The BMW Car Club
of Great Britain & Ireland |
*** BMW Car Club GB website - see https://bmwcarclubgb.uk/ ***
*** Looking to buy or sell? ~ Checkout our BMW Car Club GB classifieds ***
|
2014 French Alpine Roadtrip (Pics and Vids) |
Post Reply |
Author | |
mjn77
Club Member Joined: 22 Jul 2016 Location: Herts, UK Status: Offline Points: 126 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
Posted: 23 Jul 2016 at 7:31pm |
Day One
Covered 607 miles and on the road for 16 hours including all stops.
Could have done it a lot quicker, if you kept on the motorway from
Calais to Geneva. |
|
Sponsored Links | |
mjn77
Club Member Joined: 22 Jul 2016 Location: Herts, UK Status: Offline Points: 126 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Day 2 - Bring on the mountains!
Starting our descent from Col de la Colombiere, you can see, which is a re-occuring sight on this route, safety barriers are for girls
Parked up checking the route in La Clusaz. Taking the wrong turn can add hours to your journey, and possibly ending up at the foot of a mountain pass which is closed.
Next up, Col des Aravis (1486m alt.). Where we stopped at the top for some food, and came across some Yeti beer. So got a bottle, rude not to!
Mont Blanc in the distance
Next up is Col de Meraillet (1605m alt.) and Cormet de Roselend (1963m alt.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cormet_de_Roselend
As you can see, we pretty much had the roads to ourselves
Arriving in Bourg-St-Maurice and en route to our hotel in
Lanslebourg-Mont-Cenis, we did a final check of the status of Col de
I'Iseran http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Col_de_l%27Iseran ....but it was still closed so we took a massive detour on the motorway. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
The whole place was lovely, and with our broken French and their broken English, no problems
View from our balacony
|
|
mjn77
Club Member Joined: 22 Jul 2016 Location: Herts, UK Status: Offline Points: 126 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Day 3 - Driving in the snow (Part 1)
We left the hotel at 9am and checked the weather (which is vital). There is rain and thunderstorms forcast for later in the day. We also double checked the staus of the next pass which was closed, Col du Galibier, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Col_du_Galibier it was still closed. However, the alternative route, Col du Mont Cenis, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Col_du_Mont_Cenis is open.
Boy, was the weather different to the day before. The day before was lovely, dry, sunny, and warm. Today, wet, cold and miserable.
The temperature dropped to 3 degrees, and started to lash down. The descent from Col du Mont Cenis took us into Italy.
Looking back at the top of Col de Montgenevre
Here is a stock photo of Col d'Izoard.....seems i was too busy thrashing the car to stop and take photos. Whoops.
After Col d'Izoard, we moved swiftly on to Col de Vars (2109m alt.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Col_de_Vars
Better watch that 10% gradient on the way down
|
|
mjn77
Club Member Joined: 22 Jul 2016 Location: Herts, UK Status: Offline Points: 126 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Day 3 - Driving in the snow (Part 2)
We arrived in Barcelonnette where you have to make a decision. Take
the larger of the 2 roads, the D64, or take the D902 with the road
carved into the rock face, and where much of the road is single track,
with few passing spaces. Decisions, decisions.
And snow to the left.... And snow to the right... No place to park up at the top, as all the parking was under 8 ft of snow.
That was the last pass of the day. From there it was on to the next hotel in Valberg. And it turns out that Valberg is actually on the summit of a mountain....so there was another pass of the day. By the time we got to Valberg at 5pm, we were in the middle of a massive thunderstorm. The morning after was sunny again. Again, another nice hotel, only 2 other sets of guests.
Evening meal consisted of cooking your own steak!
Total miles for the day, 174 miles, (9 hours on the road including all stops) |
|
mjn77
Club Member Joined: 22 Jul 2016 Location: Herts, UK Status: Offline Points: 126 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Day 4 - Head for the Med..........and avoiding goats. (Part 1)
Nowhere to get supplies or diesel, so straight back onto the Route Des Grande Alpes. Col de la Couillole (1678m alt.) is our first pass of the day. After yesterdays terrible weather, today is amazing weather, sunshine and blue skies.
Blazing sunshine
What a view!
Those "crash barriers" don't look much help.....
|
|
mjn77
Club Member Joined: 22 Jul 2016 Location: Herts, UK Status: Offline Points: 126 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Day 4 - Head for the Med..........and avoiding goats. (Part 2)
Mmmmm, dry roads and no cars. Coming down takes no time at all, but we do have to avoid rock falls and goats in the road. Goats....always thinking they own the roads.... Not to mention the motorbikers who think it is acceptable to cut hairpins. We headed for Sospel, the last major town before Menton on rhe coast. After Sospel we drove the final mountain pass of the route, Col de Castillon. What's this? A sneaky peek at the Med? It then wasn't long before we weretaking in the sun [] After the Med, we headed for our final hotel in Avignon. We hit the Med by 1pm, so were in no rush to get to the hotel. So we had time to take the coast road to Monaco, Frejus and St. Raphael. Seemed to stumble onto the starting grid of the Monaco GP.... Final sight of the day, Agay. Total miles for the day, 276 miles, (9 hours on the road including all stops) |
|
mjn77
Club Member Joined: 22 Jul 2016 Location: Herts, UK Status: Offline Points: 126 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Day 5 - Dash for the Eurotunnel
Made our train in no time at all, and back home by 11.30pm.
Total miles for the day, 689 miles, (13 hours on the road including all stops and channel crossing)
Conclusion
After 2104 miles, a lot of diesel, and bagettes, looking back, we had a fantastic time. And looking forward to next year's roadtrip already! |
|
mjn77
Club Member Joined: 22 Jul 2016 Location: Herts, UK Status: Offline Points: 126 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
mjn77
Club Member Joined: 22 Jul 2016 Location: Herts, UK Status: Offline Points: 126 |
Post Options
Thanks(0)
|
Enjoy :)
Edited by mjn77 - 23 Jul 2016 at 8:01pm |
|
Post Reply | |
Forum Jump | Forum Permissions You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot create polls in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum |