Just seen the news on Desmocorse posted by MarkST, and it's been confirmed that the 'Bol with be back at Ricard from 2015. The dates are 19-20 September, stick them in your diary now! If you've never been, then go while you can. It was my annual pilgrimage in the late '80's to mid '90's amd full of great memories and adventures. These were the days before satnav and European breakdown cover. You just chucked some tools in a bag, your tent on the pillion, and a tatty Michelin map of France in the tank bag, happy days! See you somewhere on the Mistral, if you can still camp there with the new chicane that is!
Best bike news I've heard for a long time! I used to do the pilgrimage in the 80s and 90s, but once it went to Magny Cours, I never went again, although I don't mind seeing WSBK at Magny Cours. I will thus be returning to Paul Ricard next year. It's just a great experience, from the dust, the warmth, the barbecuing merguez sausages, the sea and the whole Provence thing. The racing isn't bad either. And of course the best bit is the ride down over the Col de la Croix Haute from Grenoble to Aix-en-Provence. Of course you could do it any time, but accompanied by thousands of migrating bikes is just a whole lot better. If you've never been, go. But try not to just take the motorway down. You'll bore yourself to death and square off your rear tyre.
I'm booking that for next year, definitely. The Bol was my first foreign bike jolly, on an MZ of all things, and remains my best biking memory to this day. Death or glory overtaking manoeuvres on the Ardeche gorge road scared the crap out of the emerging power ranger brigade! I'm ringing my brother this morning, we'll both be up for that
We used to take a few days to get down, enjoying all the twisty roads and running through the Verdon(?) gorge each year. We used to camp by the river and spend a day chilling. The way back was almost always motorway, it was like a huge convoy of bikes all heading north at silly speeds. The French opened up a lane for bikes at each toll, it was like passing through the Dartford crossing tolls at 100mph! And who can forget the road(Racetrack!) down to Bandol! Then stopping off at the local supermarket on the way back from the beach to stack the bike with food and drink for the evening
In 1990 the tolls were open on the way down but shut on the way back, so you had to pay Wasn't an issue for me; the MZ was struggling into the headwind, so I got off the motorway and took the scenic route most of the way back.
My first trip to the Bol was on a 500SL Pantah. The starter motor didn't work and the seat was so uncomfortable I used a load of pain killers. Magic times.
