Preparing and Planning - 10 things I'll be doing when planning next years tour
- Andy Marks
- Nov 10
- 9 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
That's it - the clocks have changed, it's dark by the time I finish work and the bike is being left in the garage in favour of my warm, dry car. Call me a wimp if you like, but I wont be riding very much at all for the next few months. In truth, I haven't ridden that much this summer, and I haven't been on a bike at all since I had a crash at Brands Hatch in early September.
Most of the riding I have done this year has been on my classic bikes, my Honda probably hasn't done 200 miles in total! There are a whole host of reasons for this, which I won't go into here, but I've missed it, and I've also missed writing about it. I'm sitting here now feeling determined to make sure I don't fall into the same traps next year. Without much travel 'content' (I hate that word) to write about, I'm going to tell you what I am doing to prepare for next years motorcycle travels in Europe. I've done it all before so I do have some experience and I'm hoping you can glean some useful tips from my next few posts. Stay with me and I'll be sharing pictures and anecdotes from the road again before you know it.
So... Without further ado - here are 10 things I'm doing to prepare for my next tour.
1) Accept the inevitable - I won't see it all in one motorcycle trip
Let's get this one out of the way first, if you're trying to plan a trip that 'takes it all in', you'll end up disappointed or, worse still, never go anywhere. Pick your cliché, 'Perfect is the enemy of good' or 'progress over perfection.'
Even if you're sticking to a single country like France there is so much to see you wont fit it all in. Pick a few highlights and actually go!
I've included a map of the 2237 mile trip I did, mostly in France, in 2023. I was away for 13 days but can you imagine if I'd tried to see everything along this route? I'd still be on my way to Rouen. Besides, some of the bits I 'missed' are the starting point for next years trip planning.
2) Pick a Destination - Decide where I want my European tour to take me
This sounds obvious doesn't it? But it can be more involved than looking through a brochure and picking a week in Lanzarote. There will be so many places to see and roads to ride on a trip, and they will all need piecing together at some point.
I don't travel with a strict schedule or plan but I do like to have an idea of where I'm heading. What works for me is to have a Google Doc on the go. I spend far to much time on social media and whenever I see somewhere that looks good I add it to the list. If I see something in a film or TV show that I am watching I can usually use Google to find out where it is and add it to the list. I've just checked, there are 80 places and 85 roads on the list. That's not including the ones I've already ticked off and I only add ones that I think are realistic for me. No point overwhelming myself with ideas of South America when I have no plans to travel there.
I don't want it to sound like I am turning my travels into a checklist, but I do find it useful to have this reference. If I am going to be in an area I can look at the list and see if there is anything else around there that I'd like to go and see.
3) Put it in my calendar ASAP
Even though nothing is booked, it's already in the calendar. I find having a firm date to travel makes it happen. This year I spent a lot of time saying 'I'd like to go at some point, but I'm not sure when yet' and the end result is me writing this in November having not been away. Putting it a calendar and telling people when I am going makes it more likely to happen for me.
4) Get it booked
Immediately following on from my last point, as soon as I know where and when I am going, I'll get something booked. As I have already said, I like to travel without much of a schedule, so I don't book too much. But booking a ferry crossing or the first nights accommodation really sets it in stone, I plan to get this done in the next couple of weeks for my planned trip next June. Booking in advance can also make it slightly cheaper and gives me something to start getting excited about.
5) I won't plan any stops on the first day
Can I visit that museum or ride that road on a day out, or even an overnighter trip? Let's skip it on the longer trip then. When I'm lucky enough to have a couple of weeks to travel, I like to make the most of it doing things that I can't do any other weekend. Sometimes it means I ride straight past something I would love to stop at, but it frees up time to spend in an area I might never be in again.
I ride through the beautiful town of Rye every time I go to Dover. But it's only about an hour away so it seems a waste to spend time there and delay my crossing to France. I took this photo when Leigh and I went for a day out there. It's beautiful, go and visit!
6) Look at my motorcycle travel costs, set a rough budget and start saving ASAP
This won't apply to everyone, some people are fortunate enough to be able to just go. But for me, I need some idea of what it's going to cost so I can put the money aside. I've written before about what a couple of weeks in France cost me. Feel free to use this as the basis of your budget if you like, but bare in mind other countries are more expensive and we all travel differently.
I plan to write more about budgeting and saving for trips later, but what I will say here is - the sooner you know how much you're going to need the easier it will be to set your goals. I've already done the sums and started working on it.
7) I'll start mapping out some tour routes
As I get nearer setting off I'll start looking more at routes. I know some people who programme an entire 2500 mile trip into their satnav and follow it religiously. It works for them and you will never hear me saying someone else is doing it 'wrong'. It's not how I do it though.
By the time I'm doing this I'll have a pretty good idea where I'm heading so I'll take aforementioned list of places and start putting the ones that are in 'the right direction' into Google Maps. This gives me a rough outline that takes them in. Some get added and some get dropped because they aren't really on the way. By now I'll know how long I want to/can be be away for and, I know from past experience, I like to average somewhere around 175 miles a day. Some days I'll ride a lot more, some times I'll have a day off all together. 175 miles seems to about where I end up as an average after a couple of weeks.
I make no plans for where I am going to stay each night and if I'm just going from A-B I'll use my satnav, set to 'Avoid Motorways.' If there is a specific route or section of road I want to ride, I use My Route App to create a GPX route. I can then upload this onto my satnav. I won't get carried away though, I might only create a 50 mile stretch. My 10 year old Garmin Zumo 340 doesn't make editing routes once they are uploaded, or starting the day mid route, very easy by newer standards. I find shorter sections work better than a huge route that will take days.
8) Paperwork - What documents I need for a European bike trip
Boring I know, and I don't want to turn this post into a packing list, but this all needs to be checked in plenty of time. There's nothing worse than trying to deal with the DVLA or passport office when time is running out!
I'll be checking all of these in plenty of time:
Passport - I only renewed mine last year so I know it's ok, but check the expiration date and how long it needs to have on it for your planned destinations
Driving licence - Mine needs renewing before next year. The DVLA can be incredibly slow so it's worth doing in plenty of time!
V5C and MOT certificate (if the bike is more than three years old) - obviously the MOT needs to be valid for the entire trip, and you need to carry these with you if heading to Europe
Bike insurance - as above, make sure it's valid for the entire trip but the other thing to check with this one is that it is valid for all the countries you are going to be riding through
Breakdown cover - my Honda came with a two year warranty that included European cover, that has now expired and I plan to add it to my insurance when that is up for renewal
Travel insurance - I have an annual policy with Admiral. There are loads of suppliers out there but make sure it covers riding a motorbike. A lot don't, and some that do only cover up to 125cc.
GHIC - or Global Health Insurance Card. These replaced the EHIC when we left the EU and are free to get online so you'd be daft not to carry one with you.
9) Check my gear - The essential motorcycle kit prep
And this time, I will not be leaving it until the night before I set off. Unless you are looking for an excuse not to go, what's the difference between finding that the mice ate your tent over the winter the night before you go, or when you arrive on your first campsite? You're in trouble either way.
I try to get my kit out a few weeks before a longer trip. Because it's not had much use this year I'll be very careful to check it next year and, if it all looks OK at home, I'll to do a shorter trip before I go on the long one. Even if it's only an overnighter I'll take all the kit I take for a longer trip and use it.
Added bonus: I find this really helps to settle the nerves leading up to, and setting off on, a longer trip
10) I'll make sure I am ready to go
This is something else that I am going to write more about later. But spending two weeks (or more) on your own and riding a bike everyday isn't always easy on the rider, mentally or physically. It can be blissful, but it can also be tiring, stressful and lonely.
My top two tips for the purposes of this post:
Spend more time on the bike before you go. Including a couple of back to back days. This will make riding the bike feel more natural and comfortable so it wont be as tiring when you spend long days in the saddle. People who already do a lot of miles wont need to worry about this one as much
Have a plan for long periods of time on your own. Some people love it but most people will start to struggle eventually. Solo travel can be incredibly sociable when the weather is good and you're meeting people everywhere you go. But if the weather is bad and everyone is in a rush it doesn't work so well. I'll have a couple of good novels downloaded to my Kindle before I set off, and if I have a lot of time to kill I prefer audiobooks to podcasts.
11) Bonus tip for your trip - Don't overdo the planning
Just to completely contradict the entire purpose of this post... Don't overdo it, the beauty of travel, especially solo, is the ability to be flexible. Have a rough outline when you set off but don't set too much in stone and don't worry about following it. I'd even go as far as to say some of the best 'adventures' happen when the plan goes out the window and you follow a whim. Have access to that Google Doc on your phone so that, if you find yourself in and area you hadn't planned to be, you can have a look to see if there is anything local to go and look at. All of the things on that list that you 'missed' are a great starting point for next year anyway!
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