View Full Version : Jelster's Eurotour '07 - Now with Photo's....
Jelster
13-07-07, 08:24 AM
Finally, this years trip has been all been booked. It was touch & go for a while as I was having some real motivational problems with biking in general, until a friend gave me a “slap” and told me to get my head together (cheers Taran…).
So, Friday 24th August we cross from Dover to Calais, put the bikes on the train and crack the beer open…… Wake up early on Saturday morning in Frejus, ready to hit the twisties.
Coast road from Frejus to Nice, then North up the D2204 to Sospel, Take the D2256 North, onto the D70 through La Bollène-Vésubie, and pick up the D2565 until we reach the D2205, again heading North through Isola, all the way to Jausiers, where we turn left and reach our hotel in Barcelonnette. We'll spend the next 2 days riding in the Southern Alps, hitting just about every decent pass we can find (and there's a lot of them!).
Then Tuesday, head North to Chamonix, via the Col du Vars, Col du l'Izoard, Col du Lautaret, and the famous Col du Galibier. We'll lunch in Val d'Iere before continuing over the Cormet de Roseland and the Col des Aravis. Wednesday brings my highlight, as cross over into Italy and take on the Grand St Bernard, through Switzerland, over the Col du Forclaz and back to Chamonix. I've done this route a few times now, both car and bike, but it always seems to be one of my favourites. Maybe it's the scenery as you come over the Alps in Switzerland, or just the huge expanse of land .
On Thursday we depart Chamonix, making our way via Neuchatel, over the hills at St Croix and into the “Jura” region of France; picking up the D437 at Pontarlier. This is a fantastic road that follows the path of the River Doubs, with wide sweeping bends overlooking wonderful countryside. We then make our way to Turckheim, a small town on the outskirts of Colmar in the Alsace. We’ll spend Friday riding the tight technical roads of the Vosges, before making our way home on the Saturday, which is some 500 miles.
I expect us to cover in the region of 1500 or so miles during the trip, and this year I intend on making sure I get plenty of still photo’s, as well as video footage.
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Enjoy, who's going?
Can we all line up to give you a slap?
Not jelous at all Steve! Sure you will have a great trip - look forward to hearing all about it later.
Luckypants
25-07-07, 10:23 AM
Have a great trip Steve, looks great itinery.
Jelster
23-08-07, 02:29 PM
Right, I'm signing off, be back in about 9 days or so...
I'll try and get as many pics as possible.....
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Tim in Belgium
23-08-07, 06:48 PM
Have a good trip, some great roads there.
Seeya. :smt039
Make sure you come back in one piece. :smt018
Tim in Belgium
02-09-07, 06:38 PM
Stories?
Pics?
Come on, we're all waiting....
Jelster
02-09-07, 08:05 PM
100 odd pics, so many passes, too many hairpins, and lots of good food and wine.
Should have the pictures sorted later this week, and a write up to follow...
Weather was pants for a couple of days, coming home over "Le Bonhomme" was awful, wet and heavy fog with a visibility of 20-30 metres :( Was better as we descended to below 1000m but it was bloody scary for a while...
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welcome home:p
looking foward to some piccys
Tim in Belgium
02-09-07, 08:28 PM
The Vosges and fog, not nice, hope you had some better weather for the rest of the trip. Getting ready to look through the pics before heading off on Friday.
Jelster
04-09-07, 06:59 PM
OK, here's some photos.....
Dave, on the Col de la Bonette, at about 2700 metres, it's the almost the highest pass in the Alps.
http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/6162/p1010002mediumpm2.jpg
But this is the view from the Col de Resteford just up the road, which, at 2860 metres is the highest... And there's not a lot of air up there !
http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/5895/p1010003mediumbp0.jpg
A few on the Col du Vars, one of the best roads in the Alps...
The boys, posing.....
http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/4098/p1010008mediumqg6.jpg
My 'Blade.....
http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/6730/p1010009customzq6.jpg
The Gang....
http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/3051/p1010013mediumbz1.jpg
Guess who ? :rolleyes:
http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/86/p1010014mediumht8.jpg
We took a ride down to Lac Serre-Poncon. We came in on the N94, what a road, very fast sweeping bends, I don't think I've ever ridden my 'Blade so fast before :thumbsup:
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/5587/p1010016mediumio8.jpg
The view half way up the Col de la Cayolle
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/88/p1010052mediumxp7.jpg
And the very bumpy D11 back to Barcelonette. It wasn't a nice ride :roll: Notice no Pete.... His 'Busa dumped all of it's clutch fluid about 15 minutes earlier....
http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/8417/p1010063mediumsv0.jpg
But we did come back through the very picturesque "Gorges de Bachelard"
http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/6349/p1010069mediuman9.jpg
Which gave Taran a chance to pose some more....
http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/9785/p1010071mediumcl8.jpg
Next it was up over the Col d'Izoard on the way to our next stop, Chamonix..
http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/2265/p1010077customao4.jpg
Then lunch at the beautiful "Lac Mount Cenis".
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/2539/p1010078mediumjc1.jpg
http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/6176/p1010083customky6.jpg
And then over the cold and desolate Col d'Iseran, where it actually started to hail !!
http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/8491/p1010090mediummt5.jpg
http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/1248/p1010089mediumqg5.jpg
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/3366/p1010091mediumlu6.jpg
Then we dropped in at Val-d'Isère for a coffee (for a minute I thought that was our own "Hovis" in the background ! :)
http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/4489/p1010096mediummh9.jpg
Finally, a shot at Lac Blanc, in the Vosges....
http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/4739/p1010121mediumtq7.jpg
And that's about it.... Got loads more but it will take ages to put them all up.
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Tim in Belgium
04-09-07, 07:09 PM
Looks like you had some nice weather down in the Alps, any pics of the Col du St Bernard or Col de la Forclaz?
Jelster
04-09-07, 07:41 PM
Looks like you had some nice weather down in the Alps, any pics of the Col du St Bernard or Col de la Forclaz?
No, it pished with rain that day, so we bummed around Chamonix for the day... Shame as I love that bit of road :smt022
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Tim in Belgium
04-09-07, 08:56 PM
No, it pished with rain that day, so we bummed around Chamonix for the day... Shame as I love that bit of road :smt022
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At least you had good weather over the Col de vars, it was raining/misty when I was there last, and I almost got blown off the Col de Restford.
Good pics all round.
Luckypants
04-09-07, 11:04 PM
We took a ride down to Lac Serre-Poncon. We came in on the N94, what a road, very fast sweeping bends, I don't think I've ever ridden my 'Blade so fast before :thumbsup:
Oh yeah Baby! Well known road to kayakers. MY VFR750FV loved that road (10 years ago!). So many good roads, so little holiday time!
Top pics Steve, looked like another great trip. I see Tarin has moved back to his old roots again. Also was that little lady behind you riding that big naked bike - what is it a bandit or something? All kudos to her man.
Jelster
05-09-07, 07:19 AM
Top pics Steve, looked like another great trip. I see Tarin has moved back to his old roots again. Also was that little lady behind you riding that big naked bike - what is it a bandit or something? All kudos to her man.
That would be Polly, who rode a CBF600 for the whole trip. She "fell over" a couple of times a she's only 4ft 10, and can only just touch the ground on tip toe. Her 10 year old CBR600F had a problem 2 days before leaving, so she had to make do with one of the bikes from her training school...
And LP, that's true, far to many places and roads, and never enough holiday :rolleyes:
I see Taran is still riding that crappy triple. Did you have to keep waiting for him? He's so slow!
I like Taran's idea of luggage for a tour - just a daysack. Or were you able to leave luggage at times?
Jelster
05-09-07, 10:06 AM
We stayed in Hotels for 2 or 3 nights at a time, allowing us to travel light on some days. I used a Kriega US10 for my waterproofs etc, and the tankbag had the video camera (bullet cam is on the r/h/s fairing) and digital camera etc.
Most of the guys had Camelback type rucksacks as it gets so hot in the Southern Alps.
Me, wait for Taran.... I wish :rolleyes: although I was well ahead of him on the N94 for a while, but then with my bike I should hope so !
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