I'd rather ride for one to one and a half days through France heading for Spain than get the overnight ferry to Santander. At least I'm spending my time on my bike and enjoying (hopefully) the good weather and scenery at the same time.
Route Napoleon - 5 day thrash or 7 day bimble, courtesy of RiDE
- Thread starter Wapping
- Start date
I did Portsmouth (on my doorstep) to Santander last year by ferry service and loved it. Nice cabin, comfy bed, beer all evening and a lie-in with a days chilling out before disembarking for the two hour dash into the picos de europa.
Doing it again one-way this year, riding back via millau, gorge du tarn, rdga which may become a slog but the group consensus is that the ferry home is too dull which I agree with (although its so easy).
EDIT: I forgot to say, one of our group paid to sign up with the ferry company as a 'frequent flyer' which gave us all good discounts on our group booking plus cheaper meals onboard.
littleredrooster
Registered user
Aye. We looked at trucking the bikes from the Midlands - Southern France because of severe time limitations last year. IIRC, it would have been £299 transport + £240 air fares each. Adds a fair cost to the holiday before you've even started.
Can I ask what the ferry / tunnel, fuel, food, overnight(s) and wear & tear would total for the run down ?
From here I find it's difficult to save much by riding instead of shipping
And Midlands to Southern France must be two days each way (unless you're patzx12
) ?An extra 4 days in southern France (or 4 days less holidays for the same trip) would surely be worth 500 odd quid ?
It's great riding your bike everywhere if you have the free days available. I priced up a fly/ride trip to Malaga last week, for a trip in February. It would take me a day to get to Portsmouth, a day on the ferry to Santander, two days to ride to Malaga, then the same to get home. Taking into account the accommodation, fuel, ferry and food/drink costs, it was about the same as having the bike transported door to door, but the travelling from home is only a day each way using a low cost airline, so 6 days saved. I didn't go as far as taking tyre wear and servicing costs into account.
A simple but clear map, courtesy of Alpentourer magazine. It includes the (optional) excursions.
Who was that with?
I watched a Harry's Garage video this week where he had had his car freight-forwarded to Malaga. The cost was surprisingly expensive for a car but he explained that if you were with five friends who all had cars on a transporter, it becomes much more beneficial with shared costs and is actually a cheaper way to get there. I guess with a bike, it can be taken as part of a normal load - be interesting to find out how much it is.
I am thinking of doing precisely this route in July with Mrs Snelly on the back and short-circuiting this on the way to Grenoble sounds appealing to me.
This route (or variations of it) is pretty much what I do on my way down to Italy almost every year. Three riding days for me.
Once (years ago) I was in a rush and, on the way down, took the train to the French riviera from Paris.
I've used the train a couple of times over the years and, albeit expensive, it's pretty much the same of one night out and petrol + tyres squared on the motorway.
I do not think the autotrain is in service anymore in France.
For the bike, I'd suggest you look at groupage options, but you have to be fairly flexible with delivery dates (and have someone/somewhere for delivery).
I shipped a few bikes to/from Italy from London and it always costed about 4/500 euros. But, again, being flexible with delivery times, and pre-brexit, so less paperwork I guess.
Once (years ago) I was in a rush and, on the way down, took the train to the French riviera from Paris.
I've used the train a couple of times over the years and, albeit expensive, it's pretty much the same of one night out and petrol + tyres squared on the motorway.
I do not think the autotrain is in service anymore in France.
For the bike, I'd suggest you look at groupage options, but you have to be fairly flexible with delivery dates (and have someone/somewhere for delivery).
I shipped a few bikes to/from Italy from London and it always costed about 4/500 euros. But, again, being flexible with delivery times, and pre-brexit, so less paperwork I guess.
I looked into this a few years back, and it does not save much time when you factor in dropping the bike off at transport firm and then picking it up again (unless you live next door) but it splits the process up, drop off one weekend, pickup another weekend and then have a shorter trip.
Assuming a grenoble pickup for the bike, sure I can get there in a day - drive to airport (2 hours) Check in (2 hours before flight) flight (2 hours) get through customs / baggage reclaim (2 Hours) taxi to bike pickup and collect your steed (2 hours) - so you may be on road late afternoon day one, with transport / air fares / taxes / airport parking hitting me for about £700
Alternativley I can do a day of motorway blasting and a second day on nice roads, with same in reverse for maybe £200 less...
...however if that gives me 2 extra days to ride exclusively in the Alps it is worth the extra cost effort, pre-family I would just take the amount of days I needed, so a minimum of 9 (week off work) for such a trip, and often done 11-15 days if that's what I needed.
It also means you come back with your rear tyre almost bald with a 2 inch wide flat middle section.
Alas the auto train is no more. it was very good and from what i remember reasonably cheap.
Hi , just reading this thread , is there a GPX file so I could have a closer look. Regards NeilRiDE magazine this month, December (or as they call it, February) has a nice article on the Route Napoleon, a fun road to ride for those so inclined to do so
There is a huge FOFF hint in that picture. But I guess some still require their hand holding and spoon feeding
You are welcome.
Route Napoleon (tap on South East section) and the rest of French Regions
Now now Ev.There is a huge FOFF hint in that picture. But I guess some still require their hand holding and spoon feeding
You are welcome.
Route Napoleon (tap on South East section) and the rest of French Regions
View attachment 413355
Check under March 2020. Google Maps and .gpx for each day are there…
Well Done!!!
March 2020 issue Link.
By the look of it, these aren’t exactly same routes (as featured in December 2018 issue), but routes to same part of France these are nonetheless.
@Neil D Scroll down until you see this cover…
…then scroll down further until you see this.
Links to google maps for previewing the routes.
Day 1:
Google Maps
Day 2:
Google Maps
Day 3:
Google Maps
Day 4:
Google Maps
Day 5:
Google Maps
There’s a bunch of routes here:
GPX from RiDE magazine:
KML from RiDE magazine:
Assorted posts and threads from within UKGSer:
GPX (and KML) - Route Napoleon
If you're headed that way, this may be of interest- enjoy! ( zipped as files too large)
www.ukgser.com
Route Napoleon - 5 day thrash or 7 day bimble, courtesy of RiDE
RiDE magazine this month, December (or as they call it, February) has a nice article on the Route Napoleon, a fun road to ride for those so inclined to do so
www.ukgser.com
Ride magazine - Route Napoleon and gorges - Eight day jaunt
Ride magazine's issue released this month (we are in October, so in publishing speak it's December) has a couple of page article and review of the new Aprilla Caponord. As interesting as that may be (it's certainly not a bad motorcycle) maybe of more help is a downloadable link to the routes...
www.ukgser.com
After all this, is it worth doingWell Done!!!
March 2020 issue Link.
By the look of it, these aren’t exactly same routes (as featured in December 2018 issue), but routes to same part of France these are nonetheless.
@Neil D Scroll down until you see this cover…
View attachment 413379
…then scroll down further until you see this.
View attachment 413380
Links to google maps for previewing the routes.
Day 1:
Google Maps
Day 2:
Google Maps
Day 3:
Google Maps
Day 4:
Google Maps
Day 5:
Google Maps
Similar threads
