So, the boys just had to get away for their annual R&R week, and it just happened that all we coud manage was a week in mid October, normally horrible weather, wet, windy and cold, but it looks as though the weather God was smiling on us, as we had a week of almost uninterrupted blue skies and hot sun for our week in the Alps.
So begins our Autumnal Alpine Tour.
We set off after work on the Friday night for Folkestone, me making the journey from Bedford, and Aran from Manchester. Stopped overnight in Folkestone, to catch the early morning Eurotunnel train to Calais the next day. Big mistake not to book our tickets in advance, as we got totally ripped off by paying on the gate. Ouch. Lesson learned.
081011_9222 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
081011_9224 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
The boring bits of French motorway were wet, and really cold, but plenty of raunchy audiobooks kept me going on the long ride from Calais to Dijon, where we stopped overnight in a nasty little Formula1 hotel.
081011_9229 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
081011_9231 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
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081011_9241 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
Up early the next day, and more rain, as we just ploughed on down, hitting our destination, Grenoble, by mid-day. And to our delight, out popped the sunshine, just as the famous Alps came into view, leading us onto the Route Napoleon, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Route_napoleon.
091011_9213 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
091011_9214 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
Neither of us had ever ridden this famous road, but had read plenty of tales about its glorious twists and turns. And it was fun, all 200 odd miles of it. It snakes its was through the southern French Alps, taking in the twistiest, tastiest bits of tarmac and best views for a long way around.
091011_9270 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
091011_9265 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
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091011_9285 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
Our first nights destination was to be Gap, at the bottom part of the Route Napoleon. The day ended warm and sunny, with more of the same planned for tomorrow.
The next morning we woke to the same fantastic weather of dry warm sun, with crystal clear blue skies. Mornings were a little chilly, but by 10am you were taking layers off and shedding the winter gloves for lighter summer gear. By 2pm it had reached 29.5 degrees Celsius.
Gap to Castellane was a magnificent day. The roads were orgasmic, the hairpins just kept coming and coming.
091011_9289 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
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Took a wrong turning and ended up the Gorge du Verdon. What a fantastic wrong tern to take. This road is tight and technical, and on one side is sheer rock walls stretching for hundreds of meters up, and on the other is the gorge, stretching seemingly hundreds of metres down. Get it wrong on this road and you meet the sweet Lord Jesus himself.
101011_9364 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
101011_9374 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
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101011_9386 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
The next day was also fantastic. We headed south again, almost reaching Cannes before heading inland and aiming our boxers at Italy, via some very tiny, obscure roads. They were wonderful. We got caught in a traffic jam with hundreds and hundreds of sheep and goats. It’s a memory I will have for a very long time, of the noise of their bells as they jumped and trotted all around us for a good 10 minutes as they were herded down the road. But what a traffic jam.
111011_9159 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
111011_9163 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
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The “goat road” led onto the Gorge du Dalius. Magnificent scenery.
111011_9599 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
From there it was up yet another col, and yet more hairpins, right up to the top of the Isola 2000 ski resort, dead in the autumn. We arrived at the top after yet more and more magnificent hairpins, to arrive at the Italian/French border. Just me, Aran, and a lone demented cyclist who had clearly ridden all the way to the top. He must have been bloody mad. It’s a heck of a lot easier with a bike with an engine on it!!
111011_9607 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
111011_9609 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
111011_9615 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
The other side of the Col, into Italy, my eyes feasted on pure biking pornography. The road below me snaked and twisted like a magnificent hard core blue movie that every biker would dream of. Just pure filth, and I was loving it….
111011_9628 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
111011_9629 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
Italy was fairly quiet in the rural bit, with no one apparently at home. Even quieter than France. But it was lovely, hot, dry, and with some sweet roads.
111011_9439 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
111011_9631 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
We then headed back over the border into France again, and took in a final Col before the end of the day. This time we took the D902 up to the Col de Vars, which was wonderful, as it was still very warm, and dry, with a totally non-Alpine feel to it, being no pine forests anywhere, and just dead, sun-beaten grass everywhere.
111011_9637 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
111011_9646 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
111011_9647 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
The night was spent in Briancon, a nice little ski town, with decent facilities.
The next day was more of the same. Fantastic warm sun and dry tarmac, getting dizzy on all the hairpins. This time though we had snow capped peaks. Just so stunning in the glorious warm autumn sunshine with brilliant blue skies and snow all around on the peaks. Just wonderful.
121011_9652 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
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We took in the Val d’Isere, the highest paved road in the Alps, at 2764 metres above sea level. Cold, lots of snow, very windy, and not somewhere to break down. Again, no-one was around, so a breakdown there would be serious. It would drop to minus 5 probably or less that night.
Still, we were off in the direction of Annecy, just south of Lake Geneva, for our final destination before heading home.
121011_9681 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
121011_9682 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
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One last night in the nice region, before hitting the motorways tomorrow and the hideousness of southern England.
We managed to find some nice twisty stuff just to keep us going through the winter, and keeps smiles on our faces.
131011_9721 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
131011_9727 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
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The motorways are boring, but a necessary evil in order to get to the lovely roads of the Alps.
141011_9153 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
141011_9155 by Julian Lane, on Flickr
Overall, my first trip to the Alps can only be described as an outstanding success. Undfortunately for me, it has led to a terrible addiction, and a compulsive urge to get back there ASAP. Bring on the Spring, and we will be heading back there…….
Nice report and pics; It made me want to follow your tracks. Thanks.
That's great!
