 
| Motoeuro
2008 - The adventure continues.... |
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We’ve started
a habit of early to bed, early to rise and
it’s kind of working well. We have a
limit of 2-3 beers per man each night so we’re
not hung over, so no surprise we’re
up, had brekky and away by 8.30am. Today is
a big day – Val d’Isere and the
‘big Alps’. Mans Alps. The D902
is stunning, the high snow-covered mountains
are breathtaking and the roads are dry, warm
and have perfect surfaces, we’ve loving
this. Entry to Val d’Isere is marked
by a crappy road sign, but you know you're
here when you see the damn at La Daille –
truly staggering. We continue along the D902
stopping to take pictures every minute, we
are so lucky to be here, unbelievably, we’ve
timed this to perfection. All the tourists
have gone as the ski season is about to start
in 2 months. The town is perfectly quiet,
unspoilt. The only noise is from local carpenters
readying for the winter rich-kids. We meet
a German guy on his BMW sports bike, enjoy
coffee together and chat about routes, he’s
keen to get us to go to Col du La Bonette,
it’s not on our route, but he insists
we go. He’s come from there this morning
as it was closed due to snow the day before
– he describes this as ‘magnificent’,
“must go”, but warns us Menton
is a long way on these roads. I can see Stevie’s
mind clicking and whirring as he takes this
in.
We leave our German friend and ride the D902
to Saint Charles, from here we can see the
mountains we are going to climb to the summit
of Col de l'Iseran. Epic. The higher we get
the more spectacular the view and the more
snow we find, near the top there’s no
grass or rocks to be seen – it’s
all snow, but oddly the roads are dry and
clear and the sun is out. The D902 continues
with stunning effect to the village of Bessans,
we stop for photos and try to take this in.
The ride to Mont Cenis is perfect where we
pick up the D1006 – massively entertaining
road that takes us to the surreal and quite
bizarre Lac du Mont Cenis (lake).
Scroll
the below image to view our panoramic piccy
of Lac du Mont Cenis. |
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The
aqua green coloured water and pyramid shape
church are something not of this earth. We take
lunch in the only café that looks over
the lake and mountains, chat to other UK bikers
who are doing this route the opposite way. They
too warn us Menton is a real hike from here
– but our ever optimistic attitude wins
each time. I buy two stickers to say we’ve
been here at an altitude of 2081 meters, we
congratulate each other on a perfect route and
‘jog on'. Leaving France again we’re
in Italy on the SS25 towards Susa, the SS24
to Briançon back in France then the N94
in the direction of Col de Le Bonette. The other
side of the D902 takes us to Gleizolles through
Col de Vars, and is fast becoming our favourite
road with spectacular scenery and the kind of
corners that you dream of as a kid, I spend
most of my time looking over my right shoulder
– is this another 60 degree corner? No,
it’s another 270 degree monster..... |
The Herculean D64 is
the beast that leads to the highest road in
Europe – Col de La Bonette. We ride with
caution enjoying this dry very, very twisty
road to the summit. We see the stone monolith
and plaque at the top that means we’re
here, words fail us as we gaze in silence at
the view, looking down on the Alps. Only God
could make this breathtaking place, only the
French could tarmac it so well – this,
ladies and gentlemen, is truly moving, our photos
don’t do this any justice.
Scroll
the below image to view our panoramic piccy
of Col du La Bonette. |
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We shake hands in acknowledgment of our major
achievement, chat to another biker and prepare
to descend to Saint-Etienne-de-Tinée
on the D2205. We’re 2802 metres up, on
top of the world. It is, the highest asphalted
road in France and is the highest through road
in Europe.
Somewhere near Saint-Martin-Vesubie we stop
for coffee and call the bloke who owns the self-catering
cottage near Menton we’re staying at,
no answer. We’re running late and the
sun is starting to go. We run the D70 on the
valley floor, still well above sea-level, for
an hour this fast road is another epic ride
but as the sun vanishes we’ve got a choice
to make; ride the quicker roads, but at over
90 miles it’s a long way or ride the 30+
miles through the base of the Alps – of
course, we chose the Alps. We climb and descend
with alarming regularity, it’s soon pitch
black and we’re not making good time.
Eventually, we arrive in Menton, very tired
but manage another 15 miles over the border
into Italy and Bordighera. Our host arrives
and I ask how far to go, “About 2 to 3
hours” I want to kill him. “Only
joking Dave, 5 minutes mate” I want to
hug him. It’s 11pm. The remainder of the
evening is spent negotiating dirt-track roads
to the cottage we’ve booked via a mate,
and then a thick layer of gravel to top it off.
As we’ve no food (self catering means
you bring your own stuff, apparently), a kind
friend nicks some meat, bread, tea and milk
from a neighbour before we climb further to
reach the cottage. Cold beers are in the fridge
for us, we thank him and supp our coldies on
the terrace enjoying this warm evening, overlooking
the Italian village of Saso and in the distance,
the lights of Monaco. I wish I could call our
German friend from Val d’Isere and the
UK bikers we saw in Lac du Mont Cenis to tell
them we’ve made it, mind you, they probably
wouldn’t believe me – I almost don’t.
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We get up late today,
all those immense roads are taking their toll
on us. Taking our breakfast overlooking Saso
in the morning sun, this little cottage is
perfect. Our host arrives to guide us out
the hills towards Bordighera, we thank him
and head off through the absolutely manic
traffic of Italy. Our bikes are over heating
and we’re sweating in the intense heat.
Moving is the only way to stay cool but that’s
impossible in this place. We cross the border
again into France and ride the coast to Monaco.
The traffic is just plain silly, but Stevie
has got the driving mentality spot-on; ride
through every gap you see, dodge the traffic
and pay no attention whatsoever to road signs
– it works. We both get a kick out of
lining our bikes up with the F1 starting grid
in Monaco, but by now its 12 noon. We park
up and head for food by the harbour. This
is the worst food we’ve had on the entire
trip, we’re in a tourist trap now and
can't wait to get the hell out of Monaco.
The 2008 yacht show starts in a few days so
the place is filled with marquees and tents,
it’s too busy for us. We ride the coastal
route towards Antibes, we’re tired after
yesterday and agree not to do the Napoleon
Route today as it would be too much, we’re
gonna have a half day off the bikes and on
the beach.
We’ve not booked a hotel today as we
didn’t know how we would feel or if
would make it this far! I try a hotel on the
beach which is full, reception tells me everywhere
is busy as it’s the end of the holidays
and the yacht show starts soon. Dammit. I
ask if she can recommend anywhere, she takes
pity on me and calls a friend, within minutes
we’re parked up, 40 yards from the beach,
in the sun drinking ice cold beer on the patio
– Oh, happy days. Welcome to the Hotel
Miramar in Antibes, the owner shows me how
the ‘honesty’ bar works –
drink what you like, write it down, pay for
it when you leave. I love this place.
Stevie nicks the hotels towels and we head
to the beach for a swim. We’ve got our
sun loungers, cold beers and then we take
a dip in the warm waters of the Mediterranean,
we point out where we’ve been on the
horizon “look, there’s Nice, Oh,
and Monaco”, “see those big mountains,
that’s the Alps!” This is amazing
and we’ve deserved every minute of this,
we’re having a ball in 30-degree sunshine
while the UK basks in rain once more. Nearing
6pm we take advice to go to Juan Les Pins
for food, watch the sun vanish, enjoy our
beers and food, grab a taxi and we’re
crashed out early for the next day of riding
the legendary N85.
Carlsberg don’t do motorcycling holidays,
but if they did……
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