Hi folks, thanks for all of your replies. Well, the time I had booked off work was in one weeks time, unfortunately, pressures at work, and a few personal ones have left me in a dilemma. The fact that I feel I have little time to plan a carefully constructed route, and little time to pack and organise myself for the trip. Question is, do I shove things in my pannnier boxes, grab the map and sat nav, sit and make a few notes, download some info regarding hotels and campsites, write down a few towns I'd like to visit..... And hit the road ?

Fact is, I do love Italy, but that doesn't make me knowledgeable about it, and the excitement of the trip was Bourne out of the fact that I really don't know what I should expect will happen.

If I do the trip, I'll certainly post my experience of the forum here, I can guarantee it'll be an interesting read

Paul


P.S. To the gentleman who was asking about June, touring, keep in Touch, I can get plenty long weekends off work

Only you know where the balance lies and if there are pressures (of any sort) on you not to go you'll have to decide what takes priority. If you're going on your own though you should be certain you're happy with your own company, particularly if there are things left unresolved back in the UK.

If all of that isn't really an issue I wouldn't worry too much about planning. The difference between planning everything to the last detail and not planning anything at all is more one of philosophy and personality than anything. For the sort of trip you're looking at I'd consider the basics (will the bike break down, do I have a back up plan if I can't find a hotel (camping is easiest), do I have somewhere to aim for, a destination, in mind and, most importantly, what's the weather forecast for the journey out. May in France could go either way and it's not my favourite month in the mountains - still cold and snowy with most of the high passes still closed.

Serendipity counts for a lot and tends (for me anyway) to take over from planning once I get going. Take L.P. or similar with you, use it to get you started and then just do whatever turns up. You don't have to see everything at once and it's not so far you couldn't go back in the future.

If you do need to have a plan make sure it's your servant not your master. I've called off trips at literally an hours notice because one of the important elements changed and I've got others I want to do but haven't because I can't make the whole thing gell in my mind.

Amen.
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - it comes to mind once again.

__________________
Dave

Absolutely. One of my early trips was wing and a prayer style on a Honda CB72. Good karma (and Japanese engineering) got me there and back.

East...... Otherwise things could get a bit wet.

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

I really think you're over-thinking this...as long as your bike is ready and you have some kind of luggage set up, you're all set.

You're not going to Siberia, if you need something along the way, you can pick it up enroute, and you're not likely to get irretrievably lost in a place like France. Personally I prefer riding with a SatNav, but it is certainly not necessary, and the only other thing I'd really recommend is some kind of paper atlas or map that will allow you to choose routes which look interesting, and where to end up the next night. And there is no reason to do this in advance, I usually make my plan for the next day over at dinner, or sometimes over breakfast before I head out. I have ridden some awesome roads, and some horrible roads, and stayed in some amazing places I've never heard of, and some real dumps that others raved about. It's all part of the fun.

You generally won't have any problem finding places to stay without any reservations, but if you're really worried you can find something on TripAdvisor for the next night. If you're travelling at peak times or through really popular areas, try to stop fairly early, by 3-4 if you're worried about finding a room, because rooms fill up the later you go. Generally I don't reserve in advance because I never quite know when I'll want to stop. Sometimes I'm feeling great and could ride for hours, other times I'm exhausted and find a nice spot so I'd like to stop. For me little ruins a trip more than the feeling that I "have to be somewhere" by the evening, or the next day.

As an example, last summer I rode about 8000 kilometers from Moscow to Murmansk to Norkapp, down through Norway, to Sweden, caught a ferry across the Baltic to Lithuania, rode through the Baltics and then back to Moscow. The grand total of research/planning done before the trip:
1) I checked that there were places to stay at/near Nordkapp; and
2) I checked that there was a ferry from somewhere in Sweden to Lithuania.

Just get out there, you'll have fun!