Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Tours
in Europe and Beyond
Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Tours
in Europe and Beyond
Summary: This is a four day, fully guided round-trip tour to visit the beaches, Pegasus Bridge and important sites from the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944. The D-Day landings began the liberation of German-occupied northwestern Europe from Nazi control, and laid the foundations of the Allied victory on the Western Front.
The British and Canadian forces landed at Gold, Juno and Sword beaches and we see all three of these as well as Pegasus Bridge and where the first wave of the attack took place after landing in gliders. We visit the beaches where the American landings took place at Juno Beach and then onto Omaha Beach, known as Bloody Omaha. We visit the Normandy American Cemetery and we also go to St. Mère Eglise, where the ‘Band of Brothers’ of Easy Company landed and fought.
This tour is classified as ‘easy riding’ and so is open to riders of all abilities.
Tour1 is an Authorised Harley-Davidson tour operator and so our tours are intended for Harley-Davidson riders. We do allow one non-Harley-Davidson per tour, so if you wish to ride a non-Harley, please check with gary@tour1.co.uk first before booking.
Price for
2024 Prices
Two riders sharing a room, price each
£1,060
Single rider in his/her own room
£1,250
Rider and pillion sharing a room
£1,620
We run this special tour that combines riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles with learning about the D-Day landings and seeing the places this happened.
After invading Poland in 1939, the war in Europe escalated when Germany invaded large parts of Europe in 1940 including Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. By June, France has also been invaded and having to retreat from the invading Germany army, British and Allied troops evacuated northern France via Dunkirk in May and June 1940. The USA joined the war with Germany in December 1941.
War continued across much of Europe, North Africa and in the Far East during 1941 and 1942. In 1943 and 1944, the Allies began to take control back from Germany and Italy in Europe and from the Japanese in the Far East.
On 6 June 1944 (D-Day), the Western Allies invaded northern France in a series of landings from Britain. The landings were on five beaches, the code names of which are well-known: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. These landings were successful, and led to the defeat of the German Army units in France. Paris was liberated on 25th August of 1944 and the Western Allies continued to push back German forces in western Europe during the latter part of the year and into the next. In May of 1945 Adolf Hitler committed suicide in Berlin and Germany surrendered on 7 May.
The D-Day landings were therefore the start of the offensive to take back occupied Europe from Germany and so D-Day was one of the critical parts of the war. This D-Day tour therefore looks at and celebrates what happened during those landings.
Depending on where you are from, you could ride your own bike on the tour, or rent one from one of the Harley-Davidson dealers we work with (see ‘Rentals’ tab at the top of this page).
We will be catching a ferry from Portsmouth to Cherbourg sailing at 9am. On board the ferry, there will be an introduction to the D-Day landings and how it impacted WWII. We disembark the ferry at around 1pm and ride along the coast of Normandy to get an overview of the D-Day landings area. We arrive at our 3-star hotel in Port-en-Bessin (near Bayeux) at about 5pm. We stay at the same hotel for all 3 nights.
On day 2 we concentrate on the British and Canadian beach landings.
We will visit Pegasus Bridge, the scene of the first actions of D-Day, where Airborne British troops stormed the bridge from gliders. We will see where those gliders landed and we will visit the Memorial Pegasus Museum where the original bridge is located.
We see the main the British landing beaches, starting at Sword Beach, then Juno Beach and finally Gold Beach.
We will also visit a number of centres, museums and memorials along with seeing the defences at Asnelles and the Mulberry Harbour at Arromanches, much of which is still visible out to sea.
On day 3 we concentrate on the American landings at Utah and Omaha beaches.
The film Saving Private Ryan told the story of ‘Bloody Omaha’ and what happened to the Americans who attacked the western Normandy beaches. We visit where there happened and where the terrible American sacrifice took place. We also go to see the museum at Utah Beach,
We also visit the Overlord Museum-Omaha Beach.
We go see St-Mere-Egise and look at the story of the ‘Band of Brothers’ who were the men of Easy Company of the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, who landed behind enemy lines.
Day 4 is spent viting the American cemetery at Omaha Beach, the impressive Overlord Museum and we go to see the German cemetery at Bayeux before returning to Cherbourg to catch the 5pm ferry, which arrives back in Portsmouth at 7pm.
Our group sizes normally range from 10 to 14 motorcycles.
Each day, we normally start riding at 8.30am sharp and we cover in the region of 75 to 100 miles. We do not use any motorways on this tour. We take mid-morning and mid-afternoon breaks and of course find somewhere for lunch. Our plan is to normally arrive at the hotel by around 6pm.
We ride at a pace to suit all of the riders. We stick to all speed limits in towns, but in rural areas we ride at, let’s call them ‘more appropriate’ speeds. We generally ride in staggered convoy on straighter roads.
As we have pre-booked hotels and a schedule to stick to, we ride in all weathers. During any exceptionally inclement weather, we will pull over for short periods. We could experience a range of different types of weather, so bring waterproofs, just in case.
We like these tours to be about having a real adventure, riding on great roads with like-minded people. For that reason, we do not use a support van, but we always have a back-marker.
*Ride Rating
Each of our rides has a difficulty rating and this tour is rated as ‘easy’. That means this tour can be ridden by any rider, but we expect that you have been riding large motorcycles for at least a year and that you have some experience of, and are comfortable with, riding in groups of at least eight motorcycles before. While it will be better if you have ridden in mainland Europe before, this is not essential. While there is not much motorway riding on the tour, as a guide, you will be expected to be able to ride at 70mph on motorways. We do not ride fast on this tour. There will be plenty of stops, and some days will be shorter, but the longest days will include around 8 hours of riding, with plenty of breaks.
Just wanted to say what an absolutely wonderful time I had on the tour. Your organisation, friendly demeanour and attention to detail was impeccable. Alun Burnett, North Lincolnshire, UK.
