france and the route des grandes alpes - camping or b&b, and the journey back

Hello

My girlfriend and I are planning a 10 to 12 day trip to France in late June, the primary aim of which is to ride the RGDA from north to south.

From Brighton to Folkestone we were thinking to then ride autoroute from Calais to Geneve

I have searched around this forum and picked up a lot of valuable advice.

I have 2 questions and would be very grateful for any enlightenment offered;


1. Her on the back wants to camp some of the time, however I am concerned whether its really worthwhile or sensible to carry all the extra weight especially around the mountain passes. Any opinions on this? (we plan to take 4 or 5 days to return to UK once we have finished in Menton)

2. Journey back - we are considering either N roads all the way back, or riding through to santander or bilbao then taking the ferry, or taking the train back from avignon.

Any suggestions on this too?



Many thanks in advance

Mark

Hello Mark,

If you're taking camping kit for two, your bike will be fully loaded. Quite how that will effect your riding in the mountains is up to you. buthe the RGA does have some seriously twisty bits and I find these most awkward with a heavy load.

Personally, I'd take the B&B route, if only because of the time you'll save putting up and taking down your tent.

You'll need to allow a couple of days for the RGA. I expect it could be done in a long day, but you wouldn't get to enjoy the scenery much. We stayed in the Hotel de France in Sospel last year - a lot cheaper than hotels on the coast. Secure parking, popular with bikers.

If you really enjoy mountain roads, come home via Bilbao - you can criss-cross the Pyrenees, or take the N260 in Spain which sort of tracks the Pyrenees to the South. But as you'll just have had two days of amazing mountain roads, maybe the change to some more open sweepy roads will be attractive?

If it was me, I'd take in the Gorge de Verdon, cross to the West of the Rhone, maybe ride overe the Millau bridge if you haven't done it already, then ride North through the Massif Centrsal on N and D roads.

Robin said:

Hello Mark,
Personally, I'd take the B&B route, if only because of the time you'll save putting up and taking down your tent.

If it was me, I'd take in the Gorge de Verdon, cross to the West of the Rhone, maybe ride overe the Millau bridge if you haven't done it already, then ride North through the Massif Centrsal on N and D roads.

Click to expand...

Agree Robin

Had to make a similar decision a couple of years ago so we did a dummy run in Scotland for 4 days. Lasted 2 nights in the tent. Rain could have had a lot do do with it, but biggest problem was rose tinted glasses the older you get the better time you had whils't camping.

I camped with several friends (sic) for a few years and rode around France and Spain. Yes camping has a romantic appeal but when you compare the costs of a campsite with some decent facilities, against a cheap hotel it just does not add up. A decent private campsite is well run with food on site and a bar and quiet on site at night. These campsites may cost £15-20 p/night.

Add on the cost of buying and maintaining your tent and other equipment and the PIA of putting up and down tent, Lugging all that gear around on the bike and the cost of a cheap hotel at £30 per room in the town and near food seems hard to beat.

Then there's putting up with some Dutch git geezer who thinks its alright to start his Barbecue at 10pm and be on the piss till 3am at a cheaper municipal site and I know where I will choose. (PS- an open BMW Remus exhaust and a gixer 1000 with the same, at 0600 started up within 3 foot of his caravan and we felt satisified honour was restored. What a git.

Thank you everyone for your sage advice.

Very much appreciated