One week only

[gmanxiii]

Tour France or Spain? bear in mind i have to get from Manchester to any of the ports so add a few hundred miles of rainy motorway work

Cheers!
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I kills hondas

VFR400NC30 > ZZR600 > CBR600FX > CBR1000rr

[Itchy]

1 week is way not enough , since you have to consider the transit via northern France both ways which is a exceptionally hard 1 day + 6 motorway hours. 300 to Dover, 400 to anywhere remotely interesting in France thats and easy 14 hours of riding with a 90 minute break on the ferry.

And you have to fight through Northern France which is crawling with cops bad weather and high price of petrol. (good stuff starts south of grenoble).

Spain is worse in that via the North France ferry again you have to fight through northern France (Roscoff might be an idea via Plymouth), through the bad weather and lots of autoroute again a 14 hour marathon.

Spain via Plym Santander ferries isn't good as you lose a weekend meaning you pretty much head to Andorra on day 1 and ride back up via say Montpellier and nice.

Me? if I could do it again (and I might be...) I would go Portsmouth Bilbao ferry which has a non regular time table and attempt to catch the one that leaves friday evening , and say do half day at work on a friday, burn down 300 miles sleep off the 22 hours land in Bilbao Saturday noon , which gives you 8 days which means you can probably do the N240+N260 twice hanging around Northern Spain for 4 days and take 2 days to get to Nice and 2 days back to Dover.

So you get to do the better bits of my two tours ie N240 + N260 , then Barca , then Jaca Andorra , cross over to Montpellier , do the Montpellier lap (dangerous) , scoot to Marsellies , to Nice , then N85 -> N202 , then North and out..

This is complicated by the fact that the M6 is chock a block on Fridays , also bring a tent (I recommend the Gerlert Nakina plus fits in a tank bag), so you can ride longer (hotels fill up instantly camp sites do not).

This of course depends upon your endurance , as remember the heat is exhausting in Spain and the Rain will wither your enjoyment.
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Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[EuropeanNC30R...]

We talking a 7 day week or two-weekend inclusive 9 day week?

[gmanxiii]

Believe it'll be likely a 7day week, ive actually got 2 full weeks booked off mid september but one of the guys im going with can only get about a week off!

Cheers itchy, endurance wise im probably not wanting to go nuts as still iffy from my crash plus with the number of guys crashing recently, including yours within a few hours of leaving the ferry Matt in particular plays on my mind quite abit! Damnit!
____________________
I kills hondas

VFR400NC30 > ZZR600 > CBR600FX > CBR1000rr

[dodger]

Have to agree, I don't think 1 week is anywhere near enough time unless you are willing to put serious hours in on the first and last day...
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My Bikes: Piaggio NRG| Aprilia RS 125| Suzuki GSX-R 600|Yamaha Fazer Ducati 848
Europe 2008

[EuropeanNC30R...]

You thought about trying something different, like Norway, or a combined Scotland / Ireland thing?

[gmanxiii]

Actually off work this week as well and going upto scotland on thursday with stiffler to finish the tour i crashed out of back in May! not really thought of norway though, was thinking of somewhere warmer.
____________________
I kills hondas

VFR400NC30 > ZZR600 > CBR600FX > CBR1000rr

[Phoenix]

My trip was a 7.5 days but was designed as a 9 day week as it included both weekends, which is obviously the most efficient use of your holiday time. I was very happy with what I got done in that time and certainly don't think it was too short. If i'd have used the full first day rather than just the late afternoon, and not come back a day early could've done even more.

I'm probably going back again in 2-3weeks using 9 days again, if I do, the plan is to use day 1 to get to Dover, cross over and get about halfway through france and get all the motorway bit done by halfway into day 2, and the same coming back thus leaving nearly 6 full days to tour the interesting bits, spain/andorra/southern france, plenty of time. Other option I might do is to dash up through Germany and spend the 6ish days in Sweden/Norway before coming back the same way. It's boring but when you get into the swing you can really cover some distance using the motorways and I worked it out to be more time and cost effective than getting the ferry to Caen/Cherbourg or Bilbao/Santander.

[spnorm]

Use P&O North Sea ferries or DFDS from Newcastle to Ijmuiden and head into the Mosel/Eifel/Rhine Gorge area of Germany - twisty roads, beautiful scenery, fantastic steaks and beer; what more do you need?