Ride to Western and Southern Europe - The Ride

When: 26th April – 12th May 2024

How long: 17 days

From: Lugano (Switzerland) or from wherever you want!

Km: 9’230km for the round trip

Countries: 14 – Switzerland, Italy, France, Monaco, Spain, Andorra, Portugal, Gibraltar, Jersey, Guernsey, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany

European capitals: 10

The Southernmost European point: Tarifa – Spain

The Westernmost European point: Cabo la Roca – Portugal

F1 and/or MotoGp circuits along the ride: F1 circuit Montecarlo (Monaco), Circuit Jerez de la Frontera (Spain), Algarve International Circuit – Portimão (Portugal), Zandvoort circuit (Netherlands), Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium)

Ferries: 3

Breathtaking Points Of Interest: Uncountable

When you decide to start a ride of over 9’200km with destination the Westernmost point of Europe, it means taking into account unexpected events, unfavorable weather (it rained, it snowed, etc. etc.), even very long stages (longest 1’100km in 1 day), wake up at 3 am, tiredness and pain.

But do we really care? No! For me it was just the unforgettable and memorable part that I expected to experience that prompted me to plan, leave and keep the schedule that I had prepared from the very first moment when, in December, I looked at the map of Europe and I said to myself “I want to go there”.

“What have you been up to in the last 2 weeks?” “Nothing special… I just got on my motorbike and crossed 14 countries, 2 islands in the English Channel, visited 10 capitals, I don’t know how many cities, roads, passes, circuits, incredible places and locations – covering almost 9,500km”.
This is (almost) how I answered my colleagues and friends when, back home, they asked me where I had ended up.

After a few months of planning and having welcomed one of my followers for the first time to keep me company for a tour of Europe, I set off on this new adventure. After having met my adventure companion only the night before, I set off with Pawel – a Polish guy who has been living in Zurich for about ten years – who kept me company all the way to the Algarve, in Sagres, where he decided to take it a little easier to be able to visit places he had never been to before.

Why did I choose Western Europe this year? Maybe the choice was easier for me than I thought because after Italy (2021), North Cape (2022) and Eastern Europe (2023) I could only go further South and further West and in these 2 weeks I managed to reach these 2 extremes of the European map. Also thanks to this I can say that I have visited 106 countries in the world, that I have visited all the European countries (46) and that I have traveled the roads of 38 of them with my Road Glide.

Waking up well before dawn and long stages (the average this year was 659km per day, with a maximum, from Bilbao to Mont-Saint-Michel, of 1’169km) were never a problem, but I didn’t expect to find, for the first 10 days, (so much) rain, snow, fog, wind and cold. In practice in Switzerland, Italy, France, Monaco, Andorra, Spain, Gibraltar, Portugal – both in the south and in the north – I found very unenviable weather, only to then inexplicably find sun and heat starting from the Channel Islands – Jersey and Guernsey – in Normandy, Belgium, Holland, France, Luxembourg and Germany. Maybe Greta is right, the weather is no longer the same as it once was.

The snowstorm in the Pyrenees entering Andorra was the icing on the cake.

The phrase I often hear is “You’re always on your motorbike! So you don’t have time to visit anything!”. It is certainly true that I have spent many, many hours on the motorbike every day, but my days start very early. The alarm is often (or at the latest) at 4 or 5 in the morning and this allows me to do several things that I consider fundamental: not being in traffic for the first few hours, being able to visit places inaccessible by motorbike during the day – such as Sentenil de la Bodegas in Andalusia – and to arrive at the destination in the early afternoon so as to be able to visit the city before and after dinner.
There are destinations of this trip that have always been on my TO-DO list of places to see, others were not and they incredibly amazed me so much that I said “I’ll be back soon” such as the Algarve, Normandy and the islands in the Channel which were a pleasant and unexpected discovery.

While planning the trip everyone was telling me “Do you really want to take 3 ferries to go to 2 tiny islands where there is nothing? Why don’t you go somewhere else instead?” At first it was difficult to argue with these statements until I landed in Jersey and then Guernsey. Narrow roads between walls of grass, flowers and trees, a 40mph limit, driving “in reverse”, cliffs, beaches, castles, WWII bunkers and seaside restaurants, that’s what awaited me on these two islands in the English Channel closer to France than to Great Britain. I even swam in the ocean!

Many people asked me “How do you always manage to leave without even a bag? What do you take with you for 16 days?” My choice is simple, but not so obvious. One of the 2 Road Glide bags is dedicated to tools, various utensils (electric pump to inflate tires, Kickstarter, etc.), scotch tape, Allen keys, wrenches, spare gloves and winter clothing (which I always carry with me even when it’s 40 degrees) and the other with clothes for the evening: 2 pairs of pants, 4 t-shirts, underwear, a shirt/sweater and a pair of shoes. Too much? Too little? I don’t think there’s a perfect formula for deciding what to carry, but there are essential things that I can and don’t want to give up under any circumstances – I’d rather leave a t-shirt at home than a tool. Philosophies. There are those who don’t carry any tools because “I can find a dealer or mechanic nearby” and those, like me, who have everything they need for any unfortunate eventuality.

I don’t deny that I took a lot of highways, also because with almost 700km a day on average I couldn’t have done anything else, but there were many local roads like those in Holland or on the Ebro Delta in Spain. The one I liked the most goes from Carcassonne, in France, and goes up the Pyrenees to Andorra – about 200km – which, with my usual luck with the weather, I did first in the rain and then in a snowstorm at -4° for the last 30km. Pawel became my hero and that of my followers that day since he didn’t hold back and didn’t give up even though he had a 2008 Road King (without ABS and electronics in general), was completely wet and almost hypothermic. I will always remember that moment when I stopped in Pas de la Casa (at the top of the pass in the Pyrenees between France and Andorra), I turned around and asked him “All ok?” [is everything okay?], after having taken off a glove with difficulty he tells me “Better we find a bike shop” [It is better if we find a motorcycle shop]: his hands were blue from the cold, he was completely wet and he was shivering. We then discovered that he had (also) a hole in his rain suit. Luckily Andorra has some beautiful motorcycle shops and with a few Euros (it is a “tax free” country, if you will) he left the shop with heated gloves and a new rain suit.

In our imagination the roads of Stelvio, Tonale, Giau, etc. are beautiful (and it’s true!), but having the opportunity to leave the Alps and go over the Pyrenees or, as I did last year, the Carpathians is magnificent because it’s different. The asphalt, the views, the plants along the roadside and the villages you meet are something else. Let’s get this straight, I love our roads and they are the most beautiful in the world!

Another goal of this trip was to visit several circuits and finally see them live, even if I imagined from the stands. In Estoril and Zandvoort the unimaginable happened, but let’s go in order.
I arrive at the Estoril circuit – between Lisbon and Cascais – and I hear that some motorbikes are going around. I find a Marshall in front of the barriers and, with little hope, I ask him if I can go to the stands to watch. When he curtly refuses I tell him that I’m touring Europe and I would have been there only that day. At that point he says to me “Wait, but I know you. You are the one from Bagger’s Life”. In 10 minutes, maybe even less, I was with him on a scooter in the escape routes of the track watching the SuperBike test sessions.
Something similar also happened in Holland at Zardvoort. I arrived at the circuit on a day open to private track cars. Full of people and cars of every brand and model, I stopped to take photos next to the most beautiful ones and, arriving at a 60s Mini set up for the track, I spoke to the owner who suggested that I try to enter the track since everyone was on their lunch break. Sure that I would be bounced in no time, I went to Marshall who simply told me “Ok, but take off the bags and put tape on the headlight”, I incredulously went back to the Mini guy, asked for help and after 5 minutes I had the track all to myself, for about ten laps between the ups and downs and tight hairpin bends facing the Atlantic Ocean.
The most southern point of Europe?

Who’s ready to join me next year? Follow me on Instagram at @baggerslife and find out where the next ride in Europe will be!

Alby
Follow me on @baggerslife