2010 Tour Dates

January / February / March 2010 – a week long slot anywhere in here to experience my first adventure tour to Sri Lanka.  Well, it’s not my first time of course; I’ve been there twice already, doing my research.  My first trip there was a long time ago, but you can read about it here I went back again this Summer (2009) when we toured around most of the island.  I have the bikes and the contacts out there now, as well as local guides if required.  So, who’s up for the inaugural adventure tour there?  Honda Baja 250s, bumpy rough roads and maybe a few unsurfaced trails for 1000km or more.  What’s it all about?   All sorts, with plenty of variety.  HOT WEATHER – 30C plus.  Great beaches, jungles, tea plantations, mountains, game reserves with Elephants and Leopards, and posh colonial hotels or more budget guesthouses according to group preference & budget.

Sril Lanka - Tour for late February 2010 potentially full already.  Itineraries beign drawn up now.

23^rd - 25^th April 2010 – Best of Three, National Paks of Northern England

The first “Best of Three” Tour.

3 days, 3 National Parks using the best back roads I can find.  Very little motorway work, but lots of twisty B roads, white roads and mountain passes.  The first UK Tour of the year.  Usually a reunion for all past Bike Tours UK guests & friends.  These weekends always sell out in recent years.  I prefer to take no more than about 15 bikes.  Small groups are far more fun and much more manageable.  Accommodation is in country pubs / small hotels with just half a dozen rooms or so.  Not posh, but good food, Real Ales and a fantastic atmosphere that you just cannot buy from a four star chain hotel.

15^th & 16^th May 2010 – The BMF Show

Not a tour, but well worth a visit to Peterborough.  The biggest outdoor motorcycle show in Europe.  As usual, I’ll have a stand there.  All old customers and potential new friends come along for a chat and a look at the tour photos.

21^st – 23^rd  May 2010  - The second “Best of Three” Tour

Another one, just like the April Tour

Depending on interest from tour members, I usually run one with a base in The Lake District, and the other with a base in the Yorkshire Dales, although the routes and roads ridden, remain pretty much the same.

Sometimes one tour is aimed slightly more at novice riders, while the other is for my hardened regular road hounds.

Novices are never excluded, but just bear in mind, these roads are tight, twisty and demanding; but ultimately very rewarding for a capable motorcyclist.   

Isle of Man TT Races 2010 – 4^th to 12^th June – RACE WEEK

Bookings for 2010 are coming in now, and if past experience is anything to go by, this tour could well be booked up solid before Christmas.  8 places remaining now. 

I have 25 bike tickets for Race Week 2010, five of which may carry a pillion.  Sailing Dates are 4^th  to 12^th  June 2010.  Excellent daytime crossings.  If coming from overseas, you will need to add a day or two either side of these dates, to arrive, and pick up rental bikes etc. 

Once again, we have our regular support crew (Stuart & Jane) in their big silver & blue camper van.  They can carry all the luggage and camping equipment.  The camper van goes out 1 day before to set up camp – on 3^rd June.  Many TT guests also leave Nottingham with me on 3^rd June, in order to spend one night in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales National Park, close to our port of departure on Friday morning.

Once again, it will be camping extravaganza for TT 2010.   

As always, our campsite is right on the race circuit with good race viewing, plus the excellent spectator locations of the Crosby Straight and Union Mills very close by.  2010 camping price £499, with discounts for returning guests.  Extra nights in hotels on the mainland, and hire of camping gear may incur a supplement.

Setting up a TT trip can be a nightmare – in this package, all the hard stuff is done for you.  Ask me for the full range of services; I have an information pack to send out (by emailed Word Document)

Iceland – 16^th to 21^st June 2010 – the “Longest Day” Tour to just short of the Arctic Circle

I love this place!  As adventurous as Morocco, but very different again.

Trail riding across lava flows, past geysers, ice-flows and boiling mud pools; all in 24 hour daylight.  How bizarre.

It’s a half road / half off-road tour.  Like Thailand, this is full on adventure, with unsurfaced roads, variable weather, and basic lodges or camping.   Semi adventure bikes such as Suzuki V-Stroms, Kawasaki Versys & KLR 650s and  Yamaha XT660Rs available for our use.     It can be run as a relatively affordable 4 day “long weekend” trip, or a more major undertaking of a week or more.  Daylight tours from around May to September, outside here we’re talking almost permanent darkness!   The 2009 tour was simply amazing.  Probably the best motorcycle experience I have ever had.  Read about previous tours here

and here

THIS FIRST ICELAND TOUR IS NOW FULL,  so I'm putting on a SECOND trip 15th to 19th July 2010, with an even more ambitious itinerary.

French Alps 2010 – 25^th June to 4^th July

I’ve now confirmed the dates above, for the now infamous High Alps Tour.  The chalets are booked. Stunning scenery, challenging riding equal to anything in the world, and fine dining as well!  We have a base in France (Bourg St Maurice), but we’re just half an hour from Italy.  Experience regular ride outs over the famed mountain passes of France, Italy and Switzerland.  On one day we ride up to 10 cols in 3 different countries.  Very affordable for what you get, with camping options, self-catering Chalet or budget hotel.  Save yourself a packet on normal tour prices, to spend it as you wish on dining out, fine ingredients from the supermarket, or simply blow it on beer & petrol J   This is a tour of around 2200 miles (Nottm to Nottm), although somewhat less if you already live in the south of England.  We spend 2 days getting down to The Alps, 7  nights in Bourg as our “base”, then a two day ride back home to Blighty again.  10 days, 9 night trip.  10 consecutive years now of running the same tried & tested trip (with a previous 17 years of me going there before Bike Tours was dreamt up)

Yes – France is no longer the bargain it used to be.  We’ve been shafted by the poor Euro to Pound exchange rate, and French prices seem to have increased considerably as well.   Nevertheless, this trip can be tailored to suit most budgets.

To keep the trip affordable to all, it's going to be a day shorter in 2010, but the tour price will be held the sameas the last 3 years.

10^th to 12^th SeptemberBMF “Tail End Show

May have a stand here, or just visit as a customer.

17^th – 19^th September 2010  - The THIRD “Best of Three” Tour

Another one just like the April & May Tours.

These are popular, and in times of recession sell out far better than an expensive tour down to Western France & Spain.  Once again, it will probably be based in The Lake District like the perfect example a couple of weeks back, but don’t rule out an entirely different location, just for a change.

As always, the accommodation is generally pub rooms or small family-run hotel.  However there’s usually a camping option on the very same tour, for those who want to save a few bob, or just enjoy the Great Outdoors even more.

These 3 day UK “mini-tours” of around 550 miles serve three purposes;

1. They are a perfectly good little motorcycle holiday in their own right.
2. They serve as reunions for past guests and old friends. People bond well, and enjoy each others’ company.
3. They introduce new guests to the Bike Tours UK style.  If riders warm to our type of riding, the comfortable but far from pretentious accommodation, the camaraderie and blatant political uncorrectness, then they’ll go on to book places on the more challenging Alps Tours, or even the full-on Icelandic and Sri-Lankan epics.

Dordogne, Pyrenees & Picos. September, most years.

Dates upon demand. A very pleasant tour down through Western France, with 2 nights in the popular Perigord region (the “Dordogne” in English terminology), 1 night in the Pyrenees, finishing off with 3 days in the Picos mountains of Northern Spain.    Highlights include an open canoe descent of the Dordogne river, excellent French cuisine, the traverse of the Pyrenees, and finally the splendour of the Picos.

Whereas all my other tours have sold out quickly in recent years, demand for this tour has dropped a little, so it will only run if I get sufficient interest.  It’s never going to be a cheap trip, as we have half board accommodation (meals & wine included) in 3 star hotels throughout, and also the return ferry with cabin accommodation (Bilbao to Portsmouth) accounts for nearly half the entire tour cost!

Confirmed numbers by April 2010, or before please.  The earlier you book, the better chance of getting a place, and a proper cabin on the outward journey!

November / December 2010

Thailand dirt bike tour again. 

A private tour for a 40^th Birthday group, but may involve some of this years Iceland riders.  Applications invited from known customers from previous off-road tours.  Like Iceland, this one can be quite arduous.  For Adventurous People only.  Anything can happen, and it often does J

Tours to Sri Lanka are likely to replace my Thailand Tours in future years.  This is one last chance to enjoy the Bike Tours Thailand experience, before a possible change in direction.

DIY Tours

I can set up the Alps trip, the Best of Three trip, or even the Picos Tour at any time over the summer period (April to October) for small groups of riders wanting to do their own thing.   I book your ferries, arrange all or part of the accommodation, supply marked up maps, route notes and suggestions on things to do and places to ride to.  All for a bargain price.   These DIY trips can be particularly good value, especially if you’re camping.  I don’t want to do too many of these because, in many respects, they take more time to set up and organise, than the tours I lead in person.

Contact me to chat about it.

These are tried and tested tours around areas which are particularly suited to motorcycling. They all have a high level of appeal FROM A RIDER'S POINT OF VIEW.

PLEASE NOTE - breakdown cover is highly advisable on UK Motorcycle Tours, and essential on trips abroad.  Click here to compare the main providors.

Day trips around Derbyshire have been popular in the past, and these can still be provided, by prior arrangement.

A word of caution though.  I don't want to sound too negative here, BUT, please, if buying a tour or a period of motorcycle hire as a gift for someone else, please please please make sure they've had some recent riding experience. 

I've had a couple of gift / rental incidents where there's been a loss of bike control due to inexperience on the part of the rider. No-one got hurt, but enough damage was done to my bikes to dissuade me from offering Motorcycle Hire ever again.