Where's your 'other' bike....................poor old neglected girl
Enjoying her well-earned semi retirement...
So, on with the story. Mt ventoux was lovely, and it was nice to feel cool after riding round the valleys below
Nice sign at the start of the descent on the northern side...
View looking down the road ahead, without a bike, just for Steptoe
This is the excellent little D5, just before Buis les Baronnies.
Parked up in Buis les Baronnies, and got straight into the cold beer with John, out for a meal and didn't take the camera. So, next stop Le Mans
The Mazda race car which Johnny Herbert had driven to victory 20 years earlier. This thing did a couple of exhibtion laps and sounded the nuts.
We had 2nd row seats in the grandstand above the pits which gave great views of the race, and also allowed us to look down into the pits. The Astons both went out on lap 2 with 10 minutes of the race gone :-(
Allan McNish's Audi which didn't look quite so pretty an hour later..
Some nice views though
A few minutes before the start
When we left for a while, there was traffic chaos, got to the front and found this numpty had reversed his van into a ditch. They hung a cable on it and dragged it out though
So, we left Le Mans Sunday lunchtime as it was starting to rain. Headed down to Tours then along the 'scenic' Loire valley which wasn't that scenic, so crossed at Amboise, and headed for the motorway to Clermont.
Met some old pals next day heading out of Clermont for our destination for the next few days, Annecy
Some interesting villages on the way to Annecy, this was before Roanne
Heading up to the Col de Sapenay from the Aix side.
Remarkably similar photo looking down onto Lac d'Annecy on the other side.
Beautiful little roads through the rolling hills around here.
Up bright and early, but NOT bushy-tailed next morning, Lac d'Annecy looked as beautiful as ever.
Up through La Clusaz, and onto the Col des Aravis.
Once we'd crossed the Col des Aravis, and the Col des Saisies, we spotted a little dead end Col called the Col du Joly, which would normally have stunning views of Mt Blanc at the top, unfortunately, it was covered in cloud. Still a lovely little detour though. Looking across the flower crammed meadows to the dam on the other side.
Down once again, then up through Beaufort to the Cormet de Roseland.
This is always lovely going up here. Looking up..
And back down from the same spot.
Further up the Col, the scenery is awesome
Looking up the road from where the last pic was taken.
Helpful sign so if you're reading this, you can find it on a map
Road descending on the other side. No bike again, this is getting worrying.
Heading down to Bourg St Maurice...
Fuelled up in Bourg, then off to Italy via the Col de petit St Bernard.
Still climbing up the Ptit St Bernard.
Another mature tourist shot at the top
2nd country of the day
The road was in a right state on the other side, with Italian crews doing repairs every few kms. Should be nice next year
A rare shot with no roadworks.
So, down to the bottom, then along the valley to Aosta, to go over the Grd St Bernard and into Switzerland. it was up to 30C in the valley, so it was great relief to finally be climbing again.
Beautiful ride up the Col. last time I crossed here it was still closed so had to go through the tunnel.
Grand indeed...
Just before the top..
going into Switzerland.
I'd been worried as I didn't have my passport with me, but there were no customs people on the borders between France-Italy-Switzerland-France....still had me driving licence just in case
Into Switzerland, sticker collection growing nicely
Looking down the long, long descent ahead
Back over the Col de Forclaz into France towards Chamonix.
Nice view of the glaciers on Mt Blanc, but they have receded even in the 15 years I've been coming here...
So after three countries and countless passes in a day, had a few well earned beers and wine, then next day went over the Col de la Madeleine.
Down the west side...
It was here we go a bit lost, used the Michelin map to plot a route over to Col du Telegraphe, which looked like it could be reached via Albanette, but it was a dead end. Beautiful road though
Stunning views into the valley we SHOULD have been in
All the time, TomTom was telling me to do a u-turn...
Heading up to Val d'Isere over the Col de l'Iseran
This was a stunning ride, done south to north which is definitely the way to do it.,
Still on the Iseran
Still climbing
This road just goes on and on, getting better all the time
Another bikeless view from the top, looking north
Obligatory bike, Col sign piccie
The scale of the scenery round here just doesn't come across in the photies. Go do it yourselves...
Very careful getting back onto the bikes after taking this looking down into Val d'Isere
View back up the road from the same spot.
Back to Annecy, then up and home the next day. Wasn't a bad drive down to Grenoble then the 1075 all the way down to Dignes les Bains then the Route Napoleon home.
This was in the Vercors somewhere...I had photo fatigue by then..
Last photo of the trip looking down from the Route Napoleon to Lac du Castillon just outside Castellane.
