Thinking of doing the Route Napolean on the way to florence via Cannes. Worth doing?? Going to start out at Reims, then Grenoble, picking up the route Naploean to Nice, then onto Florence via Pisa. Reims to Grenoble is going to be boring via the autoroutes, but from then on should be epic. Thoughts?
Oh yes.... Def worth doing. Unlike the Germans, who maintain their roads, Rn can be hit and miss. Some years awesome some patchy. B500 and 48 are epic riding, 500 too busy though IMO. Rn is just awesome and on a bigger scale, the scenery is incredible!! Try and do mid week though mate as can get busy weekends. The bit into castlelane is mind blowing We've used Reims as our 1st stop over plenty of times, some great roads down to Grenoble doable in a day avoiding motorways
oh and if you can get a stop over in castellane, do it... great days riding out from there mate. and some cool camp sites you can get bungalow's to park your bike outside and have a bbq. I road from nice to bologna and tbh - that's a pretty boring days ride. only option I could see was the coastal motorway. Great scenery though so wasn't terrible but not the best.... Northern Italy again hit and miss tarmac wise. the dolomites was well cool though coming back over them into Austria. I love winter planning
Cheers. We,ve donr the b48 and b500 the last few years, so want a change...We'll miss the passes though. I think we'll hit the RN on the Sunday or monday down to Nice. We'll be using the coast road all the way to Pisa, so should be nice scenery wise too. We've booked the train from Livorno to Holland overnight, so spending a few days in Florence to chill.
Train home is cool way of doing it mate. and a nice place to chill.... some good riding in local areas but some not so good, just have to head out and explore. how many days you planning then mate? from Calais we normally take two days but only a roads..... day 1 ok, day 2 very good, day three RN and your are bang on it for that... seems to work out nicely.
8 days total. first stop, Reims. That's a long one as its from Cheshire area to folkestone then Reims in one day. The run to folkestone is shite as its hammer all the way on the motorway... Then Grenoble. Then RN to Nice. Then onto Florence for a 3 days/4 nights. Train back in a couchet with meals and beverages...then Ferry to Hull. After doing the train last year, it's a no brainer. Slip the waitress a few euros and it's free bottles of wine too. The scenery is epic too. Can you give me the roads you took to Grenoble from reims mate?
This isn't exact but we would do this route(ish) from calais though in two days.... thinking bout it we would stop around Nancy.... but something like this https://goo.gl/maps/yalRh would be two great days as it's pretty full on how we do it... I use the Michelin maps off mapsman and just plot a route off their green recommended roads. never fails.... and how I found the b48!
Do not miss a trip to the Verdon Gorge Verdon Gorge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The most appropriate waypoint to start the trip from the Route Napoleon to the Verdon Canyon is the junction D4085/D952 near Castellane or the junction D21/D72 near Comps-sur-Artuby. Best way to do it is a circular route. Start in Castellane, take the D952 to the Lac de Sainte-Croix. Go back to Castellane via D71 Aiguines to Comps-sur-Artuby. And from Comps-sur-Artuby the D955, D52, D252 and D102 back to Castellane. In Castellane you meet again on the Route Napoleon. https://www.google.com/maps/place/43%C2%B044%2716.0%22N+6%C2%B021%2750.0%22E/@43.7708841,6.365434,12z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=en It is a detour of about 100 km and absolutely worth it. https://www.google.com/maps/place/43%C2%B044%2716.0%22N+6%C2%B021%2750.0%22E/@43.756026,6.320951,3a,75y,127h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s48hvI0bxIroWeaeGWqS1bw!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0?hl=en Buk
Done both, if I had to choose between the 2 for a return trip I honestly don't know what one I would choose. The RN was riden in September 2013, out from Grenoble on a Friday down to Nice via Grasse and returning back to Grenoble on Saturday, if you get a chance to ride on it during a weekday it is quieter than a weekend. The RN is 180 miles of pure adrenalin with fantastic scenery and bend after bend after bend Last summer I rode the b500 and b48. The major difference is that the b500 is a lot shorter and is in 2 sections, personally I don't think the scenary is as spectacular, but the road surfaces are much better than the RN, but not as challenging. The B48 is a far more challenging ride than the B500, with narrower roads a majority being through dense forest. Unfortunately last year didn't have time to complete the entire length of the B48, but hope to make a return trip this year to complete and to explore the are more. If you are travelling South do the RN and save the 500/48 for another year. Whatever one you ride enjoy yourself.
Returned and did the 500 and 48 last summer and agree the 500 is getting too popular and hence increased polizei presence, the 48 is getting that way too, and if you have the misfortune to get stuck behind a group of dawdling wild hogs it ruins the whole ride as big chunks of it are solid lined and limited views for the overtakes. I'll probably leave it a few years before heading back. Plenty of other places to see yet!
We've been lucky. The 48 and 500 have been very quiet, just the odd car/ truck to pass... Always hit them mid week.
48 has been quiet whenever I've been... But tbh, it's grown in popularity (amd also a well known german biker road apparently) over the last 5 years.... Was a bit of a secret gem but getting known now Wish I didn't tell Si about it now ha ha
The N85 is one of the best roads anywhere. The best is south of Digne Les Bains. Watch out for the cops from Digne to Castellane. Especially around Barreme. I got spectacularly caught and banned from driving there a couple of years ago. The 500 is not as good in my opinion. I seem to go back to Castellane twice a year and have done for years. I do the Peage to somewhere near Chambrey or Grenoble, which you can do in a day. It's all twisty from there pretty much whichever way you go. Can't wait to go back in june.
I am heading for the south of France in June, heading to Lyon and then the route Napoleon 10 days stopping at St Raphael coming back via St Tropez, Marsaille and then over the Millau viaduct . I've done the train trip going the other way Holland to Alessandria in Italy for a tour around the lakes rode back via Switzerland. I was not impressed with the train though, cramped poor facilities no wifi, 1 shower for 20 people and the meal though nice was not worth 40 quid.Also on arrival in Holland no where to store your gear, luke warm orange juice and well dodgy loading one guy dropped his brand new zzr1400, plus side Great views and yeah it saves a day but would I do it again?..No.
Both options are awesome, like everyones mentioned road surface is much beter on the B's. We hit RN at around 17.00, was empty all the way on what has to be the best three hours riding I've ever done.
