A year ago a small group of us had a great idea to go down to Fethiye in Turkey during the school summer holidays to a friends apartment as his wife was going to be there with the kids anyway.
Despite many boozy planning nights where very little planning got done
but lots of good bike chat was had….the leaving date rushed up on us and we were off. There were 5 of us with a variety of bikes, me F650GS(2008), an R1150GS, an R1200GSA, an R1200GS and an R1150RT.
Day 1 St Albans – St Quentin(France) 251 miles
Thursday evening 15:30 was an earlier start than our planned early Friday start…the idea being we could steal a march on our planned 374 miles a day average and actually get to do some sightseeing etc along the way. Thanks to the some unkind traffic on the M25 (there’s a surprise eh) we were late to the tunnel and missed our train 18:40…great start. Thankfully though we’d all managed to assemble there and spirits were high. If you’ve done the tunnel, you’ll know it’s great (bit pricey) and in 30 mins or so we were in France for about 21:00. The skies soon turned dark and rain poured down…..spirits not dampened though and we pressed on into the dark and we and arrived at our planned hotel in St Quentin at about 23:45…..just in time for everything to shut, so kebabs for dinner it was….thankfully the kebab shop also sold beer.
Day 2 St Quentin – Augsberg(Germany) 451 miles
The plan for Day to was to press on through the French Toll roads and kill some miles so we could enjoy what we saw as the best part of the trip in the later days. Some diversions and fun through the Black Forest meant we fell slightly short of our goal and meant for a late (22:00) finish to our riding, but did well all the same. Oh it rained all day too.
Day 3 Augsberg – Rakek(Slovenia) 327 milesGetting colder as we got higher into the Alps (11°…is that right for August) we had yet more rain. The roads and all the tunnels were great despite the tourist queues (thank god for filtering eh). We eventually started our decent in to Slovenia to blue skies and warming temperatures (24°….now that’s more like it). First night camping by the lake……lovely, sensible 19:30 finish to riding too.
Day 4 Rakek– Sibenik(Croatia) 308 miles
A day of lovely sunshine and generally trying to catch up some miles. Ended short again (!!!) but sensible finish (19:00) though awful campsite…..give this place a miss if you ever come this way.
Day 5 Sibenik – Cetinje(Montenegro) 258 miles
Two of our number returned this morning as they had shorter holidays than the rest of us…..so we split near Split ! The rest of us pressed on and the roads just got better and better…….the sun shone and the temperatures got higher and higher. Split to Dubrovnik road is great…..sweeping bends with a gorgeous turquoise sea to you right the whole time. Unfortunately we had to keep on going right passed Dubrovnik as we were getting further and further behind schedule (another time maybe).
Into Montenegro there was a lushness to the countryside and some truly outstanding roads….particularly up to Cetinje (the best I have ever ridden). 16 hours riding and only 258 miles…..indication of the roads and borders for you !!!
Day 6 Cetinje – Thessaloniki(Greece) 379 miles
Bit of a mixed day this one, lovely start that quite quickly just went downhill. Ripped off for green cards at the Serbian border, fined by police (robbed
) 500yrds later. Hassle all the way through Kosovo…….couldn’t get out quick enough…….if I never go there again it will be too soon. Not enough Euro’s left between us to be fleeced at the Macedonian border too…….so one paid and the rest had to wait to be bailed our after long ride to nearest cashpoint. Getting sick of the day and all it’s hassles we rode on into the night heading for Europe (Greece) and our salvation. Arrived in Thessaloniki at about 23:45 for a few well earned beers.
Day 7 Thessaloniki – Canakkale(Turkey) 309 milesOur option of a ferry from here to Turkey soon turned out to be a no-go, so we hit the great Greek motorways and were making fantastic time despite the temperatures now reaching the late thirties. Then one of the bikes developes a petrol leak…….a fuel tank line is split. A simple repair would have been possible is our good friends BMW didn’t use impossible to remove clips (without their special tool). A Greek mechanic came to our aid and fixed the bike up but not before we’d emptied the whole tank of fuel all over the bike and ourselves !!!! Back on the road we made it into Turkey. The roads then got worse as we headed down to Eceabat for the short ferry hope to Canakkale……..along with 10 million trucks. Arrive 23:30……note to self must stop having such late finishes.
Day 8 Canakkale – Fethiye(Turkey) 474 miles
Awful roads gradually getting better the further south we went. Heading south the temperatures also rose peaking at 44°…..thank god for vents and camelbacks. Not much to report other than our speeding ticket for doing 65mph on a duel carriageway in the middle of nowhere……despite there being no signs apparently the limit is 45mph !!!! Arrived a 19:00……only 2 hours later than we had planned to when we set off 8 days earlier……I think we did very well
for our first big trip. There followed a well earned 6 days holiday with our families who had all flown out there.
Total distance there 2,757 miles
Return Day 1 Fethiye – Cesme(Turkey) 265 miles
For most of us our trip had been about ‘getting there’ and the challenge of the distance and all the various countries. Once in Turkey we wanted to spend as much time with our families as possible. We also didn’t fancy more of the Serbian stuff again, so a return route via Italy was agreed. This gave us a short ride to Cesme (watching out for all the speed traps this time) to catch a car ferry to Brindisi in Italy. If you come here, don’t bother going to board at the allotted time (24:00) as they load bikes last regardless of you being at the front of the queue (we got there at 22:45)……we eventually got to board at 04:30 !!!!!!!
Day 2&3 Cesme – Brindisi(Italy) 0 miles
When we booked this we had in our minds ‘short cruise’……what we got was Turkish car ferry……enough said. Thankfully we booked a cabin….even if it was below the car deck and waterline.
Day 3 Brindisi – Foggia(Italy) 157 miles
Supposed to dock at 18:30…..2 hours late, still after 2 days lazing about, drinking
and playing cards etc. we were keen to lay down some miles. Off into the dark yet again………decided to call it a day in Foggia (don’t ask me why and no jokes please)……spent an hour and a half looking for hotel……bit of a dump, funny old place Foggia. To bed 1:30….so much for the early night plans eh.
Day 4 Foggia – Luzern(Switzerland) 668 miles
Great days riding….what a lovely country Italy is…..I must get to see more of it sometime. Italian bikers soon showed us the way they use motorways……if ever traffic slows down they all go onto the hard shoulder…..magic a special extra lane just for bikers. Temperatures really dropped this day…32°in the morning as we set off down to 12° when we stopped in Switzerland. Finished about 23:00 again…….lovely old town centre in Luzern….great if quirky hotel….but nearly everywhere and everything shut as it was Sunday !!!! Guinness and crisps for dinner !!!
Day 5 Luzern – St Albans 662 miles
Early start (07:00) for the big push home. Roads and riding great all day…..making amazing time till 10 miles out of Calais I run out of petrol !!! The OBC said I had 6 miles left and every other time I’ve run that low it’s even gone below zero !!!! Only 2 of us left and not enough petrol to siphon either …… oh well 2 hours later we’re back on the road again. Late for the train and get pushed further back too as it’s bank holiday weekend (not the best place to wait !!) eventually get back onto UK soil at 21:40 and home by 23:00ish……with a nice cuppa.
Total distance back 1,752 miles
Total overall diatance 4,509 miles
My bike (F650GS) performed brilliantly, I bought it for the trip after only passing my full test in March this year. I did mistakenly own an R1200GS for 3 weeks but this turned out to be to big and heavy for me. I bought the bike with the following;
- heated grips
- centre stand
- BMW bash plate
- Handguards
- OBC
- ABS
- Vario Panniers
I added, the BMW touring screen, Zumo GPS, scottoiler, ultraseal and Autocom 200 before we set off. I also had the original bar-ends machined so that they could be used with the handguards and this reduced the vibration (tip BMW….don’t use aluminium for bar ends !!).
During the trip the scottoiler was great and I only had to adjust the chain once. No other problems with the bike at all……..a fine steed alround, most happy with it. It was quite capable of mixing it with the bigger bikes the whole time, only occasionally being held back by my lack of riding experience.
Zumo GPS fantastic, up to Croatia, then a bit wooley or vague…..wouldn’t have done without it though.
Other great bits of kit;
- Rev-it Cayanne Pro Jacket & Dakar Pants
- Rev-it Desert Gloves
- Ortlieb Roll Bag
- Oxtar Touring Boots
- Vango Venon 150 Sleeping Bag
Bit disappointed with Autocom though as between the 3 main team members we only had comms working on 1 day…..it was great then if a bit quiet……I could hear nothing above 60mph (GPS, Ipod or bike-2-bike). Paired with Kenwood TK3201’s too.
If I did it all again (which I would), I’d plan a bit more, not go quite so far or give myself a bit more time. I also would avoid Serbia/Kosovo.
Despite many boozy planning nights where very little planning got done
but lots of good bike chat was had….the leaving date rushed up on us and we were off. There were 5 of us with a variety of bikes, me F650GS(2008), an R1150GS, an R1200GSA, an R1200GS and an R1150RT.
Day 1 St Albans – St Quentin(France) 251 miles
Thursday evening 15:30 was an earlier start than our planned early Friday start…the idea being we could steal a march on our planned 374 miles a day average and actually get to do some sightseeing etc along the way. Thanks to the some unkind traffic on the M25 (there’s a surprise eh) we were late to the tunnel and missed our train 18:40…great start. Thankfully though we’d all managed to assemble there and spirits were high. If you’ve done the tunnel, you’ll know it’s great (bit pricey) and in 30 mins or so we were in France for about 21:00. The skies soon turned dark and rain poured down…..spirits not dampened though and we pressed on into the dark and we and arrived at our planned hotel in St Quentin at about 23:45…..just in time for everything to shut, so kebabs for dinner it was….thankfully the kebab shop also sold beer.
Day 2 St Quentin – Augsberg(Germany) 451 miles
The plan for Day to was to press on through the French Toll roads and kill some miles so we could enjoy what we saw as the best part of the trip in the later days. Some diversions and fun through the Black Forest meant we fell slightly short of our goal and meant for a late (22:00) finish to our riding, but did well all the same. Oh it rained all day too.
Day 3 Augsberg – Rakek(Slovenia) 327 milesGetting colder as we got higher into the Alps (11°…is that right for August) we had yet more rain. The roads and all the tunnels were great despite the tourist queues (thank god for filtering eh). We eventually started our decent in to Slovenia to blue skies and warming temperatures (24°….now that’s more like it). First night camping by the lake……lovely, sensible 19:30 finish to riding too.
Day 4 Rakek– Sibenik(Croatia) 308 miles
A day of lovely sunshine and generally trying to catch up some miles. Ended short again (!!!) but sensible finish (19:00) though awful campsite…..give this place a miss if you ever come this way.
Day 5 Sibenik – Cetinje(Montenegro) 258 miles
Two of our number returned this morning as they had shorter holidays than the rest of us…..so we split near Split ! The rest of us pressed on and the roads just got better and better…….the sun shone and the temperatures got higher and higher. Split to Dubrovnik road is great…..sweeping bends with a gorgeous turquoise sea to you right the whole time. Unfortunately we had to keep on going right passed Dubrovnik as we were getting further and further behind schedule (another time maybe).
Into Montenegro there was a lushness to the countryside and some truly outstanding roads….particularly up to Cetinje (the best I have ever ridden). 16 hours riding and only 258 miles…..indication of the roads and borders for you !!!
Day 6 Cetinje – Thessaloniki(Greece) 379 miles
Bit of a mixed day this one, lovely start that quite quickly just went downhill. Ripped off for green cards at the Serbian border, fined by police (robbed
) 500yrds later. Hassle all the way through Kosovo…….couldn’t get out quick enough…….if I never go there again it will be too soon. Not enough Euro’s left between us to be fleeced at the Macedonian border too…….so one paid and the rest had to wait to be bailed our after long ride to nearest cashpoint. Getting sick of the day and all it’s hassles we rode on into the night heading for Europe (Greece) and our salvation. Arrived in Thessaloniki at about 23:45 for a few well earned beers.Day 7 Thessaloniki – Canakkale(Turkey) 309 milesOur option of a ferry from here to Turkey soon turned out to be a no-go, so we hit the great Greek motorways and were making fantastic time despite the temperatures now reaching the late thirties. Then one of the bikes developes a petrol leak…….a fuel tank line is split. A simple repair would have been possible is our good friends BMW didn’t use impossible to remove clips (without their special tool). A Greek mechanic came to our aid and fixed the bike up but not before we’d emptied the whole tank of fuel all over the bike and ourselves !!!! Back on the road we made it into Turkey. The roads then got worse as we headed down to Eceabat for the short ferry hope to Canakkale……..along with 10 million trucks. Arrive 23:30……note to self must stop having such late finishes.
Day 8 Canakkale – Fethiye(Turkey) 474 miles
Awful roads gradually getting better the further south we went. Heading south the temperatures also rose peaking at 44°…..thank god for vents and camelbacks. Not much to report other than our speeding ticket for doing 65mph on a duel carriageway in the middle of nowhere……despite there being no signs apparently the limit is 45mph !!!! Arrived a 19:00……only 2 hours later than we had planned to when we set off 8 days earlier……I think we did very well
for our first big trip. There followed a well earned 6 days holiday with our families who had all flown out there.
Total distance there 2,757 miles
Return Day 1 Fethiye – Cesme(Turkey) 265 miles
For most of us our trip had been about ‘getting there’ and the challenge of the distance and all the various countries. Once in Turkey we wanted to spend as much time with our families as possible. We also didn’t fancy more of the Serbian stuff again, so a return route via Italy was agreed. This gave us a short ride to Cesme (watching out for all the speed traps this time) to catch a car ferry to Brindisi in Italy. If you come here, don’t bother going to board at the allotted time (24:00) as they load bikes last regardless of you being at the front of the queue (we got there at 22:45)……we eventually got to board at 04:30 !!!!!!!
Day 2&3 Cesme – Brindisi(Italy) 0 miles
When we booked this we had in our minds ‘short cruise’……what we got was Turkish car ferry……enough said. Thankfully we booked a cabin….even if it was below the car deck and waterline.
Day 3 Brindisi – Foggia(Italy) 157 miles
Supposed to dock at 18:30…..2 hours late, still after 2 days lazing about, drinking
and playing cards etc. we were keen to lay down some miles. Off into the dark yet again………decided to call it a day in Foggia (don’t ask me why and no jokes please)……spent an hour and a half looking for hotel……bit of a dump, funny old place Foggia. To bed 1:30….so much for the early night plans eh.Day 4 Foggia – Luzern(Switzerland) 668 miles
Great days riding….what a lovely country Italy is…..I must get to see more of it sometime. Italian bikers soon showed us the way they use motorways……if ever traffic slows down they all go onto the hard shoulder…..magic a special extra lane just for bikers. Temperatures really dropped this day…32°in the morning as we set off down to 12° when we stopped in Switzerland. Finished about 23:00 again…….lovely old town centre in Luzern….great if quirky hotel….but nearly everywhere and everything shut as it was Sunday !!!! Guinness and crisps for dinner !!!
Day 5 Luzern – St Albans 662 miles
Early start (07:00) for the big push home. Roads and riding great all day…..making amazing time till 10 miles out of Calais I run out of petrol !!! The OBC said I had 6 miles left and every other time I’ve run that low it’s even gone below zero !!!! Only 2 of us left and not enough petrol to siphon either …… oh well 2 hours later we’re back on the road again. Late for the train and get pushed further back too as it’s bank holiday weekend (not the best place to wait !!) eventually get back onto UK soil at 21:40 and home by 23:00ish……with a nice cuppa.
Total distance back 1,752 miles
Total overall diatance 4,509 miles
My bike (F650GS) performed brilliantly, I bought it for the trip after only passing my full test in March this year. I did mistakenly own an R1200GS for 3 weeks but this turned out to be to big and heavy for me. I bought the bike with the following;
- heated grips
- centre stand
- BMW bash plate
- Handguards
- OBC
- ABS
- Vario Panniers
I added, the BMW touring screen, Zumo GPS, scottoiler, ultraseal and Autocom 200 before we set off. I also had the original bar-ends machined so that they could be used with the handguards and this reduced the vibration (tip BMW….don’t use aluminium for bar ends !!).
During the trip the scottoiler was great and I only had to adjust the chain once. No other problems with the bike at all……..a fine steed alround, most happy with it. It was quite capable of mixing it with the bigger bikes the whole time, only occasionally being held back by my lack of riding experience.
Zumo GPS fantastic, up to Croatia, then a bit wooley or vague…..wouldn’t have done without it though.
Other great bits of kit;
- Rev-it Cayanne Pro Jacket & Dakar Pants
- Rev-it Desert Gloves
- Ortlieb Roll Bag
- Oxtar Touring Boots
- Vango Venon 150 Sleeping Bag
Bit disappointed with Autocom though as between the 3 main team members we only had comms working on 1 day…..it was great then if a bit quiet……I could hear nothing above 60mph (GPS, Ipod or bike-2-bike). Paired with Kenwood TK3201’s too.
If I did it all again (which I would), I’d plan a bit more, not go quite so far or give myself a bit more time. I also would avoid Serbia/Kosovo.
......no it was the police....fined for a made up charge of not stopping at a correct checkpoint......how do you argue with a guy holding a machine gun in the middle of nowhere ???
