Don’t know why the first 2 pics are side on...?
Brits doing the Route Des Grand Alpes...
- Thread starter Urban Rider
- Start date
Soon after leaving Dijon the inevitable happened and the skies opened with sustained torrential rain.. My Badlands Pro did it’s job as usual but as we didn’t stop in time I still had my summer gloves on which were now soaked through along with the cuffs at the end of each sleeve of my jacket. We were hopeful that it would be a quick storm that would pass but it did not. It appeared to be following us south and only after a few hours did it finally cease... By this time we’d all had enough and as we were all done, Tyrone’s Streetguard suit had leaked and he was soaked. Along with my cuffs and gloves we decided a night under canvas was not happening so we looked for a hotel... Booking.com came up trumps and we soon found ourselves booked into the Hotel Du Lacs in Pont-De-La-Chaux which is around half way between Dijon and Geneva.. It turns out that the owner of the establishment is a biker (although it was a Intruder thing) and he opened up the garage for us to park the bikes under cover for the evening... We got checked in and asked if there was any food available, he said no but that he would take us to a local restaurant (or so we thought)...
After hanging wet gloves and helmets on radiators we headed down to the bar for a well earned beer. The owner handed us a beer each followed by his car keys!!! Telling us it was a Land Rover Freelander and we were free to use it!! Brilliant, never have I been handed a beer and a set of car keys from someone else...
After hanging wet gloves and helmets on radiators we headed down to the bar for a well earned beer. The owner handed us a beer each followed by his car keys!!! Telling us it was a Land Rover Freelander and we were free to use it!! Brilliant, never have I been handed a beer and a set of car keys from someone else...
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I’m on the the return route back up through France at the moment after doing the RDGA amongst other passes etc. Hope you have a good ride. 
I also hope you’ve brought your thermals cos it’s getting blooming cold at nights now! 
I’ve had to put the heating on in my motorhome nearly every night so far. 
I also hope you’ve brought your thermals cos it’s getting blooming cold at nights now! I’ve had to put the heating on in my motorhome nearly every night so far. 
Please don't make a knee jerk reaction to me commenting on this, and I'm not "trolling" or "flaming" you, but it staggers me just how many folk get themselves in such a situation.....clearly blindly following a twatnav gadget in all contradiction to the many clearly displayed and worded road signs on their intended route.
To even use a twatnav from Calais to Reims is somewhat odd, in my view, but to follow one in the wrong direction puddles my mind.
I know I'm old school by using maps and written road/town bullet points on a card, but it's always worked. Perhaps so because I've already got the route in my head from looking at the map previously.
Go on, I dare you, switch the gadgets off and do it for real.
Oh, I forgot to say, I'm enjoying the read.
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Please don't make a knee jerk reaction to me commenting on this, and I'm not "trolling" or "flaming" you, but it staggers me just how many folk get themselves in such a situation.....clearly blindly following a twatnav gadget in all contradiction to the many clearly displayed and worded road signs on their intended route.
To even use a twatnav from Calais to Reims is somewhat odd, in my view, but to follow one in the wrong direction puddles my mind.
I know I'm old school by using maps and written road/town bullet points on a card, but it's always worked. Perhaps so because I've already got the route in my head from looking at the map previously.
Go on, I dare you, switch the gadgets off and do it for real.
Oh, I forgot to say, I'm enjoying the read.
I disagree entirely. Getting slightly off track is part and parcel of a good trip.
Ive stumbled across sone amazing roads and little towns throughout the world doing just this.
It is an "Adventure" bike is it not.
Great trip chaps. Keep it coming
For others benefit
The M20 is / has been a royal PIA for some time - with a possible Brexit it could be worse still. The A20 will be swamped and littered with trucks taking breaks and lost motorists as the Highways Agency are f*cking shite at updating the Diversion signs.
Take the A2/M2/A2 aiming for Canterbury instead and go cross country. I use the B2068 Stone Street but there are others..
Cheers OP, enjoying your holiday
Keep it coming, getting lost is part of the fun!
Come on, Chris, you can do better than MuckDonalds!
Nowt wrong with a double muffin & cappoo
Cheers Leedude��
Right, back on track and we’re into Day 3..
woke to beautiful blue skies and sunshine although it was a chilly 6 degrees... Breakfast of the usual croissants, baguette, ham and cheese out the way and we were soon in the garage getting the bikes out..
The plan for today was to get into the RDGA proper so we set off with no real plan other than to avoid motorways, toll roads etc and get to the south of Geneva.. We rode some lovely roads and ended up stopping in a small village called Saint Germain De Joux for a quick coffee break before pressing on. A few hours later we found ourselves in a place called Bonneville where we refuelled and headed off again. It wasn’t long before we picked up the route and we’re treated to the most fantastic riding. We soon reached Le Reposoir and then on to Grand Bornand where we decided to camp for the evening...
woke to beautiful blue skies and sunshine although it was a chilly 6 degrees... Breakfast of the usual croissants, baguette, ham and cheese out the way and we were soon in the garage getting the bikes out..
The plan for today was to get into the RDGA proper so we set off with no real plan other than to avoid motorways, toll roads etc and get to the south of Geneva.. We rode some lovely roads and ended up stopping in a small village called Saint Germain De Joux for a quick coffee break before pressing on. A few hours later we found ourselves in a place called Bonneville where we refuelled and headed off again. It wasn’t long before we picked up the route and we’re treated to the most fantastic riding. We soon reached Le Reposoir and then on to Grand Bornand where we decided to camp for the evening...
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Damn photos!! Will upload more tomorrow when I have a decent WiFi signal...currently camping at Lake Annecy and start the ride north tomorrow...
Enjoying following the boys - looking a great trip - the comments re the sat nav always make me smile - so to try and retain some sort of biker cred we will keep this to ourselves ok
I planned our trip to return to a farm house in Germany - Mrs enjoyed it last time - we left France and travelled most of the day
The farm house was in Oberried Friberg Germany
We were nearly there - Mrs says mmmm we must be close - hills and farmland look familiar - it was about 18.00 and i was getting tired
i had the booking sheet in my pocket so i saw a guy and pulled up - fully loaded - really looking the part and said excuse me do you speak English - yes was his reply - so i thought thank fcuk cos i don't talk German
Pulled out the sheet - i said - can you tell me where this is cos i can't find it
He looked at me a bit odd and said - you want Oberried Freiberg Germany ???
i said yes - he replied
You are in Oberried Freiberg Switzerland - luckily i had my helmet on and he couldn't really see the prick who was asking for directions
Well i almost got it right - just wrong bleeding country and 150 miles away
i mumbled thank you and said i better get a move on then
Chris,
Might be a silly question but why you riding north tomorrow ??
If you’re staying in Le Grand Bornand then you are at the start of where the RDGA gets going.
Are you wanting to ride to Thonon Les Bains to then turn round and ride the RDGA in its entirety ?
If so then you’ll spend most of the day getting back to where you started.
Unless you need to tick the box, I would recommend riding up to the cafe at the top of the Col de la Colombiere just to your north, have a coffee and then head south.
I’m doing pretty much exactly that next week as I’m starting in La Clusaz just a tad south of where you are now.
I’ve done the RDGA many times and it doesn’t really get going until Col de la Colombiere.
Just a thought !
so there i was just cruising back from Mandello del Lario , when passing a McDonald's , i spy , 3 overloaded and obviously rarely used , gs's parked up . i drift into the car park , do a quick circuit , to find a slot, and park. Walk over to 3 fat blokes stuffing their faces , and ask.....are you Tossers ? Yes, they say , do you know any good roads round here , cos we ain't got a clue what we is doing !
Cheers Martin,
We stayed in Grand Bornand on Monday evening and have ridden down to do the Col d’liseran and stayed in Modane last night. I’m a few days behind on the write up so just catching up on things now. As we only had 7 days in total we were never going to be able to ride the whole route without being knackered at the end of every day. As we are camping as well we wanted to stop at a decent time to find campsites etcy
Just gives us an excuse to come back to do the bits we missed...
We stayed in Grand Bornand on Monday evening and have ridden down to do the Col d’liseran and stayed in Modane last night. I’m a few days behind on the write up so just catching up on things now. As we only had 7 days in total we were never going to be able to ride the whole route without being knackered at the end of every day. As we are camping as well we wanted to stop at a decent time to find campsites etc
yJust gives us an excuse to come back to do the bits we missed...
Chris,
Might be a silly question but why you riding north tomorrow ??
If you’re staying in Le Grand Bornand then you are at the start of where the RDGA gets going.
Are you wanting to ride to Thonon Les Bains to then turn round and ride the RDGA in its entirety ?
If so then you’ll spend most of the day getting back to where you started.
Unless you need to tick the box, I would recommend riding up to the cafe at the top of the Col de la Colombiere just to your north, have a coffee and then head south.
I’m doing pretty much exactly that next week as I’m starting in La Clusaz just a tad south of where you are now.
I’ve done the RDGA many times and it doesn’t really get going until Col de l
Just a thought !
Cheers Martin,
We stayed in Grand Bornand on Monday evening and have ridden down to do the Col d’liseran and stayed in Modane last night. I’m a few days behind on the write up so just catching up on things now. As we only had 7 days in total we were never going to be able to ride the whole route without being knackered at the end of every day. As we are camping as well we wanted to stop at a decent time to find campsites etc
Just gives us an excuse to come back to do the bits we missed...
Ah no probs !
Hope you having fun ? Can’t wait to get back to my fav area.
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