1st Eurotrip - any tips? Dunkirk to Swiss Alps and back - 7 days

My tip is divide whatever time google maps tells you by 2 or be disheartened by your lack of progress.

Leave enough time to actually see the country side you are riding through.

Won’t that halve the estimated time, leading to greater disheartening at the lack of progress?
 
Yes, it should have said distance, muppet that I am

That halves the real distance between two points. Again, very disheartening when the OP comes to ride the journey.

What you really mean, is:

My tip is multiply whatever time (or distance) google maps tells you by 2 or be disheartened by your lack of progress.

Leave enough time to actually see the country side you are riding through.


Unfortunately, the bod has set himself seven days (actually six, as his return boat leaves at 10 AM) to go Dunkirk > Swiss Alps > Dunkirk, wanting to avoid motorways wherever possible in order to concentrate on ‘cool’ roads, so he can be ‘chilled’, no doubt whilst camping. He ain’t got time to actually see the countryside on the way down or back.
 
Big time lost doing a morning crossing.
I always did late afternoon/early evening crossings, so my first day of holiday started on foreign soil.

Also, a big mistake looking, thinking and asking about routes, destinations and schedules.

Just go....do it...stay wherever appeals whenever it suits.
It's supposed to be a holiday, not an against the clock dot-to-dot mission schedule.
 
Big time lost doing a morning crossing.
I always did late afternoon/early evening crossings, so my first day of holiday started on foreign soil.

Also, a big mistake looking, thinking and asking about routes, destinations and schedules.
.

Always taking late afternoon or early evening crossings, is itself a schedule. Not least, it’s one that you have stick to with a religious fervour :D

:beerjug:
 
Always taking late afternoon or early evening crossings, is itself a schedule. Not least, it’s one that you have stick to with a religious fervour :D

:beerjug:

It would be so if I always did something like the 4.30pm or 7pm crossing, for instance.

But I didn't.

So fook off. :D
 
From Calais it is easy to be in the Mountains before lunch time on day two and Andermatt before tea time, we did this in 2013.

D1 - Calais - Epinal (About 5 hours plus stops)

D2 - Epinal - Andermatt (Also about 5 hours plus stops) We took in Col du Ballon in the Vosges after leaving Epinal, then a bit more Motorway up until the Brunig Pass, then the Furka and Grimsel to Andermatt.

So the OP could do a 2 day blast each way and have 3 days of pass bagging, plus a few on the way in / out.

Some Google Vs Actual this year:

Motorway from Calais - juts North of Morvan 4:17G / 4:10A

Back Roads through Morvan and as many other Michelin Green roads as we could work in down to south of St Etienne 7:50G / 6:35A

More Back roads and taking in Vallon Pont d'Arc to Volonne 5:52G / 5:20A

In the Alps:

Loop around some very nadgery passes (Larch / Esischie / Faunera / Sampeyre) 7:44G / 5:35A

Some faster passes (Bonnette / Couillole / Valberg / Cayolle) 4:06G / 4:05A

So generally we can smoke the Google times, it seemed way off on the tiny little passes, but fairly close on the ones comprised of main roads, which hints at how it works out the speeds, by road type. On the last two in the Mountains we also slowed down a lot in places to look at views, I also stop regularly to take a quick picture further slowing progress....

….this is probably the real challenge once somewhere nice, not so much how accurate Google is, but how much time can be spent taking pictures, drinking coffee, having lunch - and mostly food / drink places will prepare fresh food, the concept of fast food and a quick lunch is lost on many a foreign Café, and can be even worse in restaurants.

We can get stop time right down on Motorway transit days, but in the moutains I try to keep riding to about 5 hours so we can stop as much as we want, sometimes we will spend 2.5 hours stopped on a 5 hour ride - we are on Holiday, not in a race ;-)
 
Good advice from Rasher, as always. Not least, take the motorways to get there and back, as time is limited.
 
Another tip, prepare for all weathers.

Today we set off for home, leaving Barcelonnette at 8:30 with the temp at 12c, out of town it dropped to 10c, then @8c at the top of Col de Vars, at the bottom the other side it was @16c, then back down to about 10c over L'Echelle but back up to 20c the other side rising steadily to @25c in Susa, running up Mont Cenis it soon cooled back down to 10c, but warmed back up to around 18 at the bottom on the French side, before dropping to 6c at the top of L'Iseran (plus a bit damp as we were in the clouds) back down in the high Valley of Val D' Isere it warmed back up to @16c again.

With my wonderful Textile suit with Outlast liner I was never cold with just a summer base layer underneath, did start getting a bit warm around Susa, but as I knew we would soon be heading up into the cooler air I did not take the liner out. Started with summer gloves and used heated grips as required until heading up L'Iseran.

I think Andermatt is even less predictable / consistent ;-)
 
Hi all,

I had a great trip, did quite a lot in a week!

1st day I went from Dunkirk down through Belgium and Luxembourg into Germany.

2nd day went through the black forest on the b500 and into Switzerland.

3rd day went along some awesome mountain passes including Susten & Gotthard and down to lake Lucerne.

4th day went into Italy around lake Como and back into the mountain's over Stelvio pass then into Austria.

5th day went to Krimml waterfalls then more mountain passes and back into Germany to lake Chiemsee.

6th day did a long a$$ ride to Holland and spent 2 nights with friends near Eindhoven and then back to Dunkirk for the return ferry.

I had a blast (literally) and can't believe I've been riding 20+ years and never did this before!

Thanks for the tips from everyone, especially the Archies campsite app!!

I'll try and put some pics up.......

Cheers,
Rob

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Glad you had a great time, if you are anything like me you will be planning your next trip already.

My only other comment is I think you packed a bit too light!
 
Hi all,

I had a great trip, did quite a lot in a week!

1st day I went from Dunkirk down through Belgium and Luxembourg into Germany.

2nd day went through the black forest on the b500 and into Switzerland.

3rd day went along some awesome mountain passes including Susten & Gotthard and down to lake Lucerne.

4th day went into Italy around lake Como and back into the mountain's over Stelvio pass then into Austria.

5th day went to Krimml waterfalls then more mountain passes and back into Germany to lake Chiemsee.

6th day did a long a$$ ride to Holland and spent 2 nights with friends near Eindhoven and then back to Dunkirk for the return ferry.

I had a blast (literally) and can't believe I've been riding 20+ years and never did this before!

Thanks for the tips from everyone, especially the Archies campsite app!!

I'll try and put some pics up.......

Cheers,
Rob

e72b45bf00bfd4d40a53941ae1a24a76.jpg
dbf1c8a663ac38e640ad717616f8b8a8.jpg
c2447c9b41d82494510b7dbc4cc90ed7.jpg
3623325d012378ffc952695b2af09a14.jpg
c7c2be050c934b685471000b6b563218.jpg
c9cea4817d0c2040992bd8230ab770c9.jpg


Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Looks like a great trip Rob, you'll be hooked now then!

It does get very addictive!

That hot dogs got a Swiss flag in it, must of cost a fortune? Or do you just take your own flags to show off for pics from other countries
 
That hot dogs got a Swiss flag in it, must of cost a fortune? Or do you just take your own flags to show off for pics from other countries

I think it was about 6 Swiss francs, which is fine compared to an eye watering 41 Swiss francs for 1 person for 1 night camping

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Glad you had a good time. Some great pictures there :thumb
 
Good posting this. Nice change to see member asking for help and ideas, taking them on board and formulating a good trip and best of all providing great feedback and pictures. Well done that man !
 
I think it was about 6 Swiss francs, which is fine compared to an eye watering 41 Swiss francs for 1 person for 1 night camping

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Great ride report, nice looking kettle and stove, you know you can get some decent hotels for 50 swiss francs helps to travel a bit lighter, just do not buy wine, ask Nutty.........:D
 


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