Travelling to Europe - any advice?

Hi chaps! My wife and I were thinking of a summer holiday for a week abroad. All our holidays so far have been in the UK, camping and the like, as we've not had much spare cash for exotic holidays. We're still on a bit of a budget, as we're moving house soon, and I'm at Uni.

We thought it would be fun to take the bike, either by ferry or Eurotunnel, and travel via Belgium to see some friends who live in Munster. We were thinking of camping on the way to keep costs down.

If anyone has any tips which would be the cheapest way to get us and the machine to the continent, and any advice about motorcycling, and indeed camping abroad, I'd really appreciate it.

Where are you based in the UK? 

Why? Because Dover-Calais is the shortest crossing, but not necessarily the cheapest. A while back, I was traveling around the UK on a bit of a mini-tour and received an invite to go and stay with a mate in Holland whilst I was in the north of England. It worked out much cheaper to travel overnight from Hull to Europort, and that was before taking travel time accommodation and fuel costs into consideration. 

Driving/riding on the continent is straightforward, easy even, compared to a lot of the UKs congested network. Research tolls, as they can both add cost as well as transport you too quickly to see much of the country you're passing through. They do save large amounts of time though, and it's astonishing how much progress you can make if you need to (I have done Calais to Bailen in Spain, 1170 miles, in 20 hours, 17 driving, without breaking any speed limits). But if you stick to the nationals you see much much more of the country; at half the speed. 

Check what each country you're planning on visiting requires you to carry, and familiarise yourself with their speed limits. 

Don't carry any more than your bare essentials, anything you forget or find you need can be bought whilst you're away. Better to have space in your luggage unused than cart stuff around that costs you in fuel and aggro!

I'm actually based in Nottingham, so maybe travelling from Hull would be better... The websites for the ferries seem very cagey about the cost of a ticket, especially for taking a motorbike. Do you have to call them up to find out prices?

I'll agree with the idea of avoiding toll motorways, and explore the rural roads. What maps are best fro a retro curmudgeon with no Shat Nav or Tom Twat or whatever it is I'm meant to have these days?

I'd give them a call to get prices. I was in Stockton when I had to make the decision and the Dover-Calais trip was going to cost me about £200, plus the fuel to get from Stockton to Dover, a night's accommodation and the fuel from Calais up to Rotterdam. The Hull-Europort crossing was about £150 and came with a cabin included (shared, single occupancy was extra). Bit of a no-brainer really. Don't hold me to those prices though, it was a good while ago and they will have changed I'm sure! Worth seeing if they have any offers coming up too, if travelling a day earlier/later will make a difference, whether it's worth avoiding the weekend completely or if travelling saturday night/sunday morning is better than friday night etc.

I find Michelin maps pretty good on the continent, especially France, but it does vary. Have a look through in your bookshop first as "compact" ones often have scales that make them awkward to use in practice. You will likely find you need one map at a large scale for route planning, and a series of smaller scale ones for exploring the areas you're basing yourself in. These days I'd seriously consider a sat-nav app for my phone, rather than carry a paper map. For route indications I've always found it easier to have a crib sheet highlighting the direction you want to travel in, road number and junction if you know it. i.e. A16 toward Reims. Then Reims ring road. Then A26 Châlons-en-Champagne, continue past Troyes, to A5 Langres... etc. etc. as motorway signage will always have the nearest major towns indicated, and as long as you know the sequence of them as you need to pass by then you can concentrate on the road and your surroundings, rather than trying to read a map at the same time.

Kev, I've not seen those fairings before - they look like they fit using the headlight mounts. Not really my style, and it's hard to tell what they'll look like as they don't show one fitted to a bike, but they're certainly cheap enough if you like the look. My only worry, if they're sourced from abroad, is that the lights are set up as "right-dip" for driving on the wrong side of the road...

I've gone through the tunnel numerous times, but not with a bike.

I took a 3.5t van over and it cost £32 each way, which seems to be the cheapest tickets, these are usually late at night, but its fine if you don't plan to travel far on the other side.

The French police can be a bit picky, so read up on what you need to take to be legal. A Hi-Viz and a breathalyzer are required by law and probably a few other bits and bobs as well.

I've been meaning to take mine over to Germany, but I never have got round to it, basically because the people I'd be going to see live half an hour from the motorway over there and I'm half an hour from one over here. Its the 12+ hours in the middle that would bore me silly.

My recent trip abroad was my first, so I've nowt else to compare it to. But, the Eurotunnel is great. It certainly doesn't feel as if it takes 35 minutes, the queueing does!

French roads are lovely and mostly empty. I loved the chaos of the Périphérique, though. DO stay within speed limits on toll roads, you can make progress everywhere else and French car drivers are very bike-friendly. Bikes are extremely popular.

badseeds wrote:DO stay within speed limits on toll roads...

Good advice that. They know when you started, they know when you've finished and they know how long the road is so they can work it all out...

I traveled to the Black Forest and the Alps in April on my CB500S, had a cracking time.

I used the euro tunnel and the cost was £96 for a return crossing. The trip itself takes 35 minutes but there is a bit of queuing involved at the beginning, bikes have to wait to the side whilst they load the cars and get on at the end of the last carriage.

Toll roads are okay but boring as hell. Remember at the exit always go to a manned booth to pay as otherwise you will be charged the cost for a car, bikes get discounted rates but automated booths don't discriminate.

I must have been fortunate but i didn't pay much attention to any cameras in france , esp. the toll roads, was trying to get to southern france asap. Overtaking everything inc (accidentally) a french police car on a toll road. I didn't notice them but my fellow rider behind saw it. I had it pinned with camping kit and panniers, splayed out, feet on pillion pegs, chin on the tank. Must have been flashed two/three times on smaller roads too. Was expecting the worse when I got back home but luckily didn't get anything in the post. Wouldn't recommend it but its possible to open it up a bit over there. Definitely felt safer than on UK roads. Dover to Calais was cheap and the french road users were very bike tolerant.

Definitely bike friendly, if people are waving a lot at you it'll be because there's been a crash somewhere in front of you, when they do it again half a mile later, its becuase of another one.

I'd add to the good advice so far to have a practice doing slow speed stuff with the bike loaded with kit, might well save a few embarassing wobbles along the way. Ferry decks are quite slippy too. Do a few emergency stops too to check the kit stays in place.

I put a small sticker on my righthand mirror to remind me that that was kerbside, seemed to be enough. Think you need to take spare bulbs in your toolkit?

atb

muttley1

good advice ref the slow speed stuff & kit!

Nottingham -> Münster, Germany is 550 miles. Possible to do in one go, but arduous. Camping half-way or so seems to be a good idea. Then, you'd camp somewhere in Belgium?

Dunno about the french or belgian traffic, but in Germany you need to be on your toes. German drivers are all business: Carriageways are 100 km/h, in towns it's 50 km/h and on the motorway you really don't bother - you won't be able to maintain a high enough speed to annoy anyone. And stay away from the leftmost lane - it's Ferrari/BMW/Merc-territory!
Going at a tonne in the middle lane and getting swooshed by - well, something - going past you at mind-boggling speed explains why you don't belong in the left lane. Entries and exits are short and I think there's too little signage for aiding tourists around. It's as if you're supposed to know what you're doing; You get one instruction, and if that's not enough, then 'tough luck, bro!'.
The upside to all this is that everything works. No crappy tarmac littered with potholes, no illogical speed limits, AFAIK no fees to pay anywhere; no shit.
Me likes that!

Food is cheap in Germany. In my view. YMMV.

Remember to address the headlight issue.

On the issue of pathfinding: Forget paper maps. Beg, borrow or steal a shatnav, get hold of a set of earphones of the earplug-type (they will double as noise-killers) and learn how to set the system up so that you can follow voice-instructions. Really. You'll see how it lets you focus your attention on the traffic, the scenery and just about anything else than the process of pathfinding. It is SO relaxing to travel that way. And it's safer than using maps!
Yes, I use maps too, but only for planning.

 Get you fired up & into budget mode!...and with a CB500
 ep2- Germany!...the MacDonalds routine does work well if there are two if you- so should be fine!