The Planning Stage
This year Mick and I are joined by Mick's son Sean on his 1200 GS and his mate Jason on his Yamaha MT09 Tracer for a nostalgia tour of the Alps.
Mick wants to introduce Sean to some of the wonderful rides and favourite places we have discovered in the Alpine regions over the last twenty years.
This time we are taking the easy route to Europe on the P&O ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge in Belgium. Hull is only 50 miles from our homes in Doncaster and I certainly won't miss the long haul down from Yorkshire to the Channel ports.
I began the route planning after Christmas in the depths of the British winter. I like to have a set of defined routes for each day of the tour, with a few "spare days" included to allow for bad weather or the interesting diversions that we always find cropping up on long tours.
However experience has shown that no plan ever survives contact with the tarmac, so the plan generally evolves as the tour progresses.
I found this page Balcony Roads in France on the Dangerous Roads site. Many of the roads listed are in the Vercors National Park to the south of Grenoble, so that is our first major destination this time.
The route down to Vercors pretty much wrote itself. I've never been a big fan of the long, flat roads down through Northern France from the north so we shall be riding via Luxembourg, the Black Forest and the Vosges mountains.
After a few days bumbling around the tiny and spectacular mountain roads around Sampeyre in Italy we head north for a look at the famous alpine passes around Andermatt in Switzerland.
Next we go east again to the Italian Lakes and then we dawdle through the Dolomites towards our furthest destination, the Triglav in Slovenia.
and then it's time to head back homewards. Oh, did I mention Stelvio or the Nockalm?
Mick wants to introduce Sean to some of the wonderful rides and favourite places we have discovered in the Alpine regions over the last twenty years.
This time we are taking the easy route to Europe on the P&O ferry from Hull to Zeebrugge in Belgium. Hull is only 50 miles from our homes in Doncaster and I certainly won't miss the long haul down from Yorkshire to the Channel ports.
I began the route planning after Christmas in the depths of the British winter. I like to have a set of defined routes for each day of the tour, with a few "spare days" included to allow for bad weather or the interesting diversions that we always find cropping up on long tours.
However experience has shown that no plan ever survives contact with the tarmac, so the plan generally evolves as the tour progresses.
++++++++
While many of the passes and regions are old favourites I also wanted to add a few new experiences on this year's tour. Previously Mick and I have stumbled across a few amazing balcony roads, mainly in France, so that is where the research started.
 |
| Balcony road in Verdon Gorge, 2016 |
I found this page Balcony Roads in France on the Dangerous Roads site. Many of the roads listed are in the Vercors National Park to the south of Grenoble, so that is our first major destination this time.
The route down to Vercors pretty much wrote itself. I've never been a big fan of the long, flat roads down through Northern France from the north so we shall be riding via Luxembourg, the Black Forest and the Vosges mountains.
++++++++
Next we will turn eastwards and explore the high Alps on the France/Italy border, including the highest paved road in the Alps at the summit of the Col de la Bonette.
 |
| Col de la Bonette, 2016 |
Next we go east again to the Italian Lakes and then we dawdle through the Dolomites towards our furthest destination, the Triglav in Slovenia.
 |
| Somewhere in the Dolomites, 2013 |
 |
| Mick's GS on the Mangart Road, Triglav, 2018 |
and then it's time to head back homewards. Oh, did I mention Stelvio or the Nockalm?
Comments
Post a Comment