What are your biking plans once Covid is gone?

[Itineo]

Me, I plan to ride to Bilbao next spring, store the bike for a month and walk the Camino del Norte to Santiago.
Travel along the Pyrenees to NE Spain and then home through Provence and Dordogne.

In the next few weeks hope to travel the Wild Atlantic Way but I've a fear that everyone else has the same idea and accommodation / camping will be an issue.
Any thoughts on either?

[Jimmy Bottlehead]

Myself the missus did a couple days of the Wild Atlantic Way last year, it was deadly. Camping shouldn't be TOO difficult though.

For myself, I want to do a European tour next year. Mixture of camping and B&Bs, hit as many countries as possible over a 3-4 week period. I'd estimate maybe 15-20 if planned well.

[WestWicklow1]

>> What are your biking plans once Covid is gone?

I'm not planning that far ahead!!!

I'm making my fourth attempt this September or October to get over to do the Portuguese ACT (Adventure Country Tracks).

[Itineo]

>> What are your biking plans once Covid is gone?

I'm not planning that far ahead!!!

I'm making my fourth attempt this September or October to get over to do the Portuguese ACT (Adventure Country Tracks).

I had a quick look at their website - looks fantastic. What will you be riding?

[Itineo]

Myself the missus did a couple days of the Wild Atlantic Way last year, it was deadly. Camping shouldn't be TOO difficult though.

For myself, I want to do a European tour next year. Mixture of camping and B&Bs, hit as many countries as possible over a 3-4 week period. I'd estimate maybe 15-20 if planned well.

I did a trip to Naples a few years ago - tented all the way and it was great. Wife and family left a week after me and we met up for a week before travelling back via the Adriatic coast, Austria, Germany and France.
It was a blast. Couldn't get over how friendly bikers were in particular. On two occasions I had to pull over to adjust something on the luggage or plug in something that had vibrated loose and both times other riders did U-Turns to come back to see if all was ok.
What countries would you be planning on?

[Jimmy Bottlehead]

I did a trip to Naples a few years ago - tented all the way and it was great. Wife and family left a week after me and we met up for a week before travelling back via the Adriatic coast, Austria, Germany and France.
It was a blast. Couldn't get over how friendly bikers were in particular. On two occasions I had to pull over to adjust something on the luggage or plug in something that had vibrated loose and both times other riders did U-Turns to come back to see if all was ok.
What countries would you be planning on?

Think the following were on the list (literally looking at Google maps go jog the memory! In order of sequence...

Ireland
France
Spain
Portugal
Switzerland
Italy
Croatia
Hungary
Slovakia
Poland
Lithuania
Latvia
Estonia
Finland
Sweden
Norway
Denmark
Germany
Netherlands
Belgium
France
England
Wales
Ireland

Very very lofty goal, but maybe six to eight weeks or so. It wouldn't be STRICTLY for fun, there's significant part of it that wants to do it for the adventure, challenge and achievement of it.

Also, a few of those countries might be brief dip ins just to tick them off the list.

Baron Von Grumble did a 14 countries in 24 hours tour a good few years back https://www.44teeth.com/14-countries-24-hours/ , and between watching that and currently reading Elspeth Beard's book 'Lone Rider', I'm inspired to do a big feck off tour before I'm too old and saddled down to do it.

[Itineo]

That's some list. You'd deffo need the eight weeks.
I'd be concerned myself on getting burned out after a while though - the extraordinary becomes the normal and I have found myself going meh at things that should amaze.
I read Elspeth Beard's book as well recently - I'm on a bit of a binge on Kindle unlimited at the moment on that type of thing.

[WestWicklow1]

I had a quick look at their website - looks fantastic. What will you be riding?

We'll each be on a Yamaha Sero.

[Itineo]

Nice light bike for the job. I see Chris Scott uses a light bike (BMW 310 GS) for his desert tours as well rather than the bigger machines.

[Agent_47]

Am booked on the ferry to Bibao in September. Plan A was tour the east coast to south of Spain but Plan B may be kicking in, that is go due south to Nerja and do the campsites. Just not sur about the passenger locator forms as I want to travel but have no where booked yet

[WestWicklow1]

Am booked on the ferry to Bibao in September. Plan A was tour the east coast to south of Spain but Plan B may be kicking in, that is go due south to Nerja and do the campsites. Just not sur about the passenger locator forms as I want to travel but have no where booked yet

Keep us updated, please. Brittany Ferries presumably?

I'm leaving it to the last minute to book. It was a nightmare getting a refund from BF on two occasions recently. This will be our fourth attempt to get to do the Portuguese ACT since May 2019.

Cancellation 1 - Injury
Cancellation 2 - Ferry cancelled
Cancellation 3 - Covid

I know there's limited space for bikes on their ferry but I don't want another refund battle and am hoping things will have settled down even more by late Sept/early Oct.

[Agent_47]

@WestWicklow 1, will do. Yeah, going with BF. All 4 sailings were fully booked when I booked my trip in January , I got literally the last spot.
They only allow 20 bikes per ferry. They have 3 price options but mine has no refund

[WestWicklow1]

I had a quick look at their website - looks fantastic. What will you be riding?

We'll each be on a Yamaha Sero.

Change of plan. I'll be on a Honda CRF 300L

[WestWicklow1]

@WestWicklow 1, will do. Yeah, going with BF. All 4 sailings were fully booked when I booked my trip in January , I got literally the last spot.
They only allow 20 bikes per ferry. They have 3 price options but mine has no refund

Well done. We eventually booked for Oct 8th but having "been there done that" with BF before we got the 75% refundable fare, so we're covered for the majority of the fares if either of these aul fellas has to cancel again. BF was a pita to get refunds after covid cancellations. Can't wait. Fourth-time lucky I hope

[Itineo]

Everything is filling up very quickly with all ferries I think. I had the option to book Stena for the motorhome two weeks ago but no cabins when checking yesterday. So was lucky to get BF for slightly more for the end of October
Think I'll do next summer's bookings (1 Bike/April and 1 Motorhome/July) soon just to be sure,. The Stena one offers free cancellation/amendment for a few euro extra each way.
I've used it twice to cancel trips since Covid and it is fairly painless. Just cancel and the money gets credited to the bank account a few days later.

[Itineo]

Going to make a start on the Wild Atlantic Way tomorrow after putting it off for too long. Going to start at Kinsale and see how far I can get by the end of the week. I'll bring the tent but am probably being too optimistic with the weather and places to camp.

[Jimmy Bottlehead]

You can always camp. The question is, how uncomfortable you'll be camping with the weather

I got a pop-up / 2 second tent from Decathlon and it's hard to see myself going back to a normal tent again. It's too easy up and down, particularly in bad conditions.

[Itineo]

I love to camp. Just back from three days (exhausting) on the www with the tent. 990 km. Did Kinsale to Glegarriff on Monday, Continued on to Glengbeigh yesterday and completed the rest of Kerry before baling out at Ballylongford and heading for home in south Limerick this evening.
Lots of very nice roads, good surfaces and plenty of twistys. Cracking scenery and apart from navigating past a few xxx D 1233445 SUVs travelling at 51 km/h on wide roads it was just perfect. It's the flipside of being the slow person in the campervan which is my alter ego. I did a lot to the SV to make it good for touring. Saddle still needs more attention. Like sitting on a stone after two hours.

[Itineo]

You can always camp. The question is, how uncomfortable you'll be camping with the weather

I got a pop-up / 2 second tent from Decathlon and it's hard to see myself going back to a normal tent again. It's too easy up and down, particularly in bad conditions.

Particularly interested in the tent. Mine is about thirty years old -dome tents were cool back then - and I've been intrigued with the idea of not getting it all wet when setting it up in the rain. Was in halfords last week but their stuff is only for the beach.

[Jimmy Bottlehead]

Particularly interested in the tent. Mine is about thirty years old -dome tents were cool back then - and I've been intrigued with the idea of not getting it all wet when setting it up in the rain. Was in halfords last week but their stuff is only for the beach.

Do you mena you want to know more about my tent? If so, ask away!!

[Itineo]

Sure. My ancient tent finally leaked a bit of water. Woke up yesterday to find damp feet in the sleeping bag. I've seen lots of popup tents for sale but hard to know if they have an inner tent or otherwise heat/water proof.

[Itineo]

And another thing... I've learned I hate soft luggage... Yearning for the hard cases I had on the Bandit.

[Jimmy Bottlehead]

Sure. My ancient tent finally leaked a bit of water. Woke up yesterday to find damp feet in the sleeping bag. I've seen lots of popup tents for sale but hard to know if they have an inner tent or otherwise heat/water proof.

Well the tent I got from Decathlon is this one:

https://www.decathlon.ie/camping-tents/ ... erson.html

My review is as follows:

It's not light at a little under 5kg, but that's not a worry on the bike. It's roll shaped so easily strapped down. With practice, you'd likely have this tent unpacked and fully erected within 5-6 minutes. Exceptionally quick to setup and take down. The tent bag is great too, loads of room and packs down as much as possible.

I've not tested it in super wet weather, but it held up to light drizzle no problem and I'm confident it'd stand up to far worse. It's spacious enough for one with gear. I'd not fancy two! Has a very good flysheet, pockets at either end for essentials, and also a little line across the top for hanging a lantern or drying clothes.

This particular model is the fresh 'n black model, so it's almost pitch black inside even in day time, sleeping on past sunrise isn't an issue. You'll also be kept cool.

Downsides?
There isn't a porch area really, which is a slight pain. The zips go allllll the way to the bottom, so your hand may get wet or muddy zipping it all the way down if conditions are crap. As notes it's not light so not IDEAL if you're lugging it a long distance.

Overall I'm delighted with it as a purchase. The tradeoff of weight for ease of setup is well worth it and perfect for bike camping when you don't wanna be faffing about at the end of a long ride. Pop up, stake down, steaks on.

[Itineo]

Thanks for that. Very useful.

[Itineo]

Sorry I was in a rush replying to your response - I want to say thanks for such a thorough review of the tent and I really appreciate it. I think It's definitely something I'll consider getting. Gracias.