Wales to Spain, May 2012 - touring planning and tips?

[Goodwinsplace]

I am planning a trip on my 955i Girly, with my friend on his Ducati Mulitstrada.
We are leaving Wales on the afternoon of the Thursday getting a late Euro tunnel and finding somewhere to stay/camp the other side of the water.

We then have until late Monday evening to get to Zenia, Spain where we meet our wives and kids for 10 days in a villa before making a shorter return trip.

Any suggestions on things to do, see, visit on the way?
We are planning on taking tents, any suggestions on loading the Tiger? I have a huge top box and back seat free.
Maintenance, adjustments for a ride of this length. My bike has recently been serviced, new chain, new sprocket front tyre is new and rear is good.

Any general tips? My mate has done a few big trips before but this will be my longest.

[PeteH]

Cant realy help much, but be aware France is a very big place so pick your sights carefully and make up time on the motorways.
Or head over to the Pyranese and try out the twisties.. you wont be disappointed.

From my experience in 2010(see my www for Tiger Tour pix) French campsites are better than Spanish but dearer and you can have a great laugh in the loo`s.. ie singing Nuns, half dressed women etc...

Anything else...

Most petrol stations are unmanned so make sure you take your card
The French treat riders like royalty
Take your wets
bang up your preload so you can get the sidestand down when loaded.

Have a great trip :D

[Spud]

Go to Portsmouth, Poole or Plymouth get a night ferry across to St Malo area cut a massive boring bit of the journey out, promise you will not miss much by not going via the tunnel.
You could then go down the West coast stop off at Places like St Nazier (sp) hit the mountains into the Pico's and onto the family. 500 miles a day is easy over there keep off the toll roads where possible you'll see more. on the way down have a look at Ordain St Glare there is a thread on here about my visit last year. Of course you could pass through Burgandy and have a wee tipple.
The French love bikers and will move out of your way to let you passed and it's expected that you will go passed.
Automatic petrol pumps abound, large rest area's on the roads pull over make a brew map out drink up ride on. I had a great trip last June cheers Spud  

[Spud]

Bike load Tent and sleeping bag in a nice waterproof bag strapped onto the pillion seat, you can then use it as a back rest.


Tunnel to Rouen. le Mans, Tours Limoges and onto Millau and Gorge De Tarn

OR

Rouen. Dreux, Chartres, Orleans, Clermont Ferrand, Millau this route will take you over the Central Massif and along some really nice rual French roads

cheers Spud  

[Chris Canning]

If your mate has done some serious trips he'll know most of the in's and out's,the thing that so many either miss or skimp on is medical insurance,of course you'll be thinking you've got that covered with an E111 which you haven't!!! it'll fix your leg it won't get you home!!.

You'll need all but new tyres on,if it's warm you'll eat e'm riding there and back.

It's been mentioned,decent wets,an unlined jacket and trousers will do it's just insurance ontop of your normal gear,there's a difference between riding in the wet in the UK and having to make good ground when your on a trip.

The game has changed in France over these last couple of years,getting nicked for speeding is a risk(for the last 30 odd years it hasn't),make sure you have a credit card to pay,you won't be going anywhere otherwise,the French are pretty good at warning you in advance.

Looking at the days you have,I'd go west coast and the diagonal across Spain,you won't need to see the sights it'll be one big adventure,and if you don't,bollock down the motorways to Tolouse then via Andorra cut the corner off and back on the motorway south,if  it gets warm riding in towns and cities is a ball ache.

It's been mentioned how the French treat bikers,the Spanish DO NOT,when you cross the boarder it's a diffrent game so long as you remember you'll be fine,and the plus side there's less chance of getting done for speeding.

If you set any speed cameras off it doesn't matter,it will in years to come when they've sorted a system out but thats a long way off.

Carry a pair of trials gloves cuz if it gets hot riding in boxing gloves is a nightmare,the advent of Alpinstars 365's have been fantastic so you have sports gloves that are waterproof so you don't need over gloves,but they can still get hot in decent weather and we both change.

Hope you and your mate know each other well,travelling long distance with a.n.other things can get a little tetchy when you get tired.

Camping!!! you must be nuts when you can stay in a Formula1 for peanuts and not carry any gear and enjoy the ride :D ,in Spain you'll be looking for Hostel's their cheapo hotels.

Go Portsmouth/St Malo,why???,becuase it's a better run and it doesn't dump you off in the middle of the night like the Le-Havre ferry does,it goes at 8pm and docks a 8am.

[Timbox2]

Listen to Chris, hes done more than most.
Ive only ever ridden through Spain once, many years ago when I had to leave Portugal in a hurry and a dear ol mate, Jorge, lent me an ol BM 800 Boxer which I rode to London and dropped off at some other friends before getting the coach to Bristol. I left Cascais at 8:00am and was in my mates flat in Bristol at 1:30pm the next day. The one thing that sticks in my mind was the temperature, in Salamanca it was over 40C, and I was so glad this beemer didnt have a fairing, then I got up to San Sebastian and it was pissing down and about 10C and desparately wanted the fairing. I didnt have any luggage or proper bike kit, just an old Army Rain Poncho that acted like a wind brake, it is one of those journeys that I will always remember, probably more for what it was about, but thats not for this forum :shock:

Oh, and the other slight pain then of course was having to have a few of each Escudos, Pesatas and Franks, but somehow part of the fun.

[NKL]

Your peanuts are expensive Chris, on the way back through France last year stopped at a camp site that cost 3 Euros with hot shower that was included.

[Chris Canning]

Your peanuts are expensive Chris, on the way back through France last year stopped at a camp site that cost 3 Euros with hot shower that was included.

We camped for around 5 years,and then one day thought WTF are we carrying all this crap around for when the holiday is all about riding the bike and seeing the sights,we can now go on the road for two weeks with a tank and top box and have got it down to a fine art,the bad side just wish we knew 35 years and 120/30 trips to Europe what we know now but hey ho :(,we would have made a lot less mistakes and stayed drier :D  

Things like our silly looking pillow bag strapped onto of the top box,that not only has a can of drilube spray and odds and sods allows us to get our waterproofs out in seconds without disturbing other luggage and the chain spray or what ever by just undoing the zip on the side,or with the two straps holding it on when it's been 38/40C have even strapped our jackets on the back.

No matter how much you suggest,folks will find their own way in the end if they stick at it,it's just the amount of time it takes. :(

[MarkShelley]

A basic but very important thing..............
Inform your bank that you are going abroad so your card doesn`t get stopped! This happened to me.
It would be prudent to have at least one spare credit card in case you have a problem with one. Keep them in different bags, just in case one gets lost/stolen.
Carry the phone numbers required to cancel any cards that get stolen or better still email the numbers to yourself so you can access them from any computer.
Availability is probably No.1 priority.

[blacktiger]

All good advice above and as Chris says everyone finds their own way of doing it after a while. There is no right or wrong way. Just get on with it and make what you can of it.

Personally, I always liked the over night P&O ferry Portsmouth~Le Havre because it dumped you into France at 7am for a nice early start which meant that you could do some serious mileage that day without resorting to the Auto-routes. Doesn't run now but there are similar services around.

I gave up camping some years ago for the very reasons that Chris mentions BUT I'm thinking of starting again because the hotels are getting silly expensive in recent years. Over £100 for a Campanile in places. And, you'll be very lucky to get into an F1 unless you book it previous. They are the cheapest and, therefore, they fill up early and fast.

Don't limit your route to main roads. They are generally busier, run through the bigger towns and cities and are more heavily Policed. There are perfectly good and fast roads running in between the main roads known as "Department" roads. On the maps are D19, D2 etc.. These D roads are Tiger friendly and you'll see the real rural France. Same applies in Spain.

So, whatever you do, wherever you go, have a blast. I have been since 1978.

[Chris Canning]

I know what I'd forgotten,we were on the way down to Valencia but wanted to wander down through France and Spain via Andorra,booked an Ibis in Orleans( we had a late ferry) and wanted to book with the same chain in Toulouse,despite them having 4/5 hotels down there on paper all were booked.

Got into Orleans really late,went to bed, up following morning asked the girl on the desk if she could book us an hotel in Toulouse didn't take 2 minutes :roll: ,and we did the same for a booking in Andorra,you can do the same with the F1 chain,you don't have to,but means you can dawdle all day without the hassle of finding a hotel,we've had a few domestics :oops:  having ridden a long day and had to try 3/4 hotels because they were all full during the summer season.

And the other thing :oops: ,if you do go Dover Calais,cross over 9pm at night,pre book a hotel in Calais and loose the hour in your sleep,we've been well the otherside of Switzerland the same day.