The Tour De France Getting there and the Experience

Events and Links- Route De Grand Alps and the TDF Updated July 20

Peleton just before the start

KRY'S BIG GUY at 0730 riding strong

Sandra and I since we started our motorcycle travels have always stitched together events and World Heritage Sites (WHS) with super scenic motorcycle or sports car routes to get from one event to another. Some of the most important maps we have used are a series from ADAC in Germany and they are the Route des Grandes Alpes (RDGA) series.

So as we quickly planned this 50th anniversary trip, Aostatal and Rhone-Alpen were the two maps to understand how the Tour De France (TDF) was leveraging these spectacular routes in their stages. The Schweiz series was used for the 1st part of our trip from Lindau, thru Chur to Splugen and beyond. You can search if you like our blog posts for other great rides. Here's a grouping we did in 2011. Go here.

On leaving Levanto we hit the autostrada A12 to Genoa and then NW on A7, and A21 to get us back into the scenic Italian and French Alps. We exited near Susa on SS25 and headed over Frances' Col du Mt. Cenis and immediately we were struck by the beauty of this incredible road and plenty of motorcycles plying their way in either direction. It was hot at 35C so the waterfalls were plentiful. 

On the French side of the Alps we then headed to Modane on a route we had previously done but in the other direction in 2011. The scenery just kept feeding us 'Oh wow" moments as we saw cliff jumping para gliders take off from stunning peaks. As we neared the Lacets we began recording the TDF route closure times as we strategized how to see the most we could see of Stage 11 on Wed. July 13th. https://youtu.be/Vf9znx-N990

When we arrived at our Ibis Hotel in Chambery for the evening we were met with TDF support team vehicles in the parking lot and this morning we took the opportunity to have a 6 am breakfast with many of those same support teams as they headed to start the stage.

We headed first to Albertville by back tracking on what we had researched would be the start route, from a little village called Aiton on D925, just off D1006. I spotted what ultimately would be our set-up location, a small farmers trail on an outside corner on 925, but first we wanted to see what the Stage 11 set-up location

Paddock

would look like. We arrived there by 0730, and actually drove into the paddock for the teams before being asked to leave. Yeah it was still early!

We walked back into the staging area and took pictures of the Albertville Olympic plaza erected for the '92 Olympics

Olympic Plaza

. Side note, we had taken the kids there in '91 on the lead up to the 92 Olympics that Kurt Browning wouldn't make.

Just a Short ride today!

Waving the Flag

Then we headed back to Aiton since that was where everything would start and so it did. As we waited the road closure would be important to secure and that was done at 0930.

About 1000 we had 4 of Frances fighter jets fly directly overhead of us. What a rush! So fast through the mountains we didn't get the chance to photo them.

Shortly after, the race sponsors began their pass along the route throwing promotional items to the watchers. We made a great haul!

Then the support teams passed along the route to take up positions

and finally, shortly after 1200 hrs the Peleton arrived for the start.

The Stage 11 Peleton pre-start

What's so impressive about their arrival is that they are virtually intact with all of the teams and riders in close quarters. You experience the air being pushed towards you and past you as they speed by at about 40 kph.

We were so delighted to have planned and experienced as much as we did see this time. It will last in our memories forever. So these last three days couldn't have been more perfect, with riding the Cinque Terre to driving the Alps and now getting to see the TDF again.

ANd here is the link to the highlights from Stage 11.

And tomorrow another part of the RDGA's awaits.

Riding the Cinque Terre

Corniglia

 Our hosts in Levanto after learning of our experience riding our Vstrom mentioned that they had one as well. Also a 1000 but of the 2nd generation. When I asked to see it, Corrado did one better, he offered to let me take it for a ride. 

Bad mistake! He may never get it back while I'm in Italy. 

First I took it for a short ride and when I came back Sara suggested I needed to ride a bit more. So I suggested I'd see if Sandra felt comfortable without our normal riding gear on and we arranged to take it the next day.

Well Sandra agreed and at first was a bit hesitant but got into perfect riding form in no time flat. She's quite proud of it and said to me "See I've still got it!". Yes you do dear, yes you do!

We headed out on the Strada Nationale Cinque Terre (SP370) from Levanto. Traffic was light on this narrow mountain road and the panoramic scenery amazing. I had forgotten how beautiful it was. Then where in a previous ride years before we stayed to the left and went inland, we stayed right towards Vernazza and Manarola onward to La Spezia. The scenery got even better from a panorama standpoint.

What stood out so much were the tiered mountain sides for grapes. And then Corniglia popped out into the ocean. As one of the 5 towns it is the only one not directly on the water.

Us on other side of Corniglia

We continued south passing over Manarola

Mechanical grape rancher on track (Manorola)

Grape Rancher

and Rio Maggorie and then arriving in La Spezia where we headed out to Porto Venere,

Porto Venere

a WHO site for it's ancient castle. It is a HUGE tourist attraction as well and a Cruise Ship stop. 

The beaches are well used there as well.

Black Sailboat

Busy Beach

La Spezia Cruise Ship Stop

See, I still have GOT IT!

After numerous stops for pictures and sight seeing we headed back to Levanto with our appetite whetted for more motorcycle travel. Next time hopefully on our own, again!

Is Sardegna really in Italy?

As we left Mennagio for Genoa you follow Lake Como on the west side on SS340. It is the slower side of the lake with the highway running through all the small villages. So as modern day transport trucks try moving building products to locations they encounter many 18th century roads and turns. Beautiful from a sightseeing standpoint, not so much otherwise. We'd chosen this route since we had a day to drive the 250 kms to Genoa, and the alternative is the Autostrada which runs through Milan. Avoiding Milan was high on our list as well. So taking the back highways allowed us to do both until a section close to Genoa where a landslide that happened in February was being repaired the Italian way. Which means block the road and 1 man works on it until it's done or retirement. Neither happened during our time there.

We had our challenges on arrival at the Port which we've been to many times before, but eventually arrived and boarded our GNV ferry.

Genoa Dock on leaving

Apparently the Italian's are having the same staffing issues as us, so our 13 1/2 hr. trip, plus nearly 2 hrs to load and 1.5 hrs to unload to could  be tacked together. 

We were greeted by Ingo and Patricia in Porto Torres, Sardegna and drove back into Alghero

Touring Old Town

where we enjoyed a Cappuccino and pastry

Cappuccino on the dock Old Town

and caught up for awhile before heading to their 'new' home. If you've ever watched House Hunters International, they are living that theme right now. They've bought a beautiful small acreage 4 kms outside Alghero, a Spanish settlement for centuries before becoming part of Italy. The previous owner had built two homes on it and a grove of olive trees, and fruit trees as well. 

Now, it will be time for Patricia to mold the future of the place which has 'good bones' to start with. It was such a privilege for us to have them  invite us their first guests.

View across the valley from our dining table

The setting and view is beautiful
and with the weather in the mid-30's each day and evenings cooling to 22-23C we were able to eat all our meals together at a large table with the view as a backdrop. And when the night sky appeared we were able to watch not only the stars come out but watch multiple satellites pass overhead each night.

With Ingo still doing engineering work the next day Sandra and I took the time to head out to Capo Caccia,

Capo Caccia Spectacular Views

a point some 20 kms out that encompasses 2 more bays besides the one Alghero is in. As part of the Spanish occupation of the island, they had built a series of Towers to warn the Fortress in Alghero of attacks. So in the mid-30's heat we visited one as well as a Neghera dating back to 1500-500 BC. 

Neghera 1500-500 BC

Capo Caccia Rock Islet

The Bays, the little one was the beach we swam from.

Tower Bello and Sandra in 34C

But the enticing nature of the warm water and a beach attracted us and we cut short our tour to change into our bathing suits and enjoy some swimming, snorkeling and beach time before heading back. The next day Ingo and Patricia came along as tour guides and we enjoyed a trip on a 'motorcycle' perfect highway that gripped the west coast down to Bosa

Bosa with river Temo in Background

where we had lunch in the town square and later visited Monteleone inland. 35C was the hottest it got that day. 

On July 1st, Canada Day Sandra and I put up our banner and Sandra prepared a meal more in keeping with Canadian traditions. Of course drinks were had as well.

Happy July 1st (Canada Day) 

Our final day was enjoying more beach time in Alghero before heading out to Olbia early in the following morning to catch the ferry to Piombino on the mainland. As we left Alghero at 4:40 am the disco's on the north end of town were just closing. definitely a party place in the summer!

Such a different experience in Olbia with the ferry running exactly on time and efficient we recalled Ingo's comment that Sardinian's don't really operate like Italians. That certainly was our experience.

And Happy Birthday to Ingo as well1

It's Fun Again!

 

It's fun again!

It’s amazing how the pandemic has been so pervasive to the psyche of people after two years. 

What woke us up to it was the desire to break our routine of the past 25 months realizing that we had burnt the last two years of our marriage in a pandemic environment and with our 50th anniversary fast approaching we wanted to do something worthy of the occasion.

So within a few hours we hatched a viable plan to celebrate and Sandra named Levanto as the place she wanted to celebrate our 50th. Not that we were married there, or actually celebrated an anniversary right there, but we definitely have celebrated a lot of anniversaries while traveling in Europe and Asia. As a piece of trivia if you search our blogs email us with how many and where we've celebrated our anniversaries.

Working on trying to tie all of the logistics together went pretty well. But planning is one thing, actioning it another…. So here goes!

Hearing how Air Canada and other carriers are having problems with logistics we anticipated it and booked the Maple Leaf lounge and that was well worth it. With our priority tickets we were off the plane quickly and our bags were some of the first delivered in Frankfurt. That put us through customs quickly and Heiko was there to meet us. It’s been 6 years since we last saw Heiko in person and it was great to visit and spend time together. Unfortunately jet lag forced some ‘nap’ interruptions but the pandemic downtime had Heiko develop more home cooking skills and we had a great Pesto pasta supper the 1st night and we all went to the Brahaus the 2nd night, a hot and gorgeous evening in a biergarten. Yes I know we look tired, but we are seriously jet-lagged!

Now to claim the rental car. While Rick Steve’s site has been slow with pandemic updates I focused on finding reasonably priced rental cars and wanted to ensure actually getting it since there wasn't time to ship the bike back to Europe! This trip will again determine whether do it again or not.

The best service and prices came from auto-europe.ca, a Canadian based aggregator of car rentals with Hertz and Europ-car, their most reasonable vehicles. While I booked with Hertz, a new model Opel Astra we actually got an Opel Crossland, a small SUV vehicle that is the fruit of Opel becoming part of Peugeot. The vehicle is quite comfortable, excellent in handling mountain roads, and the fuel economy is a huge bonus. Here’s where the snobbery of Top Gear is to be discounted. The engine punches way above it’s weight and while the interiors are basic the vehicle works with huge suitcase storage, exactly what is needed. We also booked from the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof instead of the airport for pickup, saving huge money there and paid in Canadian funds in Canada avoiding the currency surcharges on your card.

After picking it up on time we drove the 420 kms to Lindau, DE, a beautiful tourist town on Lake Constance (Bodensee). The weather devolved into a stormy evening so our planned walk was set aside. There was a McD’s close by but I had remembered da Pietro, a pizzeria and amazingly found my way there without directions. Simple thin crust prosciutto and mushroom pizza, with wine, and their house seasoned olive oils in a beautiful setting was amazing and really made a beautiful end to our first day on the road.

Saturday broke sunny and hot, we seemed to finally settle into the new time zones at 9 hrs. ahead of back home and the hotel we stayed at had a superb breakfast room spread. We ventured out Saturday morning before leaving to see the signature lighthouse that marks the harbor of Lindau, Germany.

We crossed immediately into Austria on the lake and then into Switzerland and stayed on the non-vignette roads, Hwy 13 and 3 getting through Chur to stopping in the Viamala canyon, see this link with photos from one of previous trips, to have lunch and enjoy the canyon once again as we have so many other times on motorcycle. This 1st full day made us both realize how much more the motorcycle adds to the travel day's enjoyment. Over the Splugen pass once again and onto Mennagio, so 4 countries in 1 day, where we arrive at one of our favorite hotels. The pool was busy given that it was sunny and 31C, but people gave up loungers so we could enjoy the end of a beautiful day there in the pool. As well, a cancellation allowed us to have a fabulous supper in the hotel, a 3 star family business, that we found back in 2006 on a dark and stormy night. The Merloni’s have been so kind to us over our various visits.

Since we wanted to spend a few days here Sandra had found some hikes for us to do and today, Sunday June 26th we set out to hike up to La Crocetta under a bit of overcast but warm morning.

The round trip hike was just under 8 kms with some pretty good elevation changes of course to get these amazing views over Lake Como, Menaggio, Bellagio, Como and Lecco.

The cross is placed on the high mountain viewpoint just a few 100 mtrs. above a church altar and a bunker that serves as a Sacrarium in memoriam to all the fallen Mennagio soldiers from WW1. What a view is an understatement!