Touring by yourself

[Stu_666]

As I'm really considering riding down the west coast of France this summer and perhaps through the Pyrenees to either Bilbao or Barcelona I as was wondering if anyone has toured through Europe by themselves before.

I was reading the post done by Nath on here where he went down to Spain and it did'nt seem to bad for him. I was wondering though if anyone who's done it before found it too lonely. I'll probably try and stay in either hostels or biker friendly campsites (f*ck me that sounded gay for some reason ). Do you tend to me a fair amount of people on the way who you can chat to and is the language barrier much of a problem. I know a bit of French but not conversational.

[carlnicholson...]

I've been looking into doing the same and have it planned for July next year. The Mrs was going to come but is getting cold feet so I may be doing it solo.

Hotel formule 1 offer silly cheap rooms and berakfast, and they are who I intend to use, they even have one in Barcelona, so a short stay there will cost next to nothing.

Panrider can give you a good route, but there a few on here who know their stuff.

www.hotelformule1.com
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"THOSE WHO RISK NOTHING, DO NOTHING, ACHIEVE NOTHING, BECOME NOTHING."

[natv4]

I visited Barcelona on my first bike trip. Try staying in hostels, that way you may meet more people (you never do staying in a hotel.

Other than that, be outgoing, friendly, and chatty. Start conversations, it doesn't matter if someone isn't interested, just talk to someone else. You'd be surprised how many people will be interested in what you are doing and want to talk to you.

I would recommend staying in one of the many pensions (hostels) near/on La Rambla (Barcelona's main entertainment centre, nr the sea front). At least visit it, its probably the best part of Barcelona with countless bars, clubs, resturants. and everything else you can imagine.

I've done a few runs through Europe now, all solo. Yeah, it gets lonely. Eastern Europe was the worst for that. Not many people speak english, so its difficult to chat. I went 5 days without more than basic english interaction (hello, goodbye, etc). That was tough. If you are in western Europe, near any popular destinations, you will be fine. In fact my problem then was that you end up spending your time with fellow travellers and not with locals.

Go, even if you don't appreciate it at the time, you will in retro-spect. I spend my whole year looking forward to my road trips.
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Travelling around the world...a bit at a time. Where am I now? / Visit my BLOG
Bike: Blue Honda VFR800fi (*NEW*) Mileage: 22k Countries visited: GB/F/D/CZ/PL/E/I/B/A/HR/H/Rus/E/MA
West Europe...2004, East Europe...2005, Russia/France...2006, Morocco...2007

[Itchy]

I thought about it (which way to go North or South a couple weeks ago bloody good thing I didn't due to bike fire) , and I personally would get others to come cus time seems to move much faster with others while riding alone seems to take ages over the same distance.

[carlnicholson...]

I wouldn't want time to go faster really.

51 weeks of work, motorway commuting, early nights, paying bills blah, blah, blah, and the only week of being able to fuck it all off and get away on the bike and you want it to go by quicker?

Stuff that, I want it to seem like it's taking forever, completely forget everything and just enjoy the ride. Thats what a trip is all about. Isn't it?
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"THOSE WHO RISK NOTHING, DO NOTHING, ACHIEVE NOTHING, BECOME NOTHING."

[Itchy]

I suppose but then I find group riding more interesting than single riding ,

but maybe thats true in that you savour it more , but my thoughts on memory are that with a group ride out more things are going to happen ie landmarks in your memory such that you'll remember it better


but I'm still thinking of other things like safety in numbers if one breaks down you can share tools etc ,

ie if I had a bike fire alone I'd be screwed.

Though my bike is OK , the mechanic I left it with played a real dirty trick and showed me a fire gutted frame in the back , I was horrified , he then laughed took a photo and took a sheet off a bike next to it .

Cause was attempted theft somebody tried to hot wire it or something and left the underseat wiring in a really bad state.

Though it still runs fine , just needs new side panels and a new seat and £5 for some new underpants for me mechanic which I already have when I decided to change my bike colour from Black to red.

[Stu_666]

Thanks for the replies chaps!

Staying in hostels does sound like a good idea. Would also be a hell of a lot cheaper as the most expensive things at the moment seem to be the ferry cost and petrol costs (the ZX6R only does about 140 miles on a full tank so I'll have to ease off hard acceleration on it).

One question though, with hostels and formule1 hotels, do you have to book them in advance?. I'm thinking about going mid July so it might be quite busy then. It'd be easier if I was'nt tied down to a particular place to get to each night as then I could take me time more.

[illusion]

Would be worth trying to get a few people off the forums to go. I want to do some touring of Europe this year, although I was looking around September time.
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My bike

[panrider]

hi stu sorry i dont know about hostels we never use them .but we do use formule1 a lot .no you do not have to book in advance BUTyou can if you plan your trip when and where you are going to stay at the end of each day .
if you are going in july ?it will be busy at the formule1 hotels if you have not booked in advance you will need to start looking at where you are stopping for the night at around 4 pm as the hotels start to fill up fast .but you never be stuck for anywhere to stay in france
go down the centre of france towards clermont ferrand then the real biker roads start .see you in the pyrenees in july

[Stu_666]

Yeah I was thinking around September but I might be off to Uni around then so was'nt sure on dates. Shame as most of the school holidays finish then.

Panrider, cheers for the advice

[natv4]

Panrider is quite right, if you plan on using Fomule1, then get there early as they fill up fast. Though, we just went to any cheap hotel they recommended (they will ring around for you if you are nice).
____________________
Travelling around the world...a bit at a time. Where am I now? / Visit my BLOG
Bike: Blue Honda VFR800fi (*NEW*) Mileage: 22k Countries visited: GB/F/D/CZ/PL/E/I/B/A/HR/H/Rus/E/MA
West Europe...2004, East Europe...2005, Russia/France...2006, Morocco...2007

[kawakid]

Hmm, as I am the only biker I know and the wife's endurance on the back of the bike lasted 20 mins and never since, guess i'll have to do the same.
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I've a twin and a 4.

[colin1]

id get european breakdown cover if i were you. chances are your insurance company will offer it if you ask them but not all do
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[niff5855]

check this link out chaps/chapesses,

looks like we might get a trip together this summer hopefully


https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=80446
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Live fast - die....erm...well...old !!!

[mattgt]

I did a similar trip (in a car unfortunately) and did see quite a few lone riders with gb plates. you do meet a hell of a lot of people, you just have to be confident enough to talk (and speak the language...) It was lonely at times, but keep yourself busy - touring, meeting people, etc etc then you wont go mad like i almost did!
Good luck!