When was your 1st Euro tour and where did you go.

[af1-windy]

In 1995 we, as in, me and my Brother Steve, decided we would like to ride elsewhere than the UK.

The plan; ride in Europe, details of the planning, buy a map of Europe, buy a book of campsites in Europe, buy a ferry ticket, set off. 

Best week of my life, at that point in time, we had a fantastic week just riding until mid afternoon, at which point we would check the map & campsite guide to see where we could stay for the night and then move on the next day.

Second night we found a great site on an Island, Reichenau, in the middle of Lake Konstanz. Based ourselves there for a few days and rode the local roads as well as heading in to Austria. 

I remember feeling really down  after we got back and couldn't wait to go again. We've been going ever since and I still absolutely love planning and executing European tours, albeit with better plans and better bike & gear. 

Photo; Fist trip, first ever campsite, somewhere in Germany..

Steve and I had the 600 Bandits, a mate joined us on his RF900

[wessie]

Also 1995. I was riding a nearly new VFR750, the last of the 750s with the louvred panels. My mate was on a Transalp 600 V twin.

We got the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Le Havre. Down to Montlucon for an overnight in a chain hotel, rode up the Puy de Dome which you can't do now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puy_de_D%C3%B4me

We then went over to Grenoble via Le Puy, where we stayed in a base hotel for a week. We did many of the high passes in the French Alps. Cormet de Roseland, Vars, Galibier, Iseran, Izoard, Mont Cenis, Bonette and took a cable car up to 14,000 feet onto the glacier. 35C at the La Grave base station, -4C on top. We also took a day off the bike and caught a train into Geneva. We found they had a bank holiday and everything was shut, on a Wednesday.

We stopped in Chartres on the way back to Le Havre. Another chain hotel on the outskirts of the city.

This is where I discovered that an experienced rider on a 600cc V twin trail bike will run rings around a relative novice on a 100bhp sports tourer on Alpine roads.