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Europe Topics specific to Western and Eastern Europe, from UK to the Russian border, and south-east to Turkey.
Photo by George Guille, It's going to be a long 300km... Bolivian Amazon

I haven't been everywhere...
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Photo by George Guille
It's going to be a long 300km...
Bolivian Amazon



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  #1  
Old 21 Jun 2003
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fueling up
I would need some advice from motorcycle travellers that have travelled throughout Europe quite extensively. I know Susan and Grant could answer it no doubt, but I thought I would post it for everyone to get the info.
So the question is I havwe a 12 liter gas tank and I can travel for a distance of 200km -230km max. I would like to know if I would run into any problems finding fuel stations within the kilometers mentioned. I will be travelling on paved roads mainly, but mainly coastal areas of Scotland, England,Spain, Portugal etc. I would appreciate the feedback.

Kurt
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  #2  
Old 21 Jun 2003
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Hi Kurt,
No problem at all with this range. But-- how far can you go on reserve? If you're on the Autobahn the distance between gas stations can be 30 and more kilometres. So if your reserve is good for only 20 km, you may have to leave at the next exit and take your chances. So, with your tank I would be starting to look for a station after 150 km, just to be sure. (Or carry a 5 liter container as reserve).
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  #3  
Old 21 Jun 2003
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moving this to the Europe forum.

Werners advice is dead on. Note that in Europe they don't mark what's available at the exits of the autobahns - it's a total guess, and frustrates me hugely. Could be nothing for miles, so give yourself lots of room.

If you're taking the back roads, should be no problem at all, plenty of places, but still, give yourself plenty of room. At the lower speeds on the side roads 150km is plenty between breaks.

have a great trip - and try and get to the HU Travellers Meetings, lots of fun!

(link on left to meetings)

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  #4  
Old 23 Jun 2003
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I can only speak for the Alpine countries.
My tank gives me a range of around 180km plus 30km on reserve. The only places I've been in danger of running out was in the Provence. There stations are quite a way apart.
Oh, and Italy, but that's because they're either all closed, I don't have the right notes for the machines or the machines are broken. With your range you should be ok if you plan a town within a tank's range. You'll get a feel for which places are big enough for a fuel station and which aren't.
Tim

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  #5  
Old 19 Aug 2003
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It might be too late but expect leaks of delivery in the East of Portugal and Central Spain as well as in the Bretagne/Northwestern France. Pyrenes might be tight. But the 200 km will do, just refill when you can. Germany and Alpine Regions has plenty of Ga stations in almost every village. Have fun.
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  #6  
Old 19 Aug 2003
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Uk should be no problem but I had trouble finding fuel in rural France last year on Sundays. A lot of regular fuel stations were closed. Those that were open tended to be unmanned credit card only operations. We could not get a single pump to accept any of our three cards. In the end we talked a local in to filling our bikes up on their card and paying them cash.

If travelling on a Sunday with a small tank, fill up whenever you have the opportunity.

Spain & Portugal were no problem, the fuel stations were sited quite a few miles apart but at least they were manned and open.

Steve
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  #7  
Old 19 Aug 2003
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Fully agree with Steve. We too have had problems with France on a Sunday and found it best to get on a peage to ensure fuel stations were open. Good thing with France on a Sunday no HGV's allowed to travel so roads are clear. Never had any problem with Spain particularly in coastal areas.

Ally
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  #8  
Old 11 Nov 2003
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Kurt:

I've been all over Europe (Ireland to Romania) on my ST1100, which has a range of about 250km's if ridden hard. Never ever had any problems, worries or concerns about getting fuel, anywhere.

It is essential, though, that you take a credit card along with you, and be sure that you know the PIN number for the credit card! More and more service stations in small towns are switching over to unattended pumps, you put the credit card in, TYPE IN YOUR PIN, then pump the fuel. Unlike service stations in Canada that have 'credit card at pump' facilities, in Europe, if you don't know and supply the correct PIN for the credit card, you don't get any gas!

So, test out your credit card PIN before you leave, perhaps by making a withdrawal at an ATM or something like that.

You might want to consider taking two credit cards, one Visa and one MasterCard (eurocard). These are the ones most widely accepted. American Express and Diner's Club are useless at fuel pumps. On the off chance that one card won't authorize, you have another one to fall back on.

PanEuropean
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  #9  
Old 11 Nov 2003
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Oh yea - an important postscript:

Make sure you let your credit card company (in Canada) know in advance that you plan to be touring around Europe. You don't want to have authorizations blocked because the card company gets suspicious seeing an automated authorization request come through from, for example, Slovakia.

If you have no previous history of international travel on a credit card, the computer algorithms used by the card authorization centers will probably block your first charge in Europe. If this is a hotel front desk, no problem, the clerk just phones the authorization center and they ask you your birthday, etc. If it is an unattended gas pump in the middle of no-where on a Sunday... well, you get the idea.
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  #10  
Old 11 Nov 2003
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Quote:
Originally posted by PanEuropean:
Kurt:

It is essential, though, that you take a credit card along with you, and be sure that you know the PIN number for the credit card!PanEuropean
Hmm, Swiss pumps only take Swiss cards, French pumps only take French cards, dunno about others. My range is about 350 km and I've had trouble on occasions when being in the back country.

Some motorways, notably in Italy, have NO gas whatsoever (and no signs indicating it).



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  #11  
Old 11 Jan 2004
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Kurt: The maps give you clues in Scotland, the more mountains, the fewer petrol stations,, But joking apart. You should have no problems. Many villages have fuel stops and we are friendly enough to help if you get stuck. Prices in UK are approx 0.87p p ltr: Not cheap but prices do differ in out of the way prices. The south east of UK is more expensive for fuel. Use the A roads through the lakes, scotland,wales for the best roads.


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