Routes des Grandes Alpes

On Monday 24th June we headed north to Annecy and then to the Route des Grandes Alpes. The first mountain or Col we climbed was Col de Saisies, at 1648m elevation, we were unprepared for the cold weather that came in and at lunchtime I popped my thermals on.  These Mountains are used by crazy cyclists, on the one hand I'm in awe of their endurance and dedication, on the other hand I think they are nuts!!! We then carried on to the Cormet de Roseland, at 1968m elevation, we were thrilled to see the snow and stopped to talk with some German bikers and crazy cyclists at the top too. We then headed to a hotel in Bourg-St-Maurice to warm up.

 

On Tuesday, 25th June, we headed up Col de L'Iseran, 2770m in elevation, you can see the cyclists behind me in the photo....

 

 The day then warmed up as we headed further south along the Route and the next peak we reached was Col du Telegraph, 1566m in elevation which was used as a route for the Tour de France cycle race in 1957 - the roads back then were in a very different condition.

Next peak was Col du Galibier at 2642m, there was a professional photographer on the road taking pics, which we have ordered one, a rare pic of the two of us on the bike at the top of this mountain and will definitely be framed.

We then headed south to Le Laus 1745m in elevation, just south of Briancon and not far from the next morning's peak.

On Wednesday, 26th June, the next mountain was less than 20mins away so we beat the cyclists! Col D'Izard, 2360m in elevation and not far down the road was La Casse Desserte, 2220m.

The Col D'Allos, 2250m.

We then spent a couple of nights in Barreme so we could visit the Verdon Gorges on 27th June, which was beautiful.

On Friday, 28th June we headed to Italy....so it's au revoir to France and buon giorno it Italy...

Buona sera, next blog is all about Tuscany - Pisa, Florence and Cinque Terra.

Narbonne and Avignon and Aix-les-Bains

On Wednesday, 19th June, we arrived at the B & B in Cuxac-d'Aude near Narbonne  after travelling through the Pyrenees from Andorra. The B & B was full of great art and sculptures and colour, a beautiful, vibrant home.

On Thursday, 20th June we headed into Narbonne to do some laundry, look through the markets, go to the fine arts museum and after lunch headed north to Narbonne Plage/Beach.

On Friday, 21st June we headed north to Avignon where in the 1300's the Pope decided to leave Rome and build a palace.  After looking around the palace we went south to stay at a B & B on a farm.

On Saturday, 22nd June we continued north and stopped to look at some Roman ruins in Vaison-la Romaine then coninued on to Trevignin near Aix-les-Bains near Lac Bourget.  The B & B serve an awesome dinner, table d'hotes, with 6 other guests and 2 hosts all speaking French as they knew none or little English.

On Sunday, 23rd June, the morning was raining and dark so we planned the next few days accomodation and went out at lunchtime around Lac Bourget.

On Monday 24th June, we headed north to Annecy and then started on the Route Des Grandes Alpes which is a tourist route of the French Alps.  The scenery through the alps has been amazing and I will blog about that next time when I have sorted through all the photos and have decided which show the scenery the best.

Au revoir.

Crossing the Pyrenees to Andorra and France.

Last Tuesday, 18th June, we left San Sebastian at 8:30am in the rain.  We had to continue riding past the beautiful blue lake that I mentioned in the last post as it was raining too much to stop or get a good photo. Heading up through the Pyrenees we saw this great rock formation and since the rain had stopped for a few mins we quickly hopped off the bike with soaking gloves and boots to stretch our legs and take some photos. This was at 11:30am.

So it's getting on to lunch time and we are heading for Huesca.  We have basically seen no towns since Panploma 2 hours before and I'm beginning to wonder how big Huesca will be....maybe a few houses and that's it....where we will have lunch, who will be happy to have a couple of dripping wet bikers eat in their bar/restaurant and will be able to read the menu.  There's a lot of thinking time on the back of a bike!!!!  The first thing I see as we enter the town of Huesca was McDonalds!!!  I haven't eaten McD's for about 10 years but at that moment nothing looked better to me - hot food and hot coffee, a menu with pictures!!! so we knew what we would be eating, and the people working their didn't care that we walked in with helmets on as it was still raining hard.  I actually had to walk out again and wring out my gloves!!!

Hubby tucking into some hot food!

Whilst we were eating 2 other bikers came in out of rain - a couple from England, and we saw other bikes on the road who may have stopped there after us!

We continued on through the Pyrenees and at 2:15pm we stopped at the top of this mountain - Col de Montlobar, 1080m altitude. After we headed down this mountain the rain finally stopped! 

We stopped again at Sort to check the tyre pressure and I managed a quick photo.

The roads had been windy and treacherous but hubby did a great job in keeping us safe and we finally made it into the Principality of Andorra late in the afternoon and that evening had a great dinner of steak of chips and salad which we had been yearning for after eating tapas for 3 days and nights!

The following day, Wednesday, June 19th, was bright and sunny which was excellent way to climb the heights of Andorra's mountain range and re-enter France at Pasa del la casa - most people take the tunnel but we took the windy road along with the other bikes....with the elevation being about 2400m!!!

 

We the headed north-east towards Narbonne and stopped at the top of Col du Chioula - this is a cycle route - total madness!!!  with and elevation of 1431m!!! This pic is looking back towards the Pyrenees.

Another great pic taken along the way was when I said to hubby that I have a sore bottom and he said that he would pullover as soon as he could - well, we are going down this windy road and I'm thinking that it's going to be a while before we stop but nope, minutes later we come across a parking area and stop for a stretch and to take this pic at 3:30pm. We had a little rain over the next hour but none like the previous day.

By 5pm we had arrived safely at Maison Pelissier in Cuxac d'Audes, near Narbonne, a wonderful French family home filled with six very quiet children and full of great art, safe and sound.

They were two very long days of riding but ever so memorable for their adventures and scenery. So grateful and so blessed to be on this amazing journey.

Au revoir.

The Pyrenees and San Sebastian, Spain

On Friday, 14th June we headed south from Villereal, in Aquitane, France to a small village in the Midi-Pyrenees called Antist.  I had no idea of what to expect when it came to the Pyrenees mountain range and found it breathtaking!

On Saturday 15th June, we then traveled through the Pyrenees mountains to Spain, we reached an altitude of over 1700m and at times we could only see a few metres in front of us. At the top above the clouds there were cyclists, a running race happening and people rock climbing.  The Spanish side was less cloudy, less steep and warmer.

We then headed to Pamplona for lunch passing a beautiful light blue lake along the way.  Here is a photo of the Running of the Bulls statue.

We finally made it to San Sebastian, which is a beautiful city on a bay with a great sandy beach which was very busy over this sunny, warm weekend. We have walked all around the bay and this morning we walked around the northern mount. We are staying off the motorbike for a few days to have a rest from it.

 

One of the reasons we came to San Sebastian was for the Tapas....and we have had so much fun going from bar to bar to check out what they have and to have a couple here and a couple there.

Tomorrow we leave San Sebastian and head to Andorra and then back into France, to Provence and the Alps.

Adios amigos!

The Dordogne - Perigord Region

On Tuesday, we left the Loire Valley and headed south to Aquitane and the beautiful Dordogne-Perigord region in France.

This area has many bastides which are fortified towns, usually on the top of a hill/mountain so they have great views.

Here is Belves:

Then we went on to Domme:

Then on to another chateau - Chateau de Biron which is currently being renovated so the interiors are empty but it stands on top of a hill and has great views of the forests all around and had holes in the walls to see the enemy coming and a long drop toilet which we hadn't see in any of the other chateaus we had been to!

Then we went to another fortified town - Monpazier for drinks and dinner.

The weather was beautiful and sunny and warm, yesterday June 12th, Wednesday I think? hahhaha but today it has turned all wet and rainy as you can see in these photos of today's outings...

We went to Monbazillac where they have a chateau on top of a hill!!!  Chateau de Monbazillac is now open to the public but we did not go in - I think hubby is all chateaued out!!! but it is a grape/wine growning/making area and Monbazillac wines are sweet whites.

Then we headed to Bergerac and found the statue of Cyrano de Bergerac, we stopped for coffee and a pastry then headed back to the bed and breakfast, picking up a baguette, cheese, apple etc along the way for a French ploughman's lunch as the rain had set in.

On Friday 14th June we are heading to a town in the foothills of the Pyrenees called Antiste and on Saturday we are heading to San Sebastien in Spain the long and windy and fun for motorcyclists way.

Au revoir!!

The Loire Valley

Last Saturday we travelled from Brittany to the Loire Valley to the city of Tours where we visited the Musee des Beaux-Arts.

We then went to Amboise to the Chateau du Clos Luce where Leonardo da Vinci spent his final years there - he died on May 2nd 1519.

"The Château du Clos Lucé was purchased by Charles VIII on 2^nd July 1490, and became the summer residence of the Kings of France, who lived in the Loire Valley at the Château d’Amboise.
Charles VIII transformed the Medieval fortress into a charming château and had a chapel built for the Queen, Anne of Brittany, who mourned the loss of her young children there.
Later, the young Duke of Angoulême, the future Francis I, organised tournaments in the gardens at Le Clos Lucé. His sister, Marguerite of Navarre, wrote the stories of the "Heptaméron" there. Brother and sister received visits from painters, architects and poets, and brought the place alive with the spirit of the Renaissance.

It was in 1516 that Francis I, advised by his sister Marguerite de Navarre, issued an invitation to Leonardo da Vinci.
“ Here you will be free to dream, to think and to work”. This was how the King of France welcomed the Italian genius, who crossed the Alps on a mule, bringing with him three of his most important works: The Mona Lisa, The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, and the Saint John the Baptist, that he finished here, at the Château du Clos Lucé.
Leonardo da Vinci received a pension of 1000 gold crowns per year, and was named “The King’s First Painter, Engineer and Architect”. Until his death, he was the object of real affection on the part of Francis I – who called him “my Father” – his sister Marguerite and the whole Court."

The Loire Valley is full of interesting chateaus to visit and we chose Chateau de Langeais - it is a medieval castle where Duchess Anne of Brittany was married to Charles VIII.  It was interesting to visit the place where Anne was married at age 14 and her holiday home with the chapel where she mourned the loss of her children.  I loved walking in places knowing that she had walked there and I loved the rampart walk at the top of the castle too.

We have travelled south through Aquitane to Villereal so I will have to blog about our time here so check back in 24 hours for the next blog and more chateaus and views from this beautiful country.


Au revoir!