Route Advice AND Planning Advice. Can Anyone Help?

[BobA]

OK Folks, time for me to ask a few questions. I know the HUBB and a few other sites may be better places to ask these questions, but I thought I'd start here with you lot!

So, firstly...

I'm sort of playing with the idea of a Euro roadtrip this year which would take in a loop up from Calais, through Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia...then coming back the same'ish route.
So, any ideas, suggested routes, places to avoid, etc?

Secondly, I've seen a few people in the past that have plotted their routes on nice fancy maps, with mileages, ice cream stops, and all sorts, so what is the best way of doing this, on my PC before I go?

Finally, this is just a nagging idea, which I hope to do, but at the moment probably shouldn't even be contemplating, but any advice would be most welcome.

Thanking you all in advance

Bob

[Muckybill]

BobA

I Have tried computer route planners and some throw up places of interest and that feature is quite good but when it comes to using the planner on route I loose interest in it after a couple of days and end up doing my own thing.
Last year on a trip to Croatia/Bosnia I looked at tourist web sites and travel books for the countries I visited and found places of interest and marked them on my maps. Then I just pointed the bike in the general direction and just made it up as i went taking in some of the points of interest I had noted.
Most of my trips are like that, its nice to just make it up as you go sometimes but still head in roughly the right direction.


Bill

[Hagrid]

Oh can I come

How long you planning the trip to last dude?

[BobA]

All that typing, then I hear "Ping Pong, you have new email" only to find an email from TomTom, about my TomTom Rider.

Email mentions a few things, then tells me about a clever fella (Jan Boersma) that has written an application for Google Earth to make it work in cahoots with the TomTom Rider software.

Anyone out there with a Rider should take a peek at this brilliant software (well what I've seen of it so far!!)

TYRE = Trace Your Route Everywhere

at http://www.janboersma.nl/gett/index.html

BRILLIANT!!!!


Bob

[BlindPugh]

Get a decent GPS and upload your own set of waypoints for everything you want to see or places you want to visit. Plan the route on PC and include your own set of waypoints this should help you also work out timings and distances - I usually try to keep actual riding time down to around 5 hours per day then by the time you add in petrol stops, pee breaks, lunch etc.. it gives you a reasonably easy day and the chance to look at the scenery. So on motorway/good roads I expect to cover 300-400 miles per day. On other roads this could be down to 200 miles per day. At least planning routes like this means if the weather is totally crap ( and I have had a few days like that ) you can get the days ride over quickly. Nothing saps the spirit quite like getting off the ferry in p*ssing rain and wind knowing that you have 500 miles to go.

[Tarka]

Bollox to all this GPS and PC routeplanning crap.

Buy a map or two and grab a beer or two,and spend some time looking for the interesting stuff...narrow squiggly roads,scenic routes and places of interest.


Then just go and enjoy yerself instead of fecking about planning and loading every last wheel turn.

It`s a biking holiday...not some package holiday daily itenary.

[Hagrid]

Bollox to all this GPS and PC routeplanning crap. Buy a map or two and grab a beer or two,and spend some time looking for the interesting stuff...narrow squiggly roads,scenic routes and places of interest.

I'm with Tarka on this one Bob...

Maybe just set yourself a couple of waypoints (in your mind) you need to reach by 'X' date then just let the road take you where she wants

[Jenna]

think you need tread the middle line here and do your homework on the best roads, borders etc as these can be headache at the best of times ( remember although some of these countries are EEC members they can still **** you about chronic at check points!)...

personally i would say look at few guide books and then go find the Polish/Estonian/ etc community near you and ask the people that know as first hand experience is worth a million times more than any guide book which is the authors tastes and likes and not always the same as yours!... the best places i found in eastern Europe (Poland, Latvia, Estonia, and the Russian borders) were normally the locals haunts and not the ones in the guide books which tended to be tourist traps!

don't see any problems with using a GPS, infact i think its pretty well a must have if you don't want to waist half your time going in the wrong direction ( why cant guys ever ask for directions????) or intent to stick to any sort of schedule. We have used good ol' autoroute for donkies and it still does the business, use it with google earth and you can do some precise waypints easy but get too fanatical as the ability to 'roam' is a large part of the fun too.

[Muckybill]

( why cant guys ever ask for directions????)

Hey Jenna, found some great roads and places of interest by not asking for directions founs some crap ones as well

Bill

[BobA]

Some interesting replies there folks.

I've got the TomTom Rider already (won it in a competition) so don't really want to go to the expense of a full-blown GPS system. The Rider is really just a backup to my natural sense of direction (!!) and also a useful for the Bluetooth headset.

The TYRE software actually integrates well with the TomTom/Google Earth software (it seems) so I'll be having a dabble with this.

As for Jenna and Tarka's comments, you are spot-on, and there's nothing like some useful comments from locals or people that have been there before (which is why I asked you lot) however I've always found travel books compliment the journey if you're sitting on a plane/train, en route to somewhere. I'd rather be riding than reading when I'm on a bike travel if you know what I mean. What I'd like to do, is just leave home with a few titbit's of information of must-see places or roads to travel.

This is all a very loose plan at the moment, with no particular departure date or duration, just an idea of countries I'd like to add to my "visited" list. The idea is just to leave, point the handlebars in the general direction, and enjoy it ('til the money runs out!!). If it does come off, andyone is welcome to tag along (Fletch) so lets see what happens.

Thanks everyone


Bob