We made a decision earlier this year that we would go to the French Alps and ‘do’ the Route des Grandes Alpes for our annual get away.
The only thing we would book was the tunnel. That took 10 minutes, very easy. Folkstone is a PIA to get to for us from oop north’ish as a ride through or around London is required. I thought around would be best, very little difference in mileage & time anyway. To avoid the worst of the traffic an early start was planned, the tunnel was booked for 09.20 so left home at 03.30 to give us plenty of time for a few breaks on the way.
Check in was very easy, quick coffee, back on the bike to the front of the queue. Within minutes we are loaded and the train is moving. Just over ½ an hour later we’re off the train and on French roads!
Petrol & breakfast were required and had sourced a supermarket for both not too far from the terminal. Bloody hell!! Petrol @ €155.3 at a supermarket! That was £1.37! Unfortunately we found this to be the average for petrol. At least the croissants were cheap.
Because of the distance down to the Alps and we wanted a few days spare at the end of the two weeks we jumped on the motorway and paid for the ‘pleasure’.
Two overnight stops and we arrived in Thonon les Bains, the start of ‘the route’. On the way we decided to ride through Geneva, just to have a look, won’t bother again, it looked OK but the traffic was crazy and driving conditions not much fun. Anyway, at Thonon we grabbed a baguette at a patisserie and ate it, in the hot sun, sat overlooking Lake Geneva, our holiday had really started.
We had arranged to meet some friends in Morzine a bit further along the route so we booked some accommodation there for our next overnight stop. The ride to Morzine was lovely and a great start for the rest of the Alps.
We got very lucky with the weather, during the whole trip the lowest temperature we saw on the ‘clocks/gauges/dials/instruments’ was 14* and that was above the snow line. The highest was 38* in a valley but the norm was around 30* - 34* (pretty much what you were getting back here at the time!). We got wet once, we had got lost (thanks Garmin) and ended up going over an unplanned pass, finding quite heavy rain that washed stones & debris into the road. It wasn’t much fun but I suppose, in all, it was only an hour or so. One very ‘good’ thunderstorm hit when we were in Castellane (Gorge du Verdon) but we had gone out early that day to be back for the England v Panama game and we were in a bar when it hit. A lot of riders (and pillions) were arriving back a little damp!! It seemed most had gone out totally unprepared for wet weather.
We didn’t follow the official route of the Routes des Grandes Alpes all the way, we took a few diversions. All had been planned and put into the Garmin. I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen with this as I had only tried it twice before (with help from user650, thanks Paul) but it seemed I had done OK and all went to plan (well almost). The official route is over 400 miles, from Thonon les Bains to Nice. We were going to turn west before Nice to go to The Gorges du Verdon, then on to Mont Ventoux. I had read this next comment on a biking site I follow.
Quote……… “The back country (anywhere at least 30km inland from the coast) of Provence is a heavenly inspired paradise of great motorbike roads and one of the reasons I almost never bother with the coast. The coastal towns and beaches of the Cote d’Azure are the overcrowded playground of the rich, want-to-be famous tossers with arrogance oozing Parisian birds in bug eye sunglasses, and far worse, the leather skinned, wrinkly, semi naked, thong wearing, beach posing, hairy, over sexed pensioners flapping their giblets around the place. It makes me want to throw hand grenades not beach balls, I’d rather nail my left testicle to the back of a bus heading for Helsinki than waste my precious time staying on the coast.”
I thought maybe not going to the coast would be a good idea just in case I was classed as one of the ‘leather skinned, wrinkly, semi naked, thong wearing, beach posing, hairy, over sexed pensioners flapping their giblets around the place.’
According to the information you read about the Route des Grandes Alpes you cross 18 cols/passes, I didn’t count them but you do quite a few, all amazing in their own way. All having great scenery and some with very narrow roads with steep unprotected drops if you wander slightly from the road!! We made lots of stops, for photos, just taking in the views and of course liquids.
After The Col de la Bonette, our last and highest col in the French Alps, we should have carried on south, through Isola & Clans to meet the D6202 where we would turn west and head for Castellane & The Gorges du Verdon, but the Garmin had other ideas at this point and took us along an unplanned route, already mentioned. Anyway, we made it to Castellane, with no accommodation booked, and soon realised we had made a mistake in not booking earlier. The place was rammed with motorcyclists, most also looking for accommodation. Deb had a quick run around a few places on ‘the square’ (while I looked on Booking.com) and managed to get the last room in one of them. We booked in for two nights so we could have a full day to ride around the gorge & of course watch England play.
The Gorges du Verdon, are amazing. I’d heard & read about them but you can’t get a proper idea of what they are like until you see them in the flesh. Well worth a visit if you are in the area. The traffic around that area was the busiest we had come across, not counting motorways and the towns/cities we passed through, but it wasn’t that bad and still a joy to ride the roads.
From there we headed to Mont Ventoux. The only reason being, I’d seen it often while watching The Tour de France and just wanted to go up there.
Once we’d been up & down the other side we turned North West for Gap where, by accident, we picked up The Route Napoleon and followed it north towards Grenoble. When we got close to Grenoble we jumped on the motorway and once again paid for the privilege of using them. I’ll be honest though, they are good with plenty of Aires (services) on route. Some have petrol and food others are just ‘picnic’ areas, but it seems they are alternate and are well signposted to say what they have.
We were well on schedule and were to have four nights now, two in North West France near Albert and two in Ypres both to visit WW1 museums and cemeteries.
The French Alps.
great. Loved every mile. Usually good roads, occasionally a bit cut up, but with the contrast in weather conditions they see, good. I’m not sure if it’s because The Tour de France was coming through a few weeks after us but a lot of repairs were being made. Complete relaying of the surface leaving loose chippings, with little warning signage, in a few places!! Occasionally a bit hairy going up and down some of the cols, due to narrow roads and no barriers to stop you disappearing over a drop of a few hundred feet or more! You’re not going to (you hope) but it doesn’t stop you thinking you might! We saw one unfortunate (or fortunate) biker a few feet down one embankment. Luckily for him his bike got caught up in the long grass and undergrowth and stopped it going too far. He was sitting on the side of the road along with his mate. We stopped but were told they were OK and awaiting recovery! Although we didn’t stick to the official route we were pretty close to it. But there must be hundreds of miles of great biking roads down there to explore if you had the time and inclination.
Gorges du Verdon.
Stunning. Quite amazing. The whole gorge is worth a ride/drive around if you are ever in the area. There are roads both north & south of the gorge and both are worth doing. Busier traffic wise than the Alps but no real problem, the occasional coach full of tourists but they stop regularly and you can get past. Trouble is you want to stop and they come past again but what’s the rush, we’re on holiday and enjoying the scenery.
Mont Ventoux.
It’s a big hill with a few hairpin bends to negotiate. Probably the busiest ‘mountain top’ we visited, even busier than The Gorges du Verdon! But only at the top. I think we passed two cars and dozens of cyclists, nobody passed us but you struggled to park at the top. Maybe everyone else came up the west side rather than the east like we did. Not that exiting but worth a trip up there just to tick the box and say you’ve been there when you watch ‘Le Tour’.
Albert and Ypres.
Albert has plenty of history about WW1 as The Battle of The Somme was fought in and around that area. Very educational and very emotional. We did two nights, giving one full day in and around the area. We will be back.
Ypres we visited 3/4 years ago so went to places we didn’t ‘do’ then plus a couple we thought we needed to go back to. Again, educational and emotional. If you ever go make sure you get to The Menin Gate for The Last Post at 20.00 (every night). Brings a tear to my eye just writing this down! We will be back.
Although we don’t camp & prefer a proper roof over our heads we did notice lots of camp sites around. We weren’t looking for them but they seemed to be easy to find for those of you that like to ‘rough it’.
Trip summary.
Wonderful trip, we both really enjoyed it. The tunnel is very quick and convenient (except for the journey to & from) to get across the channel.
The route down the east side of France to The Alps is nothing to shout about, IMHO, and you see the same scenery on the motorways, you just pass it a bit quicker.
The French drivers………Mmmmmm, if they see you on the ‘bike they are usually polite & courteous, unfortunately they don’t see you very often! Or is that just me? Good point though is they don’t hog the middle or outside lanes on dual carriageways or motorways. They pass & pull in. Or I should say, they drive right up your arse, pass, and pull in, right in front of you. However it seems to work and I suppose you get used to it.
The French locals we met were very nice to us and most spoke English a damn sight better than I speak French (Deb is far better than me). Occasionally both parties struggled but ‘sign lanquage’ and Google translate helped. This has been the same when in Spain & Portugal when in non-tourist areas, most locals won’t speak English and we don’t speak the local languages but if you try and can at least say please, thank you, hello & goodbye it’s surprising how you can get along.
Prices are ridiculous. Accommodation, a room, with or without breakfast (well a croissant with cheese & ham) was maybe a little more than other countries we’ve visited on the continent. We are (well Deb is) choosey about what we book, it’s got to have en-suite and be very clean! We had no problem booking a room as we went along (Booking.com) except as said, in Castellane. It was eating out and definitely drinking alcohol out that we thought was particularly expensive. Not just in the tourist areas either, the few places we stopped on route south & north were the same. We were charged or would have been charged €7 + for a pint of beer in most places. The cheapest was €4 in a couple of places. Soft drinks were the same, expensive compared to the UK.
Supermarkets are very cheap so we did ‘the Billy no mates’ thing quite a bit in the evenings and stayed in our room with a couple of bottles from the supermarket at less than €2 each. We don’t mind paying a slight premium for being in a tourist area but don’t like being ripped off!
As stated we very rarely book accommodation for the night until the day required. We use Booking.com and have not had any problems doing so. Around lunch time we find a café, bar or McDonalds (they’re bloody everywhere) for Wi-Fi and do it while having a break. Wi-Fi because, for me, it’s easier on my tablet, but now I believe most mobile phone operators allow you to use your UK data while in Europe.
Would we go again?
Probably not to the French Alps. We loved it and it was a great experience but it was a long way there and back for the pleasure. But don’t let me put you off, it’s worth doing once! Plus there are lots of other places to see, both on the continent and back here in the UK, and we’re running out of time!
North West France & Belgium for the WW1 experience, yes definitely. Still got a lot to see in the area and I’ll never tyre of hearing The Last Post at The Menin Gate.
The bike. (650 – 2013)
Did everything it needed to. It sat on the motorways at 70 – 80mph for mile after mile. It climbed the mountains and negotiated the hairpin bends happily. Engine wise it never missed a beat nor did it use any oil. I lost both dipped beams but I confused myself (it’s easy to confuse a stupid person) by carrying what turned out to be a faulty spare and one of those that ‘blew’ looked to be OK, the filament looked intact with the naked eye. It wasn’t until I got home & put a meter on it that it was proved open circuit.
Oh yes! We had an unscheduled dismount. We wanted to stop for some photos and I pulled onto a wide gravel layby. Just as we came to a stop I put my foot down but as the bike ran on another inch or so it ran up a rock about a half inch high, that was enough to make my foot unstable and it slipped enough to let the bike lean at an angle there was no coming back from. Luckily it was slow and rested on the offside pannier doing no damage to the bike and just a scratch on the pannier.
Figures.
Total miles……………..2702.4
Used……………………...45 gall of fuel.
Fill ups…………………..18
Cost……………………...£282.08
Avg. cost per litre…£137.8
Avg. mpg……………… 60.05
The photos..............
