Going on a week-long motorcycle tour in June has become a tradition, here at the Team Throttle headquarters. And a second tradition seems to be emerging: making last-minute decisions about our destination. Last year, we headed to Norway because the weather gods thwarted our plans for Spain and Italy. This year, it looked like all of Europe would turn into one big rain zone during our planned week off. Luckily, two days before departure, the Spanish weather maps cleared up a bit, so off we went!
We, that is Jan_F on a Triumph Tiger 900, Shih on his KTM 890 Adventure and myself on a BMW R 1300 GS. Our destination: Picos de Europa, the mountain range in northern Spain, roughly to the southwest of Bilbao.
We had already planned the routes last year, and after a final check this year, our plans looked as follows: Continue reading →
It has become our annual tradition, we are once again planning a motorcycle trip for June this year. The concept remains the same: strap a tent on our bikes and off we go!
We had five destinations on our shortlist, of which Norway, Wales and Scotland have already been crossed off. That leaves us with the Picos and the Dolomites. We have roughly mapped out the routes for both trips, and now it’s time to make a decision.
Question: which trip would you choose and why? And for those familiar with the area: are there any roads we absolutely shouldn’t miss?
Option one: Picos
I haven’t been to the Picos before, but I’ve heard enough good things about it to rank it high on our shortlist. The biggest disadvantage compared to the Dolomites is that it’s a bit further before we reach our destination. Although the journey is just as important as the destination of course.
On day 1, we’ll be ride quite a distance into France, just over 1,000 km on the highway. On day 2 (blue), the winding roads begin just below San Sebastian. On day 3 (green), we’ll enter the Picos. On days 4 (yellow) and 5 (orange), we’ll ride loops through the Picos. On day 6 (red), we’ll leave the Picos and head east. On day 7 (purple), we’ll take a detour through the Bardenas Reales, cross the Pyrenees and end the day just across the French border. On day 8, we’ll take the fastest route back home.
The Dolomites are etched in my memory as one of the highlights of my trip to the Alps in 2017. So I don’t mind heading back in that direction again, this time taking more time to explore. Maybe add some Julian Alps too? Why not!
On day 1, we’ll ride to Campitello di Fassa in the Dolomites. Here we’ll stay for 4 nights and take loops on day 2 (blue), 3 (green), and 4 (yellow). On day 5 (orange), we’ll head east. On day 6 (red), we’ll say goodbye to the Dolomites and head into the Julian Alps. Our destination is Kranjska Gora. We’ll stay here for 2 nights and take a loop on day 7 (purple). Day 8: take the fastest route back home.
We already planned to do a tour of the French Alps in 2020, but we had to cancel our plans due to the well-known virus. The routes were already mapped out, but before we could finally depart on our trip in June of this year, a reality check forced us to do some fine-tuning a few weeks earlier. Certain campsites were still closed, and some parts turned out to be too big of a detour for the limited time we had (a week).
Corona is forcing us to stay home, so what else can you do than finish those plans for when we can go ride again? Together with biker buddy Shih, I’m prepping a trip to the Alps. Based on the Route des Grandes Alpes we plotted a week’s trip, that currently looks like this:
On a Saturday – we’re hoping for June – we’ll take the highway from Belgium to just below Lake Geneva. The fun part starts on Sunday. The next Saturday around noon, we’ll say goodbye to the Alps, then ride up to Basel where we’ll spend the night, and ride back home on Sunday.
If you think we’re missing essential roads or you know great campings, good restaurants or must-see spots, drop a line in the comments below or reply to our Facebook post.
Finally! Tomorrow morning we’ll be heading for the Pyrenees. After the first draft, we’ve updated our routes, spending a bit more time on Spanish ground. I won’t be riding my own bike but a Moto Guzzi V85 TT. If you’d like to hop on virtually, I’ll try to post something every now and then on Instagram and/or Facebook.
The Canary Islands are my favourite last minute destination: reasonably cheap, plenty to see and do, and most of all: the weather is good year-round. They are called “the islands of eternal spring” for good reasons. I had already visited Tenerife, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura so Gran Canaria was the next logical choice.
In my search to ride a motorcycle on the island to awaken from riding hibernation, I ended up with Canary Motorcycle Tours. Martin and Joy, an English couple, offer guided motorcycle tours on Gran Canaria for groups of up to 8 motorcycles. Prices are only slightly higher than renting a motorcycle yourself.
Canary Motorcycle Tours is based in Vecindario, a small town on the east coast of Gran Canaria, fifteen minutes from the airport. It has a pedestrian street with plenty of cafeterias but altogether there’s not much to do. For touristic Canarian highlights you need to go elsewhere. If you book a tour with Canary Motorcycle Tours they offer you a 2-star or a 4-star accommodation in Vecindario. Should you stay somewhere else, they will also organise transport from and to your hotel, on the condition that it’s not too far away.
After only a few emails the deal was done and dusted: three days of riding with stay in the 2-star hotel in Vecindario. I booked my flights and a week later I set foot on Gran Canaria!
Joy picked me up at my hotel in the morning. Upon arriving at the motorcycle shop the obligatory paperwork was swiftly done and I could choose my riding gear if I wanted to. The vests, boots, helmets and gloves they offer all looked in good condition, however I had brought my own gear.
Together with Martin I decided I would ride the Honda NC750X (he has 8 bikes in total, all Honda’s, of which I had already ridden the CB500X on Madeira). The NC750X is, according to the general opinion, that somewhat boring Continue reading →
Saturday will be a highway day to Valence, from Sunday till Friday we’ll do our Tournée Pyrénée and then we’ll ride back to Belgium in a day and a half.
If you know roads, campings or other spots we should not miss out on, do share them in the comments below. Thanks!
Team Throttle 