Touring French / Italian Alps 2008.

Have you taken your bike to Europe? If not, you don’t know what you are missing. The Roads have to be ridden to be appreciated, traffic is non existent in places, the scenery is stunning and extremely comfortable accommodation and excellent food can be found at a very reasonable cost. Combine that with the company of good friends and you have a recipe for a superb holiday.

I have toured with an organised Tour Company and it was well run and thoroughly enjoyable. However it isn’t cheap and last year a few friends, who we had met touring, my better half and I decided we could do better. Hence Clueless Touring was born. We organised everything ourselves and had a brilliant time in the Pyrenees focused around excellent accommodation in Andorra for a fraction of the price a Tour company wanted for a similar trip.

We intend to Tour again next year and are aiming for the first couple of weeks in June 2008, avoiding the half term holidays. I am mildly confident that we can arrange this on a larger scale and am inviting any and all members of The Club to come along.

A very rough plan is to get the Portsmouth to St Malo Ferry to France and travel down to a location in the South East of France or North West of Italy that gives us easy access to the Alps. We would take a route to include the Millau Bridge (The Bridge in the Sky) which is a must for anyone in that neck of the woods and have at least one overnight stay en route there and back.

Experience has shown that the last thing you want to be doing is unpacking and re packing every day so the bulk of the trip would be at a fixed location. Experience has also shown that after long days in the saddle the last thing you want is to return to basic accommodation. Therefore I would be looking to book accommodation of a very good standard and probably on a half board basis so that we don’t have to go out looking for Restaurants at the end of each day. This accommodation will ideally have a swimming pool and solarium facilities. Now some of us will have our better halves with us who only ride pillion and although they thoroughly enjoy being on the bike, they do like to do their shopping, sun bathe and relax around the pool or a beach. I would be looking to book the main accommodation possibly within reasonable driving distance of a beach and those that wanted to could get together, hire a car or MPV and go off to the beach. Just look at the places there are on the French Mediterranean coast alone in that area. Now if I sound sexist here I am sorry and yes I know there are lady riders who will give the boys more than a run for their money but the following is just a turn of phrase and should not be interpreted in any other way. The girls do appreciate that the boys do like a day or two on their own to play on their bikes properly and if you have travelled that far then it is too good an opportunity to miss. Therefore I will be endeavouring to ensure that enjoyable facilities that do not involve bikes are on hand for those that just want a day to relax.

June 2008 is a long way off you may ask and yes you are right but these things take a lot of organisation. Firstly, getting an idea of numbers is the main objective. The more the merrier as we will get better rates. Secondly, the earlier we book the ferry the cheaper it is. Thirdly, it gives me time to consider requests people coming may make in respect of where they would specifically like to go and what they would like to get out of the Tour. Finally it gives us all time to save for the Trip.

I would be looking to book the ferry by October at the latest and would require a firm commitment from those wishing to go by then. I would require full payment for the ferry crossings at that time as it has to be paid at the time of booking. As and when the Hotels are decided on and booked I will require one night’s accommodation fee per person per hotel in order for me to make the bookings. Your money will be safe and returnable up until I actually have to make the payments.

Those wishing to come would be advised to take out travel insurance as soon as details are confirmed and a payment has been made in the event that the individual is not able to travel for reasons covered by such Insurance. In small groups, hotels have only required credit card details to be provided at the time of booking and no payment is taken until check out time. However, if a person fails to show at the Hotel and the appropriate cancellation notice (more often than not 24 – 48 hrs) has not been given they will swipe the card for one night’s accommodation only. Hence the need to provide the cost of one nights accommodation at each hotel.

At this time I have no idea of cost and in any case this would vary depending on your circumstances. Rest assured it will be considerably cheaper than a comparative tour with a Tour Company.

Rider and Pillion in same room. (One Ferry fee)

Two Solo Riders sharing a room. (Two Ferry fees)

Solo Rider requiring single occupancy. (Single Occupancy Supplement).

I would be aiming to book the Tour for between 10 – 14 days. You will be required to complete a disclaimer absolving me or any other organiser of any responsibility for any misfortune that may befall you while on the tour and are strongly advised to ensure that you have arranged adequate Holiday insurance and Break Down cover.

I will arrange get togethers during the following year to discuss finer points. The main thing to remember is that the intention is to enjoy ourselves.

If you are interested in joining this Tour please complete the attached pro forma and return it to The Club’s Email address.

Regards

Ali

Clueless Touring is a Spoof organisation, the title chosen was because that was exactly the position we were in when arranging the 2007 Tour, CLUELESS.

May News letter

Hi all.

Unfortunately the weather has conspired against us somewhat this month spoiling the two Sunday Ride outs that were in arranged. The Tuesday night Bike Maintenance Demonstration appeared to go well and Sean is keen to hold another in the near future.

Let’s all cross our fingers for better weather in the coming months and hopefully enjoy a full program of biking activities.

As some of you may be aware I have recently completed a Tour in the Pyrenees which I have to say was very successful. I intend to arrange a tour for next year and throw it open to Club Members. Details will follow in a further Email.

June is going to be a difficult month for me to arrange take part in activities due to impending surgery on my knees so I am desperately looking for volunteers to suggest and lead ride outs. So far for June we have the Edge 44 / Bike safe talk at Rob Willsher’s on Tuesday 5^th June 2007 at 7pm and a Ride Out to The Ace Café organised by Paul Mathews on Sunday 17^th June 2007 meeting at Rob Willsher’s at 0930 am.

It would be a bonus to have as many activities as possible for the forthcoming months and so if you have any suggestions, especially for the next month, please let me have them. I will arrange them for you, prepare the route sheets if required and endeavour to open up Willsher’s for coffee before setting off where I can. If anyone requires my contact telephone numbers please Email me at The Club’s Email address and request them. Obviously I don’t want to post them in the public domain.

A date for your diaries in July is Tuesday 10^th when we will ride out from Willsher’s to Crescent at Verwood and join the ride out from there going down to Poole Quay in the company of the Rizla BSB riders.

I am still working on a Treasure Hunt which will take place towards the end of the summer and hopefully be combined with a Barbeque.

I intend to send details of each individual activity in separate Emails so I make no apologies if you get bombarded with Emails. In addition, some members do not have full web Email access and cannot read attachments so often the attachment will be repeated in the body of the Email.

Finally, again can I remind you about the Bike Safe / Edge 44 presentation at Rob Willsher’s on Tuesday 5^th June 2007 at 7pm. Both The Hampshire County Council Road safety Officer and one or more representatives from Hampshire Police Traffic Division who do the Edge 44 scheme voluntarily in their spare time will be present. This is an ideal opportunity for you to find out from the horse’s mouth what the current strategies towards motorcycling are in the county rather than rely on misinformed rumours. You will be able to find out why those strategies are in place and question the motives behind them. In addition, the Edge 44 guys will be able to explain to you in full what you can expect from attending an Edge 44 course and what you will get from it. If you do nothing else to improve your riding skills, attend this presentation. Who knows, you might pick up a few tips which save your licence and more importantly, your life.

Ride Safe.

Ali  

Ride Out

Tuesday 10^th July 2007

Meet at the Rob Willsher’s 1800 AM

(Setting off at 1815 AM prompt)

Riding out to Poole Quay via Crescent Motorcycles at Verwood where we will meet up with the current Rizla Suzuki BSB riders and accompany them to the Quay.

Ride Out

Sunday 17^th June 2007

Riding out to The Ace Café.

Meet at the Rob Willsher’s 0930 AM

(Setting off at 1000 AM prompt)