MAD HATTER
MOTORCYCLE ADVENTURES
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An Adventure Awaits
Mad Hatter Motorcycle Adventures are about combining the joy of riding a motorcycle through some of the most exhilarating landscape on the planet with the pleasure of being amongst friends and like-minded souls. Our tours are for relatively small groups with a maximum of 8 riders (or ten people including pillions). We strongly believe that this creates a better experience for all and enables everybody to get to know each other in a more convivial atmosphere.
Our trips will take you to some wonderful places that are amongst the most beautiful landscapes in the world to be experienced from the back of a motorcycle. We aim to make our trips special by enlisting the help of local friends to find those little gems, be they roads, restaurants or places to lay one’s head for the night. We aim to recce every route where possible and to avoid those 'mass-market’ hotels and restaurants…
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The full adventure list coming soon...
2022
An Adventure Awaits
Mad Hatter Motorcycle Adventures are about combining the joy of riding a motorcycle through some of the most exhilarating landscape on the planet with the pleasure of being amongst friends and like-minded souls. Our tours are for relatively small groups with a maximum of 6 bikes. We strongly believe that this creates a better experience for all and enables everybody to get to know each other in a more convivial atmosphere.
Our trips will take you to some wonderful places that are amongst the most beautiful in the world to be experienced from the back of a motorcycle. We aim to make our trips special by enlisting the help of local friends to find those little gems, be they roads, restaurants or places to lay one’s head for the night. We recce every route and do our best to avoid those 'mass-market’ hotels and restaurants…
We were delighted to have two of our adventures (Ireland and France) and a double page feature on our Norwegian adventure in Adventure Bike Rider magazine in 2021 and now the Pyrenees and Scotland in the January 2022 edition, so we must be doing something right...!
Life has been hugely frustrating for all of us over the last couple of years, but now that borders are mostly open, we are very excited to be able to hit the open road once again!
We had a reduced programme in 2021, but nevertheless we had a great time and managed to run some really good trips to Wales, Scotland, Ireland and France. Everyone enjoyed themselves with some incredible weather (and the odd spot of Celtic rain...) and we remain optimistic that we will be able to enjoy some awesome riding in 2022..!
We appreciate that travel to the European mainland may take a while to return to complete normality, but our all-inclusive trip in South Western France is perfect for these complicated times, especially now that the borders are open with only minimal restrictions in place, at least for those who are fully vaccinated...
Equally, we have some fabulous trips planned in the UK and Ireland for 2022, so that those of you who have been frustrated by closed borders can get back on your bikes and get the wind in your hair once more...
In the meantime, we will watch the situation carefully and we are of course here to answer any questions you may have, so please feel free to get in touch!
Stay vertical, stay safe and stay healthy...
Lakes, Peaks & Dales
England's Green & Pleasant Land...
Some of the most famous motorcycling roads in the UK are to be found in the Lake District, the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales and we will lead you on a well crafted route through the best bits of these three stunning regions. You will ride the iconic Hardknott, Kirkstone and Honister passes in the Lake District and explore the wide open spaces of the Yorkshire Dales, taking you to the highest pub in England at Tan Hill. The Peak District brings you to the twisting Snake Pass, Winnat's Pass and on to the famous Cat & Fiddle.
A great way to start the riding season with a weekend of breathtaking riding...!
Duration: 3 Nights.
Mileage: Approx 800 km/500 miles
Price: From £795
Dates: 8 - 10 April 2022
Minimum: 3 Riders
Spaces Available
South Western France
La Vie Exaltante
“La Vie Exaltante” literally means 'exhilarating or inspiring life'. This is how we feel when staying at our 12th century farmhouse with its wonderful views and glorious sunshine, especially while enjoying a cold beer by the pool…
This ‘adventure’ is a bike trip with a difference! All seven nights of the trip bar one are spent at our lovely old house in the Tarn et Garonne in south western France and each day there will be a ride to a different part of the region, be it the magnificent Gorges du Tarn or the delightful ancient villages around the area.
Each evening you will return to the house in time for a cold beer and a swim before you tuck in to a delicious dinner under the stars. If you bring a pillion, he/she is welcome to take a day or two off to laze by the pool or visit a local village should they wish..
Duration: 7 nights
Maximum numbers: 4 couples (there are 4 double bedrooms!)
Mileage: Approx 1,900 km/1,200 miles
Price: From £1,695
Dates: 8 - 15 June 2022
Minimum: 2 Riders
Spaces Available
South Western France
La Vie Exaltante
“La Vie Exaltante” literally means 'exhilarating or inspiring life'. This is how we feel when staying at our 12th century farmhouse with its wonderful views and glorious sunshine, especially while enjoying a cold beer by the pool…
This ‘adventure’ is a bike trip with a difference! All seven nights of the trip bar one are spent at our lovely old house in the Tarn et Garonne in south western France and each day there will be a ride to a different part of the region, be it the magnificent Gorges du Tarn or the delightful ancient villages around the area.
Each evening you will return to the house in time for a cold beer and a swim before you tuck in to a delicious dinner under the stars. If you bring a pillion, he/she is welcome to take a day or two off to laze by the pool or visit a local village should they wish..
Duration: 7 nights
Maximum numbers: 4 couples (there are 4 double bedrooms!)
Mileage: Approx 1,900 km/1,200 miles
Price: From £1,695
Dates: 18 - 25 June 2022
Minimum: 2 Riders
Spaces Available
The Norwegian Fjords
The Land of Trolls and Vikings
The landscape surrounding the Norwegian fjords is astonishing. The roads are amongst the best we have ever experienced and the variety of scenery from serene fjords to majestic mountain passes is breathtaking. This land of trolls and vikings will leave you wide-eyed and you will experience some of the best motorcycling roads imaginable. This is an adventure not to be missed.
Duration: 11 nights (plus travel time to/from Norway)
Mileage: Approx 3,000 km/1,900 miles
Price: From £4,995
Dates: 8 July - 20 July 2022
Minimum: 4 riders
Spaces Available
Pyrenees
Glorious Gorges
We had such huge grins on our faces the whole time we were in this spectacular part of the world that we just had to incorporate a trip to the Pyrenees into our list of Adventures. These roads are truly inspirational and the tiny villages perched high in the mountains are a delight to break the journey for a quick coffee or for a delicious local lunch. A trip of a lifetime with such breathtaking views and just a stone’s throw or two from our shores...
Duration: 8 days (plus 1 day at either end if travelling from the UK)
Mileage: Approx 1,500 km/950 miles
Price: From £2,245
Dates: 4 - 11 August 2022
Minimum: 3 Riders
Spaces Available
South Western France
Bike Shed Moto Co. Members' Exclusive!
This trip is part of our exciting collaboration with the very excellent motorcycling establishment, The Bike Shed Motorcycle Company of London and Los Angeles. The trip has been designed exclusively for members of this fine organisation.
All six nights of the trip bar one are spent 'glamping' in well appointed bell tents at our lovely old farm house in the Tarn-et-Garonne in south western France and each day there will be a ride to a different part of the region, be it the magnificent Gorges du Tarn or the delightful ancient villages around the area.
We will return to the house in the early evening in time to enjoy a cold beer or chilled glass of wine and maybe a swim in the pool, before tucking into a sumptuous dinner cooked by our local French chef.
Duration: 7 nights
Maximum numbers: 10 people glamping (2 per shared bell tent)
Mileage: Approx 1,900 km/1,200 miles
Price: From £1,495 (*Bike Shed members' discounted rate)
Dates: 3 - 10 September 2022
Spaces Available
Scotland -
High Roads & Low Roads!
This tour of the best roads in Scotland will remind you of all the reasons you love your motorcycle and will get the blood coursing through the veins as you head north through some of the most beautiful country in the United Kingdom...
The British Isles have some of the most dramatic and glorious landscape in Europe. We have designed a trip that will take you to some of the most stunning parts, through the Yorkshire Moors, the Northumbrian forest and into the glories of the Scottish Highlands, continuing round the fabulous west coast and back down into the north of England, dipping a toe into the Lake District, to end with the final night in the stunning Yorkshire Dales.
Duration: 10 nights
Maximum numbers: 6 Bikes
Mileage: Approx 3,600 km/2,300 miles
Price: From £2,195
Dates: 17 - 25 September 2022
Minimum: 3 riders
Spaces Available
Bespoke
We are completely happy to design and build an Adventure tailored to your requirements. We will arrange as much or as little of the trip as you wish, from a turnkey and fully booked plan to just a route with suggested stops. The trip can be fully guided or we are equally happy to provide a complete itinerary with GPX files for your satnav.
Contact us to discuss your requirements...
Happily for us Brits, Europe is on our doorstep, making some of the most sensational scenery easily available to us. We will take you to some of the best bits from Sardinia and Corsica, to the Pyrenees and the Norwegian Fjords. Equally, our own fair isle has some breathtaking landscape, particularly in Wales and Scotland. Southern Ireland is also a firm favourite, despite the potential for the odd drop of rain!
Further afield, we have planned trips to Australia, New Zealand and Canada, which take in some of the most extraordinary visual ‘narcotics' in the solar system; we hope to introduce these trips in the not too distant future. Scandinavia offers some seriously dramatic scenery and we have a fabulous trip to the astonishingly spectacular Norwegian fjords…The roads through the mountains and amongst the fjords are some of the best we have ever experienced...
We are constantly looking at different parts of the world to visit and we are considering a very special trip to take a group of American V - Twins to Tibet to visit George Mallory’s Base Camp at the foot of the great North Face of Everest. This will, we believe, make our motorcycles the ‘highest’ of their kind on the planet! They will certainly be the only American bikes to have seen the North Face of Everest, so the trip is very special and wholly unusual.
This is an ambitious plan, but we have permission from the Chinese government to cross the border into Tibet and also to take the bikes to Base Camp itself. These two things sound simple, but believe me, they are not and without them, we would be scuppered at the start! Happily, we are at least part of the way…more of this to follow!
As somebody once said “the best destination is the journey…” and this is our mantra. We aim to bring this ethos to you and to share some of the joy and fun that you and your motorcycle can have on the road.
This is our invitation to you to join us on a Mad Hatter Motorcycle Adventure...