I haven't been down to Annecy for a while, so here goes.
A two day, reasonably long distance ride to get down there. I would hope to go over the evening before, probably on a Friday on a train around 19:00, staying reasonably close to Calais, maybe in St Omer.
Saturday and Sunday, spent riding down taking where possible the decent D road routes where sensibly possible.
Three or four full days in Annecy or a town close by. I have a bunch of ride-out routes, ranging from 50km right through to 450 km, so there should be enough to do.
If we went for the three days in Annecy option, we could leave on the Thursday, returning up through France on the D roads again. Depending on the route taken I fancy ringing a change in our return crossing. What I have in mind is taking an early afternoon train, say around 14:30 on the Saturday. This has its advantages:
1. It gives two and a half days to get back to Calais
2. It is much quieter at the Chunnel and leaves a good part of Saturday / all of Sunday for bods to get home / get their lives together
3. It would work just as well if we went for the four days in Annecy option, simply swapping Sunday afternoon for Saturday
Suitable for: Anyone who can ride a motorcycle. We will not be doing any deliberate off-road sections but some of the cols may well be tight, twisty and not billiard table smooth. There will also be some longish days to get where we are going. In short, enjoy riding your bike already or get to love it.
Cost: France is not cheap as such and we are not staying in F1's. This is a possible hotel I have in mind http://www.hotelarcalod.fr/accueil_en.html That being said, it's cheaper than it was a year or so ago as the euro has devalued against the English peseta.
How many bikes: Six is good, so five plus me. Pillions welcome. All subject to room availability. I will be advertising the ride elsewhere, too.
Mileages: Calais to Annecy is 820 km DIRECT. Let's call that 500 miles in Christian money. But we won't be going directly, so the two days' daily mileages will definitly climb. In short, early starts and definitely cracking on. That being said, I am never averse to taking motorways or direct major roads if for whatever reason time runs short, the weather is crap, someone (or anyone) has a problem and / or if there is no sensible alternative. Similarly, if anyone wants to go on alternative routes, that's great.... See you at the hotel and get the beers in.
Routs / navigation. As above. I will prepare Garmin GPS routes for everyday. As required we can use the marker 'drop off' system, too.
Date: Tricky to tell at the moment but I fancy late August / early to mid September. The reason why I hesitate is that I have other jaunts in mind, so need to be reasonably flexible.
Anything else: On all Wanders in the future I will ask for very basic details of Wanderers' Travel and Breakdown insurance. Simiarly, I will let everyone have mine. I was on a ride to the Alps a couple of weeks ago when a bod crashed, injuring his pillion sufficient to put her into hospital for two days. The damaged bike had to be recovered back to the UK. His Travel insurance had expired! The position was saved as by fortunate chance his pillion had some basic cover via her bank account. Pure luck. Had they both been badly injured (or worse) it would have been tricky (and very expensive) to help them. Shit does not happen that often.... Let's not make it any worse when it does.
On that happy note, who fancies a jaunt to the Savoie?
Richard
A two day, reasonably long distance ride to get down there. I would hope to go over the evening before, probably on a Friday on a train around 19:00, staying reasonably close to Calais, maybe in St Omer.
Saturday and Sunday, spent riding down taking where possible the decent D road routes where sensibly possible.
Three or four full days in Annecy or a town close by. I have a bunch of ride-out routes, ranging from 50km right through to 450 km, so there should be enough to do.
If we went for the three days in Annecy option, we could leave on the Thursday, returning up through France on the D roads again. Depending on the route taken I fancy ringing a change in our return crossing. What I have in mind is taking an early afternoon train, say around 14:30 on the Saturday. This has its advantages:
1. It gives two and a half days to get back to Calais
2. It is much quieter at the Chunnel and leaves a good part of Saturday / all of Sunday for bods to get home / get their lives together
3. It would work just as well if we went for the four days in Annecy option, simply swapping Sunday afternoon for Saturday
Suitable for: Anyone who can ride a motorcycle. We will not be doing any deliberate off-road sections but some of the cols may well be tight, twisty and not billiard table smooth. There will also be some longish days to get where we are going. In short, enjoy riding your bike already or get to love it.
Cost: France is not cheap as such and we are not staying in F1's. This is a possible hotel I have in mind http://www.hotelarcalod.fr/accueil_en.html That being said, it's cheaper than it was a year or so ago as the euro has devalued against the English peseta.
How many bikes: Six is good, so five plus me. Pillions welcome. All subject to room availability. I will be advertising the ride elsewhere, too.
Mileages: Calais to Annecy is 820 km DIRECT. Let's call that 500 miles in Christian money. But we won't be going directly, so the two days' daily mileages will definitly climb. In short, early starts and definitely cracking on. That being said, I am never averse to taking motorways or direct major roads if for whatever reason time runs short, the weather is crap, someone (or anyone) has a problem and / or if there is no sensible alternative. Similarly, if anyone wants to go on alternative routes, that's great.... See you at the hotel and get the beers in.
Routs / navigation. As above. I will prepare Garmin GPS routes for everyday. As required we can use the marker 'drop off' system, too.
Date: Tricky to tell at the moment but I fancy late August / early to mid September. The reason why I hesitate is that I have other jaunts in mind, so need to be reasonably flexible.
Anything else: On all Wanders in the future I will ask for very basic details of Wanderers' Travel and Breakdown insurance. Simiarly, I will let everyone have mine. I was on a ride to the Alps a couple of weeks ago when a bod crashed, injuring his pillion sufficient to put her into hospital for two days. The damaged bike had to be recovered back to the UK. His Travel insurance had expired! The position was saved as by fortunate chance his pillion had some basic cover via her bank account. Pure luck. Had they both been badly injured (or worse) it would have been tricky (and very expensive) to help them. Shit does not happen that often.... Let's not make it any worse when it does.
On that happy note, who fancies a jaunt to the Savoie?
Richard