Alps trip in late September

[shready]

I'm doing an Alps trip on the last week of September, 4 days around the alps using the routes in the recent issue of Ride mag. So a circular route from Grenoble to Manosque on day 1. Manosque to Barcelonette on day 2. Barcelonette to Bourg St Maurice on day 3 and Bourg St Maurice to Grenoble on day 4.

Is there likely to be any road closures due to snow at this time of year? I assumed it would be a little too early. Also, isthere likely to be any camp sites or chalet type accommodation available and any recommendations from anyone?

 

[DrAlf]

Stayed just outside Barcelonnette on Saturday night. Interesting but basic bike friendly hotel that does a 15% discount for bikers. Good bar, OK but basic rooms with a good shower. Recommended...

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_...baye_French_Riviera_Cote_d_Azur_Provence.html

The top of the passes were pretty cold in late August. I'd imagine that you'll be seeing some snow in late Sept.

Enjoy - great biking

 

[Rasher]

I'd imagine that you'll be seeing some snow in late Sept.

Yep, could have a lot of closures (or none at all)

Well worth going, but no point having well defined routes, I would probably just wing it and go where the roads are open and stop when you feel like stopping.

Lots of passes to choose from so do not let the possibility of some roads being closed put you off

Get a log on at www.alpineroads.com

Ask the same question there and you will get a lot of good feedback.

 

[Noddy]

Would be interested in having a look at the route, what issue of the Ride mag was it please ?
Know the area very well as we have family near Talard and its been our playground for years.

 

[John Armstrong]

Know the area very well as we have family near Talard and its been our playground for years.

That one near to the airfield?

 

[shready]

Here you go:

The RiDE Tour of the French Alps

http://www.ride.co.uk/france

Routes all there towards the bottom.

 

[The Grey One]

Stayed just outside Barcelonnette on Saturday night. Interesting but basic bike friendly hotel that does a 15% discount for bikers. Good bar, OK but basic rooms with a good shower. Recommended...

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_...baye_French_Riviera_Cote_d_Azur_Provence.html

The top of the passes were pretty cold in late August. I'd imagine that you'll be seeing some snow in late Sept.

Enjoy - great biking

And some of the passes will have been very cold on certain days in June and July too. You can't take the fact you had cold days at altitude in late August to mean anything other than just that. It has no bearing on what could be expected at other times.

John

 

[Wapping]

As The Grey One suggests, you'll find out when you get there.

If you contact the local tourist offices and / or your hotels nearer the time, you'll get a better picture.

 

[The Grey One]

As The Grey One suggests, you'll find out when you get there.

If you contact the local tourist offices and / or your hotels nearer the time, you'll get a better picture.

And don't rely on weather apps. on a phone. Often they have false data for instance had one today. Guests Iphone says it's 9 degrees here, actually is was a, very chilly for us, 20 degrees;most likely the app. is picking up info from a mountain top station near here.

See if you can find a proper local forecast on line.

John

 

[Wapping]

Also, isthere likely to be any camp sites or chalet type accommodation available and any recommendations from anyone?

We have just spent three full days trundling around the Haute Savoie region, which is (near enough) where you are going.

All of the towns, many of the villages and several of the passes have hotels, guest houses, pensions and refuges all catering for the skiing, walking, bicycling and motorbike demand. For instance, the town of Notre Dame de Bellecombe is nothing but hotels. Will they all be open? Of course not but lots will for sure. Campsites too are plentiful.

The roads were all near enough empty, with just the traditional bottlenecks like Annecy, Bourg St Maurice and Annemasse being busy. The lack of traffic explaining in part the closure of some hotels. That and that the season is switching from the demand of summer and the build up to winter... A time for them to close for their own holiday and / or set about maintenance for the year ahead.... That and that France's economy is not exactly booming at the moment, as evidenced by the number of fully closed down shops and cafes in the smaller towns.


https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=camping+haute+savoie&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

 

[mcinlb]

This is a site I've used before, French Cols open / closed

http://www.infotrafic.com/route.php?region=FRANC&link=cols.php?ALPN

Was spot on when I went over in June last year

 

[Noddy]

Here you go:

The RiDE Tour of the French Alps

http://www.ride.co.uk/france

Routes all there towards the bottom.

Cheers Shreds, will have a look see.


Oh and John, re Tallard. Yes it is.

 

[Ban_6]

I'm doing an Alps trip on the last week of September, 4 days around the alps using the routes in the recent issue of Ride mag. So a circular route from Grenoble to Manosque on day 1. Manosque to Barcelonette on day 2. Barcelonette to Bourg St Maurice on day 3 and Bourg St Maurice to Grenoble on day 4.

Is there likely to be any road closures due to snow at this time of year? I assumed it would be a little too early. Also, isthere likely to be any camp sites or chalet type accommodation available and any recommendations from anyone?

I couldnt recommend Andermatt as a base enough. Really good location and the Hotel Sonne is savage. They have garages and all.

Andermatt is a great little town, you got all the passes you want beside you and you can do the stelvio in a day ( although its hyped up, not that great imo ) and Zermatt is close by.

 

[Gaulois]

Passes stay open until the first major snowfalls, usually in October. These block the tops of the highest passes but snowfalls lower down are temporary until it really snows in December. Chances are that all passes (even the highest ones) will be fine until mid-October though you need to keep a close eye on the weather forecast (preferably a mountain one) as conditions can change very fast.

Last year my last 'high' run was Grenoble, col de la Croix de Fer, col du Galibier (2,650m) and back to Grenoble in early-October. The year before I did the same route mid-November.

Have fun!

 

[cafemaestro]

Have a great trip - I may see you there - I will be doing a similar alpine trip at the same time also based on a Ride magazine route - from May 2012

Will wing it each day based on weather reports. I rode from Slovenia through the Dolomites and Switzerland the same time last year and has glorious weather every day so if it rains, I'm blaming you

Bonne Route

 

[Simon W]

Glad you're doing the trip! Do take pics and send them into the mag.

I planned the routes around hotels I've used, so that was from the Campanile in St Egreve/Grenoble, to the Campanile in Manosque, to the Hotel le Grand in Barcelonette, to the Arolla in Bourg St Maurice, back to the Campanile.

Obviously, Campaniles are a big chain so a bit soulless (and the meals have become more expensive this year) but they're functional. You may want to just hunt around for a more characterful place, but the Grand and the Arolla are great (so's the Petit Auberge in Bourg).

That time of year the passes will be open - I've done la Bonnette in mid October before - but obviously the high ones can get rain or snow pretty much any time if you're unlucky. But the likelihood is that it'll be fine and we'll all be very jealous!

 

[Wapping]

Glad you're doing the trip! Do take pics and send them into the mag.

Can you supply us with a reliable email address at Ride magazine to submit pic's etc. to, please.

 

[Simon W]

sure. [email protected]

There is a fair backlog of pics and while we're trying to get them all in as fast a possible, there's usually a bit of a wait until they appear

BUT

at the moment I'm specifically looking for pics people send in of them on the various tours/routes we've put in over the past 18 months, for a specific feature, so any with info about which of our routes they were taken on may get used a bit more quickly than might otherwise be the case

 

[immigrant]

sure. [email protected]

Hi Simon

I emailed the above address last week requesting the correct GPX file for the Swiss Tourers route. The existing link points to the Festival of 1000 Bikes route.

Nevertheless the Google versions came in handy and we had a superb trip around the Haslital area.

 

[Simon W]

I picked up your mail this morning, poked the IT monkey (oh, that's right, it was me today) and got the link fixed - and emailed you the file directly...

...Don't know why the link broke, but so far we've only found those two that had gone funny. If we have to keep monitoring it for things going wobbly, I'll be very unhappy...