TRAVEL Q&A
Q
I’ve bought a GS, a tent and a ferry ticket but have no fixed plan. What’s a good destination in France for a first-time European traveller? I have seven days.
A
There are so many options. You could take a gentle meander to Normandy and Brittany. You could maybe take some motorway to help cover the distance down to the Auvergne or the Limousin. If you’re a confident rider, despite your lack of Euro experience, you could go to the Tarn or Cevennes (see p40). But with seven days, we’d head across the Ardennes to the Vosges, down to the Jura and back to Blighty through the Morvan. Find routes at www.ride.co.uk/france17
Q
I keep trying to download your routes and when I click on the files, my computer says they’re empty. What am I doing wrong?
A
First, don’t double-click the files: they’re “zipped” so the one you download needs to be opened with a utility like Winzip or Stuffit Xpander. That’ll create a folder with the GPX file inside. Don’t double-click that, either. If you use a Garmin or BMW sat nav, import it into Basecamp; if you use a Tomtom, either put it on a memory card and stick that into the sat nav or get an account at www.myrouteapp.com and upload our file to that to preview it. Then stick it on a memory card…
Q
Can you recommend a decent tent for camping on a riding tour?
A
If you have a big budget, the Redverz Atacama Expedition tent (£539, www.adventurebikeshop.co. uk) is the ultimate overland tent, with a garage for the bike and room for two. The Lone Rider Mototent V2 (£454.99) is very, very similar — but at the other end of the scale the Minitent (£189.99) is an ultracompact one-man crawl-in tent (both www.loneridermotorcycle.co.uk). But you may be as well with a normal camping tent: we’d recommend a two-man, to have space for you and your kit and some comfort, without it being huge. Try the Easycamp Spirit 200 (£64.99, www.easycamp.com).