London To Innsbruck... advice for newbie?
 

Hello everyone. I've finally take the plunge and got myself a bike to explor on... a BMW R65. I'm planning to ride to a friend's party in the mountains near Innsbruck in October, and I'm looking for advice, no matter how small, any help is appreciated. This will be my first solo trip abroad on two wheels, and i'd like to avoid motorways if I can. Thanks in advance, Z. :-)

Look at a large-scale map & plot a route. Avoid riding through or even near big cities where possible, unless for sightseeing, of course.

Use the motorways in flat areas and the smallest roads in hills/mountains. When you have a rough route get small-scale maps for the interesting bits. On the way for you are (for example): Ardennes (Belgium), Eifel, Pfälzerwald, Black Forest in Germany. (Note that in the latter it's bumper to bumper traffic on the main roads on weekends.)

In Germany Shell used to publish very good maps 1:200,000 showing every little road there is. I hope they still publish them. Good size for the tank bag.

Take your time and enjoy yourself.

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Salut from Southern France, the bikers' paradise,

Peter.

Thanks for the advice, Beddist. I'll pay a visit to Stanford's Travel Bookshop and get see about those Shell maps.

We are also riding to Austria in a few weeks time and are deliberately taking the slow roads on our outward journey. Michelin do an excellent route planning website - just put in Calais then your destination, say you want to avoid autoroutes and bingo, it's all done for you. Book you P&O ferry to leave Dover by 6am as it's a great cost saving. The first night we'll be stopping in Luxembourg - accomodation found in the city by searching under 'Budget Accommodation'. Second night somewhere in Southern journey. Austria the next day. Have fitted radio/cassette and intercom to bike to keep wifie happy. Good luck!