First biking holiday - Brugge/Italy and France

[rubyhorse2]

Well thought i'd do a ride report, even though it may be a little more holiday review than riding, but hopefully gives some insight into our trip and may help others thinking of doing the same. Massive wall of text and some shitty photos so apologies in advance.

Leaving

We decided to do a last minute departure on the Friday night after work, even though we had planned to leave saturday morning and blast our way down to the tunnel. 9:00pm arrives by the time i had the bike sorted and as we climbed on board the heavens opened. Oh well, no turning back now, so we set off from Manchester and rode for 2 hours in the rain arriving at Grantham travel lodge about 11:00pm. Really good staff and let me park bike just outside the hotel doors, undercover and slightly more secure.

The Tunnel

Saturday morning and we grabbed some breakfast before riding to the tunnel, weather was dry and the ride totally uneventful. Got to say the UK part of a holiday like this is so boring and next time i'd either blast it on my own or we'd consider an alternative route. but we got to the tunnel exactly on time, straight through the checking area and sat for about 20 mins waiting for the cars to board before the they let the bikes on last. 30 mins later and we arrive in Calais. A car in front of us wouldnt start and had to be pushed off the train, leaving a nice oily patch were they had been parked..what a way to start their holiday... the Superduke was running sweet and we set off straight away for Brugge in much warmer weather.

Brugge

Little did we know we had missed a vital email from our hotel in Brugge whilst riding and on arrival at about 5:00pm we were greeted by a road block and police. After a few mins struggling to communicate we were told that the centre of brugge was closed for a triathlon race which was due to end about 10:00pm...you guessed it our hotel was right in the centre. i rode around for a while attempting any small back alley i could find but the police where having none of it. i eventually got across the river and found a bar, thinking we could wait it out with a glass of leffe 10 mins later the hotel manage rings saying he will come to meet us and get us to the hotel..not to worry! this involved me pushing a fully laden superduke through the centre of brugge whilst a race was on, weaving amongst crowds of people and even having to cut across the course at one point. We got to the hotel and as you can imagine i was soaked with sweat but glad to be there. Got to recommend the HOTEL FEVERY which comes recommended by many bikers and it was perfect. Brugge was great but a little quiet for my liking and i was eager to leave.

Rainy Brugge and the triathlon event
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Paris

After 2 days chilling, we set off for Paris in more torrential rain. We took the quickest route and it rained all the way, Paris in the rain and busy traffic is not recommended. The Autotrain was pretty easy to find and we got the bags off leaving the soft panniers on, i know straight away we would have some trouble with this as only hard luggage can be left. After some pleading the attendant agreed we could leave them and we jumped in a taxi to the airport.

Genoa

Next obstacle was the helmets on the flight. We had two carry on bags and the helmets, i'd pre checked us in so we literally walked straight through and no one said a word...happy days. the flight in to Nice is amazing if anyone has done it, skirting along the coast you get to see some pretty special sights. We hit nice at about 8:00pm and it was 29C hotel for the night and then we went to collect the bike which was due at lunch. it was delayed and arrived at 1pm, then a ramp got stuck and our bike was literally the last one off. Off to a little camp site we had booked just past Genoa, was a shit ride and on arrival i turned around to a helmet of tears and anger...to top it off the chalet we had was disgusting and if it hadnt been 8:30pm we would have gone somewhere else.

Nice was well...err nice
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Rapello

After some discussion we decided that nice hotels and apartments from now on so we booked an apartment in Rapello on the coast. This was a great day, blistering hot, nice roads and felt chilled out for the first time. Rapello is really nice and we decided to use this as a base to explore the south coast of Italy. Riding without all the luggage was so much better and over the next few days we explored Italy, riding in to Cinque Terre which is pretty special and visited Pisa which is crap.

View from our apartment
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Some epic views
https://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk144/rubyhorse2/IMG_2909_zpsz2x42mtk.jpg

the coastal roads are worth it
https://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk144/rubyhorse2/IMG_0654_zpswsqsh5vi.jpg

https://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk144/rubyhorse2/IMG_0643_zps2zbbkemw.jpg


Albenga

We then moved along the coast to Albenga, loved this place. We had a little chalet again (this time habitable) on the beach and the local town came to life in the evenings, then we rode along to San Remo and booked 2 nights in a nice hotel. The temperatures were hitting 33-34C and riding was unpleasant in all the gear. Spent a few days in the hotel pool and hitting San Remo night life.

San Remo
https://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk144/rubyhorse2/IMG_0601_zpsjm3bnv0x.jpg

Hot!! not me the temperature
https://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk144/rubyhorse2/IMG_0680_zpspbbuvom5.jpg

We did a day trip to Menton which was stunning and we'll definitely go back here for a holiday.

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https://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk144/rubyhorse2/IMG_2926_zpskrizdry3.jpg

Time to head back to Nice and we popped in to Monaco, mad busy but had to be done, was glad to get out of there as the Superduke was crying sitting in all the traffic at 34C...plus it was full of poncy t##ts.

Back in Nice we dropped the bike off, once again pleading to leave out soft panniers on, which we did but i wouldnt recommend anyone to risk this, they certainly arent happy about it. We decided to stay at a hotel at Nice airport as the flight was early next day. Was surprised at the quality of the 'ladies of the night' here, some were actually quite nice, the Mrs had no idea until i told her. Great flight back chatting to a fellow biker from France who now imports bikes and cars.

Back in UK

We rode through Paris taking in the sights and then rode up to Calais. Stopped in a little village to fuel up and some french bobby comes strolling over and starts looking the bike up and down. i decide to turn her off and ask whats up...'THIS IS FRANCE...NO NOISE' he said, i presumed my bike was too noisy for this little sleepy village, everyone was really miserable there and i got some dirty looks from the garage attendant. Head to tunnel and 30 mins later we are back in blighty. Big mistkae by me here as i had left the satnav on settings for avoiding the motorways etc and it decided to take us right through woodford and enfield at rush hour. Lots of swearing at the satnav we eventually arrived at potters bar and stayed there for the night. Was only in the morning i realised about the satnav, which i had almost smashed up in anger...bloody idiot.



Another rainy UK morning and we ride back to Manchester, was again totally crap, about 5 near misses, one of which i only avoided by going down the side of a van on the motorway. dont know if this was just me being tired or the absolutely crap uk drivers. Have to say everyone in Italy and France are great, on the autostrada they over take then move back over unlike her where they hog the middle lane. and the chaos of the bikes in italy wasnt at all bad, once your in the thick of it it feels kind of right. the onyl issue i had was all the crossings in the cities and villages, seemed like they were every 100m

Was a great trip and, if anything, was a learning process as we know what we can do next time to make things better. First thing is the bike, gone and bought a KTM Adventure 1190 so thats sorted luggage wise i think i only wore half of what i took. I used a telepass but to be honest its just as easy to slap your credit card in to the toll machines, wouldnt even want to be using these roads anyway unless you really had to.

Satnav was prefect (unlike me), its a Zumo 340LM with Euro maps, got us straight to everything.

i've also ordered a bluetooth intercom kit as for some of the longer rides it can get boring for the passenger.

Obviously it wasnt a 'bikers' holiday and my initial plans for touring Italy were scrapped on the second day, but keeping the Mrs happy was more important. I also think travelling every day can get a bit much and stopping for a couple of days in each place was good, plus you get to chill out and see more of each place, as one day can be a rush.

[sgtcalle]

Good write up, sounds remarkably similar to my trip! Angry Mrs, sweating buckets in Riviera traffic, and issues with the autotrain! Seeing the news this morning seems we've had a near miss with being in Nice seeing what's kicked off there last night.
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CBR600F '02
Manchester

[Copycat73]

some google maps would be nice .. if you have the time.
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caveat emptor

[Gunhawk]

+1 thumbs up from me re Hotel Fevery, stayed here for a night with 2 buddies on our bikes, secure off road parking and room was more than decent enough only a 10 min walk to old centre of town too.
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[alexknight196...]

What a coincidence, also stayed in Hotel Fevery in May this year. Secure parking for the hotel just up the road.

Small world.

[Ebbs73]

Nice write up , I'm reading this while in Bruges waiting for my mrs to get dressed , different hotel tho .
Very busy here , doing my head in , so many Brits !
My girlfriends birthday so we trained it , bike next time .

Just wanted to say , BUY the headsets , makes everything so much easier , one on my best touring buys along with my go cruise £20 ish , wonderful.

I'm thinking train next next m been reading all the threads , great idea .