Sunday 12 August 2012

Day 7 to 9 - Going home


After a splendid evening in Menton, we took 3 days to go home. First day took us up to Bourgoin (close to Grenoble). Second day took us to Essoyes (close to Troyes). Last day took us home. No specific things to mention, next to the fact that we had some limited curves here or there that gave us a bit of excitement, but nothing of course compared to everything we did in the Alpes.

To end, let me give you some extra pics that we took along the way:




The last picture is showing a Poule de Bresse. Nice little animal :)

This will be the last post of our trip. Should you ever come across this blog and/or should you have questions on our road book, preparation we did, etc then don't hesitate to drop us a note.

Take care,
Stef and Koen



Wednesday 8 August 2012

Day 6 - Menton


We woke up this morning we a clear blue sky again :) We only had to cover 75 kms today, so this should have been a piece of cake.

The roads that we had to cover were not in excellent conditions at times, so we had to be extra careful today to make sure that we got in Menton safely. In the end it took us up to 4h in the afternoon to get to Menton.

We made a stop at one of the cols at noon, the Col de Turini:



And we took some pictures from the bar in the hotel (in Menton) on the 7th floor:



Today was the last of the Route des Grandes Alpes. Tomorrow we will start going up to Belgium again. Plans are to leave at 8h in the morning, as we have to cover 460 kms up to Bourgoin (close to Grenoble). However, we still have to go out to grab some diner. And I hope we will have enough resistance to the drinks this time. Hmm ... :)

Day 5 - Valberg

As we didn't have any decent internet connection yesterday, we had to wait to post an update of yesterday till this evening. So here we go:

We woke up in Briancon with a clear blue sky. So weather conditions did change completely over night. After we good breakfast we mounted the bikes and left around 9h30 for a ride of "only 130 kms". Although the amount of kms to cover were minor compared to previous days, it still took us till +/- 17h to get our new destination, Valberg.

Yesterday was definitely the best till then, taking into account the excellent weather, but also the region we covered was fantastic. A lot of green valleys, magnificent views, great mountains to cross. On the latter, we had to go over the Col d'Izoard :




The Col de Vars :



And finally, the Col de Cayolle :


Last, a nice picture of the valley we went thru when going from the Col d'Izoard to the Col de Vars:


We had a great day, but were tired of the many mountains that we had to cross. We closed the days with some food (could have been better) and some drinks. Again :)

Monday 6 August 2012

Day 4 - Briancon


We woke up a bit earlier today then previous days. Weather forecast weren't that impressive, so we thought to beat the system by leaving a half to an hour earlier ... In the beginning our approach seemed to work. We had a lovely sunshine when looking out of the balcony :


So we took a quick breakfast, loaded the bikes and took of. We left Tignes and drove thru Val d'Isere (see picture below) to attack the Col d'Iseran.


It was a fabulous mountain to climb, leading us up to +/- 2500 m of altitude. Not so far away from the top, we had a table that gave us a full view on the surrounding mountains. Have a look:




Fantastic - isn't it. We were able to cross the Col d'Iseran in good conditions. And that was about it for the day. Our planned that started so well in the beginning of the day, didn't seem to be "waterproof" ...

Meaning, when going down the Col d'Iseran the rain started to drop slowly but surely. We climbed down to Modane to take a quick lunch. Rain continued to come down. And we still had to go over the Col du Galibier. So that's what we did indeed in the end - rain trashing down and turning into hail at times, fog coming in, temperature going below 10 degrees, goats crossing the roads all of a sudden, etc. We managed to cross the Galibier safely, and arrived at 16h in our hotel in Briancon. A good shower, some Mojito and Havana restored our mindsets :) So we gave the bikes a quick freshen up sessions to rinse down the dust and all the mud that they collected during the latest 2 days.

Weather conditions for tomorrow are looking good. No rain ... bikes are shiny again, ready for another 130 kms. No straight roads ahead of us. Only turns going from left to right to left to right to ... :) So let's see what tomorrow gives.

Sunday 5 August 2012

Day 3 - Tignes

We woke up this morning and the weather didn't look very promising. A lot of grey clouds and poring rain ... Well we decided to pack the bikes in any case and give it a try. We left around 9h30 and drove up to the Alpes. We started with the Col du Colombier. As it was still raining and as the mountain was hanging into the clouds, we took a steady pace and didn't take any pictures.

Coming down the mountain, it stopped raining and we arrived at Chinaillon to take some lunch. It stopped raining for about an hour and a half. As we were ready to start riding again, it started raining again as well. Bad timing ... We continued our trip however and were rewarded with a nice and sunny afternoon that allowed us to cross some nice areas. See the shot below to get an impression:


The summary of the villages that we passed today: La Baume, Les Gets, Morzine, Cluses, Flumet, Beaufort, Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Tignes (where we are staying for the night).

We also passed by the "lac de Roselend". Very nice. And afterwards made a stopped at +/- 1800 m altitude. Took a coffee. Have a look here :



The last half an hour gave us a big shower of rain again ... Let's hope the weather is better tomorrow. We have a lot of big mountains to cross then (> 2700 m of altitude ...). We decide to boost our energy with a bottle of Pommard of 1999. Nice way to end the day :) We'll be back tomorrow with more info ...


Day 2 - Towards Thonon Les Bains

Right - as we didn't have internet connectivity yesterday evening, we decided to post the update of yesterday this evening. So we drove up from Friday evening's place up to Thonon-Les-Bains, which is one of the villages close to the "lac de Genève". See the picture for a nice shot of the lake:



Rain showers came in late yesterday afternoon, as you can see. That's exactly what we were confronted with on the next day. See next post for more info. In the end, we had a fabulous ride through the Jura region in France, using both national and departmental roads.

By the way, the commercial was done by Nicole Kidmann :)

Saturday 4 August 2012

Lunch in Arbois (Jura).

200kms further and we arrived in Arbois. We stopped to take a quick lunch. Nice roundabout where the terraces are located :

Friday 3 August 2012

This is the post of our first day that took us from our hometown (Knesselare) up to Contrexéville in France.

We left this morning at 7h30. Look at these shiny horses and some of their riders. Ready to take up the big task, as you can see:





We left at 7h30, took the E40 in the direction of Namur and afterwards left the highway to pass Dinant, Givet, Sedan, Verdun, Neufchateau to drive up to Contrexéville (close to Vittel). Yes both towns are linked to those famous water brands. Although I must admit that we decided not to have any water during diner, but went for some Rosé wine instead. Hé, we are in France. What did you expect ? Sounds a bit like that commercial of (what's her name again ... ?). So we arrived at 18h30. So that's a trip of about 11h. Nice for a first day.

By the way, we found the Golem creature (of the Lord of the Rings, remember) in Neufchateau. Gave quite a chock. I was fast enough to take a picture :



Now after a second look, I saw that it was my buddy:


Ouf...

Right, that's it for now. We will kill some extra Rosé wine now and probably leave somewhere between 9h and 10h tomorrow morning. 380 kms to go. Looking forward to it ...


Tuesday 10 July 2012

My buddy has decided to clean up his bike a bit as well. A splendid VFR it is, fully equipped with tank bag, top case, etc. Have a look at this nice picture just below... Aaahhh we definitely start to feel the thrill and look forward to our trip ...


Sunday 8 July 2012

Inner bag

Just bought an inner bag that nicely fits the top case. Next step is to take all the baggage needed and store it into all the luggage compartments that I have available now. Something to do for the days to come...

Saturday 7 July 2012

As the start date of our journey is approaching, it is time to prepare the motorbike. And that's exactly what I did today. I removed the seat cap and mounted the top case. This is the first time that I did that and I am surprised about the additional weight that is generated on the bike when I take of its main stand. I'll definitely will need to take it for a spin in the days to come, to make sure that it indeed doesn't impact too much the riding experience. If needed, I'll switch to the alternative - being a bag that can be fixed on the rear part of the bike' seat. I'll post a new message once the test ride is done :). By the way, here you can find a picture of the Honda VFR, nice and clean, with the top case.


Monday 30 April 2012

Now - this is it. The place where you should be able to find all info on our preparations, pictures, experiences, emotions, you name it ... all related to our motorcycle trip that will guide us thru the French Alpes. 

If all goes according to plan we will leave our home town Knesselare, which is a very small village in the East of Flanders, on the 2nd of August 2012. We will travel using National Roads up to the lake of Geneva, where we will start a tour of 3 days to cross the French Alpes, based on the existing "Route des Grandes Alpes" or the "Great Alpione Road (in English)". Check this link if you want to learn more: http://www.losapos.com/great_alpine_road. After 3 days we should arrive in Menton, which is a city located in the South of France, close to the Italian border. Nice city, "du beau monde", a bit of sun, beach.  That's what I call a good excuse to stay there for a while. 

We calculated that it will take us about 9 to 10 days to do the whole trip. Hmmm ... that will be a lot of miles in a short timeframe ...