All booked Sept 11th. Wednesday...Euro tunnel Calais to Troyes Sept 12th . Troyes to Grenoble Sept 13th. Grenoble and on to the Route Napoleon to Grasse Sept 14th Grasse to Nice/Cannes/Route Napoleon back to Grenoble Sept 15th Grenoble to Troyes Sept 16th Troyes to Calais and ferry home. Approx 2000 miles, Hotels all pre booked, just hope for good weather
16th June Plymouth Santander 27th June St Malo Portsmouth This will include some Cantabrians, the N260 in the Pyrenees and probably a few days in Castelanne in the Alps. 3 weeks to go and so much to do.......
That sounds gleaming, Ninja. As much info as poss on your return, please. This might be an option for us in October.
Two weeks to go; June 17th Guernsey - St Malo - Laval for the night. 18th Laval to Clemont Ferrand, possibly a blast round to Mont Dore via Chambon sur Lac 19th Clermont Ferrand to Castellane for 3 nights, Col de la Bonnette, Lac de St Croix Gorge du Verdon etc. 22nd Castellane to Lake Como via french coast and up into Italy 23rd Lake Como to Kitzbuhel, Austria for 3 nights - Grossglockner, Kehlstein etc 26th Kitzbuhel via Lake Constance to Riquewihr in Alsace, France 27th Riquewihr to Beauvais northern France. 28th Beauvais to friends house in small two horse town 30 miles from St Malo 29th Ferry back home. Really looking forward to it but bit dubious about the flooding, landsides etc in Bavaria/Austria area, hell the Grossglockner webcam shows a very bleak picture and still having fresh snow!!! hopefully all sorted by the time we get there.
Will edit the first post tonight to add these in. Having just got back from tough trip with weather in central Europe I wish we had gone 2 weeks later.
Looks like we'll see you in Castellane. We'll be camping at Fredric Mistral just out off the town centre on the road to the gorge.
We are in castellane thur 20th to sun 23rd also!! You boys been before? Done RN a few times but never been based there, advice on other days out etc would be awesome!! Also try and catch up down there.
Jimbo - look for my trip report from last June - stayed there 3 days, great town and wish I'd been back this June and not in the snow! All the roads in all directions are awesome - Nice / Monaco close(ish) - Gorge Verdun, passes to the north for views etc. Mount Vontue for some history
Could well do, were staying in the Nouvel Hotel du Commerce in town, it'll be 2 BMW S1000, a gixxer and me on 09 HRC. If you're gonna do the N260, which is a frickin awesome road for sure, consider picking up the D118 near Font-Romeu-Odeillo heading to Axat, Quillan and on to Carcasonne, this is the Gorges de St George, not a fast road really but one of those awesome roads with a 15ft road, small river and 300ft cliffs either side of you. I can recommend the Hotel Hotel Carcassonne - HOTEL DU PONT VIEUX site officiel : hotel la cite, Aude, 11, Pays Cathare, chambre hotel, hebergement, hotel familial its a quirky old hotel close the old castle town which is great for restaurants if a little touristy. Good Garage for bikes though.
Been in the area twice before but never stayed in Castellane, wanted to be closer to the good roads in this area. All the roads round here are good but look out for caravanners taking a wide line round blind bends where the cliff overhangs the road not to mention the motorhomes. A good day or afternoon if you fancy not riding too much is go to Lac de St Croix and hire kayaks, you can paddle up the gorge really good way to spend some time, only about 11 euros for an hour last time, the guys there will look after your bike gear too but you do get a watertight barrel to put stuff in and take it with you.
If you do that road watch the railway crossing on a weird angle - get it wrong and your bike slides down the track, brake level hits the live rail and BOOM - railway and road shuts down and your fork leg is blown open - kind of ruins your holiday when it happens on day 1...
Twice a year normally. Which ever way you head out of Castelanne (it seems to be spelled differently every time you see it.....must look at the welcome to **** sign this year!!) you won't be disappointed. Just watch out for speed traps between Digne les Bains and just south of Baremme. I got well and truly done last year. I reckon we'll be there on the 21st.......if all goes to plan. We'll be a black and white Fireblade, an orange ZX-10R (he'll never get run over!) and a blue ZX-12R. We have done that road you mentioned. It's all pretty fantastic around the N260. Some amazing roads and sights.
Well this was our original trip Booked the ferries yesterday, off to south of France, Sept 13 - Hull -Zeebrugge ferry Sept 14 - Zeeb to Troyes Sept 15 - Troyes to Le Puy en Velay Sept 16 - Le Puy en Velay Sept 17 - blat north Sept 18 Zeebrugge - Hull But having looked at the roads round Castellane I think we may detour, looks very nice and bendy.
Gutted my trip was a bit poor - so temped to book a week off and head back to castellane, loved it down there last year!
From Le Puy head towards Vallence and then to a place called Die and then onwards towards the N85 to join it just north of Serres. There are some ultra fast bits and some nice hilly twisties too! Serres to Digne les Bains is rubbish but it's brilliant just after Digne all the way to Castellane.
Jimbo / Dave and others going to Southern France / Castellane http://1000rr.co.uk/touring/9221.htm Hope some good info in that to help with your planning - I stayed at the closest campsite to town square - was just really handy to walk 2 mins to the town square for a beer or breakfast
30th June Hull-Rotterdam overnight for me and 8 pals. Heading for just outside Bitburg, Germany for a 4 night stay. Ride down about 230 miles, via Adenau (Lunch near the Ring), then the 257 onwards which is a great road. Used the Hotel Muller in Kyllburg before on several occasions (last time was 2011) and it is a great base for rides East (Mosel Valley), West (Luxembourg) and South (Trier and beyond....). The owner is a biker, generous with beer and a bit eccentric ! Back 5th July overnight to Hull. Can't wait. Just hope that the waterproofs are not needed !
Going down to the Alps last weekend of august to do this one day circuit of Mont Blanc . Four mountain passes including the Grand and Petit St Bernard. Lunch in Italy; can't wait Same route we did a couple of years ago.
