Tour Reports

Posts with the Tag 'biking routes'

As another long cold winter comes to a close many you ye in northern Europe will looking to your next motorcycle adventure or just a simple cruise south in search of blue skies and a little headspace. If the Pyrenees or Spain is the direction your headed I’d highly recommend a little detour into your [...]

Gorges: Gorges du Verdon, Gorges du Nesque, Col de Tempêtes and Mont Ventoux. Distance: 320km. Gorges du Verdon Day 6 finds me starting my day in Saint-André-Les-Alpes at the head of Lac de Castillon, fed by Le Verdon River which over the millennia has gouged out Europe’s version of the Grand Canyon.

Some of these passes I covered last year in which case I’m not going into too much detail blabbing on about them. For the 2011 trip I filmed the roads with a Drift HD170 Action Camera, I hope the videos attached to this blog will help you see for yourself what to expect better than [...]

Route Description – From Carcassonne through Cathar country, entering Spain through one of the highest passes, ending in Andorra la Vella Distance – 470km of mostly Pyrenees mountain roads with 11 great Cols Cols/Passes – Col de Portel (1,432m), Col de la Crouzette (1,246m), Col de Péguère (1,375 m), Col de Port (1,249m), Port de [...]

Route Description – Monastery, Castle, Open Country Road and Provencal Village Circuit. Starting outside Signes near Toulon this a great motorcycle route through the back country of Provence known mostly to the local bikers. Cant really recommend this route enough, it’s a really magic mix of smooth open country roads, typical old villages with a [...]

Route description – Starting and ending in Théoule (west end of Cannes) this route takes the Corniche D’Or (gold road), Frejus, St. Raphael, St. Maxime, Port Grimaud, St-Tropez, the forest’s of Massif des Maures and a couple of great villages. Distance – 254km

Route description and places to stay along Stage 8 of this great Alpine tour: Stage 8 – St Martin du Vesubie to Menton Distance – (Stage 7a – 148km) (Stage 7b – 157km) Cols – Col St.Roch, Col de Braus, Col de Turini featured in the first episode of Top Gear series 10 when the [...]

Route description and places to stay along Stage 7 of this great Alpine tour. Stage 7 – Castellane to St Martin du Vesubie Distance – (Stage 7a “Purple” – 148km) (Stage 7b “Green”- 157km)

Route description and places to stay along Stage 6 of this great Alpine tour. Stage 6 – Barcelonnette to Castellane Distance – 182km Cols/Gorges – Col de la Bonette (el. 2715 m./8907 ft.), Gorges de Valabres, Gorge du Daluis, Additional Routes – Grand Canyon du Verdon (Marked Yellow on Map)

Route description and places to stay along Stage 5 of this great Alpine tour. Distance – 114km Cols – Col l’Izoard, Col du Var Additional Routes – Lac de Serre-Poncon (Route 115km), Col d’Allos (el. 2250 m.) – Col des Champs (el. 2087 m.) – Col de la Cayolle (el. 2,326 m) (Route 116km)

Route description and places to stay along Stage 4 of this great Alpine tour: Stage 4 – Lanslebourg/Val Cenis to Briancon Distance – 110km Cols – Col du Telegraphe, Col du Galibier Additional Route – Including Col du Lautaret, Col de Sarenne, Croix de Fer, Col du Glandon (300km)

Route description and places to stay along Stage 3 of this great Alpine tour: Stage 3 – Bourg St Maurice to Lanslebourg Distance – 76km (120km inc trip to Lac Cenis – 6/8hrs) (200km+ Bourg St Maurice to Briancon 6/8hrs) Cols – Val d’Isere, Col d’Iseran

Route description and places to stay along Stage 2 of this great Alpine tour Stage 2 – Grand Borand to Bourg St Maurice Distance – 100km Aprox 3.5hrs, 4.5hrs inc Col du Pré +20km This stage passes – Clusez, St-Jean-de-Sixt, La Giettaz, Flumet, Les Saisies Cols – Col des Aravis – 1486 meters, Col des [...]

Route description and places to stay along Stage 1 of this great Alpine tour. Stage 1 – Thonon-les-Bains to Grand Bornand Distance – 90km This stage passes by Morzine, Gets, Taninges, Cluses, Le Grand-Bornand Cols – Col de Gêts 1163 meters, Col de la Colombière 1613 meters Cols (Stage 1b) – Col du Ranfolly, Col [...]

Route length 168KM At 1236 metres (4055 ft) above the valley floor, Montserrat is the highest point of the Catalan lowlands whose name means serrated mountain, it’s about an hours ride west of Barcelona and easily possible as a return bike ride from Tossa, plenty of petrol stations and places to eat and stay. Barcelona [...]

This route takes you from coastal Mediterranean cliff side roads through Gerona, farmlands and low hills to the wonderful medieval walled town of Besalu.

This route starts just outside of Rathdrum simply because the stretch of road from here to Laragh is a great bit of crack if it’s quiet, there are a couple of really tricky turns on this road close to Rathdrum, you will know what I mean when you try them. Best to ride it slowly [...]

As a landscape photographer I get to spend a lot of time in the Dublin and Wicklow mountains and have gotten to know many of the most scenic back roads. So if you’re in the area why not check them out, as they are all within an hours drive from Dun Laoghaire port.

Just for the crack I’ve set up a Facebook page with more advice, links, videos, etc. Please feel free to comment or add your own advice for those thinking of making the trip. GPS Republic Facebook page – Routes for Bikers

I never get tired of watching this:Alpine Adventures – Col de l’Iseran »

More photos of my trip along Route des Grande Alps are available on my Flickr page:Route Des Grand Alps at Denis Smyth Photography

I am not a real fan of the coast here, its crowded, over priced, polluted, seriously packed with tourists, car drivers are aggressive and the cops here seem to be worse then anywhere else. But in fairness I used to live here so have a different opinion than the normal biker just riding through.

My God I’m tired, it’s been a very long time since I’ve ridden a bike so far and the late nights and early starts are starting to get into my old bones, my pains have pains and my brain is on auto pilot. But my goal is in sight as I’ve decided to spend the [...]