Tossers-on-Tour: The BIG one - 2005

Greg Masters

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OK boys and girls – they always say “plan early”, so here’s your first ‘heads up’ of what will be THE major tour of 2005.

The plan is that Tossers-on-Tour should circumnavigate the Baltic Sea during early June 2005 in a tour that will take in at least 11 different countries in a 2,500 road-mile 10 day tour.

The proposed itinerary (subject to finalisation) is:

Friday 3 June 2005, afternoon departure from Newcastle-upon-Tyne by overnight ferry to Kristiansand, Norway. From there, we will amble through the Scandinavian summer sun to Stockholm, Sweden, a 2-day leg of about 500 miles.

We will take the Baltic overnight ferry (do you remember the Estonia?) to Tallinn, Estonia (where the beer, vodka and fuel all become much cheaper) before riding south through Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Holland, Belgium to our homeward ferry from Calais, France. We will be back in England on Sunday, 12 June 2005.

En-route you will have the opportunity to see a number of places of interest which will include museums, historical buildings and, hopefully, a tour of the BMW Motorcycle plant in Berlin. A picture from Estonia is shown below.

Although largely unreccied, this will be a ‘fully managed’ tour with all hotels and ferries pre-booked. You will receive a roadbook and by guided by two experienced m/c tour guides (no names, to protect the as yet un-knobbled! :D)

You will need your own bike and kit and to have arranged for full EU insurance and breakdown recovery. As the entire tour takes place within the European Union, medical insurance should not be specifically required but will be strongly recommended.

This will be a popular tour but places will be limited. I will publish the cost of the tour for both solo rider and rider/pillion as soon as I am able.

I will be delighted to receive firm expressions of interest from now onwards, but, for the avoidance of doubt, you will be expected to make staged payments in full prior to departure.

Time-wasters, half-hearted tossers and those with weak livers should not apply! (Nor should any who can’t ride until they have effected a Technicolor Yawn into or near the toilet bowl! :barf Only joking, Lucy!)

Greg
 

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Greg,

If you haven’t seen it already, but you might like to look here.

It seems to be pretty much what you are suggesting, but with a bit of advice about a diversion St Petersburg.

Florence and I were considering doing something similar this year, but with one thing and another … WTF I might as well come clean now … after we get back from the Picos, we are jumping on a plane to NZ with the intention of coming back sometime never, thought there are loads of details to get sorted out.

The Baltic trip looks like a corker though. Good luck with it :thumb

... got the rough guides and all sorts if somebody fancies making me an offer :thumb
 
St Petersburg

Yes, I've looked into that, especially the option of taking the ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki and then riding around the eastern end of the Baltic through St Petersburg.

It might be one thing if there's just a couple of you, but for a decent-sized group the paperwork and costs probably don't make it worthwhile.

Considerations:
  1. each person would have to have a 'invitation' to enter the Russioan Federation
  2. each person would have to take or send their passport to Kensington to get a visa (£120 each if the Russian Embassy insists on the Express Service, as was mentioned in one of the links)
  3. paperwork to get the bike in/out of the Russian Federation
  4. Bike Insurance - this would be outside the EU
  5. Medical Insurance - ditto
  6. According to last week's St Petersburg Times (see here) the City Fathers are very concerned about crime against tourists
    [/list=1]

    You can't say I didn't consider it though!

    Greg
 
Russian Federation

I know Greg has tried his best but I regularly have to go to the RF - Moscow, St Petersberg etc. and it is not easy even for professionals to do their business.

Firstly there is the invitation process - not a problem as it is getting more streamlined with email etc but it is still a pain.

The visa situation can be fraught because the consulate do not update their website and so thefore your download will often be different to the one they require. So your travel agency has to be on the ball. Also the consulate make mistakes - hence why the visas are checked at BA checkin to ensure they are error free (they are in acrylic (Bakerspeak!!)).

Then there is the problem of importing the bikes - well we have problems just getting prescription drugs into the country so God knows how it would be for X bikes!

Then there is the landscape - St Petersberg is nice but I wouldn't want to go there by bike. Much of the landscape is very boring.

Should anything go wrong we would need a native speaker.

The disparity between those that have and those that don't is very much in evidence in the RF.
 
Greg Masters said:
Time-wasters, half-hearted tossers and those with weak livers should not apply! (Nor should any who can’t ride until they have effected a Technicolor Yawn into or near the toilet bowl! :barf Only joking, Lucy!)

Greg [/B]

Thanks Greg

Put me down for this one, I'll start perfecting my technique :barf

Lucy xx
 
pencil me in please.....

and i promise to work harder on rough terrain/cornering before we go
 
Zebedee said:
Greg,

If you haven’t seen it already, but you might like to look here.

It seems to be pretty much what you are suggesting, but with a bit of advice about a diversion St Petersburg.

Florence and I were considering doing something similar this year, but with one thing and another … WTF I might as well come clean now … after we get back from the Picos, we are jumping on a plane to NZ with the intention of coming back sometime never, thought there are loads of details to get sorted out.

The Baltic trip looks like a corker though. Good luck with it :thumb

... got the rough guides and all sorts if somebody fancies making me an offer :thumb

No Hijack intended, but congrats to zebedee sounds like a good idea... NZ that is....
 
I'll be watching this space......that's the sum total of my commitment. Fingers crossed
 
best try and get some leave in then, now I'm able to keep up without a case of monkey butt :D
 
Awww, and i thought it was going to be a camping tour of Norway. Still, could well be interested, i'll check me work dates for next year.
 
Pencil me in Greg, the memsahib says I can go. Now then, whats that going to cost me ??:confused: :rolleyes: :eek: Any feel for guestimate costs excluding fuel and food.
 
Cool. By that time my new Biker Cafe in Normandy should be in full swing, tested & tried, ready to receive the tired road warriors......

Don't forget to put it in the tour !!! I should be about 2 hours away from Calais (location not yet found).
 
Gazza

Firstly, can you, and anybody else interested in this trip, drop me an e-mail or PM with your e-mail address as I will generally communicate to interested parties by e-mail group.

Costs - I really don't know yet as I'm waiting on some numbers from the ferry companies regarding block bookings.

However, as a rough guide, I would refer you to the Big Mac Index of pricing. You will see that although Norway and Sweden labour under a high BM quotient (as, indeed, Britain does), the southern Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Poland benefit greatly from an under-valued BM.

Rough as this guide is, is seems to be borne out by the recent Eastern Bloc trip in which all essential costs - fuel, hotels and booze - were significantly[/] cheaper in Poland and Czech Republic than they were in Germany and west thereof.

Besides, I know you can afford it! ;)

Greg
 

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Jim, your mission if you choose to accept it

I'm sure I can beg SWMBO to let me come and play, PLEASE put me down and I promise I won't be last, but then again i might be telling porkies!!

Gary.:tosser
 
Greg
I might be interested. Are you planning to use 'System D' - Or 'System Tosser' ? ;)
 


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