They'll understand - after all I'm sure they'll both get married again and it will be at least 2 years before the next wdw
I stayed in San Marino in 2012. Really like the place, and I have fond memories of visiting in 1969. It's only about 20 miles from Misano circuit. I might well stay there again.
Steady 3 days down n looking to stay in or around Cattolica, did Rimini last year for MotoGP so thats another option n 3 days back.
Early train for me on the Thursday morning. I'll ride as far as I can on day one, and aim to be in Rimini sometime on the Friday. I'll aim to leave Rimini on the Tuesday morning and hope to be home late Wednesday. That's the current plan if anyone wants to join me and a mate on the ride ;-)
Spent the last couple of days on the sofa surrounded by road atlas, maps, Ride magazine touring articles, and laptop (trying to remember how to drive the MapSource Garmin route planning software) doing some serious route planning for WDW 2014. Booked my first few hotels for the return leg (Barcelonette, Manosque, Grenoble, Avallon - plenty of potential to play in the Alps plus gorge de Verdon, Morvan). Less sure about my route out. Looking at Reims or back to Troyes for my 1st night (Sunday 13 July) on continent after a morning ferry to Calais. Wondered about overnighting in Mulhouse on 14 July, but noticed that the Tour de France arrives in town on 13th, leaves again 14th. How disruptive is the Tour? How long does it take for the riders and the rest of the media circus to clear the town? Would I be best avoiding that area even in the evening of 14th if the Tour would be there the morning? What's the latest with the Swiss proposal to increase the cost of the motorway vignette? If it's going to be in the 100 CHF ballpark, frankly, I'd be tempted to avoid Switzerland entirely. Swiss miles seem longer than other miles, and I might want to use a bit of motorway to make up time between the interesting wiggly bits, but not at that price!
You've done well organising that, I've got as far as trying to decide there's two options of travel 1 - ride all the way 2 - drive half way, ride the rest 3 - provisional hotel booked in Cattolica (just in case nothing comes back from UKMOC)
Martin - I haven't actually organised where I'm staying for WDW itself yet (am still waiting to hear what Max has planned, but obviously can't wait forever). What hotel have you booked in Cattolica? (PM me if you want).
I'm led to believe that its not a good idea to get near the Tour de France whilst its running but have no experience of it personally.
I was at Spa last year when the Tour went past. It shut the road for a few hours but other than that wasn't a problem. I'm not sure how it would affect the stop over points though, because as well as the team, they're are loads of people who follow the tour.
Don't worry too much about overlapping with the tour - unless you are going through or stopping in a town where there is a stage finish or start - these are carnage for the night and there will be nowhere to stop. But the route itself, don't worry - they blast through it so quickly you would think they had petrol powered propulsion. They pass by quickly and the tour is very efficient (unlike ANYTHING else in France!) and they will be gone completely in an hour etc....
Thinking about it. Albeit thinking of flying out to Malpensa, then Hiring a "car" for a few days taking in the sights for the 200 mile drive down to Misano. Has anyone done this before, are there any pitfalls? (remember Pitfall the game)
A few UKMOC people flew into Malpensa last time - I forget if they hired a car then, or just cadged lifts in vans from those who'd driven from the UK with bikes in the back. I've hired cars from Malpensa before when visiting the Milan bike show. If you fly to Malpensa, check which terminal your flight lands at if you plan to pick up a car at the airport - if you're flying Easyjet, most of the hire car desks are at the other terminal. Avoid Milan rush hour traffic - the motorways round Milan get a bit clogged up - you'll soon get used to the tailgating driving style on the Italian motorways. I doubt any of the hire car companies have cars without aircon, but you will definitely want aircon! Italian motorway service station cappuccinos are surprisingly good. An obvious stop en route between Milan and Misano is Bologna - last time it was open doors at the Ducati museum, with very welcome aircon as it was very hot (over 40 degrees Celsius) and this year's WDW is a month later so likely to be even hotter. If you do turn up in a hire car you'll probably have to park over the road in the naughty corner parking area (only Ducatis were allowed to park right in front of the factory). Not sure if they'll be doing factory tours around WDW time, but if they are, I think you need to book those in advance. Apart from a visit to NCR (not sure how easy that is to arrange as a friend sorted it for us, but if you ever get the chance, you must go there - even their nuts and bolts pot contains titanium loveliness) I haven't done any other petrolhead visits between Milan and Misano (e.g. Ferrari museum) so can't comment on those.
If you are thinking of going down via Mulhouse try the route over the Col du Bussang (between Epinal and Thann); leave Nancy towards Epinal and then pick up the biking route from there. There are a number of French Motard B&B along that route but also a number of fixed speed cameras as this is a local favourite for a blast. Much nicer thn staying in Mulhouse itself. http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_...aint_Maurice_sur_Moselle_Vosges_Lorraine.html Haven't stayed there myself as I used to try and get either to Stans Sud or just south of the Gotthard in the first (long) day when riding to Turkey!
