Route 66 Self Guided Motorcycle Tour - Albuquerque to Los Angeles

The second half of Route 66, Albuquerque to the Santa Monica Pier. Eight nights, around 1,120 miles, and the stretch where the Mother Road stops crossing plains and starts crossing deserts, canyons and mountains.

Santa Fe comes first, and its adobe streets and galleries easily justify the short 110-mile opening day, then the route continues to Gallup through the Cibola National Forest. Arizona follows with the oddest landscape on the route: the Petrified Forest, where whole fallen trees have turned to coloured stone over 200 million years, then Holbrook and Winslow on the way to Flagstaff.

The Grand Canyon gets its own day from Williams, which is the right amount of time for it. After that the old road reaches its best-preserved section, running through Seligman and Kingman before the switchbacks down to Oatman, a former gold town where wild burros still wander the main street. The Mojave Desert and Victorville follow, then the final run down into Los Angeles and out to the pier at Santa Monica where Route 66 officially runs out of road.

EAGLERIDER provides the bike and books each of the eight nights, with Harley-Davidson touring models and Triumph and BMW sport machines available. Fuel, meals and insurance are separate. Days sit between 110 and 200 miles, so there is room to stop at the diners and motel signs that make this road what it is. For riders who have already ridden the eastern half, or who want the scenic end of Route 66 rather than all of it, this is the better half.