OK, so I said we were on a mission!

One of the objectives of this trip has been to knock off a load of the high mountain passes or Cols, en Français.

This morning we chalked off Col de La République, 1161m(3810ft) and Col Bayard, 1246m(4088ft) but to be fair neither were very special, however, things can change!

Col de La Bonnette lies south of Jausiers, where I’m staying tonight, on the D6.
There are, I believe, several claims as to the highest asphalted pass in the Alps, but this one actually wins! Well only because the inventive French cheated and built a totally useless and otherwise pointless loop, just above the real pass, by 87m at it’s highest, brilliantly bonkers, but I love it!

There are signs all the way up telling you it’s the highest, but amazingly they all get the height wrong!! Even more crazy; build the thing, but hey, tell people the correct height! For the record the pass is 2715m(8907ft) and the loop is 2802m(9193ft). So can we agree, it’s pretty high?

The road from Jausiers really kicks you in the pants from the start, as the hairpins start before you pass the town limit sign. The surface all the way to the summit is fantastic, in places nice and wide, in others a bit tight but ok. It’s about 15 miles to the top and takes about half an hour or so. There are some sweet straight bits, but just about every type of bend/curve/corner you could wish for and some that you wish were not! It was bloody hard work on Harley, not really the bike for this kind of road or altitude, she only has a carburettor and was desperately trying to gulp in the thin air long before the top, where she was surprisingly like an old Honda CB500!

The road climbs through woods and passes through the tree line into ever more barren country. There were still pockets of snow on the more shaded slopes which made a stunning contrast to the dark rock. In a number of locations Alpine Marmots were scampering along and across the road.

Near the top the geology changed to metamorphosed shale, which gives the Col and summit a moonlike appearance, vegetation is almost totally absent. Anyway enough words, pictures say more!

The winding stuff.

Resting at the top.

I told you there was snow!

Nice, eh?

Total miles for today was 255. Which brings the total for the last three days to 928, or 953 since leaving home!

I think I might find another pass or two tomorrow, riding part of La Route des Grandes Alpes, through Briancon, Galibier, L’Iseran and Val D’Isere.

Catch you all later.

Dookes

Puis je continuer?

Gap was like riding through a grill that was set on high and had been for days. The air was so hot that it was more comfortable to keep the helmet visor closed. That said, the town looked really smart, nice and tidy a good mix of old a new, which the French sometimes get very wrong, but here very right, I must go back and explore one day.

Back to the riding, I was praying for things to cool as we climbed, wrong, very wrong, but hey I found another fantastic road. Leaving Gap the D900B was super, on joining the Val de Durance it got a million times better. The road crosses one of two dams near Espinasses that form the Lac de Serre-Ponçon, it then begins to climb and follows the Val D’Ubaye. Go do it, it’s fab and if you don’t ride a motorbike go learn and ride this road! The road climbs and winds up the side of the valley, sometimes against rock, sometimes alpine fields and the views are stunning. You can set a good pace without wringing either yourself, or the machine into a shaking wreck. You sports bike folk would do it a sight quicker than my battleship and I, mais je suis contente! And that’s all you can ask really!

Cop these pics.
Lac de Serre-Ponçon from the lower dam.

And looking back, eight miles further on.

Took fuel again, this time in Barcelonnette…Harley and I had a big job to do next!

Good evening everybody.

Well now here’s a surprise, a hotel which advertises WiFi and the thing actually works! So watch out and prepare for a couple of updates to this developing blog thingy!

Right then, Tournon was hot, very hot, but it just got hotter, Harley and I headed east towards Grenoble. I made up my mind that Autoroutes were out of the question today and boy was I pleased with that decision. The road out of the Rhône valley passed through mile after mile of fruit orchards, cherry, peach, apricot and plums you have never seen so many and lots for sale on roadside stalls. I stopped and bought some apricots, beautify ripe and juicy, six for a Euro, not bad at all!

Further down the road there were walnut trees…miles of them, even more than the fruit, all that was missing was the chocolate! Ok, so you have apple orchards, olive groves…what about walnut trees?

A cracker? I dunno!

After a really nice ride, we arrived on the outskirts of Grenoble, oh dear…keep driving, to be fair I didn’t venture into the city centre, but the outskirts put me off the rest. Grabbed fuel and picked up the N85 Le Route De Napoléon towards Gap.

Now this is a road that has long been on my radar and to be honest I was a little disappointed. It allegedly follows the route taken by Napoléon Bonaparte in 1815 when he returned from exile in Elba. It has a reputation as a great biking road, but I was a little underwhelmed. True there are parts that are fun, some of the views are super, as are the small towns and villages, but….the surface is often terrible, the traffic heavy and camper-vans travel in convoy, 14 in a line was the worse I saw, thankfully going the other way!!! Had some fun when two German Harley riders hooked up with me for the last twenty miles into Gap, which was even hotter than Tournon, 34 degrees would you believe!

Views along the Route de Napoléon.

Bon jour mon amis!

Woke up to thick fog in Le Bessat, mind you, it is over 3000′ above sea level, think Snowdon.
Fog cleared as Harley and I headed towards the Rhône valley.

Currently taking a break in Tournon sur Rhône. Couple of photos attached at end of post.

Sorry that I omitted to report on yesterday’s mileage, total was 378 including the evening excursion into St E.

Today the plan is to continue onto Grenoble, famous for the Winter Olympics in, I think, 1968. Then follow the Route Napoléon to Gap and on to Barcelonette and o/n in Jausiers. Weather is now sweltering, but will doubtless get cooler as the climb into the mountains begins.

Ride hard, ride a Harley!

Dookes

Le Bessat

Ex CdF Vivrais Loco in Tournon

The Rhone at Tournon

Hello again everyone.
Really nice ride this afternoon.

After my lunch stop the sun came out and boy did it shine, which made up for the miserable time Harley and I had this morning. To give you an idea, the time is now 20:40 local and the temp is currently a sweltering 27 degrees C!

Right first up, grab a load of this beauty!

This is a Mirage III jet, mounted imaginatively on a pole in the middle of a roundabout near St Amand. Where else can you find a nuclear bomber on a roundabout…only in France, superb!

Excellent fast run south down the Péage, don’t ask how fast, but that screen sure helps! Mind you all that fast running plays havoc with the fuel economy!!!!

Found a new favourite Autoroute, from Clermont to St Etienne, miles of sweeping bends just made for a Harley. Enjoyed it so much I might change my return route to do it the other way!

Popped into St E tonight, big industrial city, got some tiny nice bits, (had to be careful how it typed that bit, not to many t’s!!!!) don’t go out of your way to visit. Hotel is in a village called Le Bessat, small but nice. Only trouble is the church is next door, tomorrow is Sunday and this is a catholic country, merde!

Picture of the area.

Catch ya later. Thanks for all the messages.

Dookes

Good evening everyone, from a rather warm Chinon.

On reflexion, quite a mixed, yet highly enjoyable day.

I spoke too soon at lunchtime, cos when I got going again it really threw it down for a couple of miles. Then it stopped, then it started, then it stopped and started again…but only for a few minutes each time. By Angers things were definitely looking better, by Saumur the sun came out then it got nicely warm….now it’s pouring again, but the riding is over for the day!

283 miles in total, today, yes I know it’s more than google maps says, but I’m not always going the direct route.

Strangest sight of the day was a car parked in the corner of a field, next to a really fast bit of road, but with AV signs on it (French for À Vendre, for sale). It struck me:
1, Why park it next to a very fast road with no chance of people stopping;
2, No phone number;
3, Would you want to buy a car that had obviously been driven across a rather rutted field??????

Mind you this was pretty strange too, in the middle of a roundabout, halfway between Rennes and Angers…

The Loire between Angers and Saumur.

And finally, my hotel…with ensuite Harley outside my room, perfect!

Catch ya down the road tomorrow, long plugging day down the Autoroute to Clermont Ferrand and St. Étienne, stopping just South of St. E, let’s see what I can find on the way!

Dookes

Don’t worry, no link to Rod the Mod!!!

Well, that was probably the worse 25 miles I have ever ridden! Horizontal torrential rain, gusting high winds, standing water everywhere and knob head car drivers with no lights on that wanted to get on the back of the bike! Rant over…..honest.

On the plus side, Harley and I were waved onto the ship like royalty, at least the French crew sympathise with us bikers in this weather.

Tonight it’s the flagship sailing with MV Pont-Aven, which is both really nice and comfortable but also a darn big boat! Actually, that’s like saying that Turner was quite a good painter and Isaac Newton was OK at maths….the ship is MASSIVE weighing in at 41,700tonnes, she is 605 feet long and 101 feet wide and can carry over 2400 passengers.

She has a fantastic à la carte restaurant, as well as two self service troughs plus every facility that a cruise liner boasts.

MV Pont-Aven was named after the town of Pont-Aven in Brittany. The town is famous as the home of a group of artists known as the Pont-Aven School, and the interior décor of the ship commemorates this link.

Oh I nearly forgot to say I’m booked into one of the Commodore Class Cabins, with loads of luxuries, gotta pamper the old bones these days! Also very nice, is that the cabin has a balcony!!! Not that I’ll be using it on account of the hooley blowing out in the Channel!

MV Pont Aven:

Enough of all that stuff, I’m off to get supper and I think I’m going to treat myself to the à la carte…!

Tomorrow, another day and France.

Sweet Dreams.

Dookes