French Alps (but maybe Germany, too)

[(RIP) Mark H]

I like Castellane, have there 1/2 Dozen times, lots of places to stay, I used to run tours there and based at https://www.sandaya.fr/nos-campings/domaine-du-verdon a good site with plenty of accomadation options, Hotel-Du-Commerce is my hotel of choice in Castellane, Had 6 Nights there in 2021, top of list to return next year, the hotel is a little pricey and gets booked up quickly, best book early to ensure a place, Restaurant is good, breakfast good as well, ideal base for touring the Gorges Verdon and elsewhere
Hotel-Du-Commerce website https://www.hotel-du-commerce-verdon.com/en

A few of my own pics

 

[Wapping]

Doc, the MyRoute route you posted doesn’t work.



I think you’ll need to make the route public, in order to share it with us.

 

[EVskiy]

Yes watched that video you posted with that lass doing it.
Open to suggestions for somewhere to stay near there.

Here in Castellane!

Like I’ve mentioned in the thread earlier on.

Day 1. A gentle bimble around the Gorges du Verdon. It is on the doorstep in Castellane.

Day 2. Off the bike, have a lounge by the hotel pool, take a walk around the town, grab a spot of lunch from one of many cafés/restaurants in the square.










Day 3. Gorges de Dalius (about an hour away from Castellane) then daisy chain a few places to make a nice circular route for the day, before ruturning to Castellane for the night.

Day 4. Ride down to Antibes and the the entire French Riviera, Mediterranean coastline stretching from Menton in the east all the way to Marseille and beyond in the west. With places such as Nice, Antibes, Cannes, Saint-Tropez… and the best bit, Antibes walled city, is only around 2 hours ride away from Castellane.
Antibes is fabulous even for a flying visit, but ideally you want a couple of nights there, to enjoy the beaches, shoreside restaurants and plenty to see.













Coastal ride on your Harley will attract plenty of rubber neckers too.

 

[stever1]

Yes watched that video you posted with that lass doing it.
Open to suggestions for somewhere to stay near there.

Have a look at Auberge des salles, in les salles du verdon.
Another hotel with cracking views.
This attached pic is the view from our balcony of Annecy

 

[EVskiy]

Have a look at Auberge des salles, in les salles du verdon.
Another hotel with cracking views.
This attached pic is the view from our balcony of Annecy

I am curious as to why the image you’ve posted (and not just yours) seem to come up as a thumbnail, that one need to click or tap on to see it properly.




Yet Wapping’s, mine, Arsey’s do come up as a full size photo ready to be viewed within the text base surrounding it.





My (assumed) explanation for this, is that when photo was selected, you do not let it to upload into the post prior to tapping/clicking send. Next time try to select photo, then let it upload for a handful of seconds, then tap post. See if it works.

I am only asking this, as sometimes, for example in trip reports, there will be text, then photo, a bit more text, then a few more photos and so on. Then I read the post and photos are attached as thumbnails at the bottom of it, meaning that you either stop reading the post, , scroll to the bottom of the post, then sift through a selection of said photos, and have a look, then go back out of the selection to read the remaining text, scroll back up to find where you have stopped reading, followed by more photo viewing.
In reality, that is very distracting from the pleasure of following through with post and the story behind it.

Perhaps the Technical Department of this forum could enlighten me in more detail why does this seem to happen?

 

[Doc]

Here in Castellane!

Like I’ve mentioned in the thread earlier on.

Day 1. A gentle bimble around the Gorges du Verdon. It is on the doorstep in Castellane.

Day 2. Off the bike, have a lounge by the hotel pool, take a walk around the town, grab a spot of lunch from one of many cafés/restaurants in the square.

View attachment 291882


View attachment 291883

View attachment 291886

View attachment 291888

Day 3. Gorges de Dalius (about an hour away from Castellane) then daisy chain a few places to make a nice circular route for the day, before ruturning to Castellane for the night.

Day 4. Ride down to Antibes and the the entire French Riviera, Mediterranean coastline stretching from Menton in the east all the way to Marseille and beyond in the west. With places such as Nice, Antibes, Cannes, Saint-Tropez… and the best bit, Antibes walled city, is only around 2 hours ride away from Castellane.
Antibes is fabulous even for a flying visit, but ideally you want a couple of nights there, to enjoy the beaches, shoreside restaurants and plenty to see.

View attachment 291889

View attachment 291891

View attachment 291892

View attachment 291893

View attachment 291894

View attachment 291895

Coastal ride on your Harley will attract plenty of rubber neckers too.

Sounds good thanks

 

[Doc]

I am curious as to why the image you’ve posted (and not just yours) seem to come up as a thumbnail, that one need to click or tap on to see it properly.

View attachment 291905

View attachment 291906
Yet Wapping’s, mine, Arsey’s do come up as a full size photo ready to be viewed within the text base surrounding it.

View attachment 291907

View attachment 291909

My (assumed) explanation for this, is that when photo was selected, you do not let it to upload into the post prior to tapping/clicking send. Next time try to select photo, then let it upload for a handful of seconds, then tap post. See if it works.

I am only asking this, as sometimes, for example in trip reports, there will be text, then photo, a bit more text, then a few more photos and so on. Then I read the post and photos are attached as thumbnails at the bottom of it, meaning that you either stop reading the post, , scroll to the bottom of the post, then sift through a selection of said photos, and have a look, then go back out of the selection to read the remaining text, scroll back up to find where you have stopped reading, followed by more photo viewing.
In reality, that is very distracting from the pleasure of following through with post and the story behind it.

Perhaps the Technical Department of this forum could enlighten me in more detail why does this seem to happen?

 

[Doc]

 

[EVskiy]

?? ??

 

[EVskiy]

View attachment 292108

Is this a planed route?
Looking to be at least 5-6 days long.
Cant see you MRA link above, as you haven't made your route public.

 

[Doc]

Is this a planed route?
Looking to be at least 5-6 days long.
Cant see you MRA link above, as you haven't made your route public.

That was one of Rashers routes I was looking at Ev

 

[EVskiy]

That was one of Rashers routes I was looking at Ev

What's your plan for this trip?
When are you planing to go and how long for?

Rashers Route is nice, I've done various parts of it in 2016, 2018, 2019 as well as 2022.

 

[Doc]

What's your plan for this trip?
When are you planing to go and how long for?

Rashers Route is nice, I've done various parts of it in 2016, 2018, 2019 as well as 2022.

I thought August so we get some decent weather. Probably 14 days. Two days to get down there.

 

[EVskiy]

I thought August so we get some decent weather. Probably 14 days. Two days to get down there.

I'd avoid August, It'll be:

1. Too hot
2. Peak season, half of Europe will be there on holiday, at same time.
3. Any accommodation will be in high demand and at inflated rates.

My recommendation would be around mid September. Temperature in the day time will still be circa 30º+ and very pleasant in the evenings.

2 days to get down from Rotterdam I am guessing? It'll be a shlep on motorways towards Annecy.
If no motorways, I'd be hard pressed to do it in two days, without having a full on barnie with your Lass. so call it 3 days each way, to make it agreeable.
Took us last year a whole day to get from Antibes to Rencurel. That was circa 230 miles via the Gorges du Verdon.
To get an idea of the scale, I have attached a screenshot from google maps of that journey. That Journey was just a ¼ of the journey you will need to do to get there from Rotterdam.

 

[Arsey]

Agreed. August is too hot and busy . Alps is best in June or late September


Sent from my Nokia 3310 using Thetwatcantalk

 

[EVskiy]

Agreed. August is too hot and busy . Alps is best in June or late September


Sent from my Nokia 3310 using Thetwatcantalk

He should come on his own with us in June, and with his Lass to south of France in September. Sorted!!!
And feck off with his "I can commit just yet, as it is to early" bollox if he's planing trip to South of France in August (likely September) .
We will see him in June! Thats a good boy.

 

[Arsey]

He should come on his own with us in June, and with his Lass to south of France in September. Sorted!!!
And feck off with his "I can commit just yet, as it is to early" bollox if he's planing trip to South of France in August (likely September) .
We will see him in June! Thats a good boy.

He can’t as has a 7 day pass and that can’t be extended


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[wessie]

I agree on the dates. 2nd half of either June or September.

In the mid 90s I worked in industry where they still had the 2 week factory shutdown in the last week of July & first week of August, and I took my first trip overseas on a bike. We were melting going across central France from Le Havre to get to Grenoble. Even in the Alps we were getting over 30C in the valleys.
Fortunately that holiday pattern disappeared not long after the British co-owner Rank sold out to the US partner Xerox and I've mostly gone in June or September since.

 

[EVskiy]

I agree on the dates. 2nd half of either June or September.

In the mid 90s I worked in industry where they still had the 2 week factory shutdown in the last week of July & first week of August, and I took my first trip overseas on a bike. We were melting going across central France from Le Havre to get to Grenoble. Even in the Alps we were getting over 30C in the valleys.
Fortunately that holiday pattern disappeared not long after the British co-owner Rank sold out to the US partner Xerox and I've mostly gone in June or September since.

In Europe it is still a thing, where factories close for two weeks in June or August, some shut down for the entire August, others run at reduced capacity at for the duration of the summer holidays. People often ask why they can't get bike tyres, etc, etc for a long time after ordering them on line...

Prime example of this, was when I have requested Motolegends to have a suit ordered for me to try from Stadler (Germany), They couldn't supply one (partly because it is a new model for 2023) do this until late September, as Factory was closed for the two week holiday in August.

 

[Doc]

I thought maybe our first stopover would be Annecy, This would be 600 miles from Rotterdam done in two days.