Stella Alpina or Bust !

Grazoid · Scooby Slapper Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Karma :

Okay, bike packed and ready and just having a last cuppa before the off.

GPS says 996 miles to go Very Happy

Will have five days of easy riding mainly on French D's and N's building to four days of pass bashing , including an assault on the Colle Somellier. And possibly the Colle Madeline for Stage 9 of the Tour.

Mainly gravel roads, and the first time I have done this solo. Usually I carry tools and heavy stuff and the other half carries clothes and sleeping bags.

It's not your normal trip, as I was pondering last night when trying to make sure I had everything packed. It's already forecast for mid twenties to low thirties for the journey over , but I am also going to be wild camping , as in really wild not dossing down in some farmers field ... well will be pasture I suppose... for four nights at over two thousand meters... gets a bit chilly so I have to pack some extras.

Main extra is a down jacket, which packs to the size of a large tin of soup,but also emergency food. Last time we did this we got trapped for an extra night by a thunderstorm and it was way past midnight before it cleared... now thunderstorms in them selves are not show stoppers, it's when you are actually IN one, as in IN the clouds it gets a bit hair raising... literally! So enough emergency food (as in dehydrated packs) for at least two meals a day while I am at altitude plus what I carry up.

So that means stove and cooking gear... one pannier .... tools and sleeping bag ...t'other pannier.... tent (Banshee 200 of course Wink

) Thermarest mat, spare gloves and waterproofs... oh and Nuptse down jacket... top box .... and clothes and camp ancillaries in roll bag.

Top up oil, and locks go in tank panniers along with goggles and side stand pucks... camera kit, documents, first-aid kit and all charging gubbins goes in the tank bag... GPS on lockable mount... tea finished... see you in 12 days!

Grazoid · Scooby Slapper Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Karma :

Day one continued....

Shut down the 'puter and ambled out to the bike. Day wasn't too bad so headed off to Kegworth to pick up the A6006 then the A606, A1 A14 and M11... day was going super smashing marvelous but wind was picking up... head wind.

Round the M25 with minimal delay in the roadworks and I made up time lost in them by filtering through the traffic at a reasonable rate onto the M20, A20 then into Dover , saw few bikes heading back my way until Dover then a huge phalanx of Beemers on their way back from Garmisch hove into view all wearing waterproofs... booked in and was waved on amazingly rapidly and being the only bike I had the pleasure of first vehicle on.

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4119/4823522073_e55fabdcda.jpg

Unfortunately going Sea France means you get great bike facilities, they have their own custom made "bike racks" you ride your front wheel against a "u" shaped support and sit on while it gets lashed at the rear. No side stands, no "dirty" tiedowns that some anal retentive types reckon dirty your bike... riding the feckers dirties them.. , but loads of schoolkids on trips.

Managed the whole trip without depositing any irritating schoolkids over the side and as it was looking gloomy and cloudy ... NOT... put the waterproofs away before heading down to the car deck to sweat it out in my lid while waiting for the lorries to get moved so I could pull out.
https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4081/4824136200_5cf7cae7a6.jpg

I love it the first day out, it is fantastic to get back to Europe, and get away from the crowded UK roads and crap drivers that inhabit them, that and as I roll off a ferry a new adventure is starting.

Okay so no particular place to go apart from meeting Jim and his mate Col from Advrider in Bardonecchia on Saturday.... camp or hotel... lets see where we get.

Filled up my water bottles in Calais and then headed into a laid back rush-hour towards St Omer. Bimbling along past the bars filling with their clientèle popping in for an apero on the way home from work I was tempted. Tempted by a first taste of either 1664 (which is nothing like the sweet crap we get here) or a pastis.

The flashing started just West of St Omer all cars coming the other way flashed me... must be a speed trap so keep to the limit... nope, random breath test! I pulled over ... chirpy blonde female Flic in a shiny new uniform asks me for my papers.

"Parlez vous Anglais? " I reply while taking my lid off then going into the tank bag for my docs...shit...licence... just got the paper supplement...arse... I handed over the supplement with a flourish and did my best to give her a winning smile and a dashing twinkle in the eye... she passed me the breathalyser and explained in halting English.."You puff in 'ere ...slowly ...okay?!? " Yup I know how these babies work... feck when was my last drink... lucky I didn't give into temptation then ! She frowns and she passes back the green bit... "Here we go" flashes into my mind.

"Okay ..Sir you can go" I smile and nonchalantly stuff the docs as far into the tank bag as they will go.... "Feck" I think, "Hotel tonight so I can go through my gear and work out what else I have left behind".

I keep going until I have three bars left on the fuel gauge. Quick check of the twatnav puts me near Bethune... cool plenty of budget hotels on the outskirts, remember seeing a Premier Classe there last time we passed this way.

Fill up at a Total on the same trading estate and book a room and head to the Campanile restaurant next door, finally have my Pastis... but no Kroni...well better have a double then.

After eating a humongous omelet and fries and a huge selection of tasty starters from a buffet, I digested it all by savouring a surprisingly fine cognac. Then it's back to my room and I get all the gear off the bike and do a quick inventory.

Looks like the gift of a new chain wallet has caused the issues. Jules gave it to me to use traveling as it will take a passport as well as other good stuff.... however a last minute decision to use it means I have left my photo card licence and my health card in my old one. luckily Jules texts me the number for the card... might be handy later.

I pull the shutters down,set the alarm on my phone for 7 and hit the hay...

Grazoid · Scooby Slapper Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Karma :

Day two dawns and I sleep on... and on...

I get up to go for a pee convinced by the gloom it is still the middle of the night ... and there is a knock at the door... I mumble something appropriate and the cleaners, for it is they, amble off to the next door.

Flustered I check my phone and watch .. Feck it's gone nine o'clock! I was now feeling a prize twat as I hadn't checked the DAY the alarm was set for... nearly lost Tuesday as it's set for tomorrow!

Winding up the shutters and the daylight slaps me across the face like I had just insulted it... followed up by a roundhouse kick of heat to the head when I open the window. Air con is one reason I often use PC over F1 ... that and being able to have a shit, shower and shave all at the same time in the in room "Bathroom" pods.

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4135/4824109565_e685713de1.jpg

Anyhoo, as it's nearly 10:30 by the time I hit the road I decide to head for the Grand Place in Arras for a late breakfast/early lunch and decide where to head for today.

Unfortunately the two Place's were in the process of being re-cobbled and with parking a long way away and the day getting decidedly warm I chose to go to a bar in Péronne near the “Historial de la Grande Guerre” museum .

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4142/4824724642_98f5b8a8df.jpg

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4141/4824110417_ffbe5f33b3.jpg
____________________
Gaffer Tape is like The Force.

It has a dark side and a light side and holds the Universe together!

Grazoid · Scooby Slapper Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Karma :

Okay - work related issue sorted on with the tale...

The museum is well worth a look if you are in the area doing the "Battlefields" tours.

As I now have 3 and a bit days before I am due in Italy I ponder the map and decide to meander down rather than blast down on the peages. In the past we have done the Route Blanc and headed over/under the Alps into Italy, Col D'Iseran Mont Cenis or Frejus Tunnel.

I may head down that way again... and head over the Cormet D'Roseland before picking up the route to Susa... or I may not.. time will tell.

Today though I will be getting the boring bit out the way, well for a motorcycle but not for anyone with an interest in the history of the area, and head along the N44 and the «Chemin des Dames» scene of many a major battle in the 19th and 20th Centuries as Germany kept trying to invade France.

Laon hove into view, a fantastic sight as the cathedral rises up on the start of the rolling chalk ridges as you leave behind the flatlands of the Basin of the Seine.

Checkout the links above for Laon and the cathedral and take a trip up there if you are in the area, cars are banned but the local bikers often ride up to the restaurant opposite the cathedral entrance.

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4121/4824115403_218148d748.jpg

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4115/4824727974_151ed8b5fb.jpg

I hit the roundabout a lot slower then we did when Jules chamfered the centre stand on her F650 in 2007, thanks to what looks like a massive tailback to get onto the peage... N44 to Reims then.

Straight straight road punctuated by the rise of occasional chalk ridge and more signs of the warfare that has blighted this land scape for centuries. I see the sign for an almost one-square-kilometre cave network called "The Dragon's Lair" (« La Caverne du Dragon »). The subterranean caverns originally were a tunnel system created from excavations of limestone for building purposes in the 17th century. The caves are some 20-40 metres below the surface. During WWI, the caves were used by both French and German forces as field hospitals and command posts, sometimes simultaneously. The artillery bombardment of the area actually cracked some of the overlaying cliffs

Further down the road north of Berry-Au-Bac is a former crossroads, now a roundabout, with memorials and cemeteries for the Franco-Prussian War and WWI French Tank crews diagonally opposite each other.

As each chalk ridge is crossed you get a glimpse of the cathedral at Reims on the horizon then you plunge down to another valley then back up to another plateau. The mind numbing drone of the engine only punctuated by the occasional village meaning you change down a gear or two to comply with the speed limit... no need to draw the attention of les Flics or the Gendarmes, given the licence situation.. ahem... Embarassed

Coming out of one village I hit a line of traffic queued up the hill behind a tractor. The French traffic pulls to the right to let me pass without crossing the centre line... until I get to the front. Silver Merc, and GB plates! The silver haired old twat and his blue rinsed Doris keeps blocking my overtakes until he gets a chance. I follow and give him a single digit salute as I pass him making "rapid progress". He responds by tailgating me... until I see the Gendarmes lurking in the shade of some trees ahead, and know it will be the inevitable speed trap on such a straight road, in the near distance... I pull to the right and slam on as he goes sailing past turning to snarl some abuse at me as he passes and hits the go juice and turns to look forward... too late sucker!

A Gendarme steps out and flags him down and I sail serenely past engine burbling along at 90kph.

Near Reims the fuel gauge starts dropping;fuel time approaching for me and the bike.

I decide to head into Reims for a petrol station I know on the outskirts that also sells Team Joe Bar stuff in a shop next door ... well I am on my Holidays... Very Happy

____________________
Gaffer Tape is like The Force.

It has a dark side and a light side and holds the Universe together!

Grazoid · Scooby Slapper Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Karma :

Reims... what a mistake!

First of all the petrol station was closed for refuelling so like a fool, I hit a button on the twatnav to find the next nearest and rode straight into HELL!

They are re-laying all the tram tracks in the north of the city and somehow I got myself trapped into a one way route alongside the tram tracks heading into the city centre... for an hour!

At one point I was sat next to a clock and temperature display sign, in full sun on a running bike , behind a bus, with no way of overtaking as there was a safety rail on the ped side and no road on the right... just a feckin' great hole and the sign said... 37C! More like 47C sat on the bike in my lid , gloves, jacket and bike trousers. At least the Halversons are made from Cool Black so the legs didn't get as hot as they might.

Me and the bike started to rapidly overheat so as soon as I could I got out of the traffic and headed for the Cathedral so we could chill out... and work out how to get some go juice.

Cathedral is being "cleaned" , so is covered in scaffolding on the outside... not the piccie opportunity I had hoped.

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4122/4824116329_09eff4120d.jpg

I found a place to pull over in the shade of the cathedral and rapidly stripped off all I could to get air to my body. For a good 45 mins every time I turned on the ignition the bike showed 7 bars on the temp scale... normal running is 5!

Oil level was still looking okay , so I drank as much water as I could and worried about no urge to pee.

I got going again as it was now close to tea time and I still needed to get some miles done and get fuel... twatnav led me to a garage that was now a hand car wash... the out of town towards the capital of the Champagne industry ... Épernay.

Reims nearly had one last laugh though, just on the outskirts heading south I hit a junction that the carriageway was so badly deformed that the bike slid sideways twice as the road stepped down while negotiating a turn... now down to one bar.

At a set of lights I pull in behind some local yokels on Bandits and CBR's... one of them makes the universal "No Juice" sign to his mates, rapid and repeated pointing downwards to his filler cap. To my delight the guy next to him nods and when the lights change I follow them.

They pull into a huge LeClerc forecourt just as my Reserve light comes on and we all grab a pump each. The day is getting better again.

Consulting the twatnav and then the map I realise I have to head back into Reims for a turn then back out again to start the descent to Épernay.

You drop down the ridge through vineyards and into a town dominated by warehouses and Caves plastered in the logos of the famous champagne brands... I kept going.

Onto the peage to make up time lost in Reims and after pulling into an Aire and wolfing down a remarkably cheap and tasty Caesar salad I head towards Troyes... I had wanted to be south of Dijon by tonight , but instead head off to the Forest D'Orient.

A great swathe of woodland and lakes that are actually flood control for the Seine. Old woodland,half timbered medieval villages and fields full of grain... that usually get harvested in late July... but due to the recent heatwave were ready two weeks early! Combined with the foresters taking advantage of the light evenings it would be impossible to gypo camp with so many people working through the night so I had to head for a proper site.

I saw one signposted off the main road so pulled in under a covered marketplace next to a church then down a lane to an Aire Naturelle... no at the back, not a nuddy camp but a simple one... no bar...feck. It was cheap - 4.50 Euros including tourist tax.

Got set up and noticed a lot of orange bunting all over the camper vans,caravans and trailer tents. Evidently popular with the Dutch.

I went to get water and saw the sight of a small wide-screen TV being set up in the back of a Discovery and someone fiddling with a satellite dish; it was the World Cup semi-finals and as it was Holland vs. Uruguay it looked like a party was due to happen.

I was invited over to join in if I wanted , so after getting a brew on and rehydrating then quickly scoffing down some dehydrated peppered beef, I can recommend TravelLunch products, I popped over with my stool to join the festivities.

We made jokes about me with my mug of tea and the Dutch with their lagers watching football... and eventually I went Dutch Wink

Most of the site gathered round by the end and after a half hour or so of much cheering and singing and drinking Jenever shots to celebrate the Dutch getting through to the Final, everyone retired to bed... them to carry on in their individual homes from home, me to use my Pacsafe to reattach the roll bag to the bike so I could get into the Banshee to call Jules and try not to keep banging my head turning over... this tent maybe a bad idea after all. Packs down very small , but for a 17stone six footer not a lot of room.
____________________
Gaffer Tape is like The Force.

It has a dark side and a light side and holds the Universe together!

Grazoid · Scooby Slapper Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Karma :

I spent a crap night in the tent.

The camp-site was nearer the road than I thought and grain lorries thundered up and down it all night. It sounded like I was in the middle of the road and about to be run over every time I drifted off...

I eventually dropped off to sleep then was woken just after dawn by the racket of what turned out to be a family of magpies in a nest in the tree above me... then discovering that the cold patch on my head was due to me pushing the inner against the outer and the heavy condensation pooling there drove me from my bag.

I got up and filled all my water containers and bottles kept back from the previous day.I had an effective load of 6.5 litres and was going through it at a rapid pace every day. And it was due to get hotter.

The outer of the tent was wet inside with condensation so I waited while I got a brew on for it to dry and packed the rest of my gear.

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4112/4841809688_97a900b180.jpg

Today's plan was simple. Start off by having a bimble along the Forest D'Orient roads and check out some of the villages like Piney and it's fantastic medieval covered market Halle, then head to Bar-Sur-Seine and head down the D671/N71 towards Dijon and points South.

https://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/9646803.jpg

The only low point is Chatillon sur Seine and soon left behind ... the road wiggles along following the Siene back to it's source and even when it becomes the N71 it still has sufficient character to make it a pleasant ride. Hairpins descending from and ascending to the plateaus, straights, villages with cafes and bars, places to stop and admire the view... just a pleasant road with very little traffic on it.

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4086/4841196877_047cd1457f.jpg

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4152/4841197693_6bfd192d5e.jpg

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4092/4841199017_0973a47043.jpg[/img]
____________________
Gaffer Tape is like The Force.

It has a dark side and a light side and holds the Universe together!

Grazoid · Scooby Slapper Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Karma :

After stopping at Mussy-sur-Seine for a coffee and to take a couple of pics I stopped at a supermarket north of Chatillon to pick up supplies and take a pic from the same location I took one in 2007... OCD kicking in.

Apart from a quick stop at Nod-sur-Seine for a pic of the memorial...

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4104/4841815396_8834f233cf.jpg

The ride flowed southwards past the Source of the Seine and towards Dijon. I stopped briefly to check the map and have a chat with two English riders... the first of the In or Out conversations of the trip.

They were on an In and were heading to Annecy and raving about the road and the views and the hairpins... I was aiming to try and find a fantastic sculpture we had seen which we have never been able to find images of near Val Suzon. This led to the conversation drifting into the thread of parallel universes and was even more spooky as apparently just before I pulled up they had been having a similar discussion about a mysterious pub in London that one of them found had a great night and has never been able to find again.

We all set off down the N71 and split off to follow the track log from 2007.... and turned onto a road I didn't remember... stopped and looked back... nope still no recollection but the twatnav said it was as per 2007.

Into Val Suzon, see a sign for the auberge close to the sculpture, hoorah... then nope don't know this road...where is the Château, and the auberge... feck nearly in Dijon and don't remember ANY of this... there where villages with mossy gates and walls and people with hay carts.... nope all flat country and nothing to be seen for miles...really spooky... never mind we may have to come back and find it all again next year Very Happy

Dijon now has the routes through the town handily signposted so it was done and dusted in minutes and I thought I would make up some time by using the peage for a bit.

Bad idea after about 30 mins I started feeling a bit spacey so pulled into an Aire to get some shade and tuck into the food I had picked up in Chatillon. As soon as it hit my stomach the cramps started in my gut. I sat in some deep shade and drank as much water as I could... heat stress was kicking in. Last sign I had seen was in Chatillon around 11ish and that was saying in full sun and displaying 38c, in the late afternoon it may now have been pushing 40... time to get onto the D's again so I could pull over more frequently for a drink.

Pulled off the peage at Lons and decided to head through the Jura towards the L'autoroute Blanche and Chambery then towards Modane and into the Alps.

Problem was I was not watching the time and it was starting to get into early evening. I saw a sign showing a tourist route to Nantua, which would put me in the right direction... didn't see the two gendarmes and the speed trap...bugger.
____________________
Gaffer Tape is like The Force.

It has a dark side and a light side and holds the Universe together!

Grazoid · Scooby Slapper Joined: 09 Jun 2004 Karma :

A Gendarme steps out and flags me down... hmmm sounds familiar... and I pull over into the drive of the local Ecole..feck... a speedtrap by a school. Not good.

Gendarme ambles over see the UK plate a asks me do I speak French... "un petit" I reply and ask him to wait while I take off my lid and remove my earplugs... he raises an appraising eyebrow at the sight of my custom made plugs...

Now bearing in mind I know that this time I do not have my picture licence card with me , a full on blag has to take place...

I grin at him and break out into "Idiotic but Polite Englishman Abroard" mode, complete with "terribly sorry" and "most unfortunate"... nowt wrong with a cliché in adversity...

He asks where I am headed for ... "Nantua" I reply "to see the beautiful lake and thought that this would make a wonderful road to follow" he nods appreciatively at this and I get the distinct impression he is a "un motard" , a fellow biker... this could be a top blag!

He tells me that the speed I was clocked at would get me three strikes(points) on my licence in France and to watch my speed ...pas de vitesse ... I enthusiastically agree that I should do so and remember that it is KPH and not MPH in future... Laughing

As I pull away he flashes a discreet left handed pointed down V sign to me as he watches me bimble away... I was right... its like a masonic hand shake, the upside down peace sign is the French way that bikers "nod". Usually from clutch side as they pass. The lower the fingers are to the ground, the cooler the salute.

It's also not unusual for a car coming towards you or as you pass them for the driver to flash the "V" if he is a biker as well.

Simple sign just meaning Two Wheels.

I carry on down the road and soon realise it follows the ridge above the river valley for the Ain.

I stop at what looks like a cross between a bus stop and a tourist information display. As I get off the bike I realsie I am on quite a steep slope as the bike rolls forward off the side stand! Luckily the Armco barrier stops it and I get it on the stand again, managing to stomp on my Oakleys as I do it... bugger... views were fantastic though...

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4089/4841816462_b76cd19fdb.jpg

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4084/4841818396_c71cd1e859.jpg

I head down to wards Lac Nantua and I know that once I am down there I have the choice of L'autoroute Blanche or the D1084 which winds alongside and underneath the A40.

I hit some road works and am back in the heat again. Feck this it's 18:00 time to stop and get a camp-site sorted... I look over my shoulder and see the lake shore one we used on the way back n 2007 is fairly empty. It also has the advantage of a supermarche and a petrol station almost opposite it... I turn into a car park and turn back to get to one of the most relaxing and chilled sites I know with wonderful views of the lake and the most amazing sunsets where the limestone cliffs of the Jura turn red, orange and purple as the sun sets...

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4150/4841207367_b43c76d1ac.jpg

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4131/4841206085_a3667099ce.jpg

https://farm5.static.flickr.com/4147/4841823496_aea876fc51.jpg
____________________
Gaffer Tape is like The Force.

It has a dark side and a light side and holds the Universe together!