Cols, Gorges and Puys; September 2024
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Ride
I usually like to go for a ride somewhere in Europe during June when the days are longer and there’s a chance of decent weather. However, due to circumstances conspiring I was unable to go in June 2024 but I did manage a ride to France mid September, from the 9th to the 19th, i.e. a trip of 11 days. As it turned out I will remember it as one of the best European trips I’ve done.
On Monday 9th I set off from my home at around 0645 and rode the 9 miles needed to get to Poole ferry terminal for the 0830 sailing of Brittany Ferries’ Barfleur to Cherbourg. The ferry arrived at Cherbourg at 1425 (French time) and I left Cherbourg at around 1500 to ride to my first stopover at Tours, ibis budget Tours Nord. A ride of about 250 miles so I took the Peage. It was the only time I took the Peage. I stopped for dinner at a service station and, after an uneventful ride, got to Tours around 1930. The ibis was a good stopover.
Next day, Tuesday, I stayed at a small hotel just to the south west of Clermont-Ferrand. The weather was good and it was a pleasant ride along D roads. I came across Barrages des Fades (dam). It was a nice ride on winding roads bordering the waterways it held back. The weather was predicted to be dire for the next day,Wednesday, so I thought it would be a good idea to go up Puy de Dome whilst the weather was good (as it was on Tuesday). I parked up at Puy de Dome and walked to the visitor centre where I took the train up to the top. The views were spectacular. Clermont-Ferrand was laid out below to the East and, being the highest Puy at 1,465m, there’s a great view of the Chaîne des Puys. My hotel, Entre Lacs et Volcans at Aydat, wasn’t far from Puy de Dome and I arrived just in time to get dinner.
On Wednesday, the weather was atrocious with strong winds and heavy rain. It had also turned cold. I had planned a modest amount of miles to my stopover that evening so that I could potter around the Auvergne. My first stops were to be Puy de Sancy and Puy Mary, a couple of the highest puys. The weather deteriorated as I rode up Puy de Sancy. It got wetter and colder as I climbed up the puy and visibility was limited owing to low clouds. To top it all, I must have been distracted by the treacherous roads as I almost ran out of fuel. Puy de Sancy was depressing. An out of season ski resort and terrible weather. I marvelled as two brave souls got out of their car, donned their backpacks and set off up the puy. I decided there and then that I wasn’t going to Puy Mary. Instead, I rode to the town of Saint-Flour where I planned to have a look around and get something to eat before going to my hotel for the night. There wasn’t a lot to see really and I ended up in McDonalds. Hotel de l'Ile d'Amour at Langeac was a bit soulless and the restaurant was closed so not a great day really.
The one good part of Wednesday was the great ride from Saint-Flour to Langeac. But for the charity of the work gang working on the road that wouldn’t have gone well either. I started seeing ROUTE BARRÉE signs so I stopped and asked a local guy whether I could get through. “On a moto, no problem” he said. As I came around a corner I saw the work gang and a big pile of mud and rocks across the road, Somewhat deflated I realised that I wasn’t getting through on a Yamaha Tracer 900 GT. Maybe a motocrosser? They took pity on me because one guy on a small roller smoothed a path out for me and I gingerly rode through. Would that have happened in the UK?
On Thursday the weather had improved substantially and I rode to Le Puy-en-Velay. As you enter the town you see the impressive sights of Saint Michel d'Aiguilhe Chapel and the Statue de Notre-Dame de France both perched up high on their puys. I ended up climbing both of them. There are no elevators, just steps, lots of them. Knackering it was but worth it for the views. After, yes, another McDonalds, I departed for Grenoble around 1400. It was about 150 miles to my next hotel, Hotel le Chalet at Gresse-en-Vercors, about 20 miles south of Grenoble at 1200m. On the way it started to get a lot colder and I had resorted to putting on my winter gloves and rain jacket for extra warmth and turning on the Tracer’s heated grips. As I climbed the road to my hotel the Tracer’s thermometer dropped to 6 C and it started to drizzle. Gresse-en-Vercors is a small alpine village and, although the scenery was impressive, it was also a bit bleak. Happily the hotel was run by a lovely young couple and it was very comfortable there. The Tracer was garaged, the radiators were on and dinner was great.
At dinner I was speaking to an English couple and the lady told me that snow had been predicted that night. I thought don’t be silly, it’s only mid September. But she had planted a seed of doubt and back in my room I checked the weather and sure enough temperatures were forecast to plummet to near freezing with snow falling during the night. Looking further ahead, Friday and Saturday were both predicted to be extremely cold as I went deeper (and higher) into the Alps and crossed into Italy as planned. Some of the predicted temperatures for the Alpine cols I had planned to cross were quite a bit below 0 C. I came to a decision. Instead of going deeper into the Alps I truncated my route east and turned south. I had pre-booked all my stopovers on Booking,com. I cancelled my hotel in Italy (at some cost) where I had planned to stop for 2 nights and rescheduled my stopover after Italy, Fifi Moulin, to be 2 days earlier, i.e. Friday the next day. I then booked 2 nights at Avignon, Saturday and Sunday, where it was mid 20s C. On Monday I was back on track staying at the Hotel Burlatis. I went to bed that night wondering how deep the snow would be in the morning,
On Friday morning it’s 2 C outside but to my relief there was no snow. After breakfast I carefully ride down to Monestier-de-Clermont in the valley below before taking the scenic route on D roads to Gap. It warmed up on the way to Gap reaching 18 C. After a walk around Gap and a chat to a French guy who knew the area I rode out to Lac de Serre-Ponçon to take the long scenic route to the Fifi Moulin where I stayed that night. What a lovely ride with scenery and roads to die for. At one point, I pulled over and watched a French rider straight out the comic strip “Joe Bar Team” rumble by on his old cockpit faired bike get his knee down on the road that winds down to Lac de Serre-Ponçon. Brilliant! The Fifi Moulin at Serres is full of character with welcoming hosts. It’s a biker hotel and 10 of us stayed there that night with our bikes safely tucked up in a big secure garage across the road. Conveniently it’s next to a Vietnamese restaurant and that’s where I had dinner.
At Avignon I’d booked Saturday and Sunday night at the Mercure Avignon Gare TGV, I wanted to spend at least one day off the bike. The route took me to Col de Perty and Mont Ventoux. The fine weather, fantastic scenery and good roads made for nice riding. The views from Mont Ventoux were spectacular albeit it was very windy (venteux means windy in French) and a tad cold. It was a rapid descent from Mont Ventoux down the winding road. The Mercure was what I expected and I was fine with it. The room was very comfortable but it didn’t have much character.
Sunday I gave the bike a rest and spent the day walking around Avignon. It was easy enough to take a bus from the Mercure to the old part of town. There was a lovely blue sky and it was warm but it was also very windy. First off was the Pont D’Avignon or Pont Saint-Bénézet, named after the guy who started its construction. (He never finished it so it sticks out halfway into the Rhone.) Sur la Pont D’Avignon my Metzler baseball cap blew off. Good job I bought one at Puy de Dome. Next, I spent a few hours walking around the impressive Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes) where 7 popes once resided. Avignon was the seat of Western Christianity during the 14th century. The works of the French artist Mis Tic were on display at the Palace (all too deep for me). I was feeling hungry after the Palace and as I left I spotted a guy selling kebabs from a hole-in-the-wall. They looked good so I had one. A bit of a mistake that came back to haunt me the following days. After a walk around the old part of town I got the bus back to the hotel. Nice place Avignon.
The plan for that day was to visit Mont Aigoual, Gorges de la Jonte and Gorges du Tarn on my way to the Hôtel Burlatis at Sainte-Énimie. I should have kept my eye on my Garmin as I was trying to avoid going through Nîmes but my Garmin insisted I see it! After Nîmes I rode on nice D roads. Mont Aigoual had Mont Ventoux beat for wind. I parked the Tracer sideways onto the wind and it started rocking on its side stand so I had to park it facing the wind. The views were amazing but owing to the cold wind I didn’t hang around too long. Riding the two gorges was epic. Stunning scenery and soaring vultures. At the Gorges du Tarn I turned onto a road that wound its way up the side of the gorge. It was a great view at the top. Sainte-Énimie was touristy and the hotel was nothing special although it did cater for bikers by providing a secure garage. The pizza restaurant was good.
On Tuesday I headed for an Auberge just outside Limoges. It was another good day of riding on nice D roads. The Auberge de la Vallee de la Gorre in the village of Saint-Auvent was interesting. It’s run by an English couple and it seemed to be a hub for expats and UK tourists. I was the only one staying there and after the restaurant closed around 2100 everybody left and I was the only one in the building. It felt a bit weird but I had a comfortable stay there and dinner and breakfast were very good.
Wednesday and Thursday were travel days back to Cherbourg to catch the ferry home on Thursday evening. On Wednesday I visited the village of Oradour-sur-Glane which is infamous for the massacre carried out there by the SS during World War 2. A bit further on I stopped at the impressive Château de Saumur. On Wednesday night I stayed at the Brit Hotel Les Evens just north of Le Mans. It was fine as a stopover, comfortable enough with a restaurant. On Thursday I had plenty of time to get to my 1815 sailing from Cherbourg so it was a relaxed ride to Cherbourg. I stopped off at Bayeux for a pizza and visited Sainte-Mère-Église (they still haven’t got that poor bloke down off the church spire) and Utah Beach as I made my way up the Cherbourg peninsula. I got back to Poole around 2145 and, as I’ve come to expect, it took a while to get through UK Border Control.
All in all, it was a very good holiday. Fine weather throughput apart from one day in the Auvergne. The best roads and scenery I’ve ridden on. French roads are in a much better condition than UK roads. I think the decision not to go further into the Alps and head south instead was a good one. After all, it would have spoilt the holiday if I had fallen off on some black ice and it was nice to be warm. I did 1,928 miles in total and the Tracer was faultless.