Triumphrat

johnyC · 02-20-2006, 04:09 PM

My wife and I had a lovely bimble round some of Norway last year, our first proper tour, only been to the Isle of Man before that.

We just bought the tickets for this years tour, a P&O return ticket, Hull to Zeebrugge then home by Bilbao to Portsmouth. The idea is to go to the alps then Pyrenees, a wee pilgrimage of sorts from watching the Tour de France on TV for 20 years.

Anyhow, every RAC route plan I get has the magic word 'peripherique' in it, which I don't fancy atall. There must be a quieter way to get down to the alps, any suggestions? We've got 2 weeks.

TorqueyT · 02-20-2006, 04:45 PM

Hi Johny,

did Hull - Zeebrugge, down through Central Massif and along the Pyrenees before returning up the western part of France ourselves back in Sept/Oct - fantastic trip, very much recommended.

At the time I got a lot of feedback from this thread on places to go, routes to take etc, all of great help. At the end of the day though it's so many fantastic roads to choose from you just have to take your pick. My best piece of advice would be (as mentioned by a lot of other people here as well) - ride with Michelin's National route maps (the 1 / 1 000 000 ones) and pick the yellow D-roads (France) marked with the green "scenic route" markings. Anything 'peripherique' or Autoroute is fair enough when you're late for the ferry, but doesn't give much when it comes to riding pleasure.

chrisn · 02-21-2006, 04:35 AM

Why not head across to Baden Baden in the Rhine valley then use the the B500 south through the Black Forrest bringing you into Switzerland and the Alps.

johnyC · 02-21-2006, 07:56 AM

thanks guys,

Chris, I have a Garmin spIII de luxe and Touratech mount like yourself. So far I've only used it to calibrate my speedo. I havn't scratched the surface of the gps yet, I'll need to learn how to use it before I go. So far so good though, you've suggested a nice road south, I'll put it on the gps when I figure out how to work it. :-D

winger · 02-21-2006, 09:44 AM

Hi John

The joys of useing a good old map!!!,you've been able to miss Paris for years and run straight down to Dijon motorway,A,B what ever floats your boat.

But i have to say what a wus!!!! with those new SM wheels some ducking and diveing in the traffic is just what you want!!,come to think of it,they've been down there that many times you even have to steer it!!!

johnyC · 02-21-2006, 10:02 AM

Chris,

as you know, if there's two roads to a place I'll pick the wrong one. I had to shut my eyes and use 'the force' to find your house. :-D

I hate heavy traffic in a strange town, like the M25 does my head in. When I was trying to cross the road in Palma I felt like Eddie Murphy in the movie Bowfinger.

blacktiger · 02-21-2006, 01:10 PM

I second TourqeyT's assertion that you should pick the smaller roads through France. Buy the Michellin map 1:1000000 scale and look at all the roads BETWEEN the red roads.
Apart from having more twisty fun there are less police speed traps on those roads.
Have fun out there.

winger · 02-22-2006, 04:20 AM

Hi John

If like most people you only get a couple of weeks at a streach,then travelling south is a trade of,somethings got to give somwhere,forget the Alps and the Pyrenees as nice as they are, their full of tourists,go to the Pico's,i've, sorry we!! have zig zagged a way across Europe for over 30 years but the Pico's are something else,go to Salamanca and come in from the south,just another league wonderfull.

chrisn · 02-22-2006, 04:37 AM

Johny,
I'm heading to the Alps via the Black Forrest in June. If you've got an SP3 download this FILE and open it in Mapsource. My route is by no means finalised yet, but it shows the route through the Black Forrest and contains some of the best Passes and Cols in the Swiss/French/Italian alps.

Chris,
I'm also heading to the Picos and Pyrenees in August - can't wait to discover what the Picos has to offer a Tiger rider!

Roll on Summer !

johnyC · 02-22-2006, 05:44 AM

Chris C, My mate frank has been to the Picos on his TT600 Yammie, he also took it down to Africa. I know it's lovely, but I'm saving the Picos up for another time. I really have to visit the Alps and Pyrenees first.

Chris N, I managed to load the maps off the Garmin V7 discs that I need onto one 128mb card. I downloaded your routes before but got 'windows cannot open this file, it does not know what produced it', etc. I'm a bit in the dark about this. Maybe I should get a map like Chris C says and head south then turn right when I get to the med'. :-D