Roadtrip 2018 - Switzerland, Italy and a bit of France

Claire and I used the brilliant http://www.bikeshuttle.co.uk service this year to start our road-trip off from Geneva, carving our way entirely across Switzerland through the mountains and then into Italy to ride the Dolomites, before dropping down to Venice for a bit of tourist time, then heading back to Como and then fast-tracking it back to Geneva via Mont Blanc (urgh, not originally planned, logistics issue).

We had an absolute blast with mind-blowing roads, scenery, weather and some good food at times. Both bikes performed superbly and even the riders didn’t do too bad if we don’t say so ourselves, with no incidents.

Well there was one butt-clencher of a moment when we both hit a rock with the front wheel in the road whilst lent over.

Bit time constrained atm, but here’s some photos. Will try and add some more details soon.

Would definitely use the Bike Shuttle service again. Really very, very good organisation and a pretty slick experience. There was a little bit too much waiting around at times, but it was a hell of a lot better than the alternative to riding boring motorways to get to the nice roads.

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niiiiiice

great pictures :slight_smile:

Great photos! Looks like an amazing trip.

A friend and I also used Bikeshuttle a month ago to travel to Tolouse for a week-long tour of the Pyrenees.

I was also impressed and would definitely recommend them. Their whole operation is slick and well organised. If I’m being extra picky, the only thing I would add is an optional valeting service at their Northampton base after the return journey, for those who want it.

The Pyrenees were amazing btw! 

Hah, Claire was hoping the bikes would be cleaned as well :slight_smile: I said no chance.

We heard someone on the Tolouse run last week wrote their bike off. Rider okay, whoops.

I should use Bikeshuttle as I live in Northampton and ride past there base quite regularly, might do one day…but I’m struggling with their figures …£178 quid for fuel?

Last year we did 3 days to get to Geneva with 2.5 of them days were twisties! (visited Rheims race buildings, Verdun memorials and the Vosges) that was 776miles (6-7 tanks @ 20 quid a tank) £130

Tolls £0

Tyres a lot less that 85 quids worth…and then I’d miss the fantastic roads around Verdun, in the Vosges and from there to Geneva.

Great if your pressed for time though! Saves two days of traveling!

Fantastic photos, I’m off for a Eurotour on Sat with Blulagos (no Nivag this year :( ), Cochem, Black forest, plus all the usual passes…Stelvio, Grossglockner, Fedila, Albula etc etc on a S1000r too :slight_smile:

I love a good Schmuk… Are they called that because that’s what the employees call the man when he walks in with his better half?

Seriously though, you have to stop with these photos… every year I get the jealousy bug :frowning:

Awesome pics and great trip!!! Thanks for sharing about bikeshuttle. Wasn’t aware of them. 

djmrmagic, the appeal is you start from Geneva with no end of great roads available from there and can go further with your time. To be honest, I wouldn’t really want to ride that many twisties for more than a week so it was perfect. Might use it to get out to Croatia, etc. one day.

Serrisan, what are you waiting for? Get out there!

Martin Brundle (of Formula 1 fame) gave them a great write up this week.

Love the photos. Motorbikes in Venice, interesting :slight_smile:

Crashing with the wife on the back a few years back means that’s unlikely… Also having an 11yr old KTM poses certain challenges :slight_smile:

Amazing photos!


Fantastic photos, I'm off for a Eurotour on Sat with Blulagos (no Nivag this year :( ), Cochem, Black forest, plus all the usual passes....Stelvio, Grossglockner, Fedila, Albula etc etc on a S1000r too :)
djmrmagic
Up at this time?   Must have a ferry to catch :-)  Bring it on ladies!!

just to introduce me living in the Herault,France

Great photos but are people so short of time these days not to ride to their destination and enjoy the travel. Every road carries a story to tell later.
Just remembering trips from the past and future plans.
Perhaps I am old fashioned but at 68 I still prefer to go under my own steam and if anything goes wrong it’s down to me to fix it.

As well as being short on time, it’s just a different way of doing it and different set of priorities. Stuff can still go wrong even when you’re relying on other people, it’s just a different set of solutions to sort it out :slight_smile:

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Ive had this dilemma recently, where a group of friends want to go to spain on bikes.
it two to three days riding on the motorway (20 hours and about 1300 miles). This effectively takes 4 - days off of the holiday and puts flat spots in your tyres.

the other option would be either bike shuttle to Toulouse, or ferry to Santander, and a days riding through spain, potentially avoiding motorways. All three options cost about the same, and being that i get sea sick, the bike shuttle is very tempting.

@Jay, how is the bike shuttle and how does it work? The website seems to be quite confusing on timescales.

@Boris it’s a very slick operation. They go and return once a week to the destination (they have a couple at least, I think Toulouse and Geneva). You book the shuttle which is everything except the flights (so bike transport, airport shuttle and hotels). You go to Easy-jet and book the flights. Then near to the time of travel you embark your bike, which is basically checking in, providing information such as V5 documentation copies, etc.

Then on the day you ride up to them, get greeted, shown what to do, which is basically get out of your bike gear in the changing rooms provided, get into your flight clothes, put your bike gear in their boxes, they board the bike onto the truck and then they shuttle you to a very nice local pub for lunch (filling the gap between the time the truck needs to depart and a reasonable time to get to the airport), then you get shuttled to the airport in a very nice private bus and then you fly.

Once you land they collect you from the airport in another very nice private bus, take you to the hotel. You sleep, wake up, have breakfast, get a text to say your bikes have arrived, then you go outside, get your bike from the little Bike Shuttle camp which has been set up in a special part of the hotel grounds, get into your bike gear, and go forth and have your adventure!

Then the same in reverse. It really is quite amazing. Their tagline is ride mountains, not motorways, and I couldn’t agree more. After years of slogging along motorways to get to the nice parts of Europe I’m so done with that. It’s not fun, it’s tiring, it’s unnecessarily dangerous, it’s wear and tear on your bike you don’t need. Why do it? There’s nothing to see and it’s mind-numbingly boring.

This way you have a very exciting experience, arrive on the doorstep of your adventure refreshed, in comfort and can then you can maximise your precious time by riding more of the most amazing roads, see the most amazing sights and meeting the most wonderful people. Bliss.

Honestly, after a decade of touring the long way there and back, I have to wonder why nobody has done this before. They might well have, but I’m pretty confident it wouldn’t have been done anywhere near as well as these guys do it.

Why would I want to spend four days or so of a trip doing motorways? That’s not fun, I’d rather be in work.

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so drop of the bike one morning, and the next morning you collect it in europe?