Duration: seven to nine days • Mileage: 1545-1895 (from Calais) • Average daily ride: ±5.75hrs

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I'm going to mention The War. Sorry. But there's no getting away from the fact that people are still fascinated by it. I have to be clear, this is a motorcycle tour not a history lesson… but it does go through some key sites of World War II – from the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium down to Hitler's summerhouse, the Eagle's Nest, in Bavaria. 

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So there's stuff to see along the way and if you're interested in WWII, it'll be right up your alley. Especially if you can take a day off the bike in Berchtesgaden to do a full tour of the Eagle's Nest.

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But if you're not that worried about the war stuff, don't worry. This is still a motorcycle tour and every day is crammed with as many great roads as I could muster, sweeping through the Ardennes and across Bavaria to sample the delights of the Deutsche Alpenstraße, before crossing the Black Forest back to France. 

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While the basic touring route is seven days long, the Tour Pack editions come with two additional daytrips, so you can extend the trip to ride even more of these fabulous roads.

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What are the highlights? For the history buffs, clearly it's the visit to Eagle's Nest – but there's loads to see. There's stunning riding all the way round, from the Ardennes in the north to the Tirol in the south, but it's the quieter roads in the center of Germany that might really surprise you. My favourite road might just be on the daytrip around Berchtesgaden, heading into the Salzkammergut – the lake country over the border in Austria.

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What’s included on the route? Each day’s route has recommended places to stop for coffee in the morning and afternoon, a suggested lunch stop and planned fuel stops. The notes include hotel recommendations at every destination.

 

How long is each day’s ride? Each leg of the tour is planned to be a full day in the saddle: there's a lot of ground to cover but it's not an endurance challenge, just a biking holiday. If you check-out and get on the road by 9am, you should be at the next hotel at about 5:30pm. That's with stops for coffee and lunch. Saddle-time rating: seven out of 10.

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Why seven days? The tour's designed to work with taking only five days (one week) off work – and it'll still work even if you have to travel to and from Folkestone. You can ride down on the Saturday to start the tour on a Sunday; returning the following Saturday to complete your journey home on the Sunday. But if you're closer to the Channel crossing, you can add a day to do an Eagle's Nest visit, or ride one or even both of the extra routes included in the Tour Pack. 

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When to go: There are some proper mountains on the route – they ski on them in winter! So it's not one to contemplate before mid-May or after the middle of October. Summer's obviously best, though I'd avoid August as it can get busy with European holidays (and seriously hot). July and September are probably the best months for this tour.

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How is it supplied? Each download consists of an interactive eBook of notes plus a GPX file (suitable for sat navs or phone sat-nav apps). The notes includes hotel recommendations and each daily route has suggested lunch and coffee stops as well as planned fuel stops. The complete-tour downloads have individual GPX files for each day and the Tour Pack option comes with two extra routes, plus hardcopy tankbag notes and marked-up Michelin maps.