French Alps May 2011

[Tricky]

Just got back from 10 days in the French Alps (and a little bit of Route Napoleon). No rain until the last night, some of the high passes open (unusual for May) and empty roads. Only complaint was that it was a trifle hot at times.

Just a little taster.

 

[Duchess]

Nice pics, looking forward now to seeing more Tricky.

Looks like you had a fab time

 

[Falco9]

Excellent pics!

Really wetted my appetite for my trip to the Mont Blanc area of the Alps next month. A full week riding around North West Italy, Annecy etc... can't wait

Is that a pic of the bridge at the beginning of the Verdon gorge??

F9

 

[Ash]

Excellent pics!

 

[Tricky]

Thanks guys.

Falco9 Yes that this the Verdon Gorge.

Sunday 01/05/11

The first day was an early tunnel departure and to get as far south as we could avoiding motorways. We had no plans as such therefore nothing can go wrong.

We got as far as St Dizier (not far then...) and found a cheap hotel for the night. I was really pleased I packed two fleeces and several long sleeve T shirts as the temp got up to 26c.

Monday 02/05/11

We wanted to get quickly to the more interesting stuff so jumped on the autoroute and headed for Gap as a good jump off point for RN and the Route De Grande Alpes (or part of it).

It was hot...

 

[Tricky]

We found somewhere to stay in Gap and booked in for a couple of nights. It was nice to get all the heavy panniers off the bikes.

Tuesday 02/05/11

After breakfast it was straight onto one of Europe's great roads the N85 or Route Napoleon.

We stopped at Castellane for a coffee etc and to cool down a bit.

Nice and cool in the shade.

The D952 follows the Grande Canyon Du Verdon and has great views.

By Moustiers St Marie we were in need of an ice cream and a proper break.

Good idea.

Anyone ever lost their key? It's probably here...

Moustiers is a nice little town if your ever passing.

Then it was back to Gap for a couple of cold beers or so.

 

[Shurv]

My most favourite place to be in the whole world, you gotta love the N85.GAP is a lovely town, gateway to some of the best biking roads EVER!!!!

 

[Kintessack GSr]

I'm heading over there in 3 weeks time, can you let me know the hotels you stayed at and if any good. Great pics and ride report!

 

[Twotter]

Looks great & definitely on my 'to do' list

 

[Popell]

Setting off on Thursday for a similar run down to the F1

 

[stephen.stallebrass]

Love the Private Ryan Gif too!

 

[Goose]

Very nice

 

[(RIP) Yamaha1]

Great write-up and pics of a lovely area - but I think you were both very brave to go all that way on 1200's - I would feel much more confident aboard something more reliable, like an 1100 or even at a push an 1150.

Mike

 

[Tricky]

I'm heading over there in 3 weeks time, can you let me know the hotels you stayed at and if any good. Great pics and ride report!

Hi

We made no bookings in advance but stayed at the Ibis in Gap for three nights. Not the cheapest but has a garage for the bikes (FOC) plus loads to eat at breakfast.

After that we stayed for two nights at Le Grand Hotel in Barcelonnette which is a very nice and reasonably priced 2 star and run by a biker with a 1200GS also with garage for the bikes and good local knowledge.

@ Yam1

Wed 03/05/11

First of the Cols...

Setting off from Gap we went up the Col de Vars which was open.

At the top.

Next up was the Col de la Bonette which claims to have the highest paved road in Europe...

 

[Tricky]

Sign posts said that Bonette was closed but we decided to have a look anyway.

Lots of stones and gravel on the pass up but we managed to get to about 400 metres from the top of the pass before the snow across the road stopped us.

Not much room after this...

Not a bad place to stop for a picnic.

Group hug.

 

[Tricky]

Thurs 04/05/11

Moving on from Gap to Barcelonnette.

Nice lake on the D954.

Strange Monoliths on the same road.

Barcelonnette is a nice little town with good shops for the women...

It reminded me a bit of Andermatt in Switzerland.

Col de la Cayolle

Winter Wonderland.

At the top.

Really lucky as no one was about.

 

[E. Buygum]

Great thread. Thank you. Heading that way soon (Friday 10 June Hull-Rotterdam) and can't now wait. Hoping to do Col d'Iseran so hopefully it's not still fermé when we get there.

 

[buellzebub]

wtf's going on here then? I can't see pictures in Firefox 4, only in wanky IE???

 

[E. Buygum]

wtf's going on here then? I can't see pictures in Firefox 4, only in wanky IE???

4.0.1 fine here. Options-Content-Load Images Automatically?

 

[MikeS]

The strange monoliths are natural, the rocks on top are hard and so the soft rock around it erodes leaving the hard rocks up high. I guess they will all fall down eventually. I couldn't believe it when I first saw them. I go to that area every summer but looking at your photos I will now have to go when there is snow around as it looks great. Thanks for posting them, can't wait to be back there.