Days 12 & 13 we did some riding between Menton – Monaco – Nizza. The Ducati got new chains and sprockets in Nizza and when we got the bike from Ducati Alpes Maritimes service it was only 10km’s when the rear brake caliper was loose!! They didn’t tighten the bolts at all! But ok, we could ride the Monster back to the Hotel and next day we started riding back north!
Day 14 started with very narrow mountain road from Menton towards the small village Peille. It is a beautiful old mountain village in the steep mountain wall!
Then after few more nice mountain roads it was all about Col de la Bonette and Cime de la Bonette! Cime de la Bonette is the highest possible paved road (without dead end) in Europe! At first the road north from Saint-Sauveur-sur-Tinée is very nice and fast ride! It has mellow bends and fast corners until Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée. This video starts about 2 km’s before this village!
Few km’s more and the road is more narrow and the corners get tighter. In 11:10 is the first hairpin… And then starts the real climbing!! I deside to stop for awhile in the place called Camp des fourches
Here is few old and abandoned houses (I think they’re related to Napoleon?) But then the climbing continues…
This video goes all the way to the top of Europe (2802 meters!)
And then some photos!
Timo & Maria, my fellowriders in this tour! (Timo with Honda and Maria with Ducati)
After spending some nice time in heights starts the ride down from Bonette. It is still an endless amount of hairpins and spectacular views. But there’s an interesting old abandoned fortress-looking building quite near… So I stop there.
We went in to see what was it all about?
There was some “drawings” in the mountain-wall too, made of stones!
“My God, it’s full of stars!”
Then we also climbed Col de Vars but at the moment I feel like I don’t remember it at all! It must be because Bonette was so beautiful, magnificent and spectacular so I remember it much better!
But here’s a video from Col de vars:
Right after Vars, we entered the village Eygliers where we had our next accomodation. The only problem was how to find it?? I try to call them but they didn’t speak any English. It was very hot day, Maria and Timo were a littele bit frustrated and they rode to the village to ask if somebody knew where it was. And I found a lady who did speak good English and I asked her… And she told me that the place right in front of me!!
After the shower and changing the clothes Me and Maria desided to take a look of the fortress nearby. We didn’t know anything about it when we went there…
There was walls everywhere! It was almost like a labyrinth. It was also a very nice view to the other side of the valley!
The fortress is Mont-Dauphin, a small village with walls protecting it. It was built in late 17th century by the request of King Ludvig XIV. The fortress is 58 hectares and there’s about 150 people living in the village.
This is the gate to the village from the outside.
And from the inside.
Finally after spending some time in Mont-Dauphin it was 7pm! And usually you can’t get any food before 7pm!!! I think that’s totally crazy! We are hungry after riding all day!!
This was the route for the day 14!
Archives
All posts for the month August, 2016
From Barcelonnette to south we chose D 908 instead of Col de la Cayolle (this would be actual part of the Route des Grandes Alpes). I think it is more interesting to ride Col d’Allos & Col des Champs (like we did)!
But before it starts to climb to the mountain Pass you need ride a long time endlessly twisting road following the valley. The river below you goes further and further while you’re climbing higher and higher.
Finally I had to stop and check if I can see the river anymore??!!
Then starts the actual climb to the Col d’Allos:
In the top of this beautiful mountain pass we saw absolutely stunning views and I took the best picture of the whole trip here!
Wanna see this picture in bigger size? Click here!
When riding down from Col d’Allos I had a very scary moment (03:55 in the video)!! A car came from the opposite direction just behind the blind corner… and the road is very narrow and there are no rails! I think my heart stopped for a second!!! But luckily I didn’t have too much speed.
Then we rode Col des Champs! This was extremely narrow road in the middle of the forest. It felt like a jogging-path or a mountainbike-path! It had bumps and dikes… But luckily no traffic! Also in the top of Col des Champs was very quiet (and beautiful!)
The road down from Col des Champs (to east) is wider and easier to ride.
Then we rode to Valberg tourist- ans skiresort and from there we rode to Col de la Couillole.
(video here)
From there we were all waiting the final climb for this day -Col de Turini! But before we found the right mountain pass we took the wrong turn!! (Or actually we didn’t make the turn!) After missing the turn the GPS told us to climb to Ilonse… and we did!
It was 13 kilometers ride to the wrong direction!! But luckily it was very nice road and we didn’t feel bad to ride it back…
…So we could finally start the way to Col de Turini. It is simply amazing! There are so many tight corners and hairpins that I think I was feeling a little bit dizzy! And also it felt like it’s climbing a lot! Like at least 2500 meters! But actually the summit of the Turini is “only” 1607 meters high!! But gosh! What an amazing ride!!
That red spot is Timo with his Honda VFR!
From the south-end of Turini we still had few nice corners to ride (from Sospel to Menton) -or actually our place to stay was Le Relais de Monti few kilometers noth from the city of Menton. We would spend the next 3 nights here! (Nice place, I recommend it!)
The route for the day 11 was like this!
Ride from the magnificent Chalet Sul Lago back to France was much nicer than the day before when we arrived.
Mt Cenis
In France we started riding the endless amount of hairpin corners and mountain passes! First we had Col du Télégraphe then Col du Galibier, Col d’Izoard and finally Col de Vars.
Here’s video climbing up the Col du Télégraphe from the north:
This climb ends in Valloire village and from the southside of Valloire starts the climb to Col du Galibier which is one of my favorites! It has a short tunnel on the top, but to reach even higher you have to take the alternative route and finally reach the 2645 meters.
Here’s video from the Col du Galibier
Col d’Izoard is more south and it starts from Cervières village (If you ride from north to south). The view on the summit is a little bit different than in many other mountain pass, the mountain walls are mostly gravel and stones! It is a barren sight!
Col d’Izoard is 2360 meters high!
Finally we had Col de Vars (2109m) where we had some ice cream!
We had the accommodation in the middle of Barcelonnette city. Here’s the route for the day 10.
This was the day when we finally entered the Alps and the route that I planned this whole trip (Route des Grandes Alpes). But before we actually got to ride the endless hairpin corners… we visited the Les Gorges du Pont du Diable.
This is a place where the river has been “digging” the limestone for millions of years. It’s not a cave but almost… The hole is 40 meters deep. It costs 6,10€ to take a 40 minutes tour with a guide and it really is worth every penny!!
It is amazing place! And it’s only 20 minutes from Thonon Les Bains.
Then the first climb we took was Col de la Colombiere which is 1614 meters high mountain pass near Cluses. Then we climbed Col des Aravis, it’s still not very high but it offers one of the best views to Mt. Blanc!
You can see the highest mountain in Europe from many places if you’re driving south of Col des Aravis.
Then we had Cormet de Roselend, which is almost 2000 meters (1968 meters), this offered already very spectacular views from the top!! Especially the Lake Roselend with the clear turquoise water is really worth to make a break and admire the view!
And finally we had the highest mountain pass in Europe in the afternoon: Col d’Iseran (2764 meters). The summit is still a lonely place! There’s no restaurant or no souvenir-shop just an old chapel made of stone… and I think they don’t even use that anymore!
There’s still old meters in the sign… It has been checked few years ago that the real hight is few meters lower!
When we rode down to Val d’Isere it started to get cloudy. We had one more climb to make since we had our accommodation in Italy (Moncenisio). We did see a little bit of of the Lake Mt Cenis, but after we crossed the border we had no visibility anymore! We’re riding in the clouds! And the road to the amazing Chalet Sul Lago was extremely narrow with the branches of the trees coming very low… it felt like a scene from a horror movie!! And finally when we found the place… it had a very pleasant surprise for us!
No, it is not a Michelin restaurant with any stars… But it is mentioned in the Michelin quite many times (as you can see!) -And yes the food was good!
Here is the route for the day 9.