Pyrenees 2013!

So it is finally happening, I am in the process of planning the 2013 trip - which this year is to the Pyrenees. We have about two weeks in total to enjoy riding the Pyrenees, throw in some sight seeing and activities and for me to finally visit Barcelona (which I have wanted to do since I was a kid).

I have provisionally worked out where we are staying and when and so far the only thing booked is the ferry from Portsmouth to Santander. But just to give a sneak preview of the rough route we are planning to take on this trip I have put together a Google Map:


View Larger Map

Over the next few weeks I will be adding more stuff. For information on equipment you might need or stuff you should know when driving in parts of Europe then check out the posts I did for the Black Forest trip last year as it would pretty much be the same. Only difference is we are planning to camp for the entirety of this trip but that shouldn't change the equipment list too much, although you may want to take additional stuff for cooking.

So keep checking the blog to see how this develops and maybe it'll inspire your own European trip ! :)

Black Forest 2012: Day 8 - Durnal, Belgium - Essex, UK

Day 8: Durnal, Belgium - Essex, UK 02/09/2012
Miles: 268 appx. 

This is the last post of the Black Forest 2012 trip! I know it has taken me almost a year to finish it... but I have been swamped with Uni work :). Next up I will start writing about the Pyrenees trip that I am planning, but for now lets finish this final post :).

We got up fairly early on the Sunday, aiming to get to Calais for the 16:35 ferry. En route we wanted to stop in Belgium to take home some chocolates (as you do when in Belgium!). We stopped first in Gent

as there was a shop there that I had visited on another trip but unfortunately it was shut. We walked around the town just taking in some of the sights and just to show Emma around the place before we jumped back on the bikes. We also spotted a very odd looking bike, scooter, whatever it was with a side car :/.

Failing to get any chocolates here, we went back to familiar territory - Bruges. Here we bought chocolates from the shop with the chocolate king of the sea in the window. I asked for a mixed variety of white chocolates (as I am not really allowed cocoa due to my headaches) and Emma got whatever she wanted!

Now the ferry was a nightmare. We arrived pretty early, perhaps a couple of hours early and the port was absolutely rammed. It took an age to get through to the booking desk where we were told there was no chance we could get on the ferry. Our booking got migrated to a different ferry company (My Ferry Line) and we had to visit their offices to get booked in. Whilst waiting in the queue I heard that there was no space on any of their ferries until about 8 or 9 pm. Hearing this (and with her new job starting the next day) Emma marched over to P&O and demanded that we were put on their 5:30 ferry (I think, I can't remember the exact time now). We managed to get back to Essex within good time for her to start her new job the next day - despite perhaps being a little stressed out as a result of this !

Routes wise, we used motorways all the way back to Calais, including to Gent and Bruges to allow enough time to be back for the ferry. If you still wish to see the original map of this route then see below:

Problems With Motorcycle Routes In Garmin's Basecamp

OK, so if like me you have had to revert to Garmin's Basecamp software and are having trouble with creating routes then this YouTube link will sort you out:

Basecamp is Garmin's map software, which allows you to create routes, view addresses and POI's and much more. Previously I used Garmin's older version known as Mapsource and never experienced any issues. Unfortunately, when I downloaded the new 2013.4 European maps, Mapsource would not allow me to use them and so Basecampe was my only option.

I tried to create a short route from my house in Northampton to the M1 via some back roads. However, the route that Basecamp calculated for me made no sense and made it far more complicated than it needed to be. The thing is, Basecamp utilises a profile system for cars, motorcycles, HGV's etc. You need to configure the profile in order for the routes to be calculated correctly. This YouTube video will show you how to do this and how to perform similar steps on your Garmin device. You can then tweak the settings so that they work for you. For example, the tutorial selects the fastest route option but I leave mine as the shortest route.

If you have any questions regarding Basecamp or other Gamin products then enter a comment below and I will do my best to help you. If you feel you can contribute some useful information regarding Basecamp then please do that too. Although I am still learning with Basecamp myself so won't pretend to know everything !

Black Forest 2012: Day 7 - Mosel Valley, Germany - Durnal, Belgium

OK, I know it has been forever since I last posted. As you can imagine University got on top of me and I spent the last few months finishing it off. But now I have completely finished, handed in my final piece of work on the 2nd May, so I can continue writing the blog!

Day 7: Mosel Valley, Germany - Durnal, Belgium 01/09/2012

Miles: 144 appx. 

Now, we originally planned to go the fast way to the campsite in Durnal, but as we had a bit of time and it was a nice day we set the sat nav up for the shortest route, avoiding all motorways and main roads. It turned out to be a great idea, as the scenery and sites were amazing.

Me and my sat nav did have a bit of a disagreement however on this route. Originally stating about 90 miles from Mosel Valley to the campsite, we ended up filling up the bikes twice on the way and it took about 3 hours. All was forgiven though as we really enjoyed the ride. Don't let the sunny pictures fool you though, it was freezing!

The biggest highlight were the castles we spotted. In fact, we rode past it the first time and decided that we would go back to see it. I do not know much about them other than they are called The Manderscheid Castles. There is some more information knocking around on google if you are interested. I wish we went up to them now and had a proper look, but as with most things on this trip time was pretty much against us =(. This is the only picture taken of me and Emma together on this trip too lol.

We got to Durnal and set up camp. My Grandad said that we should visit Dinant if we could so we headed up there for the afternoon, with Emma popping on the back of my bike. It's a nice town, not a lot going on really but sits by the river and is quite picturesque. There were large saxophones across the town and over the river, which represented different countries, which was cool. We had a look inside the chapel and had dinner by the river. The waitress didn't speak English but my (very little) french just about got us by.

There are no routes for this trip, but there are some nice roads around the Durnal area, so I would recommended looking some up if you are ever over that way.

Product Review: Dainese Hilton Jacket + Gator Trousers

Guess I should be writing about these seeing as it's been mentioned in Emma's post that I will do... so here goes!

Dainese Hilton Gortex Jacket

This jacket was going for £329 at the MCN show. They only had one as it is now a discontinued product. I did a bit of searching on the web before purchasing and noticed eBay had it for £299 (but not my size). As the one on the Dainese stand was my size I told the guy I'd buy it if he did it for £300. Reluctantly he agreed! But anyway onto the review...

I  have been wearing this jacket throughout the majority of this winter season. It has a bomber jacket type layer inside, two zips for keeping the wind out, adjustable straps on the waist and neck layers and ample storage space. It also has some reflective areas. I have found this jacket great for keeping the wind out, warm and enough pockets to store keys, wallets and whatever else you want. There are two zip/button combination pockets on the outside and a velcro inside pocket. It takes the normal Dainese back armour too which I transferred from my Dainese leather jacket.

I have a couple of qualms about this jacket. Firstly, Dainese - you really need to sort your zips out! The inside zip is fine, but the one on the outside doesn't connect properly at the bottom and you end up with it coming undone unless you hold it a particular way. I've had problems in the past where Dainese zips have pulled off easily and I've had to replace with key rings. The second is to do with the buttons on the wrist. They are a bit awkward when putting gloves over the top and it takes a bit of fidgeting to get your gloves over properly. If you don't do it properly air appears to get inside quite easily.

Edit: Forgot to mention how waterproof the jacket is. It is actually very waterproof. In all the rain I have ridden in with it I have never got wet. Perfectly dry when I take it off. So it definitely does the job in that department!

MCBlogSpot Rating: 8/10

Dainese Gator Gortex Trousers

The trousers on the other hand fair pretty well. I don't actually have anything negative to say about them. They are waterproof, warm (as warm as things can stay when it gets really cold) and comfortable. They adjust well, have a removable lining inside and you can easily get them over your boots. There are two zips around the bottom of the leg, one to extend the area (like boot cut jeans almost) and the other to open the bottom up. There are also zipped pockets and a rear zipped pocket. The crotch area is another zip and the top is button with a new lock-fastening system. All in all, really good trousers. I am not sure if they have been discontinued, but definitely worth getting if you need a pair. Oh and they zip fine to the Dainese jacket to definitely keep the wind out.

MCBlogSpot Rating: 10/10

Black Forest 2012: Day 6 - Basel, Switzerland - Mosel Valley, Germany

Before I continue writing about the Black Forest trip (it is almost finished, honest!) I just wanted to say well done to Psy for passing his theory test yesterday :). He can now concentrate on the rest of his bike training and hopefully we will have him along on our trip in the summer!

Day 6: Basel, Switzerland - Mosel Valley, Germany - 31/08/2012

Miles: 235 appx.

This was the point where we started heading gradually back towards Calais. We took a different way north, choosing to use the French route rather than the German autobahn. The journey to the Mosel Valley was another fast route, opting to get to our destination as quickly as we could in order to go for a ride around the area. This was the journey we took:

I believe we got to the guest house at around 3 or 4pm. The weather was a bit on and off for most of the ride up there and was pretty wet around the valley. I also noticed the zip on my wallet was broken so asked the owners of the guesthouse if they knew where I could pick up a new one. The nearest town was Bernkastel and it so happened there was a local festival on that weekend. So we settled into our room and headed on out.

We parked up next the river and started walking into the town. As we started walking down the main high street, Emma realised she did her famous "key-in-bike" trick again so we had to go back. Luckily the key was still there so walked away, with relief on our faces, back towards the high street.

Most of the shops in Bernkastel were shut but there was a wallet shop still open. The lady there was very helpful, trying to help me pick out a wallet I liked. I finally decided on one and went to pay. The price of it was €69 - a bit more than I wanted to pay for a wallet! However, as she was so helpful and patient I decided to get it as a birthday present to myself.


Despite the weather, we still decided to go for a ride out as planned. Unfortunately I forgot to add the route I planned for this day onto the sat nav so I asked Emma to "get us lost". Emma likes bendy, backstreet roads and as the area was so beautiful we figured we would find the best views and roads this way. After finding ourselves lost in a few vineyards we eventually got onto some nice roads and views. We only stayed out for about an hour before we headed back to the guest house.

For those interested, the original route that I had planned is here (about 82 miles):

We went out for a quick bite at the local kebabery and brought the food back to the guest house. A friend of Emma's from the SV forum was staying also at the guest house at this time so we stayed up and chatted for a bit before getting a relatively early night ready for our trip back to Belgium the next day. 

Psy's First Big Bike Lesson

Psy's First Big Bike Lesson
Last Wednesday my housemate took his first ever big bike lesson on a GS 650. He only had an hour booked so they mainly stayed in the training car park with a small half hour ride out onto the rode.



After the lesson he said to me that he found the feel of the bike far different to his 125cc bike he had owned before, but that he found it more comfortable. He needs to sort out his rear brake and clutch control but I am hoping he passes all the tests in time to join us on our Pyrenees trip later this year! 

Today is his theory test, so over the last couple of days he has been revising for that. Recently he has been passing the mock tests so fingers crossed he gets through it today. Once he sorts that out he will  be able to start training for his MOD 1 test followed by his MOD 2 test. You can keep up with Psy's lessons on here as I will give updates where I can. This way it might help some of you understand the new bike laws and how the training may work.

For Psy, he has turned 25 years of age so he is able to do a full unrestricted test. Due to financial reasons, he is currently doing 2 hour lessons every other week like you would usually do with normal car driving lessons. To pass the test he must pass on a bike of at least 600cc and power of 53. The GS 650 is less powerful than the requirements so from next week he will be changing bikes (although what bike we do not know yet). He is training with Karmenz Motorcycle Training in Billing, Northampton as he originally did his CBT with him almost a year ago. Details for Karmenz can be found here: http://www.karmenzbiketraining.com/