Modern Vespa

Bella Italia - The Hornet (GT200) goes to Italy and back, with pictures:

http://www.wotmeworry.org.uk/bisr/report.htm

17 days, 10 full days on the rally, exactly 5,000km door-to-door. Proving that size isn't everything, and that distance should be no obstacle. I hope you enjoy.

A taster:

Just reading through now - that teaser pic is gorgeous!

Just went through them all. Outstanding Jim and thank you for posting and putting them together the way you did. Kinda feel like I just did a virtual ride with you. All the pictures are great! I especially loved the ones you took in France on your way back...beautiful country and roads.

Wow!
Thanks so much for assembling that and posting it

you lucky bastards

my dream vacation.

great job. thanks for the post.

I thoroughly enjoyed your report and photos. It looks as though there was beautiful scenery at every turn.

fantastic read, dare i say inspiring - thanks for the effort of doing this.

Your pictures look good - very impressive. I took my 2003 GT200 to Venice on a one way trip last July (2009), and I left it down there at my family home. Now I fly down and use it on vacation. [I have the 300 for UK use].

BTW: It took 1000 miles, three days (two nights) of mainly motorway to get there, which wasn't bad going: Bath-London-Dover-Calais-Reims-Nancy-Mulhouse-Basel-Luzern - Gotthard tunnel - Lugano - Milano - Brescia - Verona - Vicenza - Padova.

I took it to Milan last week for 4 days. Scooting around Milan is something I won't forget in a hurry.

La campagna d'italia e' bellissima e diverse

Nice ride report Jim. Were you keeping notes?

Don't be soft Doug!

p.s. Some of the Irish pub pics have come in, so beware of re-loading June 21st!

Very good post Jim.

what a journey,green with envy at your jaunt.
i`ve done Holland & Belgium in the past and now inspired to go further afield.
cracking pics and words Jim.
if i had a hat i`d take it off to you.

Looks great - hope u have the possibility to do wonderful central Italia next time

Jim:
I've read every page of your report--twice. Thoroughly enjoyed your pictures and words.
The pub--is that JJ Cathedral opposite the Duomo in Florence?

Truly an awe inspiring trip....I can't stop paging through your wonderfully organized photo album!

jim-great report....(and a side of you I haven't seen as moderaptor on MV)

Nice write up (not too wordy) and great photos!

Thanks for sharing.

JJ Hill in Fiesole, a few kms north of Florence, with beautiful views over the city.

Outstanding and artful documentation, Jim. Well done that.
I loved the story of the "found" hotel. It's things like these that show us the true benefit of serendipity and of accepting a recommendation from a caring stranger. Love to join up for a long travel someday...

I'm guessing they are of common ownership. Have had countless Murphy's at the one in Florence--it's a favorite stop of ours.

So jealous of this trip--I love traveling to Italy . . .

Thanks again for the write up.

Wow Jim you've proved that the GT200 can do anything a motor bike can do.

Looks like a trip of life time.

Just one question, do you have a standard seat with a tough arse or have you a modified perch?

As far as I know, it's standard, and very comfy for long journeys for me. No monkey-butt at all. But standard pee/coffee/fag/petrol/food stops every hour or so probably helped as well.

Incredible and awe inspiring, way to go Jim!

That'll be the secret having a break every hour or so.

See there is still something said for smoking... The good old Fag Break.

Top trip did you have other MV's with you??

Jim amazing ride ! thanks for sharing. Your right the pics just can't capture the beauty of the scenery ...

Jim - Nice write up and pics. Saw in the pics that a number of the scoots were LX and there was even an ET there ? How did these non water cooled scooters perform in comparison to your "Hornet" ?

Just fine in the hands of the competent riders!

I love this!! It is so inspiring for me to do something like that!!

You really put together a great travelogue! A great trip indeed, thanks so much for sharing it!

Great report Jim. Spectacular scenery and quite the adventure!

Thanks for sharing. Man what a trip !

I'm so glad I wrote it - just re-reading brings back loads of extra stuff to mind, and probably always will - but it seemed just 'right' to do a short page per day, the one or two most notable moments, and a record of the roads travelled - where possible!

Never buy a tom-tom folks, a bunch of shit - get a Garmin, preferably an older one - those strangely have more capabilities.

I've always had Garmins even in my pre-scooter sailboating days.

I like how civilized it all seemed to be. Thanks for sharing.

Nice ride report Jim! Italy is a beautiful place! Thanks.

You are hitting on routes prepared by GoogleMaps by other than TomTom software (Tyre), and then converted to Garmin format by aforementioned Tyre, Jim. Every issue with the pre-planned routes was a GoogleMap/Tyre issue, or operator (me) error in using same. Since I had no way to "road test" how these two worked together, I missed a couple of points of fine tuning.

My TomTom GO720 worked perfectly when routing request info was directly handled by it and near perfect using the Tyre generated routes. Also realize that this was my first shot at using Tyre, no less the TomTom.

Actually, I like the TomTom display format, as you get large, easy to read route prompts in the lower left corner well in advance and can ignore everything else, reducing distraction. Especially helpful was the way round abouts are done, clearly showing which exit to take. For example, with the info shown below, I knew that I didn't have to concern myself with the GPS for the next 8 km or so, and when we came to the round about, we needed to exit at 9 O'clock. Thus, I could keep my attention on other riding needs.

Hah!
Weren't you the one who said maps were better than any GPS device?

Great ride! I now need to plan a trip to Europe. You just cost me a bundle!

Not sure you are quoting me accurately. I have stated that I prefer not to use a GPS, and there is a big difference between "knowing where you are" and having a device tell you where you are. At least based on decades of flying and nautical navigation.

Having ridden the roads of Tuscany prior to this rally, we were well aware that many round-abouts are not as clearly marked as we would like, and often are not depicted with sufficient detail on paper maps. Riding alone, that's no problem, as you can pull over and try to work through any ambiguity, which Ardy & I did on numerous occasions in 2008 during our long tour there.

However, when leading a group of 12 to 15 riders on a cross country trip, trying to resolve ambiguities on the fly is less than ideal, so we chose to use the GPS approach in the interests of the group.

Al

Yup, that's what you said

Just felt like razzing you,
now that your sophistication concerning the subject seems to have grown


(Seriously,
it sounds like you did a great job on the recent trip,
no matter how you did it)