Monaco 2014

[Spudly]

Hi all,

I'm planning a trip for May 2014, a couple of friends are coming over from Australia and the three of us will take the opportunity to see places we wouldn't have thought of doing.

In the middle of it all, we have the opportunity to be pit crew for a team in the Historic Formula Car Grand Prix, which will be held at Monaco on the weekend of the 17th and 18th of May that year.

Specifically, a friend of mine will be taking his 1973 Brabham BT40 there. I'ts the weekend before the FIA F1 meeting, so should be a blast.

What we want to do though is take the long way round there, within reason. We all have particular places we want to see, but in all reality, we probably only have between 16 and 20 days in which to do the whole thing.

At the moment, the plan is for the two guys from Australia to hire a Pan European, I'm currently looking around for a Deauville or an ST1100 if the price is right and move on from there.

https://goo.gl/maps/5OWu7 is the route we have mapped out so far. Does that look a bit ambitious?

Bearing in mind of course that we actually want to stop and look around in most of these waypoints, not just drive through.

What do you think?
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The Old Apprentice

[Marmalade]

It's plenty possible and if you can do the 20 days you'll have a bit of time for sightseeing. 16 days and you'll mainly be riding and not stopping for long.
If you are not used to doing long distances you'll be well advised to build up doing some distances.
Going from 20 miles a day(random figure) usually to 2-400 miles for 3 weeks in foreign lands is going to make you very tired and more of a challenge than you'd hoped for.

You should have a look at other places to visit rather than just the 'main' centres like Milan, Paris, Prague...
Others will have better advice on what or where but Lake garda is stunning in Italy and you'll have a more enjoyable time than in some grubby busy city.
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Nobby the Bastard: How yo tell the difference between the actual japanese and her just screaming because she's had live fish stuck up her arse? [url=https://www.nicks-shop.co.uk/bcf-goodies-15-c.aspGet BCF stickers and things here[/url] Reflective helmet stickers - Legal requirement in france - Clicky

[Spudly]

Good points those, I hadn't considered how knackered we will get after several days riding long riding.

Personally, I'm quite happy to miss out the cities, but I'm in the situation where getting over to the continent isn't as much of a trek as it is for the lads coming from Australia.

I'll have a chat to the lads and see if we can whittle the list down a bit.

Stelvio Pass is one thing we all want to do though and it drops us into what I have heard is some seriously gorgeous countryside, on both sides of the mountains.

As well as Lake Garda, what other places would you recommend? We are planning on camping most of the time, to save funds and so on. Also, completely happy to avoid whatever the equivalent of "A" roads is over there.
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The Old Apprentice

[Marmalade]

San Bernardino in Switzerland is unsurprisingly on the San Bernardino pass which along with some decent views provides some decent roads.
You wouldn't need the swizz road tax for the pass and you can get from Liechtenstein to Italy almost completely on the pass. It is obviously going to take longer than using the motorways but you'll have more interesting time avoiding them.

Think about the camping thing, in euro they charge tent+vehicle+person which even if the 2 mates share a twin room it'll likely be a saving.

You can book rooms in most places for £25-£40 which are warm, dry, clean and gives you chance for a decent kip and shower rather than a dodgy tent sleep.

San Bernardino pass
https://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo141/bramble43/32.jpg

Lake Garda
https://i370.photobucket.com/albums/oo141/bramble43/24.jpg
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Nobby the Bastard: How yo tell the difference between the actual japanese and her just screaming because she's had live fish stuck up her arse? [url=https://www.nicks-shop.co.uk/bcf-goodies-15-c.aspGet BCF stickers and things here[/url] Reflective helmet stickers - Legal requirement in france - Clicky

[moppy]

Since you're heading to Monaco and are near Cannes, DON'T MISS the Gorge du Verdon. I did, because I planned my route stupidly but I rode through areas surrounding it and the roads and the area are phenomenal. So make sure you do that.

I would set aside 30 days for that personally, but I like to take things slowly, ride little, look around a lot. But 20 days is probably a good amount of time to actually see things as well.

Do take your documents, hi vis, first aid kit with you. We got asked to produce them by Austrian police. Also, Italian non toll motorways are fucking awful, so don't die on them.

[Spudly]

[Spudly]

[Marmalade]

[John933]

I've done most of them roads. You are going to have a great time. No place is better than others. They all have something to show you.
John
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My trip

[gorillaonabik...]

I agree with the above poster about timescale. Personally, I'd blast straight down the autoroute to Marseille, stay a couple of nights and then take the twisty stuff all down the coast stopping off at Nice and maybe a couple of seaside towns. In Marseille, I'd recommend the Trolleybus in the Vieux Port and 'It May Be Blues' at Cours Julien.

The Gorges du Verdun are good but I wouldn't go out of my way from the coastal route if I wanted to party. There's plenty of twisty stuff to sample on your route as it is.

Nice is great to party in. Otherwise, there are a ton of coastal little towns to stop off in including Antibes, Cannes, San Tropez etc... and at that time of year they won't be full of tourists.

Then I'd keep going from Monaco up using your map.

That would be a good 20 days if you wanted to stop off at a few places for a few days.

However, that's just me and opinions are like @ssholes...
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FZR400 (blown engine), ZXR750 (blown engine), ZX6R (accident), CBR600 which had engine issues after which I learned to change gear..., CBR900, CBR924 (stolen), CB600, CB1300 (everything blew up), BMW K1300GT (written off, hit from rear while stationary), Bandit 1250 for a couple of months, Triumph Sprint ST 1050 (nicked) and somewhere in there, I wrote off a Ducati 748 at Cadwell.

[Spudly]

[Spudly]

[Spudly]

[gorillaonabik...]

[/quote]In some cases that statement about opinions is true, but I did ask for them!

I personally think we may be being a bit ambitious, we need to whittle a few of those places off.

The problem is, there is too much to see! I reckon I could spend months or years just looking around Italy alone.[/quote]

This is why I suggested blasting straight down to Marseille and partying for a night or 2. Marseille is a dodgy but half-decent stopping off point and it is the most logical way to trim your journey time down to 20 days.

And as for Italy... Once you've been to the S of France... my best mate came down there and it took him a few days to adjust to seeing zillions of beautiful, scantily clad French chicks everywhere.
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FZR400 (blown engine), ZXR750 (blown engine), ZX6R (accident), CBR600 which had engine issues after which I learned to change gear..., CBR900, CBR924 (stolen), CB600, CB1300 (everything blew up), BMW K1300GT (written off, hit from rear while stationary), Bandit 1250 for a couple of months, Triumph Sprint ST 1050 (nicked) and somewhere in there, I wrote off a Ducati 748 at Cadwell.

[Spudly]

I've never been there, but I will say I've seen some pics of those gorgeous beaches and even more gorgeous ladies who see beachwear as an optional extra, so I have a feeling there may be a few days of gawping Aussies sat on those beaches.

I've just spoken to the lads and both of them have mentioned that the trip will likely be a once in a lifetime thing, so they are setting aside 28 days for it so they don't have to rush around everywhere. That takes a lot of pressure off and gives us a fair bit of leeway.

Just a matter of convincing t'missus to give me a 28 day pass now!
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The Old Apprentice