Proposed route

There's been some discussion in the main thread about the proposed route. I think the best way forward is to start with the route I did this year and then make changes as required. Here's the route.



Here's some detail.

Day 1 - 231Km
Vevey, Chamonix, Aosta, Grand St Bernard Pass, Verbier, Champsec

Day 2 - 124Km
Champsec, Martigny, Grand Dixence, Nax

Day 3 - 137Km
Nax, Sierre, Leuk, Visp, Tasch, Zermatt, Saas Fee

Day 4 - 231Km
Saas Fee, Simplon Pass, Santa Maria Maggiore, Cannobio, Locarno, Lugano, Mennagio, Dongo

Day 5 - 313Km
Dongo, Chiavenna, Maloja Pass, St Moritz, Bernina Pass, Livogno, Bormio, Stelvio Pass, Sta. Maria Val Mustair, Zernez, Albula Pass, Tiefencastel, Lenz

Day 6 - 220Km
Lenz, Chur, Flims, Disentis, Oberalp Pass, Andermatt, Furka Pass, Grimsel Pass, Meiringen, Brunig Pass, Wilderswil

Day 7 - 155Km
Wilderswil, Spiez, Eschi, Jaun Pass, Bulle, Chatel-Saint-Denis, Vevey

What would I change this time?

1 - Day 1 was only really interesting in or close to the Swiss border, specifically the Grand St Bernard Pass and roads either side. There was nothing to see at Chamonix and Aosta so I'd look to curtail that part of the trip somehow.

2 - Days 2 and 3 were slow and we should have covered more ground, but half of Day 3 was spent sightseeing in Zermatt which was a pretty nice experience.

3 - Then the riding just got better and better with day 4 being surpassed by 313km of mountain roads on day 5. That's a fair bit of concentration for 1 day and I was knackered come the evening. An hours less riding would have been perfect.

4 - Day six was incredible and probably the best day of the trip. Distance, terrain and conditions were perfect. I wouldn't change a thing about this day.

5 - Day 7 was really a wind down but with hindsight we were too close to home.

6 - I'd like to venture further east to Austria and by making better progress at the beginning and end of the trip I think this can be achieved.

7 - Stay in hotels. Camping is fun, but it can't compete with a comfy bed.

8 - Travel lighter. A fully kitted GSA is quite a handful on tight hairpins. Perfectly do=able but not as much fun when pressing on as say a Megamoto might be

Any thoughts on ammendments to the route?

i would heartilly recommend the D902 next to Val D'Isere, and pass the lac du chevril, that was the best road of our entire trip, totally awesome and never ending. We went in july and the road was closed due to snow and rocks smashing through the road... but we went up it anyway and wow... just totally amazing, 10ft of snow either side of you, boulders the size of small cars had smashed through the road and the bikes started to feel like 125s from richening so much!. The dam is cool and its just WWWOOOWWW

Ill be riding over so I can show people some roads on the way... ill probably be going via munster as i really liked the glacial lake there and this time want to go for a swim!

Agree about travelling light-ish.

In saying that,my fully-kitted GSA12 was no problem negotiating the tightest of tight hair pins on the Routes Des Grandes Alpes this September.


I'm tempted to bring my KTM 950SE on this trip,but that would be travelling light !


Being close to the finish on the last night ain't a bad idea,so perhaps don't change that.

If we got to the end by mid afternoon on the last day,it would give those with some serious miles to get home a few hours to mile-munch back up an autoroute should they so desire.

As I would have a 700 mile trip back to St Malo,I would certainly try and knock off 200 of that if I had the time.

I've been playing with Google Maps and it's quite useful for route planning as you can input multiple destinations. Only problem is it doesn't like mountain passes and refuses to use them

Shame, but I'll find another solution that allows the proposed route to be published.

Magnum said:

I've been playing with Google Maps and it's quite useful for route planning as you can input multiple destinations. Only problem is it doesn't like mountain passes and refuses to use them

Shame, but I'll find another solution that allows the proposed route to be published.

Click to expand...

Mapsource

Can't find a direct link for Mapsource.

On-Route looks promising. Anyone used it?

You may find this interesting from my last trip there.
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118747&highlight=honfleur

Timolgra said:

You may find this interesting from my last trip there.
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118747&highlight=honfleur

Click to expand...

Superb report and outstanding pictures

What camera did you use?

Magnum said:

What camera did you use?

Click to expand...

Just a Pentax Optio W10

Great photography. Just shows what can be achieved with a modest camera

for day 3 - quick note.... no motor vehicles can go zermatt, you need to stop at tasch and take the train into zermatt and there is nothing in tasch

swissrob said:

for day 3 - quick note.... no motor vehicles can go zermatt, you need to stop at tasch and take the train into zermatt and there is nothing in tasch

Click to expand...

The last time I was in Zermat (ok - 1993) we found we could ride our bikes up to the 'residents' car park just outside the town. Is this not the case anymore?

i tried it last year and there was a big barrier across the road and a rather unaccomodating police officer told me to do one and go park in tasch.

swissrob said:

i tried it last year and there was a big barrier across the road and a rather unaccomodating police officer told me to do one and go park in tasch.

Click to expand...

i was there last year and saw no sign of being able to take the bike up.

on the plus side, the bike park is free and practically on the platform

Still looking for appropriate software to plan the route. Google Maps actually does 99% of what's required but annoying won't follow certain mountain passes.

There must be some decent commercially available packages out there for the Mac.

Magnum said:

Still looking for appropriate software to plan the route. Google Maps actually does 99% of what's required but annoying won't follow certain mountain passes.

Click to expand...

We had this routing problem this year when we went to Rome.
We had to switch the option of 'seasonal road closures' off but the route over Stelvio was still truncated.
We ended up coping, s'pose as long as you're all aware of a waypoint to meet up at you'll be OK.

If you had a camping option on this trip I'd be there!

Good luck with the trip & who knows, I may see you out there.

Magnum,

On-Route will give you some of the possibilities that you're missing but sadly it won't work on a Mac (unless you have an intel mac that can also run windows)

Whatton should be doing a review of On-Route on here soon so you can read a bit more about it then, in the meantime you can ask me any questions you have.

David

Swiss Alps 2009 - Zermatt?

I went to Zermatt in September with the boss.

You appear to need a permit to travel past Tasch. We stayed in Tasch, which we were initially a bit p'd with, till we bought a train ticket and visited Zermatt. It was a sh.. hole of a place . We laid out more luchre to ride on the tracked railway, cost an arm and a leg and was crap compared to the brilliant Yaungrfraugh (the spellings had it due to the ecellent Merlot just consumed)

Seriously, there must be better things to do if you find yourself in that neck of the woods. I'd recommend continuing on to Chamonix.

If you do decide to go there take lots of money and expect to be disappointed. If that turns you on sell the bike and buy a games machine.

JR

i've been to zermatt and very much enjoyed it.

the gornergrat railway was a bit pricey, but worth it IMO for the stunning views of the matterhorn.

i should admit, i have been inoculated against ski resort pricing structures by years of skiing and boarding, but that does mean i've seen an awful lot of mountains. never been to Jungfrau however, but i do hope to remedy that soon.

I'm sure you have seen this site;

http://www.alpineroads.com/

It has some good planning hints.

In the West, a good alternative road, known largely to the locals, is to go from La Lécherette, past Lac de l'Hongrin, and through the mountain to Corbeyrier and ending at Yvorne near Aigle. I would highly recommend this road. The top part is a Swiss military training area and the road is in very good condition with wide sweeping bends. You then have fabulous views over Lake Geneva before the road becomes very narrow and winding as it decends through a series of tunnels to Yvorne. On some maps this road is marked as closed - it can be during the week if the army are playing - but on weekends it is usually open.

Also to note is that Zermatt is car free so if you intend a visit (particularly overnight) the bikes will be parked in the general visitors car park. I have never had any problems (this is Switzerland afterall) but if you have any fears, this is something to plan.

In the east the place to stay in the Swiss National Park is the Il Fourn Hotel, near Zernez. This is in the park and has some good short walks for those wanting to stretch their legs. Schoul is also a good stopping point and has a fantastic Spa. Perfect for aching bones.

http://www.ilfuorn.ch/

Brig - Ulrichen - Gletsch - Andermatt via Furka pass is one of my favourite routes but your southern route through Italy is also great - although unfortunately the roads are not quite so good on the Italian side. The problem with going via Andermatt is if you intend to pick up the roads to the south, the options are limited - largely to motorway slogging.

Vignette charge (motorway tax) should be 40 CHF this year again, payable at the border. Switzerland enters the Schengen visa zone as of December 12 but the border points will remain for customs - and gathering the Vignette Charge.
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/front/S...html?siteSect=105&sid=10038895&rss=true&ty=st