Riding in the UK: a guide for riders from mainland Europe

Your EU licence is valid for riding in the UK as a visitor. Carry it with the registration document and your insurance certificate. The UK is in the Green Card free circulation area, as the Motor Insurers’ Bureau sets out, so EU-registered bikes don't need a green card; check with your insurer that your policy gives full cover in the UK.

Most visitors, including EU citizens, now need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) before they travel. Apply on GOV.UK or the official UK ETA app, not through third-party sites that add a fee. Irish citizens don't need one.

The first hour off the ferry is the risky one. Roundabouts go clockwise and you give way to traffic from the right. The places where riders from the continent slip back to the right are quiet: leaving a fuel station, pulling out of a car park, and the first junction after a lunch stop. Say "keep left" out loud at every one of those for the first day. Many single-track roads in the Highlands and the Lake District have passing places: pull into one on your left, or wait opposite one on your right, to let oncoming traffic by.

There's no vignette. A few roads, bridges and tunnels charge a toll, signed on the approach. In London, two charges matter:

• ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone): motorcycles must meet the Euro 3 standard or pay a daily charge. Check your bike on Transport for London before you ride in.
• Congestion Charge: motorcycles and mopeds are exempt.

A helmet is compulsory for rider and passenger. Bring waterproofs whatever the season: a dry morning in the Lakes or Snowdonia is no promise of a dry afternoon.

Road	Limit	In km/h
Built-up areas with street lights (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland)	30 mph	about 48 km/h
Built-up areas with street lights (Wales)	20 mph	about 32 km/h
Single carriageways (national limit)	60 mph	about 97 km/h
Dual carriageways and motorways	70 mph	about 113 km/h

All UK limits are in miles per hour and road distances are in miles. A white circle with a black diagonal stripe means the national limit. Check the official figures on GOV.UK. Wales applies 20 mph widely in towns and villages.

Filtering is legal in the UK when it's done with care. The Highway Code tells riders to keep their speed low when filtering in slow-moving traffic and to watch for pedestrians and vehicles pulling out or changing lanes; it tells drivers to look out for filtering motorcycles. You must not cross solid white lines to filter, and you must not overtake the moving vehicle nearest a pedestrian crossing, or one that has stopped to let people cross.

The steep passes in the Lake District, Hardknott and Wrynose among them, and the high Highland roads can be closed or treacherous with snow and ice in winter. Hardknott's gradients and hairpins are serious on a heavy touring bike in any season; read our Lake District passes guide before you commit. Summer weekends bring traffic to the popular roads in Wales and the Highlands; weekdays and early mornings are when they're at their best.

Some English and Scottish cities run clean air or low-emission zones with their own rules. Check GOV.UK and the city council's site before riding into a city centre on an older bike.

Fuel is easy to find in England and Wales. In the Scottish Highlands, stations can be far apart and many close in the evening, so fill up whenever you pass one on a long day. The season runs from May to September; the Highlands are best in May and June, before the midges and the motorhome traffic peak.

• Eurotunnel (LeShuttle) from Calais to Folkestone carries motorcycles; the crossing takes about 35 minutes.
• Calais or Dunkirk to Dover by ferry.
• Caen to Portsmouth with Brittany Ferries, which lands you closer to the West Country and Wales.

From Dover, North Wales is about 300 miles (480 km) and the Lake District about 340 miles (550 km), most of it motorway.

• The Snowdonia loop and the A470 and the Evo Triangle, with biker hotels in Wales.
• The Lake District passes: Hardknott, Wrynose, Honister and Kirkstone, with Lake District stays.
• The North Coast 500, with Highlands biker hotels.