Brits doing the Route Des Grand Alpes...

Not finished yet Leedude, just explaining where we were aiming to be by the end of the day.. Got 2 more nights of camping to come and a night in Calais yet...

....:JB
 
Right then Day 5 continued and it's Wednesday and with full tanks, we plan to ride more passes and end the day at Lake Annecy..

First stop of the day is at Saint-Francois-Longchamps for more stunning views..

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And after a few more curves in the road we arrived at this stunning spot called Aiton...

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From then on we were riding in the opposite mountains to where these photos were taken and we were only a few hours away from Lake Annecy.. The roads got narrower and more technical, slower and harder to ride, however once through them we were treated to the delights of tarmac that introduce you to the lovely Lake Annecy....
 
Before arriving at the lake we stopped for a coffee in La Compote... Nice setting

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As mentioned the last 10 miles or so into Lake Annecy were fantastic, miles of smooth twisties, made for the GS and we arrived with smiles on our faces. Before looking to camp we stoped to refuel..

Pic added to satisfy those who like food shots in ride reports...:D

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We rode around the lake for a awhile looking for a campsite at the waters edge and eventually came across the International Campsite and had a pitch less than 2 minutes walk to the water...

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The lake was stunning and above us were paragliders (?) aplenty...

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I also made a new friend while we were there, a beautiful 4 month old Belgium Malanois...

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Looking at this pics now i should have taken a few steps back as you lot would have appreciated the pics much more!!:green gri

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Jon and Ty went out to get some supplies in and we decided we would cook on a disposable Barbecue and have sausages, french bread and pork kebabs...

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Tyrone was put in charge of cooking and it soon became apparent that the disposable barbecue was not producing the required heat and should have been disposed of.. Nevertheless we persevered and soon we were chomping down the lot..

Jon in deep conversation with the missus whilst watching lunatics float under canopy connected by string!!

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Another bike shot....because...

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So after a few G&Ts we took a few nighttime shots of the lake and went to bed...Although later in the night all wasn't well in my tent...

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So around midnight i needed an urgent visit to the loos and all the sausages and pork kebabs came back to haunt me for the next 30 minutes or so...Not nice, however after it was all out i felt much better and had a good nights sleep in the tent.

The next morning the views over the lake were stunning...

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So after packing everything up we set off with the only aim of avoiding motorways. Had a great ride and ended up in a place called Perrigny-sur-l'ognon just to the north east of Dijon and found a place to camp on the banks of the river Saone... There was plenty of space so we spread ourselves out a little...

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Another good night ensued with arguably the best meal of the trip, experienced during a stunning sunset... T-bone steak cooked to perfection with pomme frites, lovely!! Didn't get any pics of it as it wasn't around long enough :D

Anyway the following morning we were treated to another gorgeous sunrise...

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And that was pretty much it for the trip, we knew we had to be in Calais for the evening so we weren't in any major hurry to set off. We let the tents dry out a little and i think we were on the road by around 1000. We avoided motorways up until we got to around Reims then accepted that we just wanted to get there and did the last few hours munching miles.. We stayed in a cheap hotel in Calais although it had x2 bunk beds and a double.. I had decided to change my train from the 0955 crossing to the 0615 giving me a few more hours at home on the Sat to sort stuff out before heading to Slovakia on Sunday.. Right across the road from us was an American diner type restaurant so we all had our last meal there... I then got up at 0400 on Sat morning to get the train, was at the tunnel for 0500 and boarded last with the carriage to myself..
Great trip and great company as always, thanks to both Jon and Ty for their banter humour and cooking skills...

Glad we did it although if i was to do it again i'd plan more time to do the full RDGA from Le Clusaz down to Nice then pick up the Route Napoleon back to Grenoble, ideally i'd plan for a minimum of a 10 day trip to do it properly....

Last few pics...

Looks like a set form Happy Days:thumb2

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:thumb2
 
Nice one, Chris, looks like a great trip. :thumb
 
Morning all,

i was intending to write this report up at the end of the trip but I have some time now and the WiFi here is good so though I’d do a quick update..

Day 1...

in a word, uneventful.... I hate the ride down to Folkestone, it’s long monotonous and boring. Made even worse as the M20 was closed this weekend (J9-11) resulting in horrendous traffic all the way to the terminal... What is normally a crap 2hr ride turned into a really crap 3 hour ride!!
Anyway we arrived safe and after a typical tosser style lunch (Leon I said, feck that Burger King is open they said) we were ready to board the train...

Great minds think alike! Or fools never differ? I stopped there on my way back from the Großglockner about 3 weeks ago. Cheap and clean and a McDonald's round the corner! Have a great time mate. Ride Safe
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
A great read made all the better with your pictures thanks for taking the trouble:beerjug:
 


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