Wapping's Wanders 2013 - 23-31 August 2013 - Annecy

Enjoyed some good rides out from Doussard, up, over and across the various cols.

I will edit up the routes we took and lump them into the 'Roads to get your pegs down on' section.
 
We rode a decent (non-motorway) 250 mile route up from Dijon to Charleville-Mezieres.

It struck me that the route may well work for any bods coming from / going to the Dutch / Belgian ports on their way from / to the north of Engand. I will post it up when I get home.
 
Well not long home.

Another successful wander :thumby:

Many thanks to Richard, Byron, Tom, Peter & Dave


Hope everyone else makes it home safe and well
Neil
 
I'm home too, I had a long ride from Ch-Mez. Decided to come back non-toll and decided to take a detour to Tournai town centre for coffee and croissant.

Thanks to Richard for all the planning, Peter, Neil, Byron, Dave, An and Bernie for the company.

I'll post up some pictures later.

All the best

Tom
 
Great trip - got back around 4pm.

Thanks to Richard for organising the trip and to the others for their company.
 
Excellent.

Peter (Yorkie) and I enjoyed the non-motorway route, arriving at the Chunnel at 15:45 to be confronted by long queues; a not very encouraging sight, when coupled to announcements about train disruptions. But, all was well. We sailed in, being slotted onto the 17:20 train without any problems, an hour earlier than the train we were booked on.

To our surprise we then encountered Byron riding INTO the terminal, just as we were riding OUT towards towards our train. That's odd we thought, he set off from Ch-Mez at early dawn.... and here he is just arriving behind us :nenau

A quick text exchange revealed that his early arrival at the terminal (and the hope of a much earlier departure to home) had fallen on stony ground, the trains all being full. This left him the thick end of a day to get on with something else in northern France.... I think he went to Normandy and back. Anyway, I hope he is home now :D

=======

My thanks to all the Wanders for their company on what was I thought a good jaunt. The routes seemed to all work well, the hotels were OK, with enough for bods to do on days when we were not riding from A to B.

I will précis the routes we finally took, along with he days off rides and post them up in this thread in case anyone wants to replicate it. It will also act as a decent reminder when I do something similar again.

That's near enough it for Wanders in 2013, just a quickie to do later in the year and a private jaunt down the Route Napoleon in a few weeks. It's been fun :thumb2 Roll on 2014.... I already have some ideas :eek:

Richard

PS My sincere thanks to Yorkie for the loan of his 660 after my Nav IV developed severe depression and other afflictions. It has certainly died a death, unable to boot-up properly and / or dropping route directions or simply freezing if it does. BMW have offered me an exchange. I had sufficient maps (and paper / pencils) to act as a back-up had push come to a shove. Having the luxury of a loan device was much appreciated just the same. Peter, please PM your email address and I'll ping you over all my lovingly created routes and favourites by way of a 'Thank you'.

It is a real example of how a normally very reliable GPS device CAN fail...... Don't leave home without your maps, chaps.
 
Hit home at 10.15 last night after a 530 mile day. Slower ride home than I expected having picked a small nail up in the rear tyre - so had to stop 3 times to top up the pressure.

I thought that was a cracking trip - great roads and mountains. Many thanks to Richard for all the work that goes into the organisation. And many thanks to all the travellers for being such good company. Thanks to Neil & Wessie for keeping me on route after the team leader had half-inched my 660.

Peter
 
The secret to get on an early train is to lie to the people asking you at the queue. I was about 25 mins outside the 2 hour window so just said my crossing was 13.40 not 14.40. They let me in.

Once you get past the people go to a robot. The robot doesn't know how to tell you to go to Normandy, just offer you time slots for free or extra money. The robot offered me a 13.25 time for free. Tom must've done similar as he got the next time slot for free.
 
We (Yorkie and I) did not need to economic with the truth. They just let us through, as we are charming fellows and would enhance the waiting area no end.

The non-robot checkers in the queues BEFORE the check-in were asking to see punters' tickets, BEFORE letting them go forward. Any outside of the two hour slot were all being directed out of the terminal to twiddle their thumbs in Calais. :D
 
We (Yorkie and I) did not need to economic with the truth. They just let us through, as we are charming fellows and would enhance the waiting area no end.

The non-robot checkers in the queues BEFORE the check-in were asking to see punters' tickets, BEFORE letting them go forward. Any outside of the two hour slot were all being directed out of the terminal to twiddle their thumbs in Calais. :D

The secret is not to have a ticket - just point at bit of paper in map pocket with hand written reference no. This was enough in my case.

The alternative would be me getting off the bike, rummaging in panniers for my netbook, waiting for it to boot up to share the electronic confirmation just because they decide to change the way you check in, as clearly described on their website. Even the signs on the way in say drive up to a robot if you have a booking. They don't say you will be interrogated as to your worthiness to be greeted by a robot.

I think the person talking to me realised I'm an awkward cúnt who should not be messed with :). The robot was very charming in comparison, providing excellent customer service, giving me just the right amount of time to have a piss and get lunch before being called to my place near the front of the train.
 
Must have just missed you lot at the Tunnel on Saturday. We were booked on the 14.40 in the cage but we arrived early and were redirected by the bods on the slip road to that hell hole "Cite de Europe" for retail therapy as they were fully booked.

Returned later and were allowed (by the robot) on the 14.20. :confused:
 
Must have just missed you lot at the Tunnel on Saturday. We were booked on the 14.40 in the cage but we arrived early and were redirected by the bods on the slip road to that hell hole "Cite de Europe" for retail therapy as they were fully booked.

Returned later and were allowed (by the robot) on the 14.20. :confused:

You would definitely have missed us, we weren't there until Sunday:blast

It was very busy though
 
Annecy Trip

Got home finally at 9.15 after being turned away by the evil trolls on the entrance to the tunnel, so thought might as well make the most of the chance to stay in France for an extra 6 hours and check out the beaches in Normandy.
As a complete 'greenhorn' to foreign motorcycle travel I was so lucky to hook up with such a nice group of guys, who supported me through the trip.
I thought the trip was wonderful with great roads and mountain passes and the memory of me trying to following Richard up to the top of Col de L'Iseran will remain with me for ever.
Like the other guys I also agree that Richard's planning and organisation was superb and made the rip run like clockwork, but for me the preparation in Madeira was also key.
Many thanks to Richard, Neil, Dave, Peter and Tom.

Regards Byron
 
Got home finally at 9.15

That's a lonnnnnnnnnnnnng day.

.....and the memory of me trying to following Richard up to the top of Col de L'Iseran will remain with me for ever.

We'll go up there quickly next time ;)

.....but for me the preparation in Madeira was also key.

Me? I have to settle on the exit of the M25 to the M20 and a Toblerone.


Glad you enjoyed and thanks for keeping us amused. The tale of your snip will live long in the memory :beerjug:
 
As promised, here are the routes we took, having deleted the optional routes we didn't take.

In essence, it is all the 'indirect' or 'scenic' routes, along with the rideouts.

For Annecy, there are two rideouts:

(1) Up to Lake Geneva and back, stopping on the lakeside at Evian, returning via a different route. This takes in assorted cols and passes, with a great view over Lake Geneva. This is 250 miles but doable in a day without killing yourself. My honest tip would be to cut out the start and Lake Bourget, as it only brings you back in a circle to Annecy. Head straight north instead. This would reduce the mileage but not detract too much from the ride.

(2) A day out (over 250 miles) over various cols and passes, including Galibier and L'Iseran, two of the highest passes in the region. It's doable in a day with stops but do watch the time. If you can get going by 08:30 great. Similarly, we started and stopped in Doussard; add 20 to 40 minutes if you are in Annecy itself as the lakeside traffic can be heavy.

Of course you can simply not do the full 250 mile circuit and / or miss out the Galibier.... but where's the fun in that?

I have then added a decent day out from Ch-Mez, up to Dinant and back via a different route. Lots of cafes in Dinant (a good place to stay), in Givet and at the viewpoint.

We started each day with a full tank of fuel and never ran too short. Similarly, we tried to start each day reasonably early at say 09:00. We never struggled for time and, I'm sure, would have had the luxury of an hour or two spare had we had a significant problem anywhere.

Many of the roads are 'fast' with few cars, so decent progress can be made. There is not a huge amount of motorway miles. I brought some in where it was sensible to do so, just to crack off a few miles or miss out a known bottleneck.

Richard

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/14126843/Tidied-up route setc we made.gdb

It's a Mapsouce file, hosted on Dropbox
 
Give us a chance, I haven't done 2011's yet :D it's not something I really enjoy doing, to be frank. I do though keep a diary of useful hints and tips for the future, full of scribble that I have to decipher over the winter.

I did break my 'No flower pressing rule'.... And I managed not to get a motorcycle in any.... So sorry in advance if anyone was expecting to see plastic and metal obscuring snowy peaks or if they really do not know what a 1600 looks like :D
 


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