As I write this, Spring is just around the corner, so it is time to start planning, scheming, and plotting where this year’s motorcycle tour will take you.
The 2024 ferry prices have skyrocketed, making the Channel Tunnel the most cost-effective choice to escape the British Isles.
Dave – our resident control freak – has been staring at a computer screen for the last few days, making lines appear on digital maps and sifting through Booking.com, looking for the best deals on places to stay.
Free Motorcycle Touring Routes
Companies like Magellan Motorcycle Tours, Queensferry Moto Tours or MCi Tours offer substantially more than we do. Their motorcycle tours are often escorted, and they are on hand to help you if anything goes wrong. Even the “Self Guided” motorcycle tours come complete with hotel bookings and routes designed around your individual needs.
Usually, all we offer you is a GPX file and the hope that you’ll have as much fun as we did. We did the planning because it is a trip we will be taking or, in many cases, have already ridden. After that, rather than have a complete motorcycle tour sitting on a computer doing nothing, we share them.
Other than the long hours spent staring at a computer screen dividing Europe into chunks of twisty roads around 200 miles in length, all the other necessities of motorcycle touring are on you.
A Month On The Road
In 2023, I spent a month on the road touring around Europe. Some of the more memorable roads ended up on the Routes pages, and there are even a few videos.
I’m no Itchy Boots, but I wanted to try out the lifestyle of working from the road, and a newfound respect for the effort that lifestyle takes was a lesson learnt.
Since that trip, there have been a few emails to the office asking if the GPX files, along with details of the hotels and guest houses I stayed at, were available.
Planning every day of a month-long trip was, at best, optimistic, but Dave did try. Then Mother Nature got involved and delivered three (or was it four?) days of constant torrential rain, flooding roads and villages across Europe [See Croatia Coast Road]. After that, a lot of the tour was made up as I went along, with nothing more than a general direction in mind. Nonetheless, the request for a complete package stuck in my mind.
Free Motorcycle Tour – Palatinate Forest
One of this year’s extended road tests is a ten-day, two-thousand-mile tour to the Palatinate Forest, a National Park in the southeastern region of Germany.
For those of us not up on German Geography, it is an area of outstanding beauty – and excellent road surfaces – surrounded by Frankfurt to the north, Stuttgart to the east, Strasbourg to the south and Luxembourg to the west.
In addition to Dave’s GPX files, I’ve included details of the hotels, guest houses and B&Bs chosen in the Points to Ponder sections.
Where To Stay
The sort of overnight accommodation you want after riding 200 – 250 miles, actively avoiding major roads and motorways, is a personal decision. My choices are typically based on five criteria.
♦ Single room with own bathroom
♦ Free cancellation
♦ Relaxing location – no cities
♦ The availability of beer.
All of the links that follow go to Booking.com, and for those of a suspicious nature, they are NOT affiliate links.
If you have a route that you would like to share, get in touch and with the Editor, and we will do our best to include it. Download, ride and enjoy. What could possibly go wrong? All the motorcycle touring routes are GPX 1.1 version files.
All of the motorcycle touring routes are provided “as is” without guarantee, liability or any assurances. The lawyers said we had to include that sentence. All we can tell you is that we had an excellent time planning and riding them.
Day One - 70 Miles
Day Two - 205 Miles
Day Three - 195 Miles
Day Four - 155 Miles
Points To Ponder Part One
Day One – 72 Miles
Not everyone starts a motorcycle tour from the same place. For that reason, this one begins when you exit the Channel Tunnel or Le Shuttle, to give it its “real” name, at Calais.
We will have already covered 190 miles getting to the Tunnel, so a scant 70 miles to Mazingarbe near Lens in France is about all we’ll want to do before finding a beer, something to eat, and a bed for the night.
Night Stop: Annette’s Home, Mazingarbe
Day Two – 205 miles
There is a direct route to the night stop in Luxembourg via the E42 around Charleroi and then the E25 south towards Luxembourg, but that involves motorways, and where is the fun in that?
For a more scenic journey, the route as planned sticks to the road less travelled and runs east and south, crisscrossing the French-Belgian border a few times before arriving in Luxemburg, the land of cheap petrol.
Night Stop: Robbesscheier Munshausen
Day Three – 190 Miles
Remember to stop for fuel before crossing the border into Germany. The last fuel stop on the route is in Dasbourg Point, right on the border. The garage location is in the GPX file as a Via Point.
The destination for the day is at the very north end of the Palatinate Forest, near the town of Grustadt. The route is a meandering path, picking out some of the wiggliest roads Dave could find on the map.
The plan is to stop there for three nights, allowing two full days (Days 4 and 5 below) to explore the Palatinate Forest.
Night Stop: Hotel Exquisite
Day Four – 160 Miles
This route and the one that follows (Day 5) loop around the Palatinate Forest. Some roads are narrow, whereas others are a typical single lane in either direction. All of the routes are on tarmac.
The idea behind these routes is to ensure the maximum enjoyment is extracted from visiting the region. There are excellent roads everywhere; hopefully, this ensures none are missed.
The route also goes through the village of Frankenstein – photos are required – and the towns of Worms and Carlsberg are nearby if interesting place names are your thing.
Day Five – 140 Miles
The road surfaces are cosmic. I’ve only ever found one lousy road surface in this region, and that was why the road was closed – It was being resurfaced.
The forest’s stunning beauty brings a lot of people who wish to enjoy it for its tranquillity. Don’t be surprised to find the Schutzpolizei hiding in the bushes with speed guns and noise meters, especially at weekends.
Day Five - 135 Miles
Day Six - 150 Miles
Day Seven - 160 Miles
Day Eight - 190 Miles
Points To Ponder Part Two
Day Six – 140 Miles
You can’t come to this part of Germany and go home without riding the B500. The famous road number starts as you cross the border into Germany from France, although the Schwarzwaldhochstrasse tourist road officially starts a bit further on.
If you are going to ride the B500, you will want to do it all, so the route dips into France, onto the D4 at Muehlfeld and across the Rhine to start the B500 at the very beginning.
The B500 itself isn’t perhaps the most exciting road. The scenery is stunning; the best bends are at the Baden-Baden end, and the Hotel is at the other.
It is the roads around the B500 that make the destination so popular with bikers. But that is tomorrow’s route, so book a two-night stay.
Night Stop: Landgasthof Kinzigstand
Day Seven – 165 Miles
I found the route around the B500 by following the stream of bikers all going in this direction. I had no idea where they were all going, but I thought I’d join in as bikes of all shapes and sizes were heading this way.
There are a couple of waterfalls on the route that are worth visiting, and the hike to see them isn’t too bad in motorcycle boots.
Ride this on a Sunday, and you are best advised to take your own refreshments. A lot of bakeries and cafés still close on Sundays in Germany.
Day Eight – 190 Miles
It would be easy to wimp out and take the motorways back to the Channel Tunnel, but Germany is covered in excellent backroads that wind their way between the urban sprawls.
Taking a short stretch of unrestricted autobahn – another thing to tick off the bucket list – dipping into France once again and across the Palatinate Forest, there are then around 90 miles of back roads to enjoy on your way towards Sehl on the Mosel River.
Night Stop: Pension Schneider
Day Nine – 240 Miles
The Nürburgring Nordschleife is a motorsport icon. The modern circuit is highly impressive, too, but it is the public road that makes up the Nordschleife that captures most people’s imagination.
As the route back towards the Channel Tunnel passes within a few kilometres of the Nordschleife, it would be rude not to pay it a quick visit.
Although it is a public toll road – one way and without a speed limit – it isn’t open every day, and on the days that it is, specific hours apply. The Nürburgring website has all the details.
Having dragged yourself away, the destination is Hergnies on the French-Belgian border. The last night stop and a safe distance from Calais.
There is a motorway alternative to the route as planned. Pick up the A15 near Luik and then on to the E42 and A16.
Night Stop: Bulles et Nature B&B
Day Ten – 100 Miles
Calais always feels like one of those places I want to pass through rather than stop in, hence the 100-mile ride to the Tunnel. I don’t wish to end a motorcycle tour worrying about where the bike is parked overnight.
100 Miles away, I‘m in idyllic countryside, chilled out and relaxing, with a simple and direct route to the Tunnel departure point.
Picking up the E42 a few miles north of the B&B, the route on this section of the E42 (A25) should be toll-free.
Night Stop: My Own Bed
Day Nine - 235 Miles
Day Ten - 100 Miles
If you are so inclined, consider buying us a cup of coffee. We drink enough of the stuff while planning these routes.
