My first motorcycle tour, and what I would do differently

My first motorcycle tour was a week in Normandy off the overnight ferry to Caen. If I did it again I would pack half as much, ride a short first day, keep a card and coins in a pocket for tolls, tell my bank, and ask every hotel about parking before booking. None of it went badly wrong. These first motorcycle tour tips are just the things that made the week harder than it needed to be.

I packed for a month, not a week

I took a full pannier of clothes, a spare pair of boots, a laptop and a camera I used twice. The bike felt heavy and slow at low speed for the whole week, and every night I unpacked a pile to find the one thing I wanted.

About half of it never came out of the bag. Next time I would take three sets of riding base layers and wash them in the sink, one set of clothes for the evening and shoes that pack flat. Our motorcycle touring packing list is close to what I take now.

I rode too far on the first day

The overnight ferry gets into Caen early in the morning, and I had planned a full day of riding straight off it. I slept badly in the cabin and by mid afternoon I was tired and riding on the wrong side of the road for the first time. That is a poor combination.

Now I plan the first day off a ferry as a short one, 100 miles or so, ending somewhere I can eat early and sleep. The tour planner splits a route at one distance a day, so I treat its first day as a guide and stop early.

The first toll booth

I got to my first French autoroute toll with my card zipped inside my jacket. I had to take off a glove, open the jacket and dig for it while a queue built up behind me, with the bike ticking over in gear on a slight slope.

Keep a card in a pocket you can reach with gloves on, or in the tank bag window. Pull up close enough to reach the machine without leaving the bike. If you want to avoid tolls altogether, the routes on this site keep off them where they can.

My card was declined on day two

My bank saw a run of payments in France and blocked the card. I spent half an hour on the phone outside a fuel station before it worked again. I had a second card, which saved the day.

Tell your bank where you are going, take two cards from different banks and carry some cash in euros. Keep the cards in different places, so losing one bag does not lose both.

One hotel had nowhere to park the bike

I booked one night in the middle of a town without asking about parking. The hotel had none, so the bike spent the night on the street with the luggage taken off and a disc lock on. It was fine, but I did not sleep well.

Ask about parking every time you book. A courtyard, a garage or a private car park is worth paying a bit more for. Hotels used to bikers often say so on their website.

I was nervous on the ferry car deck

I had never ridden onto a ferry, and I had not thought about how the bike would be held in place. The crew pointed me to a spot by the wall and helped with the straps, but I was worried the whole way over.

Watch what the rider in front does, and ask the crew if you are not sure. Leave the bike in gear on the side stand, and take what you need for the crossing off it before you go upstairs, because you cannot get back to the car deck during the sailing. Our crossings page lists every ferry and tunnel route that takes bikes.

What went right

Normandy was the right choice. The roads are quiet, nothing is steep, and the towns are close enough together that a bad day is never far from a bed. I would still send anyone nervous about a first trip there. It is the first tour on our list of the best motorcycle tours in Europe, and you can open the Normandy and Mont-Saint-Michel route in the planner with a free GPX.

If you are just starting out, Tom's guide to motorcycle touring for beginners covers the steps before a trip abroad, and the pre-trip checklist covers the documents and the jobs to do the night before.