Doing a 10 day europe tour in August

[BillyJ]

Any advice?

Suggestions of places to visit would be great, also websites for getting cheap b&b's all over Europe at short notice would be good

I'm planning to do about 7 hours riding for the first 2 days and then a couple of hours a day for the rest of the trip.



This is the rough route (so far)
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/39120+Liencres,+Cantabria,+Spain/50.959484,1.8864333/@47.3972133,-1.4502935,5.88z/am=t/data=!4m78!4m77!1m70!1m1!1s0xd4946366fdd4537:0xa04f584ff633550!2m2!1d-3.9253761!2d43.4610508!3m4!1m2!1d1.4616702!2d43.5875012!3s0x12aebc60606ec4a1:0x90b71bbbf0080342!3m4!1m2!1d1.4616702!2d43.5875012!3s0x12aebc60606ec4a1:0x90b71bbbf0080342!3m4!1m2!1d1.4910912!2d43.58711!3s0x12aebda86292b19b:0x6ac13af20c65b180!3m4!1m2!1d3.3344627!2d43.582945!3s0x12b16f511627fe13:0x9c0fc0f8fe6708a2!3m4!1m2!1d7.303444!2d43.7007649!3s0x12cddad7587241b3:0xa2d5b05dfb82ac61!3m4!1m2!1d7.4218361!2d43.7320611!3s0x12cdc28de2b43c21:0x193431460f19916d!3m4!1m2!1d7.526218!2d43.7850256!3s0x12cdec09bf2395c5:0x8d284cbb58aeb52!3m4!1m2!1d7.6658066!2d43.778223!3s0x12cdf3c61f7463eb:0xfc276f1ba1083eb0!3m4!1m2!1d7.7622018!2d43.810785!3s0x12cdf514e742da4b:0x10357fc381c868e!3m4!1m2!1d10.3709274!2d46.5080291!3s0x47830fd8404e9185:0xefe6f5e966c0afef!3m4!1m2!1d10.5533328!2d46.5956721!3s0x47831ec4395d4109:0x6ad8aeec72eca436!3m4!1m2!1d8.259011!2d49.4632583!3s0x479636a6d038599d:0x85eea8a75308af89!3m4!1m2!1d6.9352862!2d50.3455587!3s0x47bfad26e0139b6d:0x298bc9bdf4d92fed!1m0!3e0!6m3!1i0!2i1!3i20
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Had: '06 CBR125R + '01 GSF600 + '07 SPRINT ST 1050 + '80 CB250 RSA + '93 Ducati 900SS
Have: '13 GSXR-1000 + '01 CB500S
"The aryan confuser"

[TallPaul_S]

You're doing this trip in a car, right?

The route you've got is 98% motorway, apart from when you come off to visit the nurburgring, the stelvio pass and Nice.

What do you want from the trip? Great riding roads? Great riding roads and seeing some amazing places/culture etc? Visiting cities etc for a day or so at a time and shooting off to the next city?

If the purpose of the trip is to see lots of places, then rather than seeing them as you speed by at 80mph on the motorway you'd be better off concentrating on a single area rather than doing all of Europe in a single trip and not seeing much apart from lots and lots of motorway.

I could spend 10 days just in the Swiss Alps, and another 10 in the Dolomites/Italian lakes area, and another 10 in the south of France/Pyrenees, a week in Belgium/Luxembourg/Germany in the Eifel region, a week in the black forest/Vosges mountains...
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[doggone]

Agree entirely, much better to consider a more relaxed pootle about around the Rhine/Alps/Black Forest.

Especially if no pillion it would be much better to take basic camping gear rather than worry unduly about finding somewhere to stay.
You could still stay in B&B if available - August is mad busy and full most touristy places though.

[BillyJ]

Thanks for the advice


The route is mainly highways because I let google do the in betweens but fair points made.

What would you do with 10 days in Europe starting in Santander and carrying a pillion?

I want great riding roads but more importantly lots of cool things to see
____________________
Had: '06 CBR125R + '01 GSF600 + '07 SPRINT ST 1050 + '80 CB250 RSA + '93 Ducati 900SS
Have: '13 GSXR-1000 + '01 CB500S
"The aryan confuser"

[Dave V4]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5jrms5hxh5w8ui7/august.bmp?dl=0
the route you have chosen, if taken without motorways will mean a fair bit more than a couple of hours a day. the link I posted was almost the same, taking some really nice roads and scenery, it works out to around 2000 miles and is basically what you posted albeit on better roads. you would be pushed to do 250miles on these with a pillion, average speed would be around 40 mph so do the math. as for hotels and b&b's, use google when you have had enough. look for hotels near me now and pick the one you like.
download Tyre To Travel to work out some routes as opposed to google, it will calculate distance and average times, set it in the options to avoid motorways and toll roads.
good luck to you, I wish my wife would agree to try this some day

[rubyhorse2]

we initially planned europe and then decided on mainly italy, simply because we wanted to be enjoying it and not worrying about getting the miles done.

[BillyJ]

Dave, I'll have a look at that when I'm home tonight, thanks!

And we've taken in what everyone has said and are now more inclined to ride up the French coast from Santander to callais for 10 days.
____________________
Had: '06 CBR125R + '01 GSF600 + '07 SPRINT ST 1050 + '80 CB250 RSA + '93 Ducati 900SS
Have: '13 GSXR-1000 + '01 CB500S
"The aryan confuser"

[Matt B]

[doggone]

From Santander probably the Pyrenees and Dordogne would be the main areas to look at.

[alan29]

A day or two in the Pyrenees - Col de Tourmalet etc. Across the Millau Viaduct. Tarn gorges. Across to the Alps. Gorge de Verdun. Route Napoleon or Route des Grandes Alpes. Finally up through Alsace and the Route des Cretes. Spend an hour at the WW2 graveyards if that is your thing.
Plan for 200 miles a day max in mountains. Especially with a pillion.
Go slow. Take in the scenery. Its too spectacular to rush through.
Book hotels on the day using Booking.com. Follow the decent weather using your phone.
Check out routes here
https://www.ride.co.uk/routes/

[rubyhorse2]

this is a nice little site i found, after someone mentioned hostels as a cheap option (we're going to do a combo of these and then some nice hotels in certain cities).

https://www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/italy/

can search via the map.

[TheDonUK]

If you have a look back on the Pyrenese touring threads there is one common theme, The N240/N260 From Jaca to Andorra or Ripoll. It's really great and you should not miss it if in the region.

Roughly This:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Santander,+Cantabria,+Spain/Pamplona/Jaca/Biescas/Castej%C3%B3n+de+Sos/La+Pobla+de+Segur/Sort/Ripoll/@42.6452855,1.387662,9z/data=!4m60!4m59!1m5!1m1!1s0xd4949ae8a6bee71:0xd27cdc801682ba96!2m2!1d-3.8099803!2d43.4623057!1m5!1m1!1s0xd50928ba31965c7:0x4e6e903632cb2e90!2m2!1d-1.6457745!2d42.812526!1m5!1m1!1s0xd5780ec767847ed:0x196f61f8bc9a1be2!2m2!1d-0.5470554!2d42.5717166!1m10!1m1!1s0xd578c9ddf135f15:0x4018c6508ce9cf0!2m2!1d-0.3224793!2d42.6286287!3m4!1m2!1d-0.139563!2d42.6142779!3s0xd57f9eea93fbf4b:0x7572cacece9216da!1m5!1m1!1s0x12a7d655c6ef484f:0x140c52061706161f!2m2!1d0.491828!2d42.5122055!1m5!1m1!1s0x12a614bdd48adbd5:0xc56ff214d0bc36fa!2m2!1d0.9675847!2d42.2477193!1m10!1m1!1s0x12a605dc0369c501:0xf06348cef8cfd80f!2m2!1d1.1287747!2d42.4103118!3m4!1m2!1d1.9809711!2d42.3475893!3s0x12a5702fb7d7adc5:0xac79718eab2f7a14!1m5!1m1!1s0x12a53f72ad140113:0x11b158780ca57e15!2m2!1d2.1907618!2d42.1994589!3e0
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[Current Bikes - GSXR-750 K5 & C90-97 ] [Previous Bikes: Runner 125, YBR 125, GS500, Bandit 600, Hornet 600, ZX6R-99, C90-99, R1-99, XT600E-04, GSXR-750 K4, CRF250L '16]

[Ste]

wot he said.

N240 & N260 is a fun road, you will enjoy it many times.

[Dave V4]

[Ste]

Too many French people!!

[Enduro Numpty]

The Pyrenees is a 100% must do if you're in the area. The best roads I've ever ridden. Use Google maps but zoom in and make a route out of the real squiggly bits.

[TallPaul_S]

[Ste]

2 days worth of riding?

It's only about 400 miles from Bilbao to Roses so going from Jaca to Andorra really shouldn't take more than a day, you should do it in about three or four hours without breaking too many speed limits.

[TallPaul_S]

[Dave V4]

[Ste]

Oh well, it took less than a day in a big 4x4, I'd be disappointed if it took longer on a bike.

[TheDonUK]

Pamplona/Jaca to Andorra/Ripoll/Bisescas is definately do-able in a day (I have done a few times). But coming from the Santander boat it's a two day'er unless you want to be hardcore about it.

The fun part is between Jaca and Ripoll.

The miles per day argument has got to be down to the rider. I used to be all about the monster 600+ mile days (Montpellier->London etc) But on this current trip in South America i find myself doing like 300kms (180 something miles). Depends on how much you want to fit into your time constraints.

So while I am inclined to agree with the less is more philosophy to touring mileages per day, ruling out monster days you are missing out on another experience.
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[Current Bikes - GSXR-750 K5 & C90-97 ] [Previous Bikes: Runner 125, YBR 125, GS500, Bandit 600, Hornet 600, ZX6R-99, C90-99, R1-99, XT600E-04, GSXR-750 K4, CRF250L '16]

[BillyJ]

The Santander ferry arrives at about 6pm but my girlfriend has an old mate living there so we won't need to ride that day at all.

I can push it out to 12/13 days rather than 10 if you guys think I'll cover more POIs which are worth it?


I'm also happy to do up to 2 monster days where we smash out the motorway miles if it means we can visit more.
____________________
Had: '06 CBR125R + '01 GSF600 + '07 SPRINT ST 1050 + '80 CB250 RSA + '93 Ducati 900SS
Have: '13 GSXR-1000 + '01 CB500S
"The aryan confuser"

[Ali in Austria]

On mountain roads you will do well to average more than 30mph over the course of the day by the time you factor in stops for necessity and leisure.
Some points of interest that your route passes through:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=zllkQBAwv3Mw.kK2oDNPXQ1BQ
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