Ride Report 2 - From Norwich to the Good Life

[c-m]

Another thinly veiled attempt to breathe life into the Touring part of the forums

In 2008 I travelled over 5000miles 2-up, to the Black Sea and back. I'd only passed my test a few months before, but nerves were never a problem and I had a great time. I vowed to do something similar the following year, and here is my ride report.

The bike
Back then my weapon of choice was GPZ500. A great 1st time bike with excellent tank range (over 230miles) and reasonable speed (well into tripple figures on the autobahn). This time I opted for something a little different. so for less than £400 I picked up this off these very forums:
https://eastcoastlacrosse.co.uk/carl/pyroforlife.jpg

Ok that pic belongs to Pyroforlife before he dropped it and sold it to me. I replaced all the fluids in Jan 08 and bought a new chain and sprockets. I was using the bike to commute to work, then at the end of jan... BOOM! I dozy cow in a Kia Rio hits me while at 50mph on a country lane.

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So between March, when i got the bike back from the insurance company, and June when i was set to travel, I get in the workshop. I balanced the carbs, adjusted the valves, replaced the fork seals, replaced the exhaust, and found some fairing.




https://eastcoastlacrosse.co.uk/carl/bikeside.jpg



I decided not to travel with the lower fairing on.

The only additions or modifications to the bike were a Renntec Sports Rack at £20 on ebay and a power socket.


Gear

The rest of my gear was as before. Frank Thomas boots and textile jacket, aldi textile trousers, a HJC cL-ST lid and two pairs of gloves (important).
As for camping I learned my lession from the previous year and replaced this:

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With this

https://www.venturesport.co.uk/images/products/product_5335.gif


The rest of the gear comprised of a couple of Vango 50 sleeping bags, good for 15c nights. Vango self inflating pillows and mats.


Route

For the previous trip i had endured enough and had quit my job. That meant i was able to travel for well over a month before the funds ran out. This time I wasn't so lucky. I had started a new job some 7 months ago and couldn't afford to quit. What's more, i could only get two weeks holiday. That meant with careful planning I could have 16 days of touring. Here is the route. Over 3,500miles of fun.

https://eastcoastlacrosse.co.uk/carl/map2.jpg


Right before we go any further i should tell you that this report is ripped from my website at www.fruitfulthoughts.co.uk - it was written while i was travelling so is mostly in the 1st person.


The Friday night getaway

I finished work early today which was fortunate as I only made the check-in for the Euro Tunnel by six minutes. After work I met my girlfriend in town and off went, via the local bike shop. I needed some ear plugs chain lube visor cleaner. While we were there we thought we'd get a jacket we'd bought mended. Since we couldn't exactly send it back, the woman behind the counter got out her needle and thread and started sewing. Two minutes later the hole in the jacket pocket was fixed and we were free to begin our journey.

We arrived at the check-in just time, and despite having lost my credit card (the one I booked the tickets with) we were able to check-in and board without any problems.

Once in France the campsite was easy to find, though with reception closed (it was about 23:20) we decided to pitch the tent where we pleased. While unpacking I heard a bang, looking up I saw the bike had leaped off its stand, in similar vein to the GPZ last year which fell over a four times. I picked it up, and despite a severely bent clutch leaver all was fine.


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On the run

With the aim of getting to the south of France as soon as possible, my plan was to get up early and make haste down the autoroute. Of course this plan failed at the getting up early part. By the time we'd packed up and eaten it was around 12pm. After a case of mistaken Identity and a crap reception at the campsite we left there without paying.


Every time I've been in Northern France it has rained. Of course this time was no exception, fortunately it wasn't heavy but it was enough to make the southward journey bloody cold. We stoped at a service station for lunch, upon making my way back to the bike I noticed that the front mudguard had mysteriously disappeared. The front two bolts were still attached as was the part of the mud guard that they secured, the rest however had disappeared. Great.

Down in Dijon

The bike hasn't been doing the mileage I anticipated. Two up with luggage I'm hitting reserve every 140miles or so. Still it helps when you have a six litre reserve. Too tired and too wet to continue the journey to the south, We are held up in an F1 Hotel in Dijon, it's pretty awful but will have to do. I found a McDonalds near by with free wifi, so that's a bonus, the bad news though is that is looks like heavy rain tomorrow.

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Chasing Napoleon

Another early start, I must get to Cannes in good time. Just as we were packing up the bike this morning it started pissing it down, not having a front mud guard made things very interesting indeed. Aside from throwing mud and all kinds of rubbish as the radiator, my left leg got soaked as did feet and hands. My textiles obviously aren't water proof as advertised. We began to make good progress, taking the autoroute from Dijon to Grenoble then switching to the N85 Route Napoleon.

The further south we travel the better the weather until it was too hot to wear a jacket. After Grenoble I'd set my GPS to take me the shortest route to Cannes, I thought this would be Route Napoleon and it was for the most part, but it also took me along tiny D roads, through random mountains and on right-hand hairpins so tight I would struggle to push the bike around. Still Route Napoleon was awesome and it one one of the highlights of the trip so far. Curiously I found that instead of waving as other bikers had done, the ones here did all manner of antics, my favourite was a guy bombing it down the side of a mountain on a right hand hairpin waving his left hand and both legs. It wasn't the easiest of tasks wrestling the ZXR with luggage and pillion around, but it was thoroughly enjoyable.


Cannes day 1

The campsite I'm staying at is about six miles from Cannes in Antibes. It's suppose to be a three star resort, but it is pretty basic, I've noticed that very few of the places I've been to in France have toilet seats or tissue - The girlfriend is not pleased. I parked the bike up last night next to a bright yellow GSXR600 , it looks American with the yellow reflectors on the sides but carries an Irish number plate. This morning while oiling my chain the GSXR owner came over and we had a chat about bikes, roads and travelling. His name was Finian or something like that, we agreed to meet up later for dinner in Cannes. We went into Antibes today for a look around, it was all pleasant enough, there isn't really much to say about it. Had a look around the harbour at some of the super yachts, which was really impressive – if only.

We met up with Finian I the evening and rode down to Cannes parking on the seafront. The city was bustling with activity and people were pouring in and out of restaurants and bars. Took a bite to eat at an Italian restaurantt, when it turned out Finian'scredit cardd didn't work. “No worries guys, I'll just pop across the road to the ATM” He said. I had visions of him doing a runner, but he returned and paid for more than his share of the meal. We took a look around Cannes harbour which was even more impressive than Antibes before heading back to the campsite to find some beer.

Turns out everything in Antibes closes early, the only place serving alcohol was a restaurant were it was €4 a pint (well 0.5l).

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Cannes day 2

Finian decided to go into Monaco, but as we were going to find a campsite closer to the Italian border we thought we'd save Monaco until Thursday. Today was spent mostly on the beach in Cannes. By the time we'd got back and showered it was pretty much time for bed. Heavy rain and thunderstorms had been predicted and just as we closed the tent up it started. I had learned the lesson least year not to get a cheap tent, and the £150+ Aztec Esquina certainly didn't let me down.

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Moving house

Caught up with Ian this morning while packing up our gear. I'd booked tickets to Split through Jardolinja ferries using wifi but needed to find a cyber cafe to print off the confirmation. Ian helped us pack up and we joked about he got caught in the rain again. The first time was in Switzerland were he eventually gave up and paid €70 for a hotel room so he could dry his gear. “Never travel with only one pair of gloves”, I told him.


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Using wifi at the local McDonald's, I had managed to find two camp-sites in Menton, what I believed to be a small town six miles from Monaco and a mile of so from the Italian boarder. I took about an hour using the coastal roads to get to Menton and another hour to find the campsite, located on St. Michael's Plateau. The facilities were awful, but the pitches were great were fantastic views of the Mediterranean.

https://eastcoastlacrosse.co.uk/carl/eurotour2009/P6100254.JPG

The road from the campsite into town was interesting to say the least. Narrow and winding with a number of tight hairpins some with parked cars on, made it challenging. The town of Menton itself was awesome, it's much larger than Antibes with a lot more going on. The sea was clean and clear and the scenery beautiful. Its a pity we don't have more time to spend here.

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[c-m]

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Monaco baby

I've been wanting to go to Monaco for a long time so was looking forward to today. The trip from Menton was short and sweet and we arrived in Monte-Carlo in no time at all. Before even finding somewhere to park up I noticed that I had been riding the Grand Prix circuit. Down the main straight, around casino square, through the tunnel and into the harbour area where I eventually parked up. As soon as you arrive in Monaco you know can tell you are not in France any more by the architecture and landscape alone. Where Cannes is relatively flat with low rise buildings, Monaco is hilly, with multi-storey apartments overlooking its famous streets. It somehow seemed cleaner and calmer than anywhere I'd been in France, it was a pleasant and very welcome change. The toilets in Monaco came complete with seats lids and tissue – woohoo no more moaning.

I'm a big F1 fan, so recognised many of Monaco's famous streets. For those that I didn't recognise I had a map in hand complete with the F1 circuit layout.

While wondering the streets, we sped some time in Casino square where a couple of Ferrari's had pulled up. They looked to be part of some rally and the owners were staying in the Hotel De Paris.

After roaming the streets and visiting the shopping centres the rest of the day was spent on the beach. Even Monaco's pebble beach seemed nicer than those in France and of course there is more to look at.

We ended the day with a pizza down at the harbour before returning to our Menton campsite.


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The Endurance Ride

Argh the start of a grouling day's ride to Ancona to catch the 21:00 ferry to Split. We woke up early, packed up and begain to make good time on our 400+ mile ride. This however didn't make it any more pleasant. Italy was as I remembered – disgusting. The autostrada was full of lorries, the surface was poor and scenery and smells were worse than I experienced in developing countries such as Romania (which incidentally only has one motorway). We were running out of Euros on this ride but had to make ground fast. That meant highish speeds on the Autostrada. At some point I decided i'd had enough and would take the slower B roads instead. It's a good job I did as the toll had reached €39, we only had €44 between us – oh dear.


After crawing along the A/B roads at silly slow speeds, we eventually reached Ancona and checked in. Fortunately the green coloured unleaded they sell in Italy had meant I was able to do over 200miles before reserve, where as previously in France i'd only seen 135-150 depening on speed.


With only a few Euros left we popped into the local Lidl where we bought some water, ice tea, bread, ham, cheese, croissants and paprika chips – All set for the boat ride to Croatia.


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The Days of Steam



Slept on the deck of boat. We got some funny looks huddled together with our sleeping bags and camping matts. It's nice be back in Split, I enjoyed my time here last year hopefully this year will be similar. One question I have to ask though, is why the hell is sea transport so god damn slow. The crossing takes 10hours to cover 155miles. I'm pretty sure that is slower than the days of steam. Cars are faster, bikes are fast, boats seem to have gone backwards.



We were both pretty tired as we rolled off the boat at 7AM. The memories of last year came flooding back and easily remembered my way back to the campsite.



Staying in Stobrec, we set up the tent, washed up and went for a look around town. It was noticably hotter than anywhere else we'd been so far which of course had the girlfirend complaining. The campsite has wifi but its down at the moment, still for 10Kuna they let you use the office PC.

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Bacevice


Seeing as it was a Saturday we went to Bacevice yesterday. Its a complex of bars and clubs and gets packed out by young Croatian girls. It was just as I remembered, lots of hot tannned hard bodied Croatian girls in short skirts looking to party and have a good time. Not as much fun when your travelling with your girlfriend, but still good to watch while enjoying a few beers. Before the bar filled up, the staff were watching UFC, as a fan I pulled up a chair, Mirko Cro Cop was making his return against some British heavy weight (who i'm sure lost last time I saw him), any Cro Cop won via stopage in the first round. We didn't really stay that long, after all I had to ride back so couldn't enjoy too many beers. We did consider getting a taxi then picking the bike up in the morning, but it was still reasonably early and the club wasn't that busy yet so we though we'd go home and chill out.


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Most of today was spend on the beach, its nice to just chillout and relax in the sun after riding over 1500miles to get to your desination. I've never been a fan of sunbathing, I don't need a tan, but it was cool to lounge about on the busiest beach and watch people go by. The girlfirend loves the sea, so she spend most of the time swimming about like a mermaid. There were loads of people playing games in the water and on the beach - I really have to get myself a small ball so I can play Picigin.

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Kick back and relax



The last few days have just been chill out days, bumming around on different beaches, sightseeing and going out to eat etc.. Last night I woke up to some moaning in the tent, I looked over to see my girlfirned tossing and turning. Not sure what was going on I turned the light on to discover that she had somehow managed to zip her hair up in the tent while asleep. I laughed for a while before helping her, she was not amused.

This evening we met up with Ivana (one of the girls from Cro Paradise hostel) and her cousin, unfortunately Goge couldn't make it. It was cool to share a few beers and some jokes. We ordered the largest pizza i've ever seen, and struggled to finish it. One more day of buming around before the journey home.

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The long run home

As its a traveling day we had to be up early today to make Ljubljana at a reasonable time. Of course it absolutle pissed it down just as we got into the Croatian mountains, not having a front mud guard was beginning to make things uncomfortable. Still we pressed on, through some time little roads that Sat Nav claimed was the quickest route. Once in Slovenia the roads were great until I had to turn off into the hills. All of a sudden the road gave way to stones and gravel as it passed through the forest. The ZXR is no off-roader, in fact its renowned for having one of the most stiffest rear shocks known to man, and full loaded with pillion it iwas a chore to wrestle it through the pass.



Eventually we reached the campsite and set up shop before heading off for something to eat.

Slovenia to Germany

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Wake up pack up and head to Cologne. That is pretty much all this day consisted of. We booked the 17:00 P&O back to the UK the next day, which was of course going to mean another early start. Staying at Camping Berger by the river, we ate pommes while watching an episode of Prison break.


Homeward Bound

Well, i'm back and its a bit of a dissappointment. It's nice to have a base camp for sure, but i'm already thinking about what to do next.



Since Italy i'd been getting good mileage from the bike, but of course couldn't resist giving it a little on the autobahn. I had memories of the GPZ last year struggling to keep up, no such problem this time as the bike indicated 140mph, it a little more to give but since I couldn't see anymore (my helmet lets in too much air) I had to slow down. This meant only 140miles before reserve, which was still better in France.



On the ferry crossing I remembered everything I hate about the UK, the people were loud and unwelcoming, chilldren were running wild and getting up to all sorts of nonsense - can I go back please? I certainly won't be travelling on a cheap P&O ship again.



On the way back to Norwich I was passed by three bikers, I didn't catch what they were on as flew past in an instant. I took her up to 130mph (on a private road) but still didn't get anywhere near these guys.



Of course on the A11 it started pissing it down again. I'd already changed my gloves once, so didn't have another fresh pair, my leg was soaked and water seemed to pool in my groin area, still it could have been worse, I only had 30miles left.

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[c-m]

That post took 2 hours to produce so you guys better enough it.

I'm doing a similar trip this year to Budapest, Split and the Assen GP. On the way i plan to take in the Nurburgring (1 lap) and GrossGlockner.

If anyone is up for it please let me know in this thread:

https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=188971

[Phoenix]

Not read it through yet will do when i get an hour or so but looks good.

This picture makes me laugh, reminded me of a menu at a hotel in Hungary lastyear

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https://www.bikechatforums.com/files/dsc00184_161.jpg

[Ben_m]

Sounds and looks bloody awesome mate. I'm hoping to get away some time in June for a weeks touring. This post has inspired me to get on and plan something.

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

Thanks for the writeup


Pat
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[oriel dave]

COol trip, makes me want to travel again.

Good write up.
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Europe Trip 2009

[Pie-Roe]

That bike is still alive!? I have it as my background, wish I hadn't sold it.

Sounds like you had a good trip

Pyro
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Previous: GSF600, FZR600 x2, ZXR750, XT600 Tenere, CB125, CZ125, ETZ 250, ER5, CCM R30, DRZ400, RF600x4, RF900x2, GS500, VTR1000F, 640 SMC, CB250 NIGHTHAWK, GT550x3, GPX750 TE610, CB500, X11x2, SV650, ZING 125, TL1000R,CB250 Superdream, CBR1100XX

[c-m]

[JohnnyK]

Great read and pics! Fantastic trip,especially sharing it with your gf!That is wonderful.
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[D O G]

That's what I'm talking about, right there. Mad props to you and all that bollocks.

[chart06]

[L-Jam]

Karma mate, you've inspired me.


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Journalist, student, egotist.
Click here if you're a young biker, wondering what to do after a moped/125!
Skp 50 --> GS 500 --> CBR600F with custom HRC paint jobby --> GSX-R 750 K7, beautiful!

[kawashima]

Thanks for your great write-up and beautiful photos. Your sentences were very well edited and even I could read them easily enjoying
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own:2020 Serow 250
owned: 2012 YB125SP, 2008 TDM900, 2005 W650, 2002 LS125R, 2002 CB400SF, NS50F, C50 / Trip to UK(2009), Hokkaido touring(2013)

[Clanger]

Thanks for sharing...I do like reading about biker's trips...currently reading Lois on the Loose, so far so good!!!
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