If you think that more than 100 miles a day in the mountains is a bit much, you might might not want to spend only 2 days getting to the Alps. Plus it depends where in the Alps you're going. Geneva to Andermatt is a fair ride, if you want go on the interesting roads (and you do, believe me). You can have a lot of fun getting to the Alps, so it's not necessarily something you want to rush. But 2 weeks is ample. A leisurely 3 days to the heart of the Alps, 3 days back and you still have 8 days doing all the passes. Eons of time. How many miles you want to do in a day is up to you, but you can see that a riding day of only 5 hours (not much) at a miserable 20 mph average speed will give you your 100 miles. I'd be more like 200 miles - but then once I start, I don't stop apart from petrol and the odd coffee. On a sports Ducati, the passes will kill your wrists and shoulders - mainly from braking downhill for the hairpins. You get used to it, but it can be a bit like a skiing holiday - you may discover muscles you didn't know you had. On a Multi, I imagine it's a breeze.
Head down, on a motorway, boring yourself into tedium. If you're going to do that, you might as well take Easyjet. It's way cheaper.
From Calais down it's the only way, naff all to see up there. And there's no such thing as a boring road through the Alps, main road or otherwise.
Last year I did the autoroute from Calais to St.Quentin, then left it and took the back roads straight south to Auxerre. Next day, I went home (near Lausanne in Switzerland) via Chablis and the Jura. Brilliant day on a bike. The only bit of motorway that you're really justified in doing is the bit in the Pas de Calais (which is tedious otherwise and takes you an age on the back roads).
Yes. If it was only two weeks away from the WDW, I might go to one and stay down in Italy until the other - but the dates are too far apart for that. If it was three months away from the WDW, I might do two separate trips to Italy in one year (!), but they are too close together for that. Hmm - still thinking ...
So if I sort something for the aug bh you coming pete? Imagine the late night debates while drinking the top shelf...
Pete looks over it, I look under it, neither of us could look directly at it! Loz would fit in perfectly as middle class in that sketch...
Food in the Spanish Pyrenees is invariably boring and badly cooked. There's only so many times you can get somewhere and find the only food options are an omlette or a 'bocadillo de baco con queso' - go to France or Italy and eat well.
The Jura has some amazing roads which you hardly get any traffic on! amazing view if the sky is clear, when you get to overlook Geneva !
Really? We have always eaten well there and paid feck all for it. We stopped at a tiny village one day nestled on the side of a mountain. All there was were a few houses a church and a bar. We all (about 10 of us) filled our fat faces on Tapas and had some fizzy drinks. We asked "how much" to the owner and she replied " euro each"! A feckin Euro lol! We have also eaten in everything from Spanish transport cafe's , really tasty food, to top expensive gaffs and I honestly cannot remember being disappointed anywhere. Maybe its the pie and mash they serve here up north eh? I still prefer the Pyrenees to the alps personally. Better roads, better weather, less traffic to name a few reasons.
The ride from the top of the Jura's down to Gex or the other way is fantastic. There are some really fast sweepers and slow hairpins. Something for everyone. I'd like to do the Pyranees. Will discuss this with mate. We do the alps coz mates father in law has chalet nr Le Grand Bournand which we use as a base.
I spent time there on a university fieldwork project. We were being sponsored by Statoil, so had no incentive to hold back on the cash front as we could claim it all. Compared to the rest of Spain I did find it expensive, although I've never done the Alps - is Switzerland expensive? Bavaria isn't cheap but you do get big portions and great food!
