Planning Details and Route Ideas

I will arrive in Heidelberg, Germany on May 17 - to be reunited with my BMW motorcycle, patiently waiting since April 18 at Stefan Knopf's facility.

I am flying from Newark, NJ to Frankfurt, Germany and then taking a one hour train ride to Heidelberg. I'll spend a few hours there getting the bike ready to ride - loading up my camping gear and sorting out paperwork, tire pressures and expensive fuel and clothing, before getting a nights sleep and hopefully adjusting to Euro-time (+5 or 6 hours from NY),

My insurance starts on the 18th of May, so I will ride out of Heidelberg in the morning. My overall strategy is to head generally South to warmer weather, but to avoid the high Alpine passes as they may still be snowed in at 3-4000 meters. To do this I will head West into France, towards Lyons, rather than directly South into Switzerland. There are some good scenic roads South of Heidelberg and then backroads into France and South to the Provence region, aiming for Arles, Avignon and Aix-en-Provence.

My original dream was to see Germany, France, Spain and then head up to the UK. Then, back to the continent and North to Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland - maybe even over to Russia, and then Poland and some of the Eastern European countries and back to Germany. Here's a map of what that trip might look like:

Proposed Motorcycle Route I

With the need to get a visa for Russia while still in the US, and the huge mileages involved, I will postpone the Russian leg of the trip until next year. Also, it is reported to be more economical to travel in Eastern Europe than the Western countries, so this may impact my actual route.

I want to see some car and motorcycle racing, and I have lots of relatives in London, so these would be nice to include in my itinerary. I may attend the 24 hour car race at Le Mans, France or the British Grand Prix race.