Ken's Alpine Adventure

Following on from tonight's meeting, these are the details of my planned trip next summer....all welcome; either reply to this post or contact me by phone/email below if interested.

Contact: Ken Tomlinson 07831 620551 email kentom@btinternet.com

Dates: 20th – 30th June 2010 (or thereabouts)

Destination

Two centres – Bourg St Maurice & Gap in the French Alps.

The French Alps offer some of the finest biking roads in Europe, coupled with spectacular views and excellent food & drink. Bourg St Maurice is an open all year ski resort; the summer trade being mostly climbers, walkers, mountain bikers and motorcyclists. It’s ideally placed to explore France’s highest mountain, longest tunnel or highest mountain pass.

Gap is very popular with British bikers (including me – I’ve stayed there twice!) as it is the gateway to the Route Napoleon (N85), a twisting, sweeping, hairpinning hoot of a route which stretches all the way from Grenoble in the North to Grasse on the Mediterranean coast. The N85 winds through picturesque French market towns, and passes the spectacular Gorges de Verdon – described as the ‘Grand Canyon’ of France (slightly over the top….!). Going West from Gap, the amazing Millau bridge is a 500 mile round trip if you’re up to it, and the resorts of the French Riviera are only a half day’s ride South. Monaco is South East – ride the Grand prix circuit or buy a pint for £8! The main square in Gap has a number of bars and restaurants for a civilised outdoor evening meal and a beer or two.

Itinerary

Leaving Sun on 9.15am Dover-Calais Ferry, overnight near Troyes
Mon 21st Troyes to Bourg St Maurice for 4 nights
Tue/Wed/Thur Optional rideouts e.g. Chamonix Mont Blanc, Val D’Isere, Aosta (Italy) Lake Annecy – solo or group, or just chill out & explore on foot or hire mountain bikes.

Fri 25th Bourg St Maurice to Gap for 3 nights
Sat/Sun/Mon Optional rideouts e.g. Millau Bridge, Route Napoleon, Cannes/Grasse/Monaco, Gorges du Verdon
Tue 29th Gap to Troyes
Wed 30th Troyes to Calais for 16.15 sailing home. (Or optionally stay overnight in Calais & sail in the morning of Thu 1 July – leaves time to visit war museum)

Accommodation
It’s low season so French campsites are pretty cheap. Usually 2 – 3 tents can fit on one pitch for less than £20 total per night. The local campsite at Bourg St Maurice has quoted 126 euros for 6 tents/6 bikes/6 people for 4 nights – that’s about a fiver each per night!
If enough people are travelling I may try to negotiate favourable rates at local auberges.
F1 motels are currently 32 euros for a room which sleeps 2-3 people (1st & last nights in Troyes)


Costs

Allow 3000-ish miles of fuel

Tolls – Allow max 38 euros each way for the autoroutes to/from Bourg St Maurice if we choose to blast down there. RN roads are available – free of charge but will take longer.

Ferries £40 return if booked early

Accommodation – tricky to estimate but see above. Depends on whether we’re camping/hotels/singles/sharing etc. Better estimate when number of travellers is clear.

European breakdown cover if you don’t already have it is around £50.

Any bike prep – servicing tyres etc.

Food/drink – coffee & croissants for brekkie 5 euros, supermarket sandwiches for lunch – cheap, 25-30 euros for 2 courses & a beer at night. Of course, you can spend much more depending how posh you go.

Get in touch if interested!!

Sounds like a really good holiday.

Thanks Panman - 6 definites so far with a few pending! If you're up for it let me know soon. We even have a Facebook page set up for planning

As a group we have agreed on a few changes:

Departure date is now Monday 21st June and our return crossing is on Wed 30th June.

We'll be spending 1 night in Troyes on the way to the Alps and 1 night there on the return run. 3 nights in Bourg St Maurice. 4 nights in Gap. We aim to be flexible so if weather or itchy feet are a problem we can up sticks and find the sunshine!

Rideouts are taking shape with runs to Chamonix, exploring the Route Napoleon, Turin and the Gorges du Verdon in the planning stages.

Eight riders are committed so far with two strongly possible.

Mostly camping but the campsites have caravans/bungalows on site or B&B within easy reach for the rich or lazy b*ggers!

Any queries feel free to email me

Regards

Ken