Plan your bike trip: how much time do I need?

You might think you want to quit your job, sell your house and ride around the world. Maybe one day you will, but for now it could help to be more realistic; if you have a fortnight off work you can still do a lot of riding. Plenty of the UK still holds a lot of appeal, then there’s across the Channel over to France and Europe. Two weeks gives you time to get out to the Alps for example. And come back again. Consider the distance savings ferries can have on your trip. An overnight ferry to Santander allows you to get stuck straight into Spain without having to ride through France. In two weeks it’d be possible to get down to Morocco and back, but it comes back down to how far you want to ride in a day.

In two weeks you could also do guided or self-guided tours of the States, Iceland, Northern India, or South East Asia. These are relatively expensive but cram a lot of adventure into a short amount of time. A month would allow you to consider looking at doing these trips without a guide; picking up a rental bike while you’re there and exploring on your own terms. Let’s not forget the distance you can cover in a weekend though. Leave early Saturday morning, pick a place 250 miles away – on the coast for example – stay there that night then ride back a different way the next morning. The question of ‘How much time do I need?’ is more a question of how much time have you got, and tailoring your trip accordingly.

In terms of Iceland, if you only had a two week window you could organise a ride there. If you wanted to take your own bike you might be better shipping it in to save you the riding time at either end. Alternatively, rent a bike on the island, though the rental agencies don’t allow you to take the bike on the ‘F’ designated interior roads. Read about my trip here.

Read all of BikeSocial’s motorcycle adventure planning tips here.