Motorcycle Tours - Information

Our itineraries are continually developed and improved each year, to provide the unadulterated pleasure of biking, featuring a variety of interesting and occasionally challenging roads through magnificent scenery, WITH TIME FOR MEALS, EXPLORING AND SHOPPING on route. Your English tour leader is multilingual and has a vast knowledge and practical first hand experience of the countries featured, having spent over 40 seasons covering several hundred thousand miles on his explorations and this knowledge is being continually updated, summer and winter. All tours have been fully recce'd and distances carefully measured. All hotels have been fully checked out, personally used, and in many cases have been used regularly.

You will be met by your guide at the scheduled port on day of departure, unless of course you have opted for an alternative.

Tours A, C and D will leave Dover on Fridays at 4.35pm taking a hotel in Calais that evening. But on the return you may cross on Saturday evening, OR overnight in Calais and cross on Sunday at 9.35am. This Calais room will be booked by us for an extra charge. Our booking form will require you to state your return day and whether you require us to reserve a room before you come back. The Pyrénées tour will leave from Portsmouth on Sunday at 21.15hrs and return from Calais on Saturday or Sunday (as for tours A, C and D).

Groups can vary in size from the minimum economical number of six machines to a maximum of twenty. WE DO NOT AS A RULE RIDE IN CONVOY, THOUGH TOUR MEMBERS NEW TO THE CONTINENT OFTEN PREFER TO STAY WITH THE TOUR LEADER FOR THE FIRST DAY OR SO. By not riding in convoy riders are free to stop as and when they please for fuel, coffee, photography etc. YOUR HOLIDAY IS ORGANISED BUT YOU ARE NOT!

It usually happens though that small groups with similar riding pace and interests form and travel together. One of the very highly praised aspects of our tours is the extremely detailed route sheets we provide. With these there can be no problem at all for any member to reach the specified rendezvous each evening. Riders who may like to make diversions from the standard route will of course need maps, and in fact this really applies to everyone in case of inadvertent straying. ROUTE SHEETS AND MAPS WILL BE DESPATCHED IN TIME FOR YOU TO STUDY THEM AND DESIGN YOUR OWN, SHORTER, TANK-TOP NOTES. THEY WILL BE SENT OUT IN TIME FOR YOU TO DO THIS BEFORE DEPARTURE.

All hotel rooms will have full private facilities. All will have TV and ’phone and several will be airconditioned. We use 2, 3 & 4 star, & some 5 star hotels.

It occasionally happens that the hotel we use will not have all the rooms we need but the management can put some people in annexes of the same standard nearby. Full details of the accommodations for each tour will be available at the Presentation Meetings.


Distances and Speeds

The daily distances vary considerably. On all the tours there are a number of centres at which we stay for a few days and planned excursions of between 20 and 200 miles are suggested from them, so you tour without all the kit, or you may do nothing but laze in the sun and swim. A FULL BREAKDOWN OF DISTANCES FOR ALL TOURS WILL BE AVAILABLE AT THE PRESENTATION MEETINGS.

We use motorways only where they are essential to cover the longer distances quickly. e.g. on the Greece tour, rather than spend a week getting there and a week coming back. German motorways are toll-free though all Austrian, Italian and some French now have tolls. However ve have vays of avoiding zem if you vish. These alternatives of course are somewhat longer in distance and time, but may be preferred by those riders with some experience of foreign touring already.

It should be noted that because of the motorway going and the hill climbing on some of the tours, machines of less than 250cc would not normally be considered suitable, especially if two-up. However we did have a solo camper on the Greece trip in ’91 on a 250, with no problems at all.

The leisurely nature of the day’s journey needs to be emphasised. On many days in the tour country itself it is easily possible, if you are on the road by 9.00a.m., to be at the next stop by lunchtime. We stress again that this is not the object of the exercise.


Meals

Breakfast is included in the price at all stops but not on ferries. It is usual for tour members to take their evening meals in the hotel we use. Such meals are almost always much cheaper than in the UK and certainly much more fun. The services of your tour leader are on hand to offer gastronomic advice and help with the language. These occasions also afford an opportunity for the odd mini-briefing which might be relevant to the next day’s ride. However there is usually a selection of restaurants and taverns at all stops so there is no obligation to join the group if you prefer not to.


Alternative Ferry Crossings

Anyone wishing to cross the Channel a day earlier or later, either way, or at different times, is free to do so but the ferry price may change as a result. The Calais hotel can also be booked when you want it.


Accident or Breakdown Vehicle Recovery & Personal Insurance

We require that all tour members protect themselves by the purchase of such cover, eg AA, RAC, Green Flag etc., Our full Booking Form asks you to assure us that you have done so. You should note too that apart from vehicle and personal repatriation etc, such insurance may in some circumstances cover you for loss of payments due to late cancellation for example. However, it is also important that you should appreciate that any European Breakdown Cover, from whomever purchased, utilises the services of the sister motoring organisation in the country concerned, and in Greece particularly this is not of the standard we are used to in the UK. A breakdown or accident here can entail a much longer delay and more bureaucracy than at home.


Financial Protection

For your complete financial protection, all payments made to Bike and Sun Tours are paid into a trust account as provided for under the EC Directive which became law in the UK on 23 December, 1992. In accordance with this directive all payments made are held in trust and will not be released to Bike and Sun Tours until after the customer has returned from holiday. This means that your holiday monies are safeguarded in accordance with the law.


Interested?

If you are interested in any particular tour now it would be sensible to attend as early a Presentation as possible because some tours are often heavily booked, even filled, by previous clients at our annual re-union before any of the meetings take place. But a very important additional point is that if we cannot make OUR reservations early enough we may not get all the rooms and ferry cabins we ask for. If weather prospects look grim early in the year then try to arrange car transport if possible. If you ‘phone us we may be able to put you in touch with someone else from your area who is coming by car. Alternative arrangements can be made for clients living in Ireland, Isle of Man etc.

We provide a service which is second to none in the field and our confidence in saying this is amply supported by our repeat booking figures. We make the holiday of your choice as easy as it could possibly be for you, with every bit of organisation taken off your shoulders. YOUR HOLIDAY IS ORGANISED BUT YOU ARE NOT! All you have to do is to present yourselves at the UK ferry port, with all the paper work we provide, plus all the euros you will need, and off we will go.

IMPORTANT NOTE: WOULD ALL POTENTIAL TOUR MEMBERS PLEASE NOTE THAT FROM THE START OF THE TOURS ON MAY 9th THEY WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO CONTACT OUR OFFICE IN THE FEW DAYS BETWEEN TOURS, OR VIA THE ANSWER MACHINE. (NOT EMAIL)

Lastly

Under the terms of the Trades Descriptions Act we are obliged to point out that we cannot guarantee the sun at any time.