The First Time Motorcycle Touring Page
So you fancy touring Europe: the Alps, the South of France perhaps? But you have never been further than a Sunday blast with your mates, so crossing the Channel into Europe and 'they ride on the right and speak foreign'-land is a bit worrying. This page is for you.
And the first and biggest piece of advice - stop worrying about it, just do it. Just book the ferry and look out your passport. It is not as scary as you think it will be.
Seriously, as long as your bike is well maintained and you have a desire to go - just go.
What bike do I need.
A Honda Gold Wing or a step-through C70 - whatever you got. Only thing is, its got to be comfortable. Met a guy once on the Isle of Man who had loved his Fireblade, but after a week of riding it every day on the Island, he hated the damn thing's high pegs, low bars, and non-existant seat padding. I think he had already booked the Chiropractor for when he got home!
You are going to be riding most of every day, for most days for a fortnight. Your bike has to be:
- reliable
- comfortable
If you want to go to your local BMW Dealer and buy a shiny new Round-The-World style 1150GS, do so. If you own an old well-loved Kawa GT550, take that instead. Pick up Bike or Ride or MCN or any mag and every few months there's a story of some old codger who rode to Istanbul and back on a scooter or a BSA Bantam or something. I like something a little bigger than that, but you really can take whatever you have.
If you have a decent bike already, I would not rush out and buy a new one for touring. Go first time on whatever you have. When you have done two weeks in the saddle, when you know what to expect, when you know how you like to ride. Then, decide to spend money on the bike that suits you for the job. I like my well-used air-cooled BMW R100, my mate prefers a new TT600, another mate a beat-up Transalp,... Its what suits you, your budget, and your style of touring.
Prepping the bike
2 weeks before you go (never do it the night before)
Reliability is everything. Service it. And fix anything that has been needing done that you haven't got round to.
Have 4,000 miles left on your tyres. Or fit new tyres anyway. Even if you have good tread left, consider that you will be doing 3,000 miles - fully loaded, two up, at speed, on hot tarmac. On any high-performance bike, that'll do a rear tyre, and half-way back from Madrid is no time to find the canvas poking through.
Fit a new chain (/sprockets). And seriously consider fitting a Scottoiler or similar - they really do make a difference.
Then take the bike for a shake-down to bed in the tyres, ease in the chain, check you tightened the sump plug properly.
And you do all this 2 weeks before you go - so you have time to order up parts, and know for sure the bike is good to go.
Headlight Dip
Modify your headlight dip beam. In the UK, dip beam has a bit that shines high on the left, to illuminate the verge and roadside signs. This will dazzle oncoming drivers when you ride on the right. A couple of nights before you go, shine your dip beam on the garage wall or something. Experiment with a sharp knife and some good-quality insulating tape to cover the segments of the glass where the up-left bit comes out. You could try your local dealer or the manufacturer for a custom-cut shape designed for your bike, but it may be hard to get, and it will not work any better than a tidy job you do with insulating tape.
The GB sticker
If your number plate is the new type, with the blue bit with GB written on it - that'll do. You can buy these as stickers to stick on your plate if there is room (Towsure). Or go for the classic GB sticker. Stick it on the mudguard or a pannier or something. Mine is stuck on the cut-out lid of a margarine tub, bolted behind the number plate mounts for a neat and permanent fitment. (But I do like fiddling in the garage doing 'neat solutions' like that - sad I am.)
Spares
What spares you need will depend partly on your bike, but more your ability and inclination to use them.
Certainly take a basic tool-roll, spare plugs, insulating tape, a length of heavy-duty wire, insulating tape, ... But don't get all paranoid and take the whole workshop 'just in case'. They understand bikes in Europe you know, and there are Dealers and mechanics who will fix it for you.
(Make a tool-toll by cutting open the leg of an old pair of jeans. ...the other leg cut up makes an excellent few rags.)
Take a spare of each of the bulbs for your bike - some countries have a legal requirement you do this.
Take a small First Aid Kit - some countries have a legal requirement, and some plasters and Mozzie-sting salve are useful.
Take a yellow reflective jacket or waistcoat for if you break down by the roadside.
Take a Warning Triangle - some countries have a legal requiremen.... Probably only for cars.
We dealt with the bike first, because that is the question we hear most often - will this bike do?
The next question is always - what luggage do I need? so...
Panniers / Luggage
You may have hard panniers already. If not, there are as many solutions as there are bikers and bikes.
Pretty much, you will need side panniers and some bag on the pillion seat or rack.
- Cheap solution. Throwover panniers, gym bag, bungees. Go for it. I started touring this way too.
- Medium solution. Hard panniers (original fitment, after-market universal fit, or heavy soft panniers) and roll-bag.
- BMW/Gold Wing/whatever riders. You either have Original Equipment panniers, or can find them second-hand for your model. If there are OE panniers for your model, these will always be a better solution than a generic aftermarket set. Try eBay.
- Others. Visit your local Dealer, or M & P, for various suppliers' generic rack and cases. Maybe £300
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- Heavy soft panniers. Rather than an expensive set of generic cases, consider these large heavy-canvas Expedition Bags. They hold as much or more as hard cases and are completely waterproof. (And they have a more street-cred Adventurer look than generic hard cases ;) You may need some form of rack, to stop them flapping about. Somwehere under £200 + whatever rack / tie-it-to arrangement you make.
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- Treat yourself to £60-worth of Ortleib waterproof roll-bag. Size depending whether it is going on the pillion seat (get the biggest you can), or on the top box rack (smaller, 'thinner' to fit, with extra brackets and lots of bungees).
These bags swallow an amazing amount of that bulky hard-to-pack stuff like tent, sleeping bags, air mattress, groundsheet, water-proofs, trainers, boots, barbeque, ....
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- Pukka off-road RTW style. Metal Adventure-Touring boxes on a custom rack. Names are Touratech, Zega, Metal Mule, and others. 2 boxes and a roll-bag will see you round the world. Budget £700+ for new. You may find second-hand if you are very lucky (and even luckier to find a set with the rack to suit your bike - try the HuBB at Horizons Unlimited).
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If you have a Top Box already, think hard about whether you want to use it. Too much weight high up in the top box is unneccessary, and they are never big enough. You will get more luggage space - for light, bulky items - by using a roll-bag instead. Strap it to the topbox mounts if you are taking a pillion. If you are riding alone, strap it to the pillion seat.
If you use hard cases, always, always, use a tie-down strap round them, to the frame of the bike. You will hit a pothole, their mounting will spring open, and your dirty Y-fronts will be strewn all over the Bucharest ring-road. (Guess how I know this :)
And please do not expect your pillion to carry a rucksack on their back. Quite apart from being very dangerous, it will piss them off to the extent that they will never want to tour with you again.
Take a Tankbag if you want, though a small Rucksack/Backpack is much more useful (bungee to the top of the rollbag). In this you put your camera, sunglasses, fags, map, etc. When you stop somewhere for coffee or a wander - its easy to unstrap it and take the 'don't want to lose it' stuff with you.
Your passport, money, ferry tickets, and all other 'disaster if I lose it' paperwork should go in a money-belt, shoulder-holster, neck-purse, or whatever you can live with.
Bungees
Bungees are nasty things. We have all had them fly up and think 'nearly had my eye out there'. Well, they do take peoples' eyes out. I was reading somewhere they are #1 cause of recreational damage to the eye.
Take a few, because they are very useful. But for your main luggage attachment, use thin tie-downs. Not the cheap poor-quality ones for a fiver a set of 10. You want good quality and well-made. You may have try a surfboard shop or similar. Maybe a good bicycle shop. You do not need ratchet tightening mechanisms - a hard pull into a well-designed non-slip cam-buckle is all you need to keep bike luggage in place.
Consider these alternatives recently in from Australia. Elastic webbing straps with velcro closures. You need to know roughly what size you want, so they are not as versatile as traditional tie-downs, but they are much cooler.
And the next question? Oh yes,
Packing
Or, 'Can I take my evening suit and stilettos ?'
2 weeks before you go, look out everything you want to take and lay it on the living room floor. I mean it, everything.... Tent, socks, helmet, toothbrush, everything.
Have a laugh, see how much you can get in the panniers..... No ? I thought not.
Critically appraise every item: evaluaute its
- usefulness - I would quite like to take that, it might be handy - vs - I'm not going 2 weeks without toothpaste !
- bulk - note well, it is size, not weight, which is important.
Usefullness vs bulk is a personal decision, but:
- You do not need a thick wooly jumper, far too bulky for what its worth.
- You always take a roll of insulating tape. Why - well, if you have to ask, dear.....
- And no, we do not have room for your stilettos..... .. no, not even if we leave the insulating tape at home.
On appraising every item, either
- Put it back in the cupboard it came from
- Put it in the 'Maybe' pile
- Put it in the 'Definitely Going' pile.
You will now get the 'definitely going' stuff in the bags. So, revisit the 'maybe' pile, and maybe a few things can sneak back in.
Leave yourself a bit of slack, because packing on your nice dry living room floor is one thing. Packing on a cold wet campsite in the rain - things never seem to get packed so neatly.
...and you do want to leave room for the 'Duty Free's on the way home. (see below)
Now you have it all packed.- put it on the bike and go for a long ride. If you are taking a pillion, take the pillion. Now is the time to find out whether the panniers hit the exhaust, whether the pillion can get their leg swung over the top box, in full bad-weather riding kit.
Find out whether you need to look in the manual for how to jack up the rear suspension, increase tyre pressures, re-align the headlight. These are not the sort of things to be doing 5 minutes before you leave for the ferry.
Where To Go
This is determined by 'how far can I go'. Down France is 2 days hard, 3 days easy. By '2 days hard' I mean riding 12 hours a day, at speed, on the Autoroute. If you have never done that before, do not do it on your first trip abroad.
Much better is to have a vague destination in mind - perhaps 'I fancy getting to the South of France'. Get off the ferry, look at your map, and say 'Hmmm, Paris'. Then leave Paris heading South-East because 'somebody said Ardennes was nice'. Then you head south from the Ardennes having noticed Geneva was an easy half-days ride. And then down the twisty high roads of the Alps-Pyrenees. And Hey Presto, there's the South of France and coffee in Monaco! This might take you 4-5 days, but its much more fun than 2 days of head-down arse-up high-speed Autoroute.
Avoid 'destination fixation', it is the trap too many people fall into. 'I've got 5 days and I've got to get to Nice.' 'From the map, I know I've got to do 500 miles each day.' You can be the one who comes back and brags about how many miles he can do. I'd rather be the guy who remembers that home-made burger for lunch by a lazy river, or the view over Lake Geneva to the Alps, or coasting down the hairpins on the Sospel-Nice road with the engine off - because it was just to beautiful to disturb.
In Real Life
Lets assume you are a reasonably experienced rider, on a big-enough bike, and the weather stays good....
You have 2 weeks holidays, Saturday going to Sunday coming back = 15 days
A day to get to the ferry, and you need to be back at a decent time on the Sunday to make work on Monday = 13 days.
The ferry doesn't get there until 12, and you need to be at the terminal early coming back, -1 day = 12 days
Always leave yourself a day or two in hand just in case (breakdown, weather, day off sight-seeing) = 10 days
10 days in-country - from the English Channel - will take you:
The Alps and Med - Belgium; Rhine; Black Forest; Alps, Italian Lakes; Med coast to Nice; Geneva; Ardennes; Ardeche; home. That's 10 days, riding every day. Stopping when you feel like it for coffee, croissants, and sight-seeing.
Lap of France - Paris; Ardennes; Alps-Maritime; Marseille; Andorra; touch Spain; Bay of Biscay coast; Brittany; home. An easy, relaxed 10 days.
Eastern Bloc - Germany; former East Germany; Poland; South to Czech republic; Slovakia; Hungary; touch former Yugoslavia; Austria; Germany; home.
On a faster bike, if you are prepared to put in high miles a couple days - a lap of Spain - nail it down France; Andorra; Barcelona; Costa del Sol; Gibraltar; Portugal; West/North coast; nail it up France. You'll only do this one in 10 days on a comfy mile-eating bike.
If you ferry to Bilbao or Santander in North Spain, you could cover all Spain; Portugal; and a day trip to Morocco (on a tour bus, not the bike) easy in 10 days.
Scandinavia - ferry to Norway; up the coast; Arctic Circle; Northern Lights; Sweden; Finland; ferry over Baltic; Sweden; Norway; home.
If you want to press me for a 'first timers' recommendation, I would go for the first route above, in the clockwise order given. This will give you a variety of different countries, languages, cultures and food - and a variety of riding days from Autobahn to 1st gear hairpins. (Doing it clockwise allows you to miss out the Med-coast-and-Nice loop if time is tighter than you thought. Use the Mont Blanc tunnel as a short-cut to Geneva.)
Save Morocco, Tunisia, the former USSR or Istanbul for your next trip. They are all fascinating places, which everybody should see, but are ambitious for the first-timer, both in mileage and cultural differences.
The Daily Rythm
Here are a few principles I try to use - though we all still get it wrong occasionally.
Know where you are sleeping by late afternoon
You will not have hours of gentle dusk like you get in Scotland, it gets darker sooner and more quickly in Europe. You need to have your tent up; your lilo inflated and bag rolled out; your first drink in hand; and your evening meal in sight - before it gets dark. If this means you spot somewhere nice and stop riding an hour before you meant to, that's always better than squeezing in another half-hour riding, then stressing about not finding somewhere to stay, ending up in some shit-hole because its all you can find. Same applies to hotels. Even if you have something pre-booked, you still need to have found it, parked up, and got in before dark - or do you want to be riding round the back streets of Sofia looking like a lost tourist in the dark (trust me, you don't).
Sometimes, the need to know where you are sleeping needs early-afternoon planning. If you look at your map after lunch, and realise that where you will end up late afternoon is not a touristy area, and has no possiblity of campsites or hotels - you need to head somewhere else.
Don't drop in to a strange city late in the day
(Unless you have a hotel pre-booked, and you know where it is.)
Say you want to see Rome, and you drive into it at 5.30. Its rush-hour, that's no fun. You don't know where you are sleeping tonight, so you need to start looking very soon. You will have no time to see anything, and you will be worrying about where you are sleeping tonight. Maybe you'll get lucky and find a cheap B&B in the middle of Rome (Yeah, right.). More likely, you will be rushing round the suburbs and industrial estates lost and stressed as it gets dark, trying to find a campsite that isn't there any more.
Better - get yourself camped/hoteled, chill out and have a glass of wine. Get up and do Rome in the morning.
Mornings are good
One of the wisest things Pirsig says in 'Zen and the Art...' is: You are on holiday, get up and enjoy it. You can sleep when you get home. I often meet people touring who spend all night in the bar getting pissed, and get up with a hangover at... well, I don't know when they get up, because I'm 100 miles down the road in a beautiful Adriatic dawn by that time.
I'm on holiday, this is supposed to be fun
Does this need any explanation ? I guess so, because I still catch myself having to tell myself this sometimes. If it starts raining, pull in to the first roadside cafe, and sit drinking coffee and shooting the breeze with the locals until it passes. If you get caught on the equivalent of the M25 in morning rush-hour - get off it, find a nice breakfast, and watch the poor unfortunates on the daily commute. If your muscles ache because you've spent 4 days in the saddle - park it somewhere nice and have a day off. This motorcycle touring is supposed to be fun. If you're not enjoying it, you're not doing it right.
Finding a Campsite/Hotel
For campsites, use your map. And they are generally well enough signposted. If you can't find it easily, all you need to do is end up in a likely looking area, and ask the person in the petrol station / bakers / cafe / where the campsite might be. They'll tell you. Or tell you of a better one.
For hotels and B&Bs, just find one, walk in and ask for a room. In a touristy area, it doesn't matter how big the hotel is, if they have a room they will sell you one night. Ask the price early on, and make sure you say you will pay cash price, not visa card. Particularly in big hotels, this often gets you a much better price. Of course the cash might be ending up in the manager's pocket, or if its the owner it'll maybe not be going in their books. Is that your problem? Don't haggle. If they don't give you a good price, just leave and try another.
If you are in a small provincial town, cruise the streets round the town centre and you will usually spot a small family-run place. These can be variable in quality, but I honestly can't remember having a bad experience in one of these. And they always have much more character and better food than chain hotels. Don't expect to haggle the price in these, they are generally cheap enough. But still offer cash, it is always better received in such places.
Ask for secure parking. 'parking pour le moto'. Its rare in the UK, but almost always available in Europe. You will often get ushered into the hotel's private back garden, or the owner's personal garage. And the time in Romania that they insisted I ride up the front steps, in the door, spin it round on the marble floor, and park next to the Receptionist's desk.
Ask if breakfast is included. Many places try to charge separately for this, so check. And if they have just offered a price and are waiting to see what I say, getting breakfast thrown in will swing it for me. (And I can eat enough breakfast to keep me going all day if it is free ;)
If you are worried about finding a hotel/site on your own, there may be a local Tourist Information Office. They are not usually as good as in the UK. They will usually only be open in office hours, and in different countries their usefullness & helpfullness varies a lot. But they should be able to find you a room even in busy times, and are easier to approach than individual hotels if you are new to this game.
Leaving the passport
Many hotels ask to see your passport. That's fine, I don't mind them recording my name and nationality. But some will expect to keep it overnight. It'll probably be in the safe, but I still don't feel happy about it being out of my possession. If they try this, ask if they would rather be paid now. Often they are holding the passport as security, so you don't leave without paying in the morning. Pay now, keep your passport in your own hands.
The Language Problem
...is never a problem.
I was in a campsite somewhere deep in Poland wanting breakfast, so I went to the cafe place. Of course nobody spoke English, so I just made like a chicken, squatting down flapping my arms and clucking. Mimed laying an egg, putting it in a pot and watching it boil. Everybody laughed, especially the waitress. I sat down and waited, ...and there appeared the most delicious scrambled eggs on toast I have ever tasted. I had been looking for hard boiled eggs, some bread, maybe jam. But I got breakfast, it was delicious, and everybody had a laugh to brighten their day. It doesn't get much better than that.
I have somewhere a wee picture book, called 'The Travellers Picture Book' (ISBN 0 907638 77 5 - I think it is out of print). Picture of sticking plasters, picture of a petrol station, picture of this, picture of that. It works in any language! Useful to take something like this, but you will find you rarely need it.
Most of the time, you get by fine with sign language and a smile. 'Coffee' is universally understood, beer is bier. If you arrive at a campsite and say One Tent, they will understand. In a shop, you just point and smile.
And I rarely bother counting coins. If a shop assistant wants 'Nononte-cinq', I just hold out a handful of coins and let them take what they need. If you are in a bakers, laughing about pointing at 2 croissants and a pain au chocolat, the assistant isn't going to rip you off for 5 cents in change.
If you want a stamp for your poscard, show someone your postcard, lick your thumb and touch the card. They will understand. I once had someone wander all over a town in Tunisia with me, asking other people how much a stamp to UK should be, eventually finding someone who knew, and making sure I was sold the right one.
Think about it. If you were out in your own home town, and someone came up to you with a polite smile and a deep French accent 'Excusing please, poste, pour France' and showing you a postcard, what would you do - tell them to piss off ? Yeah well maybe you would, for the English are rude :) Course not, you would direct them to the Post Office or a newsagent and tell them to ask for 'Postage Stamp for France'.
Actually, I wouldn't, and you won't soon. I would take them to a shop, make sure they got the right stamp, and find the nearest Postbox. And meanwhile ask where they were from, where they were going, and could I help them with anything else? That's because I have had that - and countless other - kindnesses shown to me in many other countries. After you have travelled a bit, and realised how friendly and helpful people can be, you will be the same for a guest in your country.
Cultural Differences
I'm not going to tell you what they all are, for the joy of travelling is to find them out for yourself. But there are some 'attitudes' which it may help you to understand.
French
The French are lovely, warm, passionate people. Who seem distant and aloof. They are not rude, they are just reserved until they know you. I find that with the French it helps enormously to know a few words and phrases of French. If you try to approach them using French, it doesn't seem to matter how bad your French is, they appreciate you trying, and will welcome you warmly.
On the other hand, if you do that rude 'Englishman-abroad' thing of assuming everybody is a peasant and if you shout louder they will understand - they will forget every word of English they know, and direct you up the wrong road. And if you are that rude, you deserve it.
You will find that the French are really nice - if you make a couple steps toward them first.
German
Very efficient, very organised.
A typical encounter. We turn up at the Nurbugring in the afternoon, the sign says 'track open to public 18:00 - 19:30', so we go and find the campsite and come back just after 6. 'You have ticket ?' 'No, where do we get ticket ?' 'Ticket Office. Is closed.' 'Where do we get ticket if ticket office is closed ?' 'You get ticket when office is open. Closed at 5.' So the track was open, there were others using it, but we didn't get our tickets from the office before 5, so we couldn't play.
That is typical of the German way of things. If you suss out how things work, you get on fine and the Germans are very corteous, charming people. If you do not know how their procedures work, then - very politely, very courteously - we are sorry, but the office is closed.
German bikers, by the way, are universally cool. It is difficult and expensive to run a large bike under their very strict TuV Regulations, so bikers are a hard-core dedicated crowd. And they will welcome another biker as a brother.
Swiss/Austrian
The Swiss are a cross between French warmth and German efficiency. And very clean and neat. The Austrians are similar, a bit more Germanic, and quite laid-back.
Italian
Ah, the Italians. Mama Mia, Bellisimo.
Italians enjoy life. It is their most endearing feature. No, actually, that they make great Pizza is their most endearing feature. Or is it that they all drive like Fangio, then apologise for cutting you up?
A typical Italian encounter. I have pitched tent, and am in town to find food. I spot a restaurant through a gap in the buildings, so ride the wrong way up a resident-only cobbled street - which is closed to everybody at that time of day anyway. And park on the Piazza by some steps, no other vehicle parked anywhere in sight. Casually swinging my helmet off, with an expansive wave at the bike I call over to some people watching 'Is OK I park here ?' 'Sure, is OK' comes a rich Italian accent 'You park where you like.' And some excellent Sea Bass with Olives, a couple glasses of local red, some espresso and a stroll along the beach later - the bike is still there, nobody cares, and I putt-putt along the pedestrian precinct into the warm Mediterranean night.
'When in Rome, make like a Roman'
So - people are different, cultures are different, attitudes are different. One of the pleasures of travelling is to discover these differences, and let yourself slide into their rythm. In Italy, drive like an Italian. In France, take ages over lunch. In Spain, have a nap in the afternoon.
They ride on the right
Oh yes, that's a Cultural Difference. They drive on the right. Sounds scary, but its not a big problem.
When there is other traffic about, it is easy enough to work out where to go at junctions and roundabouts. Its when there is no traffic about that you forget. Pulling out of a petrol station on a quiet road, you will naturally swing over to the left without thinking about it - then a few kilometers later wonder why a car is coming towards you on your side of the road !
It still catches me out now and again, but what can you do. If a local gets annoyed by you on the wrong side of the road, adopt a sheepish grin and "Me stupid Touriste, me no understand" look.
BTW In rural France, they still believe in 'Priorite a Droit'. This means that an old French Farmer may pull out of a side road in front of you on to the main road, because they used to always assume 'Priority to the vehicle on the right'. Road markings now clearly indicate otherwise, but be aware.
Kit to take
Tent.
You may decide to do B&Bs and cheap hotels. A cheap hotel can be nice every few days, especially if it is cold and raining. If you go off-season, rooms will be easy to find. In high season, anywhere touristy will be fully booked. So take a tent anyway, even if off-season rooms are so cheap you may never need to use it.
One person travelling will need a generous 2-man tent. With a pillion, you will need a 3-4 man tent. That's bigger than you thought, but you have to get in your leathers, waterproofs, boots, helmet, 2 panniers, roll-bag, ... And leave room to sleep comfortably. You need more space motorcycle touring because of all the kit you have. You could leave it outside under the tent porch - but it will get wet, slugs will take up residence in your helmet, and you will trip over it when you get up in the night. You want room to get everything inside.
What 'features' you want is up to you. I like it high enough inside to be able to kneel upright to get my clothes on - which sometimes means full riding kit and water-proofs before stepping out into the rain. Most 'Geodesic' designs will be high enough, with most cheaper 'flysheet-pitched-first' designs the inner sags down inside. Flysheet-first sound like a good idea, but in fact inner-first designs don't get that wet before you get the flysheet on, and tend to be much more spacious and pleasant inside.
I like a small porch, enough to use my wee cooker out of the wind for the morning coffee, and enough to have a bit of groundsheet under to use as a doormat to take the wet boots off before stepping inside. You may want a bigger porch.
Use a cheap groundsheet under the tent (cut to size, bigger than inner, smaller than flysheet). Protects the expensive tent floor from thorns and jaggy stones; gives additional waterproofing; provides a 'doormat' in your porch.
Make sure it packs up small - this is a motorcycle touring tent's most critical feature. Also, consider splitting the pieces when packing, tent somewhere, poles stowed somewhere else, peg-bag somewhere else.
A tent will cost anywhere between £50 and £500. I used to use cheap tents, but about 10 years ago I came to my senses and spent about £350 on a good quality one. I still love it. If you are spending this kind of money, do it in a specialist tent shop. This will probably not be on your High St, check your Yellow Pages for 'Mountaineering Suppliers' or similar, and find yourself an out-of-town place where they have several models erected on the floor. Take your shoes off and get inside them....
Having a good tent is the difference between you, and your Significant Pillion, enjoying or hating camping for a couple of weeks. If you are kitting yourself out for your first time touring, save money elsewhere, spend money on the tent.
Sleeping Bag
Bags are classified 3/4 season, or 4-season mountain, or some such variable phrase. Always go to a specialist shop and take the sales person's advice. Tell them where you are going, and take what they recommend.
#1 feature. It must pack up small. Very small. A sleeping bag is a surprisingly large and cumbersome item to get in your panniers or bag. A good-quality bag should come with a good-quality stuff-bag. Put it in there and pack it small. Now poke it, if it doesn't feel really tightly packed, if it gives at all, it could be smaller, so buy an additional good-quality compression-stuff-sack or harness-strappy-thing, this will reduce its size to the minimum, and you do need the minimum possible size.
A Bag will cost between £20 and £200. For light summer use, cheap is fine. Something year-round will be over £100. An extra compression sac/harness may be a tenner.
A bag liner can be useful - adds warmth and is small to pack. Some people swear by them - you may find them uncomfortable and fiddly.
Socks and Pants
How long are you going to be away - 12 days ? 15 pairs of socks and pants doesn't take up that much space. Stick the smelly ones in a strong carrier bag and do the washing when you get home.
If you are away for 4 weeks, you are going to have to do washing, so take 7 pairs and some washing powder. (Take your own washing powder, saves having to buy a big box and throw most of it away.)
Other clothing
There's a million lists out there on the web, or in travel books you will buy. All I will say is that:
- 3 T-shirts is warmer than 1 thick jumper.
- Leave your Riding Jacket quilted liner at home, take a Fleece. A Fleece goes under your jacket for warmth when you need it, and does for 'going out' in the evening. Riding in the UK, you need a jacket's quilted lining. Riding in the South of France in the summer, you will sweat like a pig. With only one T-shirt and an unlined jacket, you will still sweat, but like a slightly less sweaty pig.
- Take a comfy pair of trainers, your feet will thank you after a day in hot boots.
- Take a pair of flip-flops, your feet will thank you after a day in hot trainers.
- Do not take your best Armani jeans. They will just get muddy on the campsite. And who cares anyway - if you go out for a meal, who cares how you dress, you will never see these people again. Be comfortable. You are a Motorcycle Traveller, cultivate the 'windswept and interesting' look.
GPS
Most GPS units are not rugged enough to survive being strapped to a bike's handlebars. If you must have GPS, consider the expensive but 'taken-apart-re-assembled-and-ruggedized'' units from Touratech. Or one of the many Garmin hillwalking type models small enough to go in your jacket pocket. Wee pocket-sized hillwalker's models don't have very good built-in driving maps - so practice combining GPS lat/long location with that-must-be-there on a map.
More recently, car-based units have become slim enough to fit in a pocket, or in the pocket of a tank-bag. I now have one, but have yet to use it on the bike in anger. I have seen many others with this solution, though, so it must work. Check it runs happily on internal batteries for long enough, you don't want to have to ride along with the 12v charger plugged in to it.
You don't need overkill on the navigation. I found my way from LA to Boston with only a small-scale US map, the roadsigns, and knowing which way East is. Whenever I got to a junction without a sign, I stopped, worked out what was East, and went that way. I got to Atlantic City no bother at all. Northish up the coast to New York, and so on.
Which way is East ?
Did not everybody learn this in the Boy Scouts? Its a really useful trick.
Look out the window - do it now - where is the sun ?
Stand up and face the sun. You are facing South. Behind you is North. On your left is East. On your right is West.
How hard was that !
Its a little bit different depending on time of day, but you know already that the sun rises in the East, sets in the West. So when you get up at sunrise, facing the sun is East. In the evening, facing the sun is West. Did I just made it complicated again :)
Stand up, face where the sun comes up, you are facing East. Swing round to face where the sun goes down, you are facing West. You just swung from East, South-East, South, South-West, West.
The more accurate rule is.... If you have a watch with an hour hand, aim it so the sun is half way between the hour hand and 12. 12 now points South.
If you can't see the sun for cloud, look at buildings, or a big tree. One side may be 'lighter' - facing South. The side 'in shade' is North.
Here's a good tip for urban areas, or anywhere you can see a house - look for satellite TV dishes. In the Northern Hemisphere, they point South.
Practice this wherever you go. In the supermarket car-park, walking to work. After a while, it will become second nature.
You will still get lost sometimes, but you will be able to get yourself out of it and back onto the right road, because you will know that the road you wanted heads South from Charleroi, and you have been heading West for 10 kilometres. So you want to hang a sharp left and head thataway.
And if it is pouring with rain and you can't find the sun - tough :) You did pack a small compass, didn't you.
....buy a cheap stick-on-the-windscreen type compass for 99p from your local Halfords or wherever. Keep it in your top jacket pocket.
Maps
Which map you take is up to you.
Visit your local Waterstones, Blackwells - wherever has a large selection of maps to choose from. Open them up, and see which one 'hits you'. Which one is 'obvious'. Publishers tend to use different colours for roads, for towns, for trees, etc. Some will suit you better than others. Just pick one that looks like it has enough detail, and you like the look of.
But, critically, make very sure it has clear and numerous markings for camp sites. A map which does not have campsites on it - and lots of them - is not much use to us.
Me, I like a map with contour markings, because I like to navigate by hills and other topographical features. Most 'road touring' maps don't have height contours. Whether you like them, or it is not useful information for you, is up to you.
I suggest you get Michelin Europe. It covers all of Europe on one side, from Portugal to Istanbul to half way up Scandinavia, in good detail. It will not have campsites on, you need a more detailed map of where you are going for that, but as an overview / how many days to Calais / big-picture map, Michelin Europe (all printed on one side) is probably the best.
Camping Kit
Some people like to take cooking gear. If you need your bacon and eggs in the morning, you can get really neat pressure-bottle type unleaded fuel stoves and lightweight pans and stuff. If you buy good stuff, it packs up small. Somewhere upwards of £50 for a fancy pressure-bottle stove, have a look on GearZone. You can get cheaper 'petrol stoves' at car boot sales and caravan shops, but be very careful with them - unless in perfect condition, they will spill fuel all over the inside of your pannier. The advantage of fuel stoves is that you are carrying spare fuel with you (practice removing your fuel line to draw some off, or fit an in-line coupling from Touratech). Gas canister stoves are cheaper to buy, but you need to find expensive refills regularly.
Some people are perfectly happy with a solid fuel paraffin-pellet burner the size of a fag packet (try a good mountaineering shop, or Cotswold Outdoor - called a 'Hexamine Stove' - about £5 + pellets a few quid a packet). This and an enamel mug will make you coffee in the morning, or a mug of hot soup.
I am experimenting with those wee elements you get that plug into a cigarette lighter and boil water, but I find they take over 10 minutes to make enough for one cup of coffee, and once completely flattened a Moto Guzzi battery. My jury is still out on that one.
Don't expect to eat like you do at home. Remind yourself 'bread is food'. Save half a baguette for breakfast. Coffee and dry bread may not be what you are used to, but bread is food, and breakfast is done. (And you did grab some little packets of butter and jam from the last Cafe, didn't you?)
The Kitchen Sink
What other camping kit you take is personal preference. Hang on a minute, I'll go look in the hall cupboard....
Oh yes:
From a local caravan/camping shop, you get small screw-top plastic bottles. £1-2 each. Great for coffee, washing powder, ....
Whether you take cooking kit or not - take a mug and a plate. I have ancient enamel ones, you may prefer tough plastic (unless your mug is also your coffee-pot, see above). And a knife, fork, spoon set.- Take 'something to sit on'. Damp grass is no fun. I have a small foam mat, the kind you get for kneeling on in the garden. About 12" by 9" - waterproof, warmer than grass, and big enough for my bum.
- A
n airbed. I used to be young and fit and could sleep on anything. Now I am old and like an airbed. A cheap Lilo will do, but around £20 at TowSure will get you a 'box-section', 'built-in pillow' heavy-duty type. Bliss. Do not get the velour in-caravan type. Get the water-proof-material type. And don't get sidetracked and let an overzealous (young, disgustingly fit, can sleep on a rock-face) salesperson try to sell you a foam self-inflating sleeping mat. They provide a little bit of warmth, but no comfort at all for old bones. And they take up more space than a folded airbed!
And a small 12v electric pump to blow it up (camping shop, Halfords, ... under a tenner), that plugs into the 12v accessory socket you mounted in the side panel direct off your battery (Vehicle Wiring Products - note the difference between 'DIN Plug' and 'Universal''. Use an inline fuse.).- And here's
an old-hand's top tip for rough-camping street-cred. Get 20 metres of smooth string - not that jaggy hairy stuff, 'waxed' string, called 'parcel string' nowadays (try your local Post Office). Hook it round a door handle or somebody's finger so you have one end in one hand, the other in the other. Now twist the string so it binds on itself. 
Fiddle with it to work out which way to twist each end, what you want is to have the string fairly tightly 'braided' as one length of twisted-together string. Knot the end to keep it together and you have a washing line. String it up between the tent pole and your bike, poke your Y-fronts and socks through the twists. Takes up no space at all in your bag, instant washing line wherever you go.
- Plastic Bags. No matter how water-proof your panniers are supposed to be, put everything in plastic bags. The thin white ones you get from the supermarket are not tough enough and will tear. Use better quality ones from bookshops, clothes shops, etc. Make a collection of various sizes. Try to organise things so the 'T-shirts are in the Waterstones bag', 'socks are in the Jenners bag', etc. Or be real smart, and seek out clear plastic see-through carrier bags.
- Bin Bags. Take a handful of bin bags, because your sleeping bag will not fit in a plastic carrier bag.
Paperwork
Passport. Duh, yeah ! In fact you will ride from France to Germany without even knowing you crossed a border, but getting back into the UK - you will need your passport. And leaving the EU (Switzerland, Andorra), you need it.
Its worth having an IDP - International Driving Permit. This is a translation into many languages of the categories of vehicle you are entitled to drive on your UK licence. In theory, anywhere in the EU should recognize a UK licence, but its only £7.50 for an IDP, and if it makes life easier when you are trying to be nice to the Carbinieri who just pulled you for speeding...... Get it from the AA or major Post Offices or others.
Your Motorcycle Insurance will almost certainly be valid for the EU (and Andorra and Switzerland). It will almost always also cover you for North Africa at no extra cost - if you ring up and ask for each specific country to be added. Do check carefully though, make sure where you are going is covered, check your cover does not drop to Third-Party Only. Its worth ringing your Insurance Company to check - tell them you need 'A Green Card', and where you are going. (You don't actually get a green bit of card any more.)
The 'E111 form', now replaced by the 'European Health Insurance Card'. Get an application form from the Post Office, or for information and to apply for the EHIC online go here. This entitles you to whatever emergency health treatment is free in the country you are in. That fixes a broken leg, but it doesn't get you and your bike home.
Take out Travel Insurance, and make sure it covers 'repatriation'. Read all the small print before you buy, because a lot of them say 'Dangerous Pursuits, Not Covered: Motorcycling' ! Make sure what you buy allows you to do 'Recreational Motorcycling'.
Have 'AA 5-star cover' or the equivalent. Many standard Bike Insurance Policies now include automatic 'European Breakdown', but check it carefully. It may mean 'recover you to the nearest dealer', not 'get my bike home'. Or it may cover pretty much everything that a separate 5* cover does. And a breakdown company's separate cover costs £100 - £150 per trip ! depending on age of bike. (Next time you renew your bike insurance, get a policy that includes this.)
As with any Insurance, it is a pain, but you really must read all the small print. You need to know that if the worst happens, and somebody knocks you off and breaks your leg in Italy - that you, your pillion, and your bike, will be got home. And got home without any 'Ah well, if you read the small print, you did say it happened in Vatican City... - and that's not actually part of the EU.....'.
Take the vehicle documents: V5, Insurance, MOT. In many countries, it is a requirement that you carry the originals with you.
Ferry tickets - have these in your hand before you go. To and from UK is probably fine, but always be suspicious of 'They'll be at the Terminal for you, Sir'. I spent the most hellish few hours of my life in the pit of awfulness that is the Tunisia Ticket Office at Genova. '.. you have to pay again Sir.' 'But I've paid.' 'You want go Tunis, you pay again now!'. Do not leave home unless you have the tickets in your hand - or maybe the Channel Tunnel people can be trusted.
Colour photocopy everything. Passport, ferry tickets, E111, Driving Licence, Bike Insurance, .... 2 copies: One in your bag, one stashed on the bike itself (under the seat, in the frame, ...). If you do lose something, it will be much easier to replace if you can show the copy - which partly proves who you are from the photos, but mostly has all the numbers clearly recorded.
Take the phone numbers of your credit card's 'lost and stolen' helpline. Write your Next of Kin clearly on something. And all sensible stuff like that.....
Mobile Phones
Practically all Mobile Phones will work anywhere in Europe. Ring your Network Provider, tell them which countries you are going to, and that you want 'International Roaming' enabled. Get them to tell you, or send you, a detailed list of call charges to and from your phone abroad. When you get back, ring to cancel the 'International Roaming'. You may need to change the numbers in your Contacts from 0131... to +44 131... - +44 instead of the first 0 is international for 'In the UK'.
Medical
You don't need any vaccinations for Europe. They have Rabies, but they know how to deal with it (and do be wary of strange dogs). Romania/Bulgaria is rumoured to have some pockets of Malaria. But there is nothing you need to worry about. Ask your Doctor's advice if you have any particular condition, and take enough Athsma inhalers, Insulin, contraceptive pills, whatever, with you. You will know what you need.
And pop some Imodium in your Soapbag for when you get the runs. It is magical stuff, and bungs up even the worst attacks.
If anything needing-medical-help happens, a Pharmacist (Pharmacia/Apotheke) will sort you out over the counter with antihistamine for swollen beastie-stings, Immosell for the trots, and so on, just like in the UK. And they will know where the nearest Doctor/Hospital is.
Coming Back
Duty Free - There is no such thing any more between UK and Europe, but you can buy as much as you want in an EU supermarket, and booze and fags are loads cheaper there. You have paid 'some EU country's VAT and tax', so you can freely bring as much as you like into the UK. Keep the receipt.
The only thing might be convincing the Customs Official that that many cigarettes is 'personal use'. If they think you are bringing in 'for resale', that is a whole other thing, and you will get nicked.
Use a supermarket. Or, for the cheapest deal, you will find within a couple miles of any Ferry Terminal, some Entrepreneur has set up a road-side operation just to sell to the tourists and truckers. Best person to tell you where they are, obviously, is a UK lorry driver. Or ask at the nearest petrol station / Cafe. And if you ride past a load of UK-registered lorries parked at a roadside Cafe a couple miles from the port - you just found it.
'Getting through Customs' is not a problem. They are more interested in large-scale drug shipments and illegal immigrants. You can't carry much of that on a bike, so as long as you look like a reasonably decent citizen, chances are you will get waved through. Of course, common sense prevails. Whatever you bring in which is obviously 'for personal use' is probably going to be OK. If you do try to bring in large quantities of porn, drugs, used $100 bills - you are on your own, mate.
And finally
If you have read this far, I hope I have explained enough that you are all fired up and ready to go. If you are still thinking about it - or if you need to convince your Significant Other Pillion.....
Buy that map of Europe, a very large peg-board, and some map pins. You can spend many happy hours pinning pins in Amsterdam, Monaco, Barcelona, ... 'Where did you want to go dear ? - Did you fancy Paris, or Lake Como...'.
My mate calls it my 'Dreamer's Board' - and I do spend many happy hours :)
References
Books and maps
Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook is really about riding Round The World, but it contains lots of useful information about choice of bike, clothing, trip preparation, .... But mostly I like it because it is seriously inspirational, you'll get itchy feet every time you pick it up.
Motorcycle Touring Through The Alps is the definitive word on Alpine Passes. Small maps, route directions, marks out of 5.
If you are doing the Alps, eXtreme Maps' Alps 1:750,000 is the best for the area.
Maps of far places
Western Europe is well covered by the known publishers. If you go further afield (Romania, Estonia, ...) you should buy maps locally. Yes, they will be in the local language, but they can be better detailed, and more up to date, than what we can get in the UK.
Ferry companies
A search at Google for 'cheap ferry crossing' will get you loads of sites which are nothing more than re-sellers for the big companies, and do not always have full coverage and up to date route information.
Here are all your options (last updated Spring 09):
We know of no currently available route from UK to Norway. Best option is probably DFDS to Denmark.
From Ireland, IrishFerries does Rosslare to Cherbourg/Roscoff in Brittany. Brittany Ferries does Cork - Roscoff. Or cross the Irish Sea; cross England; then as above. Norfolk Line does Belfast/Dublin - Liverpool.
For Mediterranean crossings, these people are good, Viamare, with a web site which searches all the many small ferry companies operating in the Med.
There is a comprehensive, though rather out of date, list at Ferry Companies of the Web - which might help you find Finland, or some of the Baltic Crossings. They list every small route, local operator ferry they know of, including CalMac in the Scottish Isles, cross-fjord Scandinavian routes, etc.
So there you go. That was a First-Timer's Guide to touring Europe on your bike from the UK. Let us know if you found it useful, or if you think anything more should be added. And please let us know if you find the ferry routes have changed.
This page in now supported by Adventure Bike Tours - who run tours to all sorts of cool places. For further reading, here is their own 'Touring Tips' page.
