Etape du Tour - Day 3

Up early this morning to drive back up to Geneva Airport to collect Tony, the second rider. Straightforward couple of hour drive and we weren't stopped at the border this time. Found Tony and loaded his bike into the van, then headed to Albertville for the registration for L'Etape.

I'd set my Sat Nav to 'avoid toll roads' as the cost of French péage (toll motorway) was starting to mount up a bit. This meant that we had a rather pleasant if challenging drive over some high passes in the van.

Once in Albertville we found the Parc Olympique (Albertville had hosted the Winter Olympics in 1992), and David and Tony registered, collected their race numbers, etc, and we had a wander round a big cycling show with lots of trade stalls.

After that it was a drive back to Argentière, unload and build up Tony's bike, then off to bed in preparation for an early start on 'The Big Day'.

 

Didn't take any photos today, so here's the logo of the Etape. I had hoped to be able to buy a sticker with this on it, but no luck.

Etape du Tour - Day 2

After all of the excitement of the previous day, this was a bit more lazy. David went out for a short run on his bike to check that everything was OK with its setup and to give him a bit of exercise. After that we drove into Chamonix and spent the day just wandering about looking at the sights.

We saw some people rafting down the very fast flowing river - looked like fun!

That evening after dinner we wandered up to the local café/bar to use their wi-fi to check our mail and have a couple of drinks. The Office is British owned and this seems to be where most of the English speakers congregate.

Although it had been sunny during the day, by now the rain had come and it varied between drizzle and downpour, and there was some spectacular lightning up on the mountains.

Etape du Tour - Day 1

Just returned from my four day trip to the Etape du Tour, and what a trip it was!

On Thursday morning I flew to Geneve via London with my friend David. Flights themselves were fairly uneventful, but the seeming endless security checks at the airport drag on a bit.

Once in Geneva, we loaded David's bike (in a case), plus our luggage into a taxi for the short trip to the hire dépôt where we'd arranged to hire a van. This proved to be our first introduction to what Switzerland is like – the trip of 2.8 km (1.7 miles) cost a staggering 50 Swiss Francs (£33, 42 Euros, US$51)!

Once at the dépôt we collected our van using a mixture of my broken French and the receptionist's broken English. So it was out onto the roads of Geneva in a left hand drive Renault Master. (I'd only once before driven an LHD car, and that was a lot easier than a big van.) link

I'd programmed my Sat Nav for the village we were staying in, and it insisted that the quickest route was via Geneva city centre, so I had fun driving an unfamiliar vehicle with restricted vision, reversed controls on the 'other' side of the road through busy traffic. However I did get to see Geneva's major landmark, the Jet d'eau familiar to anyone who remembers the 60s television series The Champions.

We arrived at the border, and were surprised to find it manned. Switzerland is probably the only country in Western Europe with a land border that isn't just a sign at the side of the road. The heavily armed border official signalled us to stop, so we explained (broken French again) that we were Scottish and were going to the Etape du Tour. He had a quick look in the back of the van, then signalled us to proceed.

We crossed into France and it was a fairly straightforward hour and a half or so to our base in Argentière, near Chamonix Mont-Blanc. We had arranged to stay in David's boss's apartment, so it was a case of find it, move our luggage in, go to the local shop for some food, and build up David's bike. The apartment had the most amazing view from its balcony.....

 More later......

Etape du Tour

Flying out to France tomorrow morning to act as a driver for a couple of riders taking part in the Etape du Tour. This is one of two, one day cycle rides where amateur riders tackle stages of the Tour de France.
We're flying to Geneva in Switzerland (nearest airport), picking up a hire van, and staying in Chamonix. I'd stayed there four years ago on a motorcycle trip, so it'll be good to go back.
The riders are doing 'Acte 1' of the Etape, riding from Albertville to La Toussuire-Les Sybelles, approximately 140 km with some serious climbs.

Will take lots of photos, so 'watch this space!'

Bike8

I'm not a great reader of motorbike magazines, but I had a long wait and nothing to read at a job, so bought a copy of 'Bike'. It just reminded me of why I don't buy magazines, but there was an interesting route in an 'Epic Routes' supplement. ('Epic' seems to have replaced 'awesome' as the adjective of choice in 'Bike').
It's a 'figure of eight' route taking in many good roads in Britain.

I know most of the Northern half of the route, and they've picked some particularly good roads. In fact, I'll be taking the part from the River Clyde to Applecross later this month.
As the supplement was sponsored by Garmin, they have a link where you can download files for a Garmin sat-nav. You should be able to convert the files into other sat-nav formats using software like RouteConverter. I haven't tried this yet, but I'll let you know how I get on converting the routes into TomTom format.
Might be handy if you fancy going on a trip, but can't think of where to go. Also, if you're into collecting badges, Bike are offering a silver badge if you complete either loop, and a gold badge for doing both.

If anyone does either or both loops, let us know.

Wrong Way Round

I've always believed that you can tour on any bike as long as you realise your particular bike's strengths and weaknesses, and plan accordingly. However, there's always someone who'll 'push the envelope' a little further than most people would. I first came across the Extreme Trifle group when they did their Cheesy Rider trip to the Faro Rally in Portugal. One of their latest trips was to the Sahara Desert, entitled 'Wrong Way Round', showing that anything Ewan'n'Charley can do, they can do, er... differently.

Intro - including a contribution from Charley Boorman

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Epilogue

Just goes to show that you don't need a BMW R1200GS to go to the desert, and that a Yamaha T80 Townmate will do the job almost as well! You've really got to hand it to these guys for actually doing it.

Touring in France

A reminder that as of today (July 1st) all road users have to carry two breathalysers with them when travelling in France.

There are plenty of people selling them on Ebay, and Halfords also have them. The packet is quite small (about the size of a pack of cigarettes) and they cost around £6. They also had them for sale on the ferries I took on my recent trip, but it goes without saying that they were a bit more expensive.
I bought a packet in Halfords as I'm going to France on Thursday (driving a van for riders in the Etape du Tour), and I'll check how cheap they are there.
As I don't drink, mine will sit unused at the bottom of my luggage for years, but if you visit someone else's country, you have to obey their laws. After all, you don't want a run in with an 'officer of the law'.