A few more photos that I want to share. All general views, but you’ll see the road snaking through them, 

Wait a minute, what’s that going round the bend? Let’s zoom in!

Oh that’s OK, it’s just a Brit towing a . . . Caravan!  Situation normal, as I said, round the bend! Enjoy.

Dookes

Ok people, as you may have guessed we have good internet access tonight!

After surviving the Biker Point experience on Edelweißspitz we continued up the road climbing higher qand paused just before the summit tunnel.  

Looking back, that zig-zag track is the road up to the Biker Point. We’ve just come up the road through the lower tunnel, one to go!

I can’t believe that after doing that I was worried about taking her up the mountains!

This fella was clearing snow off the road only the night before. 

Then we took the side road up to Franz Joseph Höhe and the Oberwald Glacier. Don’t let anyone tell you that glaciers are all white, this one is decidedly grubby with all the moraine grits! 

I hope you enjoyed that brief insight as much as I did riding the road.

Catch you soon.

Dookes

I arrived at the Chambres d’Hôtes to find Claude the builder just packing up. He’s been doing some extension work for Pierre, basically adding a rather swish apartment to the end of the barn. Claude also loves motorbikes, though he’s never ridden one and say that in his sixties he’s not about to start!

Pierre is inspecting the work, he acts tough, but as the two of them are old school friends it’s a bit of an act. Claude appears to look at my motorbike; time to wind him up a bit?

“Vous n’avez pas fini!” You’ve not finished?  I grin at him!

“Pas vous aussi, vous voulez tous le sang de Claude!” Not you as well, you all want the blood of Claude! “Vous êtes encore en vie en dépit de votre moto, eh!” You are still alive, despite your motorcycle, eh?

We laugh and smile. “Ça va?” ” Oui, ça va bien!”

It’s nice, we hardly know each other yet can insult like we have been friends for years.

I start to unpack Baby Harls. 

Did you know that chocolate melts at 30degrees Celcius? I do now, as a big bar of dark chocolate with almonds has run just about everywhere in the right hand pannier.

Claude can hardly contain himself, this is the best part of the week for him! Well almost, he and Pierre were just about to have “Un petit verre,” a little drink.

The chocolate has covered the inside of the pannier liner, my Michelin Italian road atlas, a mains lead and various other bits and bobs! Pierre finds a large plastic bag and we dump most of the stuff in it, I’ll sort it when I get home. 

I’m invited to join them for a glass.

My eyes are gritty from the ride, I’m still in my leathers and I stink; I need a shave and a shower, but these guys won’t take no for the answer. “OK, seulement un café!” Just a coffee! They look at me like I’m crazy, it so hot and he wants a coffee? Yes, but I could do with the caffeine from an espresso.

Pierre arrives with the small cup of dark, almost black liquid. Then from nowhere brandishes an Armagnac bottle and adds a splash to the coffee. “Pour la route et pour le chocolat!” For the road and for the chocolate!

What is there not to like about La France?

Dookes 

Before I go on about my inconsequential little trip, I just want to express my solidarity with all those affected by the various violent incidents in France and across the world today. I hope that one day humans will realise that killing each other for any cause is something that deserves to be and should remain in the past.

We rolled out of the hotel in Aigues Mortes spot on ten o’clock, it was already 28 degrees Celcius. Breakfast ended up being more leisurely that I had intended and yes I did get caught by Le Patron, but hey go with the flow and anyway I’d eaten by then, so an extra coffe whilst chewing the fat didn’t matter at all; this is La France after all! The funny thing was that as we talked I remarked that I had never seen the Camargue flamingoes up close, then five minutes down the road I find a massive flock of them, but sorry, no photos as I was on a busy road, still great to see anyway.

We negotiated the city of Montpellier and got on La Méridien, the Sat-Nav told me that this was to be our home for the next 580 kilometres, but I had other plans! Traffic thinned as we headed north and became very pleasant; then we arrived at Pas de L’Escallette where road works put a spanner in everything! Unfortunately the stretch of road was steeply uphill, winding and just into a tunnel = chaos as everyone tried to fight it out and wouldn’t merge in turn, same the world over. From this I learnt that Netherlands drivers hate motorcycles filtering/lane splitting, Belgium drivers hate us even more than the Dutch and actually aim at us, German drivers totally ignore us, Brits don’t like it either but are too embarrassed to say and the French, ah Les Française, they love us because we represent that little bit of La Révolution that is in every one of them and they get out of the way and even help us!

Then we got to le Viaduc de Millau; one of the modern engineering feats of the world. Scribbled on a bit of paper by a Brit, but built by French engineers. The engineers get my vote because I could scribble it, but I ain’t got a clue how to build it, well ok I do, but you can go across it first! The bridge is the tallest in the world with one mast topping out at 343metres above the base of the structure. It is the 12th highest bridge deck in the world, being 270metres between the road deck and the ground below. It cost of approximately €400 million and was formally opened in December 2004,

Then back on the road for another hour and we get to this beauty, Viaduc du Garabit. Built between 1882 and 1884 by Gustave Eiffel, it was opened in 1885. It is 565metres in length and has a principal arch of 165metres span and looks fantastic. We took a little detour off the A75 to see the bridge from this angle, but there is a rest area on the Autoroute from where you can also see it, again,  good French thinking for you! 

 How about from a different angle?  

 What’s even better is that the bridge, at 130 years old, is still doing the job it was designed for, trains run over it daily.

So what was La Méridien like on Baby Harls? 

The short answer is hot, very hot and in more ways than one! We have travelled 380 miles today and whilst I wouldn’t be ready to go do it again now, I’m sitting outside enjoying a late supper and feeling pretty good. In essence it’s the kind of motorcycling that she was designed to do and boy, does she do it well! The cruise control is a real plus, though to be honest I’m still getting used to it, on some of the long straighter sections I certainly was able to relax a bit. We spent most of the day cruising at around 130kph/80mph and if I needed a little extra grunt for an overtake she certainly put a smile on my face! In other words, good fun! 

We did the 320miles from Aigues Mortes to St Amand Montrond in spot on five hours and that included two stops; one for fuel, petrol and coffee and the other was the deviation off to photograph Garabit. So an average speed of 64mph, er, that’s good!

From St Amand we took the back roads along the delightful River Cher. This is the very heart of France, “le centre d’hexagone,” and I love it. It’s a good excuse to not to ride an autoroute all day. The roads were delightfully quiet and the shade from thoughtfully planted trees very welcome, a total contrast from the baking exposure of the Autoroute.

Once we hit La Méridien the temperature never fell below 30degrees and was still up there when we arrived at the Chambres d’Hôtes at 18:30! Hot work indeed.

Now it’s starting to go dark, the last birds are bidding the day farewell and the crickets are chirping to greet the moon. Pierre, the owner of the Chambres has joined me on the patio, we talk of many things; the joy of motorcycling, the tragic stories many corners of France hold and the reasons to enjoy life. We sip small glasses of local wine and gulp larger glasses of Vichy water as the mosquitoes begin to buz around us. Tomorrow, France will wake to a new day we agree, but the sadness of this one will live long; c’est tragique. 

“Sit tight, take hold, Thunder Road.”

Catch you soon.

Dookes

It’s a beautiful morning here in Provence, South West France

I am enjoying my breakfast outside on the hotel patio and the world turns slowly. A few other guests are also beginning the day. Le Patron, the hotel owner is in animated conversation with one poor chap, who is trying to eat but politely waits as Le P. babbles on at him! I pop back inside for a top up of orange juice and interrupt the conversation, the other guest smiles gratefully at me and finally manages to eat as Le P. diverts his attention in my direction, I grab the juice and escape!

Today I’m looking forward to riding a motorway, honestly I am, but not just any ordinary one. This Autoroute is the A75 known also as la Méridienne. 

It was built with the aim of speeding up and reducing the cost of car travel from Paris southwards. Unusually for new French Autoroutes it’s toll free for most of its 210mile length between Clermont-Ferrand and Béziers, except from the short stretch over the famous Millau Viaduct. It opened in December 2010.

One interesting thing about the road is that for many miles it runs at over 3000 feet above sea level as it skirts the edge of the Massif Central. Because it was principally built for cars, some of the gradients are quite interesting as well, the poor lorries struggle in places! 🙂 Im beginning to think that this road was probably built with bikes like Baby Harls in mind as well.

Oh dear Le Patron has returned and is now swooping on another unsuspecting guest, time to make a move!

Let’s ride!
Catch you later.

Dookes

Ok. I think I’d better give a quick update in case anyone out there wants to check on a map to see where we’ve been for the last few days.

After leaving Cuneo in Italy, lovely town as well, we passed over Col de la Lombarde to Isola 2000 in France. Next we rode over Col de la Bonette and the Cime de Bonette to our overnight in Jausiers.

Today we rode over Col de Cayolle, 2326m and then down to the Gorge de Daluis, which was fantastic, so was the Gorge de la Galange, but then they were both overshadowed by the awesome Canyon du Verdon. I’m really looking forward to posting pictures and a better description of the ride for you. Next we crossed across Provence to the Carmargue and our stop for the night.

Hard miles today, wonderful, wonderful, 268 hard miles. The day had everything, hairpins, climbs, descents, tight roads, wide roads, smooth roads and bloody awful roads. I loved every inch of it, or millimetre if you are more modern than me.

We rode from alpine valleys through pine woods to high pastures with mountain flowers. We passed through tight river gorges and tunnels of bare rock to one of the greatest and most beautiful Canyons in Europe, the Canyon du Verdon were we marvelled at the smell of wild tyme and lavender. Finally we chased across Provence, dry and baking in the hot sun, it’s olive groves and Mediterranen oaks giving precious shade, before reaching the flat fertile Camargue. The wheat already harvested and ripening bright green paddy fields of rice, all overseen by the wonderful grey horses and sinister black bulls, whilst storks nest in the power masts and flamingoes feed in the shallow salt marsh lands. Quite a day!

268 miles today; 2150 in total so far!

Catch you soon.

Dookes

I very sorry that I can’t post any pictures at the moment, possibly the internet speed where I’ve been staying, possibly the WordPress App, I don’t know.

I promise that as soon as I can, normal service will be resumed . . . I got some cracking good photos to share with you all!

Dookes

A couple of days ago I wrote that I had thoughts about my new girl not being suited to the mountains. I slept on that and further pondered my words as we rolled along the Autostrada in the Lombardi sunshine; was I right or was there something else that had got inside my head?

Well, nothing gets a free ride inside the Dookes head – nothing, understand!

I came to the conclusion that I was somehow talking myself out of love with this wonderful machine that I was riding. We have a phrase in Britain that sums up what I had convinced myself; it’s called “talking bollocks!” Something so ludicrous that it is beyond mere stupidity! 

I thought about all the places I have ridden her stablemate, Harls; more importantly, how I felt when I first took her into the Alps. The first big Col, or Pass if you like, that we went up was the biggest of them all, Col de la Bonette with it’s wonderfully pointless Cime at 2802m/9193ft and today I had planned to ride it again, but this time from the South, the side I hadn’t done yet.

I seemed to me that basically I needed to rethink the whole process, relearn it if you like, certainly learn how to ride my new bike and forget how I did it on Harls, like any two girls they are different! The problem appeared to be the nut behind the handle bars!

Leaving Cuneo the road to France is pretty much dead straight, “like a Roman road” I mused to myself . . . idiot, of course it’s a Roman road, we were in the land where they invented Roman Roads! The road is a minor trunk route, a bit to tight and slow for most commercial traffic but fairly busy nonetheless. Although it climbs quite high it’s certainly no great challenge over the pass at Col de Larche. We could stay on it. Option two was to go left and over Col de la Lombarde, renowned for being narrow, twisty, bumpy and like climbing the side of a house, a it’s definitely a tougher prospect. I mulled it over as the miles ticked by.

I purposely didn’t fill up with petrol before we began any climbing, I reasoned that if I could keep the top side weight down it might help a bit with the handling. 

Then came the junction and now I had a choice, go easier or turn left and attack Col de la Lombarde, which at 2350m is right up there.

We turned left and I took a deep breath!

The road suddenly narrowed and began to climb sharply, the first hairpins appeared and the scenery looked stunning. Right, down to business. Forget taking photos, forget the scenery, just concentrate on riding. Read the road, feel the road through the bike, feel the bike reacting to the road, get into the zone. Get the speed right, get the right gear; forget what you’d do on Harls, listen to what this girl is telling you and she’ll listen to you!
Gradually we began to get it together. We got sharper through the hairpins, nicer lines and much smoother. I started to feel the brake better, not easy with a 410kg bike plus the luggage and me, call it half a tonne, hell that’s heavy!

Best of all I started to really enjoy her again. We crested the summit in style, very happy with the job we had done and now paused to take in the view; fuel was getting a tad low, but it was downhill for a while now. We took on a splash of petrol in Isola, not much just enough to do the job, and set off towards Bonnette; I had unfinished business . . .

Before the big climb really got going, we paused. I needed to take on some water and sugar. The way ahead didn’t look daunting now, it was calling us on and Baby and I were ready. 

“Come on with me, tramps like us, baby we were born to run.”

Dookes
PS Still suffering from either poor WiFi or poor WordPress App and I can’t post pictures! Pictures will follow soon, I promise!