Ahhh! Well done

Is that 4 days for the round trip or just the outbound? If it's just one way then try a Motogoloco route turn off highways and tolls and put Oradour sur glane and saint cirq lapopie as vias and I think you find that is a fairly good coutry roads route. No idea what sort of thing you want to see but ...

Modern Guzzi - the Stelvio NTX has a 32 litre tank, still has buckets of Guzzi character and charm and most servicing is easy. Don't buy new unless you like depreciation but a 2013 or 2014 can be had for reasonable money.

X Challenge and X Country are relatively hard to come by as they were made for a relatively short time. I would think that the X Country is the better all rounder but both grea bikes.

Some people tour 2 up on a KTM 690 so I presume it's OK on the 701 as well. I couldn't do it. We found the F800 GS much too cramped. We did manage UK to Cape Town on our R100GS which is also suprisingly good off road, in a bulldozer sort of way. It's all down to that old thing called compromise. Eve...

I had one for many years (1996 to 2008). Great bike, I probably had more fun trail riding on it than any bike since. Lack of a decent rear brake was an issue at times. Also kickstart only - if I left it more than a couple of weeks it took some starting.

Are you aiming to travel or base yourself somewhere and explore the trails?

Riders have been giving bikes and bike riders a bad name ever since motorcycles were invented. Who cares! Just do your own thing and let others get on with their's. If you feel the need to wear dayglo vest then do you don't need to make a statement as to your politeness or otherwise. If you want to ...

I get more pleasure from buying an older bike and sorting out a few niggles that it may have and riding it than I ever would buying a new bike, worrying about the gadgets, worrying about the warranty, worrying about the depreciation etc. Only problem is I tend to get attached to them so the garage i...

We've lived here for 25 years which must mean we like something about it. It's not a great place to make your fortune but we love the atmosphere, the food, the weather and, from a motorcycling point of view, the fantastic roads and even better trails. We don't like the bureaucracy, the lemming attit...