Belgium and more - Loads More Piccies!

[arry]

Does everyone going use whatsapp? Shall we set up a group? Or at least exchange numbers.

[-Matt-]

PM'ed you arry

[chickenstrip]

What's whatsapp?

Stop trying to drag me out of the 20th century, it's my comfort zone

I'm still hoping Neil will be lending me a phone that will work!
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Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
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[-Matt-]

Phone messaging app wizardry I mentioned ages ago for Wales .

Nothing essential but can be useful for sending GPS locations to everyone if someone gets lost. Which definitely won't happen .

[chickenstrip]

Just thought I'd post up a few of the ideas that we (for "we", read "I" ) have for beyond the Belgium bit. After Belgium, my mate has 20 days, so we should have time to do a fair bit, although we don't want to be riding silly mileages day in, day out.

So, we'll head down to the Alps via the B500, aiming more or less for Goldau in Switzerland, where we know of a hotel whose prices aren't too steep. (At any time that hotel booking gets difficult, we'll have camping gear). I want to do the Grimsel/Furka/Susten Pass loop, and we'll maybe have a day or two more in that general area. Then, we're thinking of heading over to Grindelwald to have a day off the bikes with the idea of taking the cog railway to Kleine Scheidegg for views of the Eiger, and also the railway that actually goes through the mountain.

The Grossglockner Pass might be next on the list, and head for Bolzano or somewhere in that vicinity, to explore around the Dolomites. Then across to the lakes (Como etc), back over the Alps by one or other of the passes, and head for Chamonix/Annecy and the Mont Blanc region. You can actually do a road loop of the whole Mont Blanc massif, might do that.

Following that, we might pick up one of the routes down to the south coast of France, Route des Grande Alpes or Route Napoleon.

Beyond that, I'm not thinking too much now. We'll see what time we have left by that point and decide as we go.

So very roughly, the route looks something like this:

Euro Tour 2016

The Italy bit especially is really unplanned at the moment, except that I'd like to get some good views of the Dolomites and ride some good roads (I will refer to bestbikingroads.com from time to time, and will also have a copy of John Herman's "Motorcycling Adventures in the Alps" with me). I'd like to have time to go all the way down to Pompeii, but that's a long way and I don't think my mate has the time to do that. The bit from Bolzano to Como(ish) and then Chamonix will most likely look very different to the above map, using something much more scenic and fun to ride; just plugged in approximate destinations for now, but if anyone has any nice ideas to connect up the dots (for any of it really), I'm all ears!

After my mate heads for home, and assuming the money situation is still good, I could do more, but it will depend on how I feel at the time. I might just come back to Blighty with him, or I might continue on - I'm keeping a totally open mind about this, as I've never done such a long trip before, time-wise anyway.

Can't wait!
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[Matt B]

Probably won't affect you, but have you guys seen this about fuel shortages?

https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=312887
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[chickenstrip]

Ok, we can be flexible here and do a route down through Belgium (which was the original plan). 40 miles from Calais to the Belgian border, if we brim the tanks just before the crossing, we shouldn't have any problems. The hotel is in France, but again, not far from the Belgian border. With a bit of forethought, this ought not ruin our trip.
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[Pigeon]

[chickenstrip]

Neil and me will go anyway, staying with the hotel reservation we have. But instead of visiting places in France, we'll go further into Belgium. This was my original plan anyway, even before the start of this thread. We haven't paid a fortune for the hotel anyway, so if the worst comes to the worst, we'll just look for somewhere else further from France.

The only concern is making sure we have enough fuel on arrival at the hotel to get to a petrol station in Belgium next morning. If we're careful, and maybe fuel somewhere like Dinant on the way down, it shouldn't be a problem, but as said, can always stay in Belgium and book something else.

Everyone has to make their own decision about how much risk there is, and whether or not they still want to chance it. Please post your decision here.


PS When Hitler's 5th and 6th Panzer Armies invaded through the Ardennes in Dec. 1944, the commanders were worried about getting enough fuel. They were told they would have to capture American fuel supplies.



They failed to do this, and they lost



I'm not really helping here, am I?
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[Ali in Austria]

Most of your route through Austria before The Großglockner is motorway and you are missing some great roads in between such as Silvretta, Kuhtai, Gerlos Pass.

If time is important fair enough but if you want some suggestions PM me.
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[chickenstrip]

[chickenstrip]

Neil says to tell you you're all just being a big bunch of pussies, and where's your sense of adventure?
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Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
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[Pigeon]

[chickenstrip]

[-Matt-]

I agree with chickenstrip - its up to people to make their own minds up on this one. My current opinion is i'm not sure its a good idea staying in Charleville anymore, but booking this late particularly and staying in Belgium otherwise is going to get pricey, if its even possible to find somewhere - so its that or nothing for me really.

I'm very 50-50 right now. My hotel is cancellable without charge and the eurotunnel can be amended to use on another trip possibly or claimed back on travel insurance possibly, so money-wise its not a problem either way, which is a big swinger towards rescheduling it - but obviously I am extremely keen to come along still and will be gutted if this one goes to bits .

I'm also worried we might have to miss some/all of the French bits on our plan with the mileage into France thats required and lack of fuel in the areas. I was especially interested in these places, so it would be quite a downer on the trip for me personally if thats the case , although Bastogne and Dinant etc would still be good, but also riding up and down through Belgium won't be great - I was quite looking forward to the route down through the three national parks in France, which also stopped it being such a long day.

My main worry is with Charleville's petrol station already empty (and quite probably most French surrounding ones) relying on Belgium's stations with our tank ranges could get stressful and cause some issues. If we're using those stations, I wouldn't be suprised to find most of the French within a similar distance are also using them; filling their cars up with 50 litres at a time. If the Belgium stations haven't prepared for this they could also run dry very quickly leaving us stranded like the guy in the other thread potentially as there isn't all that many within tankrange of the hotel and back. Plus theres the other issue of if the French are using them, even if theres fuel we could waste hours a day queueing, in potentially shit weather. It could all be absolutely fine, but if its not it would really ruin the trip.
https://i66.tinypic.com/htftvs.jpg

However... I am considering whether converting my tankbag into fuel tanker may be a good solution to reducing worries/problems if I can do it without turning me and the bike into a fireball.
https://i68.tinypic.com/33ynk86.jpg

I'm going to hold off deciding until the last minute if thats alright with everyone. If things continue to get worse i'll throw the towel in and bail. If it seems to stabilise a bit and I can sort out some additional fuel-storage so we might be able to stretch to do the French/have back up fuel, i'll probably risk it.

[chickenstrip]

[-Matt-]

[chickenstrip]

Well, I'm off down to Neil's in the morning, so we'll have a day to sort any last minute details and check everything over one last time. I'll just leave you all with this message:

Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen Motorcyclists of the BCF Expeditionary Forces:

You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world a small proportion of BCF are upon you.
Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely run away.

I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in hunting down or stealing fuel. We will accept nothing less than full victory.

Good Luck! And let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.
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[Howling Terror]

Bon voyage you bunch of nob jockeys.
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[Dave V4]

[-Matt-]

I'm going to bail on this one I think guys, sorry. I can't risk any problems making me get back late this time and I can see it quite possibly turning into more stress than its worth with the current situation over there. I'd rather cancel the bits i've booked for free now and reschedule it to do the the original plan properly another time

Latest news i've seen today is people are starting to go across into Belgium in increasing numbers and they're rationing fuel in the places it does remain and banning the use of jerry cans and containers already in French stations which was what I was hoping to have as a fallback. I can see the Belgium-border stations becoming equally chaotic with queues and low supplies as this goes on; especially with all the Brits pouring in over the bank holiday weekend. If those stations run out too we'd be completely stuffed.

https://www.thelocal.fr/20160525/latest-where-in-france-the-petrol-shortage-is-biting

I'm going to do the original plan for this trip in August/September time tagged onto a trip to Holland, so if anyone wants to come along for either part instead/as well as this you're welcome.

Good luck to those that are still going anyway, hopefully it does pan out alright for you over there .

[Dave70]

Probably a sensible move Matt (not that I'm saying the rest of you aren't )

I think I'd do the same tbh. It looks like it could end up being a very frustrating and potentially expensive trip, if folks get stranded and end up having to fork out for last minute hotel bookings.

Best of luck though to all that go and hopefully I'll be joining you one day on a euro trip. It could take a few years to get this bleedin' mod 1 passed though.
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[Pigeon]

Well, I never was the sharpest tool in the box. Coupled with monumental stubbornness, not always a great combination

I'm still hopeful, that with extra jerry cans it will be ok (I've now got two in my topbox). Fillups done the Belgium side shouldn't be too bad where we are.

New places seen, friends chatting shit over a beer somewhere away from home. And the unknown!

OK the weather looks a bit shit too (thunderstorms + hail), but on the plus side, its 22c. So at least wet & warm.

Another plus side, fewer people from UK going and fewer vehicles on the road in France*.


* Fingers crossed that doesn't also mean fewer recovery trucks.

[arry]

I'm just trying to make my mind up on this.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36385778

Appears the problems are becoming more widespread and not just related to fuel now.

What a shitter

[chickenstrip]

The state of things in France now does make me think it might just be too problematic for you guys, so I understand where you're coming from.
Me and Neil are now thinking of going straight to Belgium and staying away from France altogether, but we'll only lose the cost of the hotel booking, as we haven't even booked our return trip, so if things are still tits up when we're done, we'll get a ferry home from Holland or something. Unless anyone else does decide they'll still risk it with us. Thanks all for keeping us updated on your thoughts, and I'm sorry it worked out this way.

(Thus far, the tunnel crossing outward is still on, according to Eurotunnel).
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Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!