London to Dolomites
 

Hello i wonder if some fellow rider can help us, me and my brother planning to visit Dolomites via Furka Pass (Switzerland) in May we both are traveling on a separate bike both have Transalps 750 we never rode bike out of Uk it will be our first time to Europe if you guys help us to make a route from London to Dolomites and return avoiding motorways like B roads will highly appreciate.
many Thanks

What sort of riding so you generally prefer? (ie. pootling back roads, "making progress", or ...?)

How much time do you have to make your trip?

Do you want to make stops along the way at interesting things, or just get there?

I go down that way a lot (last time was last week), although slightly to the west of where you're heading for. First thing you'll need if you're going to do the real back roads is a decent sat nav. Certainly up in the northern parts of France you'll end up either going round in circles or stopping every five minutes if you don't. Back in Sept I must have been down every farm track around Amiens (too west for your route) when my nav idea didn't work.

Without being too prescriptive about what roads you ought to take one of my summer routes goes from Calais (either boat to tunnel) to a first overnight stop in Maubeuge (near the Belgian border and roughly about 150 miles). Next day I aim to get down to Besancon via the Ardennes (about 300 miles). You might want to aim slightly further east than that if you're heading for the Furka pass.

If it's your first time out of the UK bear in mind that both the tunnel and the Calais ferry route you straight onto the motorway. It's not hard to get off of it but your first experience of France will be a (free) section of autoroute. Take it easy until you get the hang of doing everything backwards. It's much easier to ride on the right on a bike than it is in a car though.

Thank you for your reply we are not pro just Gravel mainly road but prefer B or back road not motorway we have around 9 days like to make stops along interesting things
thanks again

backofbeyond thank you for your reply yes its my first time on a motorbike trip out of UK i do have Garmin Xt will highly appreciate if any of you can share their trip

Hi,

Although high summer is not the best time to ride in Europe because of too much traffic, your plan to go in May maybe a bit too early. Take a look at this link and you will see that the Furka pass often doesn´t open before end of May or even in June.
https://alpen-paesse.ch/en/alpenpaesse/furkapass/

Thank you so much i didnt know about that

Youre welcome. Happy to help.

In north eastern France between Nancy and Mulhouse you will find the Vosges ¨mountains¨ there are probably some nice roads to drive on your way south. Some people like to visit Colmar or Eguisheim.

Yes, I hadn’t pick up the May part. Most of the high passes that are not essential link roads will still be snowed in during May. The ski season doesn’t finish until the end of April and in a snowy year (which it is so far in the Alps) it can be another six weeks - so mid June - before some of the higher ones are open. May is my least favourite month in the Alps as it’s meltwater and slush everywhere.

backofbeyond thank you for your reply we've change the timing now we are planing to go in August, would you be kind enough to to share the route or advice from Calais which way we should go we like scenic route
Thanks

Regarding Europe in the summer, I found back roads in France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany were generally much quieter than any time of year in the southeast of the UK.

In France I found that setting my old Garmin to tertiary roads (ie. not motorway, not A roads, not "B" roads) gave pleasant quiet twisties quite a lot. Didn't work so well in the other countries listed since the parts I was going through were generally flat and TBH quite dull road-wise, but then I was going to visit family and not touring. For good things to check out, generally I just did an internet search for places I was close to, so in France got to see cheese being made, a chateau that Marie Antonette used to summer in, some old carved stones, and stayed a couple of nights at a horse farm ... not everyone's cup of tea, but I really enjoyed it, lol

Generally what works for me is not having a plan and just sorting out the next night's accommodation the same day.

Good luck with your trip and if you do have any concerns about riding on the right hand side of the road (I actually prefer it on the bikes) I was given a great suggestion many years ago: "If you drive on the right between home and the ferry port, when (if) you reach France you'll find it much easier than it is at home :wink3:

Hi Rider5, the from Furkapass to Dolomites there are many, but many great roads to try, check out my selfmade google maps map with the best roads in the alps in my opinion. The blue points are for sporty riding, the yellow ones are narrower, less well-known gems often next to a cliff side with great views.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...0787523293&z=7

Hope it helps you plan your perfect road trip

@rider5 that trip to the Dolomites through Switzerland sounds epic! A few thoughts - in August you'll likely hit more traffic but the weather should be great. Coming from Calais, I'd take the scenic D937 towards Rouen, then hop on the D675 towards Nancy for a taste of French countryside. The Vosges mountains like someone mentioned are beautiful.

I would pick up the route above but miss out most of the Calais - Rouen section - I would catch the Newhaven - Dieppe ferry with DFDS and pick up the route from there - the routes out of Calais are quite boring and flat to my mind. Also on the Newhaven-Dieppe ferry DFDS gives me a 20% discount on the fares (including cabin) if I phone up and book as I am over 60 (the discount is not available on line).

My view
 

My personal view is to divide the trip in a transport part and the more exploring part.

If it is Dolomites that is most interesting (which is a good choice).
Than use highways to get there.(Or at least to the alps) And spend the time in Dolomites.

I went there a couple of years ago. Starting in Portugal. I used highways through Spain. And started the exploring in France.
Route Napoleon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Route_Napoléon
and

Combe Laval
https://www.roadstotravel.net/france-combe-laval/

Before entering Italy and the Alps.

That route does not fit from UK. But the basic idea. That use some days for transportation. And get more time, money and energy in the area that you really want to explore.

I used the same concept when I explored Italy. Autobahn in Germany. Nice roads in the alps and in Italy.

One more "advice". Use the "Base camp" concept in Dolomites. Stay some days (2-3) in the same hotel/camping. Do day tours in different directions. Than use one day to move to next "base camp". Hopefully along a beautiful road. That will give you much more helmet time and less packing/unpacking + searching for hotel.

(Some tour organizers stays a week in the same hotel)

But that is how I do it. Others do it different.
That is fine . Everyone should do it the way that gives most value for the person.

My story

https://adventurebikerider.com/forum...ic.php?t=51545

Dolomites guide:

https://www.adventurebikerider.com/d...orcycle-guide/

Thank you so much for your time and guide we are leaving on 27th of july just little nervous to ride on the other side as we both never driven other side.

It's fine after 5 minutes, seriously not a big deal (at least in Europe with all the clear road markings) ... the bigger adjustment is using your clutch hand to wave to other bikers, instead of nodding

You’ll get the hang of actually riding on the right pretty quickly. Just be careful and do everything slowly and carefully to start with. The main danger is when you’ve been distracted by something - brief stops for fuel, coffee, photo at a scenic view, that sort of thing. You’ll set off on autopilot and automatically go to the left side. Pretty much everyone has a tale of doing that

True. It happend to me but then in the reverse situation, driving a LHD car in UK. It was no problem in regular traffic because the traffic forces you to drive on the ¨right¨ side (which is left side in UK) but when driving on smaller roads and streets where there is no traffic, just after having stopped, i automatically took of on the wrong side of the road.
In cars, and especially in trucks, the bigger problem problem are lane changes when you can´t see the traffic next to you over your shoulder.

A more strange feeling however was being used to LHD cars and renting a RHD car on Orkney- and Shetland islands. But also that went without incidents. Maybe because there isn´t too much traffic up there in the north.

Have a great trip.

Oh yeah, when I had both LHD and RHD cars I used to get into the passenger seat after putting in petrol all the time ... both ways, lol. The other thing was occasionally trying to change gear with the door lever :helpsmilie:

Put a little sticker on ur right hand mirror or use a charity wrist band and put that over ur mirror arm.......as a prompt to remind u what side to ride on . Biggest danger while be exiting fuel stations or roadside stops and first thing in the morning.............guess how I know doh

My wife and I do a lot of riding on the right and we (and a lot of friends) actually prefer it. I don’t know why?
Our biggest problem is converting back to riding on the left on our return so watch out for that.
A little mantra I used when first riding on the continent was to start the bike and say “RIGHT, here we go”.

A direct, non motorway, route to the Dolomites is around 750 miles. At 200 miles a day that’s around 4 days = 8 days return so leaving 1 day in the Dolomites and no rest day. That’s assuming that Dover is close by.
It’s a route we have done a few times.
Highlights for me are:
The Ardennes, Black Forest, Austrian and Italian Alps.
Depending on what daily mileage your happy with and whether your camping or hotels, you may have to hit the motorways occasionally to save time between the really good bits (it’s all good, just some bits are brilliant).

A bit of advice if I may.
The internet seams to have brought a mentality of the ‘perfect road trip’ where riders research the life out of their prospective trip so that everything is perfect. I appreciate that many people need this reassurance but, for me, that takes the magic out of it.
If you’re naturally easy going, take this attitude with you and go with the flow.
We tend to pick a few areas we’d like to go to on a trip but often we’ll find a place we like and stay longer then miss the next place out. We regularly stay too long in a place and have to do a 700 mile hack back to the ferry - but it’s worth it and part of the adventure. Also, local knowledge will tell you things that are not necessarily on the web so chat to the locals.

This year is the 30th anniversary of our first European bike holiday as a couple and we’ve done at least one every year since including further afield.
You’ll find everything easier riding on the continent than in the UK and will be itching to go again.
Have a great trip
bier