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14th April 2008 |
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Continental Touring
Fancy riding your classic bike round Europe? It's easier than ever these days, but Martin Gelder has got some useful tips for the first-time-tourist. Tip one; stop reading, start packing... I'm pretty sure that I've been abroad on my bike at least once a year for the last twenty five years. My first trip was in 1981; a two-up camping tour on a BMW R60. We were aiming for Italy but didn't get any further than the middle of Germany. That didn't matter; we had a ball and I was hooked. Great weather, open roads, friendly people and a warm welcome. What are you waiting for? 
Rhine Valley, August 1981. Bald patch on the grass is where we'd been camping. I only fell in once.
You and Your Bike If the furthest you usually ride is 5 miles to the local caff and back, don't expect to make it from Calais to Barcelona in one day without a few aches and pains. Similarly, if your bike needs a rebuild after a week of commuting, it's unlikely to make Budapest in one piece. Give your bike a service a week or so before you're due to set off; that way you'll have time to fix any surprises that you uncover, and the bits you forget to tighten up will have time to loosen off and make themselves known long before you're in a mad rush to make the midnight ferry. Before You Go Don't leave home without money (cash and credit cards), your passport, your tickets, your driving licence and some form of travel and breakdown insurance. You're meant to carry your registration documents and MOT certificate but I've never been asked for these in more than 25 years of taking bikes abroad. You're also supposed to carry spare bulbs, day-glo waistcoats, rubber gloves, and so on. If you're planning on doing a lot of night riding and your bike has an appetite for bulbs then carrying spares makes sense. On an older bike I'd carry enough tools to do basic maintenance tasks and bolt things back on when they work loose, but even on a modern bike I wouldn't set off without some form of breakdown or recovery cover, and travel insurance that'll get me patched up and shipped home if I come off. 
Eifel Monutains, August 1981. Sheepskin seat cover worked a treat.
The old E111 form that extended your NHS cover to the rest of Europe has been replaced by the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card); you can apply for it online here: www.ehic.org.uk/Internet/home.do Check that your travel insurance covers you for riding motorbikes, check that your bike insurance covers you for riding in Europe, and check that your breakdown insurance covers bikes as old as the one you'll be riding. I always carry a basic first aid kit with plasters, bandages, pain-killers, indigestion pills and so on, and – most importantly – a spare pair of glasses. Most things can be bought just as easily in Europe as they can at home, so think about what you're likely to need on the spot rather than trying to plan for every eventuality. Check your mobile phone will work where you're going, and that your contract allows you to make calls from abroad. Load it up with credit if necessary, and don't forget your charger. A bit of insulation tape will do to mask your headlight beam so that you're not blinding on-coming traffic, and if you take the rest of the roll with you, along with a handful of nuts and bolts and some cable-ties you'll be the most popular person on the trip if anyone else needs them. The RAC have pages and pages of advice that you might want to check beforehand, but many of them relate to cars rather than bikes. 
Belgium, August 1981. Eating supper from a Krauser pannier. Does it get any better than this?
Where to Go Blimey. Where indeed? South is warmer, East is cheaper, North is cleaner. West is... Wetter? Welsher? Wherever you go, take a map that shows enough detail that will let you find your way if you get off the beaten track. If your map covers the whole of Europe, it probably doesn't have enough detail. Northern France can be a bit grim compared to the rest of France, and Belgium and the Netherlands tend to be as congested as the UK, but apart from that it's all worth a try. Mountains? Mediterranean? Wherever you end up you'll probably find roads that are quieter and people that are more welcoming to motorcyclists than you're used to in the UK. How to Get There Ferry or Chunnel? Short crossing or long? Well, it all depends. If you live in the South East of England you might prefer to take the shortest, cheapest route across the Channel, while if you've got a 300 mile ride just to get to Dover or Portsmouth one of the longer crossings could give you a useful break in your journey. I tend to go for an overnight ferry on the way out so that I can set off for the port after a day's work but still get an early start in France the next morning. Coming home I'll generally go for one of the shorter crossings, as they'll usually let you on the next available boat if you turn up early; more sailings means more flexibility. Prices seem to vary wildly depending on the time of year and the time of day, and it can get a bit depressing when you find out that it's cheaper to take a car and five adults to France than it is to do the same journey with one person and a motorbike. It pays to shop around. Most ferries these days will strap your bike down for you using a single tie-down ratchet strap going between built-in eyelets on the deck; much more secure than the old days of greasy rope and handlebars through petrol tanks. 
Amsterdam, September 1981. Packing as art.
How Far to Ride How far can you ride in a day, in a weekend or over the course of a fortnight's holiday? Only you can answer this, but the worst thing you can do is over-estimate the distance you can comfortably cover in a day. Let's assume you're not going to hit the road much before nine in the morning, and that you want to get where you're going by six in the evening. That's nine hours on the road, which is plenty. In fact, unless you're a leather-buttocked despatch rider, it's an awful lot. Depending on the type of roads you're going to be using, you'll do well to average 50 miles an hour over the day by the time you include stops for fuel. Throw in some more meandering roads, a bit of city traffic and frequent stops for coffee / cigarettes / toilet breaks / retrieving luggage / stretching legs, and you'll be doing well to average 40 miles in each hour. If you're riding in a group, you'll cover fewer miles per hour than if you're on your own. So I'd aim for 350 to 400 miles a day at most. This is meant to be fun, after all.
Road signs are generally pretty good, but you'll need to know your European geography for the times when you're offered a choice of two cities (or in France, the choice of either “Paris” or “Everywhere Else”), neither of which you want to go to. Motorway slip-road corners can be a bit tight compared to the UK. 
Somewhere else in the Netherlands, September 1981. Real Mart, Real Hair!
Where to Stay Hotels in Europe are generally much cheaper than in the UK, and you pay for the room, not per person. There's also no prejudice against turning up on a motorcycle, soaking wet, covered in road grime and dragging luggage that looks like you've rescued it from the local landfill. It just makes you look more adventurous. Hotels do tend to fill up after about 6pm, though, so don't leave it too late to find somewhere if you haven't booked ahead. Once you've checked in, ask about parking for the bike; it's not unusual for bikes to be brought into the hotel lobby or courtyard. Wherever you park, lock the bike to something if you can. It's fairly easy to find a campsite in France, less so in the rest of Europe unless you're in a very touristy area. And don't assume that because a campsite is shown on a map, it'll a) still be there or b) be open when you turn up in spring or autumn. Personally, I prefer to spend a bit of time on the internet researching where I'm likely to stay in advance. I don't always book ahead, but I'll usually check that there's going to be a couple of easy to find and reasonably priced hotels in the town I'm aiming for. Parlez il Lingo, Bitte A little effort goes a long way when it comes to communicating with the natives. Take a basic phrase book, learn the phrases for please and thank you, yes and no, etc, and you'll find that even the French are happy to talk to you. Probably. A sense of humour, a winning smile and the ability to make a fool of yourself while miming will sort most things out Most cafes and bars will have table service but the staff aren't always as over-eager as in the UK, so don't assume that they're ignoring you because you're wearing bike gear. Equally, don't expect English queuing rules to apply at ticket counters or fast food stalls; just dive in, point and mime. What's the worst that could happen? 
Afsluitdijk, Netherlands, September 1981. Plaited hair avoids nasty knots.
Now Stop Reading and Start Packing Well, what are you waiting for? It's the Le Mans 24 Hour bike race this weekend (19/20 April) , or there's the 24 Hour car race at Le Mans on the 14/15 June. It's only 150 miles from Le Havre or about 250 miles from Calais. Go on, I'll see you there... Got your own Euro Travel Tips? Share them here... 
That was then, this is now. 2008 Le Mans 24 poster
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