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[shaggs147]

Just on the last leg of my jaunt into Europe, boarding the euro tunnel train for home Monday lunchtime.
Been to France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Austria. Think I'll end up covering just over 3500 miles, its been great, although my arse doesn't think so :'( The bike thus far has been faultless, and purred along nicely averaging around 58 mpg, as I kept to the speed limits most of the time to keep away from europlod ;) Not sure if I'd ever venture down as far as sorrento again though, the Italian drivers are nuts :-[

[pross]

Just on the last leg of my jaunt into Europe, boarding the euro tunnel train for home Monday lunchtime.
Been to France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Austria. Think I'll end up covering just over 3500 miles, its been great, although my arse doesn't think so :'( The bike thus far has been faultless, and purred along nicely averaging around 58 mpg, as I kept to the speed limits most of the time to keep away from europlod ;) Not sure if I'd ever venture down as far as sorrento again though, the Italian drivers are nuts :-[

Sounds a cracker how did you plan the stops prebooked? Or stopped when you wanted .

[viper]

nice trip , we have been as far as the dolomities on the bike , been to ancona in the car and the Italians are nuts / dangerous

[topo]

Please explain me....why italian drivers are nuts/dangerous??

[viper]

I have been to Ancona several times , travelling through many EU countries and in my experience the standard of driving in Italy is the poorest

The 2 lane motorway that travels down to ancona is the worst , everytime ive been on it and ive been in the overtaking lane ( in a car or van ) ive experienced aggressive and impatient drivers who have actually pushed into my bumper at 70 mph to ask me to go quicker, its a very busy motorway and there is no where to go. The first time this happened I thought it was a one off incident but as I say its happened several times, even when I was in a large van a Mercedes was nudging at my rear bumper, this does not happened in Germany .
too many cars for the size of the roads .
when ive been on my bike I have more incident than any other country and if you dare sound your horn they want to fight with you ,
sorry but you did ask, Im sure you are the best driver in the world but we are speaking broadly here

[shaggs147]

Please explain me....why italian drivers are nuts/dangerous??

Haha the Italians are really nice people and I had a laugh with them, but put them in a car or anything else for that matter, then it becomes a heat seeking missile! You need 360 degree vision over there, never mind just the mirrors.  I got used to it in the end though.  Indicators are for decorative purposes only, giving way is for pansies, and white lines and speed limits are only for tourists 8)
Why use one lane when you can straddle both at the same time? :-\
It seemed to get worse the further south you went >:(

[shaggs147]

Had a rough idea what area I was going to stop at each night, but just booked it as I went. My original route changed quite a bit though.  Had to hop on the tolls from time to time to make up a bit of ground unfortunately, although some of that scenery was nice. Left route napoleon for another time, and the gotthard pass was closed due to snow.... 30 deg at the bottom though! Went through Austria on the way back and did a pass there although I didn't enjoy it to be honest.  Too much wet stuff on the road and snow either side of that. Rode the bike very slowly as I had visions of hitting some ice and binning it. I'll have to sort out the pics.

[pross]

You say you had a rough idea and booked as you went how did you do that ?.
What did you use to book it's all new to me 

[shaggs147]

Just used the phone to get on booking.com. Always loads of hotels available, all different prices. I picked ones with parking and wifi, then just chose the one that suited price and location.

[pross]

Thanks for that shaggs147.
That's easy enough when you are ready to call it a day .
I asked because I wasn't sure if you was camping. I did similar years ago in France with camp sites when ready just found a camp site.

[shaggs147]

I wouldn't bother camping to be honest. Nice shower, food, ale and bed is well worth it after a long day.

[pross]

I wouldn't bother camping to be honest. Nice shower, food, ale and bed is well worth it after a long day.

I completely agree with that.

[charlie mac]

if you dare sound your horn they want to fight with you

One of the best things about driving in Italy, makes me smile every time.

[Charlie747]

One of the best things about driving in Italy, makes me smile every time.

[topo]

One of the best things about driving in Italy, makes me smile every time.

if you dare sound your horn they want to fight with you ,