Dear
All
Here is
the latest updated news regarding our last three 2008 tours
and some other events that you may find interesting.
Italian
Dolomites Tour
We came
back from this tour with mixed feelings. The main reason for
this was that there was clear division with in the group.
The ones that red and understood the information provided
in our literature and web site came with the right expectations
and attitude and they had a good holiday and we enjoyed their
company and guiding them.
We rode some fantastic mountain passes, had nice coffee and
lunch breaks and enjoyed some nice weather that we had on
that tour.
The others,
the ‘exclusive club’, well lets just say the kind
of tour they had suited their attitude.
Thank you all for joining this tour and we hope to see you next
year again on another RideWithUs tour.
Austrian
Tyrol Tour
This tour had all ingredients to be a great trip … and
it was. There was a good mixture of people, riding experiences,
generations and nationalities.
Because
of the fantastic service and hospitality it is always our
pleasure to guide a tour around Germanic countries. And this
was no exception. The hotels in the Black Forest and Austria
could have not done more to make us feel welcome and comfortable.
The weather
held on so we were able to ride small roads most of the time
and had a go at all major mountain passes in Austria.
On our
way back we decided to re-route and ride over Vosges mountain
range. It was a great ride until I picked up a huge rear tire
puncture about forty miles from our hotel. Fortunately, Charles,
Slavica and I were able to repair it and limp slowly to the
hotel just in time for the evening meal.
The last
day turn out to be a bit of ‘deflated affair’
as we still had a slow puncture. The group had to split up
and everyone made their own way back to the UK.
Never
the less, it was a great tour and we hope to see you all back
next year on some other trip.
Adriatic
Coast Tour
This tour was something totally different than anything else RideWithUs
has done ever before. In order to cut out six days of motorway
riding just to get Croatia and back we decided to use the
German Motorail. It proved to be a great success because every
one liked it, the service on board of the train was fantastic,
the bikes were safe and we were in Croatia on the second day.
Brilliant.
However,
the unusual developments regarding this trip started well
before our departure. They started with the arrival of the
first bookings.
The first
booking form landed on our desk, Slavica made a follow up
phone call and asked if he travelled abroad before on a motorcycle,
the answer was “yes, a bit … done a bit of Europe,
went to India on a Royal Enfield last year and one month before
your trip I am going to the first base camp in Himalayas”.
Slavica’s response was “OK, so you have done a
bit of riding”.
The second
booking arrived and the usual scenario followed. “Have
you travelled abroad on your motorcycle before?” The
answer: “Yep just came back from Gambia and going around
the World for six month next year”.
The third
triple booking followed the same procedure. “Just came
back from the Sahara desert and going to ride High Andes in
January we also done most of Europe”.
At this
point I think we had enough of these “long distance
adventure riders”. Now we only wanted a simple booking,
a nice down to earth couple from Manchester or Birmingham
would do. And we thought it came in a shape of Tony Cotton.
When asked if he toured abroad before he answered “Well
not ...” - we thought, good this one is more our type
- “for few years” - he continued - “I have
done most of North Africa, but as I said not for few years”.
And when
we almost lost any hope of receiving a “simple normal
booking” it came. God bless Cyril from Ireland who was
our good customer from the previous year and fancied a bit
of Mediterranean Sun before the end of the season.
All apprehensions
we had regarding these hard core bikers disappeared as soon
as we met at the ferry port. Most of them came with their
partners and wanted a leisurely holiday. We visited national
parks, historic monuments, joined boat trips, had nice lunches,
rode entire length of the Adriatic coast and stayed in some
fantastic hotels. We were able to show this group the best
that Croatia has to offer.
Thank
you all who joined this tour, it was an absolute pleasure
of ours to guide it. We look forward to seeing you all again
next year.
In Summary
As the
season has finished all the usual business is coming up. The
new 2009 brochure is ready and all of you should have received
it by now. The new web site is almost complete with a full
2009 touring programme and lots of nice new photos for you
to browse through.
Due to
the positive feed back we decided to make more use of the
German Motorail so it is a part of a package for Slovenia
& Croatia Tour, Adriatic Coast Tour and Tuscany Tour.
We also
decided to introduce the Self-Guided Tours and Hotels Only
Tours as a standard feature of RideWithUs.
The NEC
Motorcycle & Scooter show is on 27 Nov - 07 Dec 2008 so
if you happen to be there please do not hesitate to come to
see us. Our stand is T1 in Touring & Adventure Zone.
Have a
nice winter holidays and hope to see you all sometimes next
year.
All the
best,
Slavica
& Petar
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