5 left to book

Have managed to get a few more hotels booked today, including one I particularly liked the look of, a farmhouse near Le Mans, run/owned by an English couple. Booking.com had said no vacancies but I took the chance and emailed. The lady, Tina, came back to me to say we could have the annexe, that has its own entrance and twin en-suite bedrooms. They even do an evening meal with complimentary wine. Result!  Hoping that I can get the others booked up tomorrow, once we get into August and hopefully, they will start to appear on the website that far ahead.

And a couple more.

This is proving to be much more difficult than I'd imagined. Many of my first choice hotels are already showing as booked, for the dates I've chosen, so I'm getting a little frustrated. I managed to get another couple booked last night but the route/distances are changing accordingly. Maybe we should be camping instead!


Sent from Samsung Mobile

And then there were 6

Quite by chance, I discovered that using the Booking.com app on my phone, I could actually see room availability for July next year. Wasting no time, I have managed to book another 5 hotels, though two are not the originals I had identified. Whether they are fully booked or just don't accept bookings that far ahead, I'm still not sure but I will check them out on the PC, as we move into August. The beauty of B.com is that you have free cancellation on these places, so if I change my mind or find something different/better, it's a simple task to cancel, without it costing me/us anything.

The planning was hard enough but having to rethink because of lack of accommodation, is a real pain. It doesn't help that hotels with twin rooms seem to be in the minority. Now don't get me wrong, I am more than comfortable with my own sexuality and I love these guys but I don't really want to be spooning with them in a series of double beds the entire tour!

One of the worst places I've found for availability and twin rooms, is the South Tyrol. It's been so hard to find anything, I have considered staying (and booked a hotel) in Innsbruck. It would make that day fairly short and the next subsequently longer but not massively. It might even give us time to do some sightseeing in Innsbruck, rather than just riding through/around. Alternatively, there is the option to ride further the first day and then have time to relax by Lake Garda by arriving earlyish the next.

Whatever I decide, I know the Hogs will be right behind me....not in bed though, eh!

First Hotel Booked

Most of my chosen hotels for this trip have been sourced on Booking.com. At the moment though, I can only book up to June 2014 with them. However, for our overnighter in Munich, we shall be staying in an Ibis hotel and I have been able to book the rooms there, this evening. I'm hoping to get the others all done asap on 1st August, when, I'm assuming, the booking.com website will open up bookings for July. 

Welcome

Welcome one and all to this, my latest biking blog. You will, by now, have realised that my, or should I say, our next tour, is going to be on the continent. For most it will involve riding through 6 countries. For Grizzly, our foreign Hog, coming from Ireland, there will be 2 extra, Wales and England.

On this tour, we shall traverse mainland Europe from France, into Belgium, through Luxembourg, back into France, into Germany, through Austria, into Italy and finally back into France.

The theme we have chosen or should that be, I have chosen for this tour, is a serious and thought provoking one, War! In keeping with our penchant for linking the tour themes with film titles (ref: Reservoir Hogs in 2012), this tour will be known as, The Hogs of War Tour.

Though primarily covering the Great and Second World Wars, we shall go back even further in time with a visit to the battlefield at Waterloo. We shall be visiting cemeteries, trenches, a Maginot Line fort, the site of a Nazi concentration camp, D-day beaches, a V2 rocket site and a town whose population was almost entirely wiped out by German troops. As I said, serious and thought provoking.

On a lighter side, as we ride through Germany, we shall be taking in part of the famous and I understand very beautiful, Castle Route, even staying in one overnight. In Munich, we shall, I shouldn't wonder, partake of the odd stein of beer and some German sausage! As the hills come alive through Austria into Italy, we shall relax by Lake Garda and visit the homes of two of the most famous names in Italian automotive engineering, Ferrari and Ducati. Further on, we shall marvel, no doubt, at the Leaning Tower of Pisa and maybe, risk everything on red, in the casino at Monaco, before heading up through France to the places where so many lost their lives in the fight for freedom, less than a lifetime ago.

19 days and 2700 miles is the plan and I'm hoping that many of you will want to follow us on our travels, so don't forget to sign up for email updates.

Get your tin hats ready, it's gonna be a blast!