The south of France and back

[Harlequin25]

Hi,

I have managed to negotiate with SWMBO, two and a half days to mooch down from Calais to Nice and much the same coming back. I would appreciate some advice on potential routes, but also likely timings for certain sections, in terms of working our suitable overnight stop offs.

I plan on staying in Calais overnight on the way down, so I can head off early. For the last half day of the outward trip, I have in mind ride the Route Napoleon from Grenoble, to arrive at Nice by 3PM (as meeting someone off a plane at Nice airport). I reckon this should give me plenty of time to cover this part of the route (?).

However, even though I have spent many a happy hour in front of Google maps, what I can't make my mind up on is the route and stop offs on the way down to Grenoble. One question is, should I motorway it down a good way until I get to some more interesting riding country, and so spend more time around the French/Swiss pre-Alpes/Alpes, or drop off onto RN / D roads from an early point?

All advice appreciated, including for the trip back, where provisionally I am thinking about heading back on a more westerly route, perhaps via Clermont Ferrand and upwards from there?

Also I don't mind longer days on the bike, to make the most of the time I have available, and I'll be traveling in June (I'm starting the planing early - can't wait! )

 

[thornley]

Check out my place www.holiday-provence.co.uk

Not far off the routes you will be taking. Some write ups in the accomadation section 'south of France'

Coming down take the autoroute to Rheims before picking up the RNs. The rest is discovery!

 

[Bury_Dave]

Rose Rouge would be a perfect place to break your journey if you're returning (or going) via Clermont Ferrand. They are on here in the accommodation section.

The roads around C-F and the one to Rose Rouge and on to Limoges are brilliant and you'll be treated like royalty there. At least I was !

Dave

 

[stever1]

I like your idea with one exception. DO NOT stay at or near Calais unless you have secure bike parking.
depending what time of day you cross the channel, get out off that area. Too many stolen and damaged bikes around there.

 

[teejay]

We did Route Napolean from Annecy areaas far as Castallane and we were not there until gone 4pm, Nice is a good way on, now we didn't rush, coffee stops and so on but just to give you an idea of time/distance.


Teejay

 

[thornley]

I like your idea with one exception. DO NOT stay at or near Calais unless you have secure bike parking.
depending what time of day you cross the channel, get out off that area. Too many stolen and damaged bikes around there.

Absolutely! I stop off at Bethune for the first night. Less than an hour from Calais. Campanile and Premier classe next to the motorway junction. Up and away the next morning

 

[Monty]

The best hotel I have found for a first night in France is Le Florence at St Quentin. As cheap as one of the industrial estate prison hotels, in the centre of town for a good beer and meal, secure parking.

Cheers,

Matt



Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Rasher]

If you can run down as much of Route Des Grand Alpes as you can, totally awesome, several of the Alps best passes reside on this route and La Bonnette is a must IMO.

To and from Grenoble take the motorway as you have a bloody tight schedule and any D roads between Grenoble and Calais will be completely poo compared to RDGA and other roads you have at your disposal once there, Grenoble is a long days ride from Calais, but from Grenoble to Nice using Route Napoleon is an easy 6 hour journey (with stops)

From Nice I would run back up the RDGA so you could ride over La Bonette and Col Du Vars to Jausiers and up over Col D'Izoard and Lauteret before cutting across to Briancon and back to Grenoble

You pass close to Alpe d'Huez so could quickly whizz up it time / weather permitting (it is about an hour from Grenoble)

Not too difficult 200 miles, about 5 hours in the saddle if the weather is good, by the time you stop to take pictures / admire the views / fuel up / eat etc it would fill out the day - and be one hell of a day!

If you can grab an extra day I personally would look to take in a bit more of RDGA and end a bit further up (maybe head towards Geneva instead of Grenoble) taking two days to come back up RDGA.

That would require 5 days door to door (from Calais) A (Long boring) day to Grenoble, an (easy) day to Nice, 2 Fantastic days on some of the best Alps passes to somewhere around Geneva, and then another long (boring) haul back to Calais.

I did this route the other way around last year:-

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=279972

 

[Giles]

Don't forget that on the picture postcard twisties, your average speed will be right down.
It's all too easy to use Mapsource or a via michelin web site to time a route, but those calculations are based on you achieving the speed limit all the time. You wont, because of twisty nadgery roads and fuel / tea / photo stops.

Enjoy ...

 

[Wapping]

two and a half days from Calais to Nice and much the same coming back.

advice on potential routes, but also likely timings for certain sections...suitable overnight stop offs.

I plan on staying in Calais overnight on the way down, so I can head off early.

For the last half day of the outward trip,

to arrive at Nice by 3PM (as meeting someone off a plane at Nice airport).

I have spent many a happy hour in front of Google maps,

heading back on a more westerly route, via Clermont Ferrand and upwards from there

I don't mind longer days on the bike,

I'll be traveling in June

Just before everyone gets carried away with the Alps and Clermont Ferrand, let's look at the three certainties in your wordy request.

(1) You want to start and end in Calais, via Nice.

(2) You have two and a half days for the journey down and the same two and half days for the journey back.

(3) You have to be in Nice by three PM.

====

(a) Stop looking at Google maps for two minutes. It is very hard to get any idea of scale and roads from it. Buy yourself two decent paper maps (see sticky) as it will make your life much easier.

(b) You have to be in Nice by 15:00. Let's assume that you want to start that day at 08:30 and have half an hour off en-route for a coffee and fuel stop, but that you will skip lunch. That gives you six hours traveling time between your three pm arrival in Nice and your start point that morning. Trace your finger back up the road from Nice for six hours..... Where your digit stops is your overnight stop. And you have now used up one of your two and a half days.

(c) You now have a day and a half to get from Calais to your overnight stop. Can you do it? Probably yes..... but how, only you know..... because you (and you alone) will know what speed you will do.

To give you an idea. You can do a burst of motorway south from Calais to perhaps St Quentin, leaving at 08:30. Then pick up the N and D roads ('great roads, mate') to arrive at perhaps Dijon (conveniently half way down France, in roughly the right direction) by say 16:00. This will allow for a fuel stop, a morning and afternoon coffee break and a spot of lunch. That is one day. Can you now do Dijon to your next overnight stop in half a day? Again, you will be able to work it out.

(d) Want to / have to go further than Dijon on the first day? Start earlier than 08:30 and / or finish later than 16:00 and / or spend longer on the motorway......

...... Repeat process for your return journey.

You have two months to prepare..... You'll do it.

 

[mb4807]

Beware Route Nap'

I rode the Route Nap in late June last year and it was already starting to get too busy with traffic to really be fun. And there were several speed traps along the way too. That said, Grenoble to Nice is an easy enough day and the road gets better and better the further south you go, but the traffic in Nice during rush hour is bad. From the outskirts it took us best part of an hour to get to our hotel in the centre.

As Rasher says, Cime de la Bonnette is a bit of a must. We spent 2 days riding from Nice back up on the Route des Grande Alpes, although you really need 3 days if you want to do the whole thing up as far at lake Geneva. Don't underestimate how little milieage you can do in a day on those roads though. We did and were always trying to play catch up with the clock, but then there were 3 of us and we stopped off a fair bit for pictures and coffees etc. If you are on your own and keen to ride and nothing else, then you'll do better than we did.

At the end of the day, I'd say your 5 days is a little tight. If you could get an extra day or two you'd have the freedom to enjoy it more and use less motorway in the North of France.

 

[earthmover]

This is what we managed, but we do like being on the bike a lot:

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=204090&highlight=lake+como

(assuming the link works?)

Mark

 

[Dansin]

The last time we went that way we did more or less this route. Appreciate you're heading a bit further East but it gives you an idea. Day one started in Marlow at 5am and we jumped off the Autoroute at Amiens and did the rest of the route on the scenic D's and N's. This was 2 up on a F650GS so we happily bimbled along and easily got to our destination mid afternoon on the third day.

 

[Harlequin25]

Thanks to everyone for all the really useful input and ideas. I can now get stuck back into the planning (including using paper maps - good suggestion) with a better idea of what's possible. Cheers.

 

[mrsroynie]

I like your idea with one exception. DO NOT stay at or near Calais unless you have secure bike parking.
depending what time of day you cross the channel, get out off that area. Too many stolen and damaged bikes around there.

Depending on the time of our ferry, we often stay over in one of those cheap motel-type hotels out near the Eurostar terminal (Etap, Ibis or B&B). Most have PIN entry to a secure car park. Not the sort of accommodation one would choose for a holiday, but occasionally convenient none the less.

 

[Wapping]

I can now get stuck back into the planning (including using paper maps - good suggestion).

Good. They will make you life a lot easier, trust me.

If you want a bit of a help, you can also use the excellent viaMichelin website, based on their excellent maps.

Enter in you start point (Calais) and end point (Nice). It will then plot you the most direct route. It's useful as it shows up as a distinct line.

Then ask it to exclude toll roads. This will then take you off the payage motorways.

You will now have a feel for how long the total journey takes, non-stop.

Now comes the fun bit.

Look at the line. Zoom in and out and you'll see all the neighbouring roads. See if you can match some in and still get to where you want to be (which is Nice at 15:00, two and half days after leaving Calais). Don't get carried away, remember the purpose of your jaunt is not to see every small French lane and hamlet over 700 miles.... The purpose is to get to Nice at a certain time and on a certain day and then come back, in one piece, reasonably on time.

To give you an idea, imagine somewhere in the UK 700 miles away from your house. To give you an idea, that is London to the furthest tip of Scotland at Thurso. How, if you were going to ride there - and be on time two and a half days hence - would you do it? Would you go reasonably direct or down every cart track you can find?..... The answer (and I can guess what it is) will tell you much of what you need to know about going 700 miles in France.

Similarly, if you were going to ride 700 miles in the UK, would you just get on with plotting it out or would you ask the world to help you? I suspect you would just do it, no? Well, France (and most of Europe) are much the same as the UK, just larger. The same simple rules still apply, just as as much in sunny Provence as they do in wet and windy Troon..... You can do it, I promise.

Richard

 

[Rasher]

This is what we managed, but we do like being on the bike a lot:

Mark

That was a lot packed into one week, I personally prefer to have a bit more time to hang around here and there, maybe an off bike day, or stop at a Hotel for two nights to take in a nice circular route with no packing to do before setting off.

But if your on a schedule, this shows what can be done in a week

My review from last year shows average speeds for each day, 32-37mph moving average on the Alpine routes, so 6 hours in the saddle (an 8 hour days with regular stops) is 180- 220 miles.

 

[(RIP) orbit]

Rose Rouge would be a perfect place to break your journey if you're returning (or going) via Clermont Ferrand. They are on here in the accommodation section.

The roads around C-F and the one to Rose Rouge and on to Limoges are brilliant and you'll be treated like royalty there. At least I was !

Dave

Thanks for the recommendation Dave

 

[Harlequin25]

That was a lot packed into one week, I personally prefer to have a bit more time to hang around here and there, maybe an off bike day, or stop at a Hotel for two nights to take in a nice circular route with no packing to do before setting off.

But if your on a schedule, this shows what can be done in a week

My review from last year shows average speeds for each day, 32-37mph moving average on the Alpine routes, so 6 hours in the saddle (an 8 hour days with regular stops) is 180- 220 miles.

Tks Rasher. This distance/time info is very useful. Thanks also to everyone else who has provided helpful feedback.

 

[Mr K]

Check out my place www.holiday-provence.co.uk

Not far off the routes you will be taking. Some write ups in the accomadation section 'south of France'

Coming down take the autoroute to Rheims before picking up the RNs. The rest is discovery!

Works for me.