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Comments from Past Guests ( I have kept the names private).

1. Tuscany and the Dolomites 2010

 Hi Ross

Thanks for showing us some of Tuscany.  I had a great time, the bikes were fantastic the food was unreal, accommodation was great, roads and villages were interesting.  I hope I can do another tour with you again sometime in the not too distant future.

Regards

John L

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Cathy and I would like to express our gratitude to yourself for making our bike part of the journey such a wounderfull experience. To travel to a new and exciting destination does have some degree of apprehension(wrong side of the road, language,where to go etc) but with your knowledge and direction you made it so much easier to enjoy our journeys.with your cruisie self just suited all of our styles perfectly not to mention our new mates from Brisbane and Canberra, the dynamics of the group worked very well all round. Keep up the same methodology (?) and you will never have a complaint I am sure.

Thanks again for going out of your way and riding with us to Tuscany - it sure made me feel 100% better knowing someone knew the way. The villa in Tuscany in the hills above Pescia was a gem it worked well as a base for that area as we were pretty mobile and seldom home. We did an overnight trip to Elba as suggested and was terrific, as was the trip to the Ducati factory and Museum

Mark and Brett had such a lovely time they were a day late to the airport to catch the plane, just cost them a few more dollars to get it rectified.

Thanks again CIAO T & C R

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 Its good to hear from you I feel bad because I have been meaning to email you and let you know how much I and every one else enjoyed themselves on your tour  

We have the bug now and all intend to do another O S trip so keep your ear to the ground for any good trips any were maybe ride down to Spain or something like that

Anyway I will get the details to you and thanks again for a great trip

Regards,

Mark W

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Hi Ross,

 So good to hear from you.

I've been meaning to write (but there's always something else to do!) to wish you sincere thanks for a once in a lifetime experience that's going to be almost impossible to beat.

Thanks for organising a tour with such a varied and interesting itinerary, that was so easy to follow. Every aspect of the tour was fantastic, particularly Elba which was such a standout for me.

 It's almost hard to believe that we really did it, but I do think about it quite often, particularly when I'm sitting at my office desk bogged down by the bureuacracy of my job - the thought of being out on the open road again is very tempting.

 Your attached photo scares the hell out of me. I can't believe that you rode in that, particularly down a mountain - pretty brave stuff.

Thanks for the offer of the refund, but I'd rather that you put it towards a night out with your better half. You went above and beyond as far as I'm concerned, and the price we paid seems like such a bargain when you look at what we got out of the experience.

 Thanks for everything, stay upright and safe, and I'd love to catch up with you if the opportunity ever presents (like if you're ever in Melbourne - please call).

 Best wishes,

 D

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 Ross old fella, keep the money, buy yourself some sticky rubber for the bmw, she may then keep up with the ducatis.  Had a brilliant trip by the way, thanks a million.  we're now pondering where to go next, all very excited.

keep it upright,

alistair g.

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Don't worry about my refund it is not worth it, just keep it for a Christmas present. Hope you're fine and is that picture from the Dolomites from now or the trip after we left? Where do you go on your dolomites trip? The guys were rapt with the Italy trip we did and are looking for ideas for our next trip have you got any?

Thanks Brian M

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Hi Ross,

Well we are back in Australia safe and well, and back at work (not good!!).  Just wanted to thank you again for the great time that we had on the bike trip.  We are boring everyone with our stories, and are still in awe of the scenery.  It is truly a beautiful part of the world.  I hope you enjoyed your time with Biddy and the rest of your family in Bellagio ( another beautiful place).  You know you haven't seen the last of us, we are already thinking of the next adventure we can share with you.  I hope we weren't too much to handle!! 

Jo

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Hi Ross,

Great to hear from you, I hope all is well.  Our trip to Rome and Venice was very nice and the flight back was easy and uneventful.
We had a great time on the tour and the group was wonderful.  We got some good pictures, I will have to get them to you.  I will try to get John to post some on your site.

 Sue T         (USA)

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Hi Ross,

 Just to let you know that I got back to Oz OK and to thank you for a very enjoyable holiday in Italy. It’s motorcycle heaven over there!

Cheers,

Grant B

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Hi Ross, thank you once again for a great tour, i will definetly be back.

 thanks peter  B

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Hey Ani,

Thank you for your email. I cant say enough good things about Ross's tours. If you like motorcycling, you will LOVE to spend a week with Ross in Italy.

Kind Regards,

Peter D

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 2. Tuscany May 2008.

 Had a wonderful time the accommodation was first rate, the bike was of a high standard and Ross was flexible with his plans to fit in with the needs and interests of his riders & pillions.  Ross knows the area so well you see things you would not find by yourself. He is relaxed and interesting tour guide, all our needs were met and look forward to going again, when our finances are replenished.

 S & C C NSW   

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We just want to say thank you for the trip. We had a great time.

Helen and Roger N

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6. The Dolomites, the bike and I  (Ian F May 2008- who did both the Dolomites and Tuscany)

 Ross’s tours are certainly not holidays from hell – I had a ball of a time.

I spotted one of Ross’s (Naylor) advertisements for a European motorcycle holiday in a bike magazine.  Tuscany seemed like the sort of place I would like to visit (indeed, hadn’t  my Belgium born wife mentioned on numerous occasions that she would like to go to Italy), so I began my leaving gentle hints around the house that a motorcycle holiday in that direction would be a bit of an adventure – Those among you who are in a long-standing relationship will all be aware of the sort of things wimpy husbands have to do when you’ve been married forever; bike magazines left open on the page of Ross’s advert, casual conversation that it would be nice to visit Europe again and why don’t we consider taking a different type of holiday, etc., etc.  ‘May is a good time for motorcycling in Europe dear’, it’s just before the school holidays start on that side of the planet, great weather that time of the year’, and god only knows what else I subtly came up with. 

He or she above was obviously on my side.  For a number of reasons (probably because I moaned my good lady almost to death), after some time my dear darling wife put to me the idea that maybe I should go by myself.  To be fair to her, she did have a situation at work whereat her boss was about to undergo a fairly intensive medical procedure, and since he was going to be out of commission for a number of months it fell upon her to hold the fort whilst he was out of action – Would I be too disappointed if I was to go alone, my darling beloved proffered?  What could I say but “dear, I’d really miss you but since I’ve done such a lot of preparation for an Italian adventure then maybe it would be a shame to back out now - If I were to do this trip by myself would it really be OK with you”!  “Are you sure it will be OK”!  “Only if you want, my sweet” (or similar such wording) occurred often in the bantering that went on.

 Did I want to go if I had to go alone? -  Are you kidding, I’ve been married for 30+ years and here I am being offered a leave pass – You little beauty!  And, since I’ve been riding motorcycles since I was 13 years old, I figured that with 40+ years of experience behind me I might just be able to handle this trip on my own.  With neigh a grin on my face I booked the May 2008 Tuscany tour.

 The cold dawn of another day then hit me!  Fraser is my last name, and coming from such refined Scots heritage it did suddenly occur to me that, what with the airfares and all, this tour could work out a little much expensive than my Scottish ancestry would really be comfortable with.  How to reduce the cost, I did ponder?  No problem, after some thought I reasoned I could do a back to back tour with Ross and ride the Dolomites as well - Well, why not!  One tour of the Dolomitie coming up! 

That organised however I still couldn’t shake off that part of my Scottish heritage that kept nagging me the cost of the air fare between Adelaide and Rome was really way too expensive - Such a long way to go!  Then ‘bingo’, another brilliant idea popped into that thing on the top of my shoulders.  Perchance the Dolomite tour finished one day before the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy races, and being one to take an opportunity (and why not) I duly booked some accommodation at the ‘Island’.  Since being a spectator at IOM race is free my little Celtic conscious then relaxed somewhat, and thus, laid out before me was my trip.  With totally pure thoughts, and an increased credit limit on the family plastic, I can honestly state that between May and June of 2008 I had one of the finest holiday’s I have ever had on a bike trip.

 Previous participants on Ross’s Italian tours have made comment on their experiences in the Tuscany region (Tuscany on two wheels: This boot is made for riding), they are posted on his website.  I concur with all that is written – If you like bikes, love Italians, touring and food & wine then a holiday with a 50+year old larrikin named Ross Naylor is the way to go.  The Tuscany trip as described (by better authors than myself) is entirely as written. I have nothing I can add to such comments.  I had a truly fantastic time!

 I thought I might offer a few gems on the choice of bike that might be of assistance to those considering one of Ross’s tours.  As commented by others’ who have partaken in one of Ross’s adventures, there is quite a reasonable range of bikes available.  I ride my FJR1300R to work every day and am enthusiastic enough to take the odd Sunday burn with like-minded people through the Adelaide hills as well as riding to the Phillip Island MotoGP each year.  At the time I was in the market for a new bike I came close to purchasing a VFR800 Honda, and whilst the Yamaha was the final choice, I liked the Honda enough to have quite some respect for it, thus a VFR 800 was my choice of bike for the tours I did with Ross.  The VFR proved to be a great bike for the Tuscany tour – Light, easy to manoeuvre, and it was quite comfortable even for my 183cm (6ft) frame. The power band of the VFR is very different from the Yamaha however.  Having variable valve timing it didn’t have a lot of low down power up to about 3,000 RPM where-after there was more less straight line acceleration up 5,000 RPM or thereabouts at which time the other two valves in the VTEC motor swing into operation and the bike would take off like a banshee - provided the twist grip was wound back to the stop.  If it wasn’t the bike just went ‘flat’.  For a solo rider in the rolling hills of Tuscany these characteristics weren’t a problem.  The Dolomites I found to be a very much different story!  The power band on the VFR simply didn’t work well for me on the mountain roads.  My opinion, of course, but when I do the Dolomite trip again (yes folks’ there’ll be another) I’ll be looking to hire something around 1200cc with good low down torque, especially if I’m going to tour ‘two up’.

Until one has ridden the Dolomites you cannot begin to appreciate how tight those hairpins really are.  If you’re going up-hill you approach on the right hand side of the road and you often have to turn back almost parallel to the direction you came from whilst piloting the bike up an incline that almost reaches over your head between a point about 30 meters prior to entry to the corner to the same distance leaving the corner.  These are not only tight corners but they can camber away quite significantly to toward the road you have just come over.  Putting one’s foot down for stability on these bends is well neigh impossible in some places the camber is just too great - To stop would be to fall off.  There are some photos that show the hairpin bends in the 2008 photo series on Ross’s website.  I suggest if you planning on going on this tour they are worth looking at!  On the odd occasion the corners in the Dolomites were so tight that my speed dropped to the point whereby the bike became unstable and I had to rely on acceleration to pull it upright.  Had I been two up I have doubts that the Honda would have the low down pulling power to comfortably assist in such matters. 

 For those of you who have not toured Italy before I feel I should leave all you with the knowledge that there are not but a few of these hairpin corners.  There are lots in that part of the world.  By example, one free day (mentioned in my thoughts on the Dolomite tour) I took the Honda into Slovenia and cut back into Italy over the Eastern mountain ranges.  As oft mentioned the Italian roads are first class with wonderful smooth tarsealed surfaces.  As not oft mentioned the road builders in Slovenia took a slightly different approach in that tarsealed corners with truck traffic on them tend to eventually break up, thus they need maintenance.  Being practical people the Slovaks lay the corners of their roads with cobblestones, and, let me assure anyone reading this page, riding a motorcycle over those little judder bars is hard work; especially when one is informed by a sign in the apex of the corner of the number of such turns still to go.  On one road I travelled over I was greeted with a sign there were 90 corners in a row, then on the next corner another sign stating 89 corners to go (then 88 corners still to go, then 87 and so on, ad nauseam in fact) – Took me at least 5 glasses of red to stop my hands and head from bouncing up and down when I eventually made it back to the group.  Hence I caution anyone contemplating the Dolomite tour that among factors in selecting your choice of bike should be those of low down pulling power and ones’ ability to get both feet flat on the ground when sitting astride the bike, rather than simply picking a bike from those offered on the basis that one many have occasionally wondered what it would be like to ride one.

In doing ‘back to back’ bike tours (Tuscany and the Dolomites) I needed to be able to carry everything I brought with me from Australia on the bike as I had to ride between those two venues.  As others who have commented on Ross’s tours have observed there is no problem with having clothes washed at any of the overnight venues, thus I was able to make do with a travel chest consisting of underclothes, a few sweat (T) shirts, a heavy pullover and an extra pair of jeans.  I purchased a small parachute bag with wheels from Cheap as Chips and only took with me what I could fit in same (crash helmet, light wet-weather pants and bike boots included).  I had a waterproof ‘stuff sack’ that went completely go over the bag, and I held the lot on the back of the bike with a couple of large size ‘Andy Strapz.  I wore my ezi-rider jacket - It all worked fine.  I travelled real light and without any luggage problems for my entire trip, including the Isle of Man.

Ross thoughtfully caters for all though.  Couples often arrive with a full complement of luggage (as you do when there are two of you spending a month or so in Europe).  During Ross’s Dolomite tour the group stays at three different locations.  Cunningly he has long organised that luggage can be stored at the Hotel in Mondello de Lario, where the Dolomite tour starts and eventually finishes, so it was simply a case of putting a few things in the bike saddlebags, enough to last the week and ‘hitting the road’ the next morning.  I also add that similar arrangements are in place for those contemplating the Tuscany tour.

What of the Dolomites’

The close of Ross’s Tuscany tour preceded his Dolomite venture by one day.  This necessitated him taking the autostrada from Colle Val de D’Elsa to Mondello de Lario in order to arrive in time to greet the new group.  Leaving Colle I didn’t have the same time commitment so I travelled instead up the coast to La Spezia then cut through the Pass d’ Cise to Parma.  I then pointed the VFR toward Bergano (via Cremona) to eventually arrive at Mondello de Lario just on dusk.  I normally wouldn’t have taken a route that took me so far northward before cutting inland, but there was still snow on the Western mountain ranges and acting on Ross’s advice that the Pass d’ Cise was the least likely to be iced up off I duly went.  I had no trouble; certainly proof that Ross’s knowledge of Italy is outstanding, and that, as others have written, his tours are very casual and you can certainly cut out to do your own thing if one feels so inclined.

I rode into Modelle de Lario about 8pm, just in time to meet with the Dolomite group across dinner.  What a great way to meet other like minded people.  I was able to take the ferry across Lake Como with them all next morning and tour the Moto Guzzi museum later that afternoon.  Getting to know you could hardly have been easier, although to be fair there were no teetotallers among us so the sharing of wine and food, Italian style, may have assisted to some small extent in the ‘bonding processes’!

Ross, disorganised/organised as usual had it all planned.  Behind that devil may care facade he presents goes an awful lot of planning - The man’s a motorcyclist through and through.  Bulk luggage was stored that the hotel (‘take what you need for five days folks, we’re off’), up through Chaivenna to St. Moritz (Switzerland) for lunch – About this time I distinctly remember wondering what the poor people were doing, but I was able to dismiss the thought from my mind without too much real effort.  St. Mortiz must be one of the few places on earth that the local sailing club (about 10 cadet sized vessels) is sponsored jointly by Mercedes and BMW.  Can’t say I’ve had similar success in my finding a sponsor effort back in Oz.  Well feed and watered we then transversed to Pass dal Fuorn to exit Switzerland near the Italian Village of Tubre.  It was then on Bolzano and a stop at the village of Colle di Villa for coffee before proceeding to the mountain village of Cavalese where the Hotel La Stua was to be our temporary home for the next two or so days.  Did I mention Ross’s frequently planned coffee stops – The man’s got to be a folk hero in planning those!

 The Hotel La Stua is a bikers dream, both in location and in service.  The owner and his daughter both ride and often do so.  The hotel is well located within the Dolomitie, so much so to the point that it really is the apex for any number of day tours that can be organised around a cloverleaf pattern over a three or four day (or longer) period.   A fascination of the stay there was that the owner had modified a retired four cylinder bike motor to dispense the local brew from the sparkplug holes – Fascinating, and but another small reminder as to the effort Ross has put into planning a suitable routes and accommodation for his motorcycle tours.  I also noted the clientele at La Stua was mostly motorcyclists, many of them from neighbouring German and Austria.  Our group felt right at home instantly.  It was interesting ‘reading’ one of the many bike magazines that were lying around for guests to enjoy.  Whilst my Italian is effectively non-existent it was fun working out the exchange rates and comparing prices and models against those of Oz. 

 It might have been an age thing, but that aside, prior to our tour Ross had decided that, his livelihood dependant somewhat on his not being hurt in an accident, he would invest in an ‘airbag jacket’.  Proudly purchased in Hon Kong he made the point of coupling this device to his bike every time he got on it.  Yep, you guessed it!  The day surely had to come whereby he would forget to unhook it prior to dismounting.  The mountains were great, the winding roads were first class, but one of our group highlights was Ross doing a really good impression of the Michelin Man, thus reminding all that if in possession of such a jacket to disconnect the airbag before demounting the bike. I don’t think Ross was all that amused when it went off, but the rest of us surely took great amusement in his misfortune – We took photos as well.

If you want spectacular scenery and great winding roads then the Dolomites have it all.   We may have been fortunate with the weather in that each day was rain free (although some of the group had some precipitation fall around them on the last day).   I can’t begin to list all the mountain passes we transversed, but the Pass di Pennes Penserjoch, the Val di Penne and the Val. d’ Eggental all stood out in my mind as being outstanding, for both their beauty and for their winding roads – An absolute motorcyclist’s dream.   On day four of our tour we left the western Dolomites and the hospitality of the Hotel La Stua to position ourselves at Auronzo in the eastern Dolomites.  It’s a fairly easy ride with a distance of around 130km between Cavelese and Auronzo de Cadore, whereupon the Hotel Juventus was to be our ‘home’ for the next few days.  I should just mention, indeed possibly gloat, that in order to get to Auronzo we had to go through the Pass d’ Pordoni to Arraba then cut through the Pass d’ Palzarego to arrive at our new destination at the Hotel Juventus (in Auronzo de Cadore).  What a wonderful ride!

The following next day I believe Ross had intended to spend time exploring the ‘twisties’ of the eastern Dolomites, however, some of the ladies on tour wanted to do some shopping in the nearby town of Cavalese (the sun glass manufacturing capital of Italy). A few of the guys then decided they wanted to go ‘blasting’ the windy roads, and one couple opted for a trip ‘down memory lane’ by visiting long time lost relatives who lived nearby – Thus a free day was announced (group dynamics at its finest), and that’s kind of when I ‘lost the plot’.  Waking up early I ‘snuck out’ for a bit of a ride’, which turned into a 500km marathon whereby I was enjoying myself so much (the weather was absolutely perfect) that I cut up into Austria going around the side of Lake di Dobbiaco then heading eastward to arrive in Lienz.  From there I took a beautiful scenic road (where the mountains smooth out into alluvial pasturelands) to Spittal before riding further eastward to Villach.  Having gotten that far I figured I should probably go back and since there wasn’t much point in going over roads I had already ridden on, I thought I may as well do some of Slovakia as well.  I rode south to Tarvisio (back into Italy) before then cutting east again to the town of Kranjska Gora (into Solvakia on the way), then I ran parallel with the Italian border through Vsic, Trenta, Socka, Bovec and Zagar before coming back into Italy at Uccea.  Then it was over another pass (the Pass di Tanamea ) through to Faedis before proceeding north Trecento.  Going further northward one passed through Gemona, Tolmezzo and the Forni di Sopra before I finally returned to Auronzo around 6:30 that night (506km round trip) - Just in time for dinner!

Next day started with Ross trying to work out who ate what during our stay at the Juventus, a painful experience for us all, the group watching Ross, and Ross using his tremendous repertoire of accounting skills to reach a formulae we could all accept.  Somehow, without too much bloodshed and the shredding of wallets, we managed to reach agreement and were soon off on our return run to Cavelese.  Heading northward to Austria (Toblach) then turned west through Niederdorf before stopping for lunch at Monguelfor, where-after we promptly proceeded to get lost trying to take a shortcut to Valdora (to get to Bruneck being the travel objective).  Fortunately for us we were able to flag down two kind ladies in a Panda who turned out to be going in the same direction.  Thus, duckling like (and at about the same speed, I hasten to add), we were able to follow them as they transversed the back-roads to bring us into Valdora over quite a high range of hills.  For myself, following those kind women at such low speed was actually one of the highlights of the tour.  I found it absolutely encapsulating to have time to clearly smell the different types of foliage at the side of the road and gaze at the steep valleys and little farmsteads dotted all along the countryside – I guess that’s about the only thing you can do when you have to follow a Panda up a steep hill on a motorcycle anyway!  Bruneck eventually passed it was south to St. Lorenzen then S. Martino before a compulsory stop for coffee at Pederoa.  From there it was down to Corvara, up over the Pass di Gardena to Canazei then finally back to Cavelese, whereat we had kind of a ‘last supper’ with members of the tour group.  The next day we would travel back to Mondello de Lario and say farewell to those who were departing that night for other places.

 Next morning broke overcast but with blue sky between the clouds.  A splinter group, myself included, decided to attempt to go over the Silvo Pass on the return leg to Mondello. The remained of the party elected to travel via Lake di Garda.  My group cut through Monttagna then Bolzano then into Switzerland to only find the roads to the Pass were closed.  Silvo pass is one of the highest in Europe, so in retrospect this may have been expected.  Demoralised and done over like last year’s Xmas turkey we then licked our wounds and took the same route back to Mondello de Lario that us Dolomite travellers came over some six days ago.  Lunch again at San Moritz (bummer), and then on to Mondello to arrive a few hours early than the rest of the group who went via Lake di Garda.  In the face of all adversary however, we of the splinter group were able to regain our composure and turn our disappointment around by drinking much beer and undertaking the expenditure of monies at Agostini’s motorcycle shop (owned by the daughter of the real thing folks) prior to the arrival of the others from a more southerly direction.  A plus for us Silvo pass disappointees was that we didn’t have much rain at all - The Lake di Gardia expeditionaries eventually arrived looking decidedly the wetter for their efforts. 

 All part of the very unique experience of motorcycle touring Italy, folks.  If you’re reading this then don’t hesitate – Book one.  We are all only on the planet but once!

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