan about the roads of north east France being dull *; if it wasn’t for D-Day, I’d bet that few bods on motorbikes would go to the north west coastal strip of France by choice.
If though he wants to ‘Do D-Day’ (and has his Garmin XT2 primed) this, lifted straight off the RiDE magazine’s website is not too bad:
It downloads well. Here it is displayed in Pocket Earth. Ignore the red lines, they are something else I was working on for somebody:
B. “But I want to ride my bike and ‘experience’ a bit of riding in Europe”
After all, this was the theme of his opening post. If so, he’ll probably need to skip the ‘Must do D-Day’ and head away. Thankfully, the same RiDE website has lots of off-the-shelf suggestions, designed specifically for just such a jaunt.
Yup, he’ll maybe have to amend some of the suggestions to fit into his long weekend time available, but it’ll make a pretty good (and safe) place to start from. Not least, all the GPX files download well.
Got a link, mate?
Natch, mate.
RiDE-RiDE Guide to France
www.ride.co.uk
What do you think, PapaHayd?
* They are not, necessarily.
Last edited:
As the OP has shelved the Chunnel idea, dropping it in favour of a crossing to the north west of France for his virginal long weekend, here’s some comment:
A. “Do the war stuff, mate”
The Normandy D-Day beaches, always appear here as a ‘Must do’. The challenge is that the beaches are big, not least as the allies had to land no less three separate army groups simultaneously. So, which bit should he chose over the no less than 50 miles between St Mere Eglise in the west to Caen in the east?
View attachment 386180
The other challenges are: If the fellow wants to ride his motorcycle, he’s maybe not going to be doing too much on two wheels, if he’s walking around on two legs looking at ‘stuff’. Not least, if he wants to see lots of ‘stuff’ he’ll probably be hitting the main roads, which is maybe not the most exciting way of going from A to B. People moan about the roads of north east France being dull *; if it wasn’t for D-Day, I’d bet that few bods on motorbikes would go to the north west coastal strip of France by choice.
If though he wants to ‘Do D-Day’ (and has his Garmin XT2 primed) this, lifted straight off the RiDE magazine’s website is not too bad:
View attachment 386179
It downloads well. Here it is displayed in Pocket Earth. Ignore the red lines, they are something else I was working on for somebody:
View attachment 386182
B. “But I want to ride my bike and ‘experience’ a bit of riding in Europe”
After all, this was the theme of his opening post. If so, he’ll probably need to skip the ‘Must do D-Day’ and head away. Thankfully, the same RiDE website has lots of off-the-shelf suggestions, designed specifically for just such a jaunt.
View attachment 386181
Yup, he’ll maybe have to amend some of the suggestions to fit into his long weekend time available, but it’ll make a pretty good (and safe) place to start from. Not least, all the GPX files download well.
Got a link, mate?
Natch, mate.
RiDE-RiDE Guide to France
What do you think, PapaHayd?
* They are not, necessarily.
I like that. Saturday beaches (your route/the one on MRA), Sunday countryside (Ride route), relaxed Monday (maybe some culture) back to the ferry and home before midnight.
Love motorcycling on the continent . Especially the South American continent and the African continent. Shame I’m a bit incontinent when in continent as have to stop for a roadside pee sometimes . Can be a bit risky….
digby
Registered user
Well that’s pretty much unanimous - I moved over here in ‘87 when things weren’t so great in Blighty - never regretted it for a second
Have lived and worked in Italy, Luxembourg & France and now transitioning into retirement
I for one really appreciate living in a border free, multilingual and multi-cultural world
Have lived and worked in Italy, Luxembourg & France and now transitioning into retirement
I for one really appreciate living in a border free, multilingual and multi-cultural world
Spot on.
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