First Trip Abroad - Route des Grande Alpes

[james1988]

Back in August my fiancee and I rode the Route Des Grande Alpes; What a trip! We have done some light touring in the past (mainly Cornwall and locally) but nothing ever like this; a trip abroad, this would be a holiday of firsts.

We set off in mid August (the 6th I believe) on a planned ten day holiday riding through the alps, down to Menton, across to Verdun Gorge and then home - it didn't quite go like that.
We packed up all our earthly belongings and loaded them into the panniers and onto the bike. I ride a Honda Varadero; it now weighed a fucking tonne! We set off from South Wales at roughly 0700 in order to get to the chunnel in good time for our train (14:00 ish local time). Quell surprise, it rained.

The (final) Route and Our Earthly Belongings
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Our first stop would be Membury services as at this point I was ravishing having not had any breakfast as I wanted to get on the road as soon as possible. We got to Membury services where we found that the restaurants (I.E KFC, Subway etc)were shut as it was too early. Bollocks.
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Back on the bike, we headed off down the motorway where I decided to chance it again in Reading Services. Result! I had a sausage and bacon roll and a cup of coffee while the other half had a pastie. A breakfast of champions. Suitably filled, we plodded off down the motorway (stopping to fill up en-route) to the channel tunnel.

As we were early, we were given the option of boarding the early train without incurring a charge so that is what we did; I still can't get over how quickly we boarded and were out the other side, it really is a superb service.

Obligatory bike on shuttle shot...
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Considering it was drizzling and windy in England, when we got to the other side it was boiling. Now it was a case of hammering it down to Reims where we would spend our first night in a gorgeous bed and breakfast – did I mention it was hot?!

We stayed in a B&B named Lecrin De Verdure. Upon arrival we were met by the owners Jean-Patrick and Monique who both spoke English extermely well (I can speak a little French but not a huge amount). They were extremely friendly and couldn't do enough to help us.

The B&B was ours for the night,as, just by chance, it was the only night in the week that had not been booked by others; superb! There were beers left in the fridge so I helped myself to those and settled down in front of the tv for the night.

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The beer was superb as was the church opposite us that was lit up at night. The place was unbelievably serene.
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Remember I said it was hot? Well, we got chatting to Jean-Patrick and Monique of the morning that we left and they explained to us that it had been 37c the day before and it was going to get hotter throughout the week.

Day 2
We were packed, fed and out of the B&B by 0930, it was fairly warm at this point but nothing would prepare me for the heat as we headed down into the Rhone Valley. We rode out into the country side before picking up the Peage.
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We stopped for a water and were in rather high spirits. The plan was to do three two hour sprints down to Thonnon Les Bain but this never materialised due to the heat - I got talking to somebody riding a BMW GS who showed me his on bike thermometer, it was 42c! I have to say that the rest areas were brilliant, you can really see where the money from the Peage is spent.

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We rode for a couple of hours (about 4) before I had to give up, I was coming down with heat exhaustion. I was riding with my jacket undone and visor open but I was sweating my bollocks off and felt dizzy. We got to a rest area where I made an executive decision that we would stop short and find a campsite. We got to the campsite where I was in a pretty bad way, there was sod all I could do apart from strip off and lie on the ground to cool down while my other half put the tent up. I was fucked.

Later on in the evening, I got myself together and rode to the nearest town – which was roughly 2 or 3 miles away – where I picked up burger and chips for the two of us. I got back to the tent just in time for the heavens to open and a thunderstorm to roll in.
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Day 3
Day 3 saw us get hit Thonnon Les Bain where we relaxed for the day as I was still exhausted from the day before. It was wonderful. The atmosphere was brilliant, the sun was boiling and we had a day off riding (well albeit after the hour and half or so it took us to get there).
There were patisieries selling stunning looking macaroons and lots of bars. Some photo's...
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The largest glass of Hoegaarden I have ever seen (and the most expensive too!)
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Day 4 and we're into the Alps. I'll post more of the trip over the next few days.

James
____________________
Honda XL1000VA '07

[rubyhorse2]

Absolutely loving this mate, got our trip planned for next year and seeing stuff like this helps a lot.

[james1988]

Carrying on from the above. Thonon Les Bain is situated on Lac Leman and the name of the campsite we stayed on was Le Lac Noir. It was a family run campsite who were very friendly and again spoke excellent english. It was very cheap - about 12 euros I think – but the facilities were clean and comfortable. The French campers on the campsite were also very friendly and would actively engage in conversation.

At night the campsite was quiet and relaxed. I sat outside drinking a few cans that I had bought in the local spar before heading off to bed at about half nine. The next day was a polar opposite to day 3. We woke up to pissing down rain. Breakfast was swiftly swallowed up before loading a soaking wet tent (oh the joys!) along with all our other kit back onto the bike

The harbour in Thonon Les Bains.
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Day 4
After packing up our camp we headed into the Alpes. Initially I thought the Sat Nav was having a daft moment again(I forgot to mention above that it decided that it no longer wanted to talk to my headset, this happened as soon as we got to France) as it was taking us back up the motorway / peage that we had ridden down the day before. I was having a bit of a bitch fit with the sat nav at this point, we pulled into a services to get petrol where I turned it off and on again, same route was shown. I stuck with it and lo and behold we were on route.

First up was the D119 – Col de Nancy. It was a cold drizzly day but as soon as we got onto the mountain that was all forgotten. The scenery was stunning, the roads changed immediately into snaking, steep climbing routes. A lot of the photo's from here on in were taken by my other half while on the back of the bike as I was enjoying myself to much to slow down and stop.



A bit of a wonky photo but here is the climb nevertheless
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Houses and allotments
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Quick stop half way up. I wanted a look at the landscape, a drink and vape.
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Next up was D909, this was a really scenic route. There were quaint little ski towns everywhere, the scenery was gorgeous (we're considering going back in winter).

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Continuing along the route, we started to climb out of the valley and into the mist. Visibility was extremely low and given the fact that there weren't any crash barriers, it made for an arse twitching ride.

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We stayed in a B&B again this night (the name was Relais du Petit St Bernard). We stayed in a town named Petit Saint Bernard. I booked the B&B through booking.com whilst using McDonalds Wifi. The room cost 80 odd euros for bed and breakfast for the two of us. I absolutely loved the town, we're definitely going to return in the future.

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Inside the B&B (note the Hoegaarden)
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Our room. I'd booked a twin instead of a double it appears! It was very cosy though.
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The view from our balcony.
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I was warm enough to stick with just a t-shirt but there was a definite nip in the air.
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Day 5 was riding, riding, more riding and camping. I'll post up day 5 in the next day or two.

James
____________________
Honda XL1000VA '07

[james1988]

[rubyhorse2]

plan so far is to ride to dusseldorf and get the train to milan, tour italy and back via switzerland, france and belgium.

Cant wait to be honest but wont be till may or june next year.

[james1988]

[james1988]

Day 5 saw us reach our first summit (sounds like we were climbing Everest!). It felt like there was a sense of occasion, we'd been riding for four days and now it really was starting to get interesting. It was noticeably colder at the top than at the bottom.

At the bottom of the mountains the rivers were a blue turquoise colour contrasted against a grey stone. For those that have played Skyrim, the rivers were comparable to that. We spent most of our time riding rather than stopping and taking photo's so I'll let those do the talking.

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First summit Col-de-Iseran
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More riding photo's

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Some scenery
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At the end of the day we stopped in a municipal campsite in the arse end of nowhere where nobody could speak English. The campsite owner had two teeth in his head (literally) so trying to converse in my broken french and his lisp was extremely difficult but we got there in the end.

We walked into the village (about a 3/4 mile walk) to find it was totally shut. Shutters were down and there weren't any locals about bearing in mind that this was around 4 pm. We were starving and there was nowhere open to eat.

We trekked back to the campsite to find that the bar also sold food. Burger, chips and Kronenburg was the order of the evening so we got stuck in. To jump back a bit, pitching the tent was an absolute bastard as the ground was rock solid. As this was the case, I pushed the pegs as far as I could and put rocks over the top to keep them in; miraculously it worked.

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A good night sleep was had after quite a number of cans of Kronenburg before hitting the road on day 6 (I think we may have even made Menton that day – although we didn't take as many photos).

James
____________________
Honda XL1000VA '07

[image riot]

For your first Euro trip that is impressive. Loved reading about it and looking at your pictures. It's given me a few ideas for my next tour!
____________________
GSXR750 > GSXR1100 > ZX9R > CBR900RRP >CBR929RR>K1200S

[james1988]

Day 6
Today was the last day we spent in the alps. We didn't take many photos this time but we made it to menton after quite a number of hours riding (about 6 or 7 I think). There's not much to report about today and it's mainly photos (again, I'll let them do the talking).

There was one memorable moment from the day and that was coming face to face with a campervan in mega death wipe out mode. We were riding up one of the mountain passes where we came to a blind bend (most are) on our side of the road. Anyway, I was down to about 25 mph as it was very very tight. With that, some twat doing around 40 mph came absolutely hairing around the corner towards us, on ourside of the road. It was quick thinking and rapid reactions that got us out of that mess. My head was level with his wing mirror! Quite how we dodged it I don't know but by christ, it certainly made sure I was awake.

Breakfast this morning were two raspberry tarts and a croisant each. The tarts were delicious.
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Photos (in no particular order)...
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This was my favourite route. It was absolutely mega! It was quite a technical road (weren't they all!), steep and twisting. My missus hated it, hence no photos (well only a handful). Google “Route de la Bonette” for more info.
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We stopped here for a drink as it was baking, even at the top of the pass. The bar / hotel was lovely.
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After a few more hours riding we made it to Menton. I hated the place to put it simply. I was boiling hot, stuck in traffic with knobhead French drivers who didn't give two hoots about anything or anyone; fuck ever going back there again.
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We got to the campsite and – just – managed to find a space; it was rammed. By this point we were used to paying around 12 euros for a campsite; not this place though. It was 22 Euros! WTF! We found our pitch and went to pitch the tent; the ground was solid and I mean rock hard. I couldn't get the pegs in more than about 30 mm.

I began looking around for rocks; nothing. But there was a tree next to us so I tied the guy ropes to the tree, and managed to peg the front down. Following this I wheeled the back to the back of the tent and tied the guy ropes to that.

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That night we had spaghetti bolognase along with a few Kronenburgs and headed off back to the tent quite early. It was a really uncomfortable nights sleep; the temperature was around 30c at night. The tent was boiling. It was a case of going to the taps and filling up bottles of water to put on our necks to cool down, it worked. Sort of.

We made a hasty exit the next day to try and get on the road before the sun started really warming the place up; it was at this point that I decided we'd head home instead of to Verdun Gorge as I physically couldn't stick the heat any longer. Over the next two days we hammered it up the French motorways to Calais.
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We were roughly two hours from Calais wher I asked the other half if she'd rather hammer it home (another 5 hours in the saddle) or stay the night and ride the extra two hours to Calais the next day. The decision was made that we would head home that night (day 8).

It had been another hot – but humid – days riding. We stopped off in a rest area where I booked our train for 19:30ish local time. We jumped back on the bike where I noticed quite a storm was developing. Within half an hour the sky was black and it had gone really cold. With that it began raining, hard, really bloody hard. I couldn't see the car infront (well I could see its lights), there was a huge flash and a huge clap of thunder. It was to be a long ride.

For the next hour it pissed down, there were a few car accidents along the way causing traffic to slow and stop. We pulled into a services to get petrol, as we were riding out there was a French man trying to clear the road as a tree had fallen onto the slip road. I gave him a hand to shift it out of the way.

After an eventful 2 hours riding in thunder, lightning, hail and rain we made it to Calais with about 5 minutes to spare. We got on the train where we took off our kit and hung it on the bike to try and dry it. It was useless, when we kitted up I noticed that we had left quite large puddle of rain water.

I was hoping it would be dry in Folkstone but it wasn't. It pissed it down all the way back to Wales. I've never been wet wearing my kit but that storm saw me absolutely soaked through; I have never been so glad to see the Severn Bridge in my life. We got through the front door at 00:30ish having left Lyon at 0900 French time.
Thoughts...

It was an epic holiday, the passes were everything I thought they would be.
Next time I will invest in some cooler kit as mine was boiling. It's fine in the UK but it couldn't handle France.
The Rhone Valley is the hottest place on earth and is drier than Gandhi's flip flop.
Menton is a nightmare to drive in.
French food is excellent and everybody was welcoming.
I'd B&B it and ditch the camping gear as it was exhausting hauling it and my other half through the twisties.
Fanta Lemon is the nicest drink ever when boiling hot.
The peage is relatively cheap given the speed that you can cover distance – the rest areas are excellent. I'd also invest in a peage tag.

Would I go again? Yes.

So there's my first abroad trip written up. I thoroughly enjoyed the holiday and would do it all again.

Some miscellanous photos.
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James
____________________
Honda XL1000VA '07

[james1988]

[alexknight200...]

Thoroughly enjoyed reading your write up. Thanks for taking the effort to post.

Alex
____________________
Current stable: Yamaha XVS 650 1996 - Honda Super Magna VF750 1988.

[james1988]

[alan29]

Great stuff. There's nothing quite like being on a bike in mountains with the clouds under you.
How was the bike? I've just bought a Vara for touring - going to Austria next year.

[james1988]

No complaints about the bike whatsoever. I thought it handled very well through the twisties for something of its size and weight, fuel economy was good too; I was getting around 200mi from a tank on the passes and a bit more on the motorways.

Where in Austria are you going? I've only ever been there once and that was on a skiing holiday, I wouldn't mind riding there.

James
____________________
Honda XL1000VA '07

[alan29]

Booked an apartment in Zell am Zee for a week. Will spend a few days getting down there and a few more returning.
It will be our 3rd time - in our 60s, so want to live a bit before its too late.
Last year a week in the Tarn Gorge, and this year a week in the Pyrenees, riding the Cols. Two of the best holidays we have EVER had!
Mountains and bikes seem made for each other!

[Lyam]

done it on my bike i 2012 and i done it again this summer though me and my gf flew to geneva and hired a c class merc at atotal cost including traveling to the airport flights and car hire £345,

We went as far south as The galiber and then into itally then to Chamonix for a night and up the "Aguille du midi" The world's highest cable car, i highly recomend it also forget about menton and just go to gorges du verdon its Where the route should properlly end.

[james1988]

[c-m]

Nice trip.

I rode Les Routes des Grandes Alpes a few years ago on a ZX9R. I actually found it a bit too tight and twisty to be major fun, but you do pass through some nice scenery. Route Napoleon is better (imo) for larger bikes.

You still end up in the same place e.g. Cannes, Antibes, Menton.

Starting RdGA from Lake Geneva is nice though, on a sunny day.

[Lyam]

Chamonix is the place to with your girlfriend, its really nice

[image riot]

Just caught up with the rest of this. Great write up and pictures, epic stuff.
____________________
GSXR750 > GSXR1100 > ZX9R > CBR900RRP >CBR929RR>K1200S

[mentalboy]

[Ammoman]

Brilliant write up and pictures.

Thanks for sharing .
____________________
2013 ZZR1400 & Honda CG125 1986..

[original.1984]

seems Im not allowed to view the pics
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its me

[james1988]

I'm not sure if it's because you're a new member but the photos are showing for me.

James
____________________
Honda XL1000VA '07

[-Matt-]

Nice write up and pictures