On the 22nd of June I headed for the French border leaving back in Torino wonderful friends and memories. My goal was to make it up to the refuge of Madone de Fenestre, located close to the French-Italian border, which would first give me the chance to enjoy the Route de la Bonette, an all time classic for motorists, cyclists and all lovers of scenic routes regardless the mean of transportation.
First kilometres in Italy on SS25 were nothing really exciting passing through Susa, except the nice weather and the view of the snowy white Alpine peaks in the background.
I enter France via Montgenevre.
After the very first minutes in France I am welcomed by an 18 wheeler lying on its side facing me on my lane. Probably the trucker was too fast entering this switchback and he flipped. Watching him (fortunately not seriously injured) walking around his truck I felt mercy but this feeling was counter weighted by the possibility of me filling the space between his truck and the tarmac, if only I was at the scene a minute earlier... This was the first accident I experienced in my trip. Wishing this would be the last one as well, I continued for beautiful Briancon and started going uphill via D902. Classic Alpine scenery again, really gorgeous. Bright blue sky interrupted by a few white clouds, just in case someone was tired of full blue sky, a few lakes, green carpet under the trees, nice bends, always snowy peaks in the background.
The absolute joy though was later on D64 or “Route de la Bonette”. This route is the ultimate scenic Alpine one, crosses the Mercantour National Park and goes over 2800 meters high. Needless to say it had a lot of snow close to “Col de la Bonette”, last meters of the loop road they made there in order to win the record of the highest pass were full of snow and I had to take the shortcut to start going down via D64 to the other side. First I had to write my name on the snow at the highest French tarmac road and the highest European tarmac pass.
Unique experience. Make an occasion for it. No way to regret it! Just keep your tank full if yours is a small one because filling stations (even houses) are rare.
I leave cold and snow behind, descending via D64 and fortunately the joy doesn't stop. D2205 was next heading South and it is a very nice route by the river, crossing once again the Mercantour. At its end, I headed East for the refuge Madone de Fenestre. I arrived there tired after almost 300 km in mountainous roads with countless switchbacks and tight bends but so impressed at the same time by the whole route and the place there itself.
Many clouds hiding the sun during my ride, looking close enough to reach out and grab them at 2000 meters altitude, a bit of snow and much cold. No cell phone signal, of course no internet at the refuge and no place to charge my phone. Didn't care so much about the signal or the internet but not that happy about my phone's almost flat battery. Food was nice and more than enough and the people I met there were really a joy to talk with. All hikers from various countries and ages. I was the only non hiker around and most of them wondered how a Greek biker decided or managed to go stay there. Tired enough after the dinner and the chat and some red wine kindly offered by 2 guys from Munich, I went to sleep very early having nothing else to keep me busy.
Next day started with a nice sunshine, good breakfast and a group of French youngsters asking me if I had space on my bike to take them with me. Everything looked perfect until... while loading my stuff on my bike I noticed a screw on my rear tire! A punctured tire is NOT the best thing to happen at 2000 meters with a dead phone and far from the first village. I had a repair kit with me but decided to fix it at a garage cause if I failed I would end up with a totally flat tire and mine was not flat yet fortunately. Carefully driving downhill, I go to the first village (Saint Martin Vesubie) and I stop at a gas station where I was glad to see they repaired car tires as well. I thought to myself "you can't get any luckier!" since I run on tubeless tires, same as cars do. What I didn't know was the French law on motorcycle tires. No matter how I tried, no matter how kind they were, of course in full French which I do not speak, they didn't want to fix it! They proposed me another place to do so, some 300 meters ahead. While driving without my helmet for the first time in my trip, just rolling down the road for a few meters to the next repair shop, I see my mirrors filled with the view of a Land Rover rushing to reach me. The "Gendarmerie" stopped me and fortunately I skipped the ticket explaining them the whole situation. I didn't fixed my tire though cause the place was closed. I go back to the filling station and still they didn't want to fix it. Finally they found me the only English speaking person in the village, a lady who told me that they are not authorised to do so that's why they refuse. I opened my repair kit to do it myself but... the glue container punctured and emptied probably due to heat! Though I thought I'd fix the tire with the rest of the kit, that kind English speaking lady proposed me to go to a next village 15 km away, where they'd fix it for sure. I take off the screw again, put my chewing gum to act as a gasket, rescrewed it in, put 45 psi and headed for that place. I spot it as soon as I entered the village and looked like a junkyard. A teenager comes to me and I explain him the situation. His dad comes then and in as French as it gets accent asks me "where is the problem?". A couple of moments and 8 euros later it was done. Dad gives me back the screw saying "souvenir". I always smile when I recall the scene.
I continued my way without the burden of the tire. Next destination: Aix en Provence. Heading south on D2565 the scenery becomes more Mediterranean and less Alpine. Different and richer vegetation, more insects on my windscreen, familiar images to a Mediterranean like me change my mood and it is clear after many km in the Alps that I am southbound. Nice contrast after the wild Alpine beauty.
Sweet route in general heading West via D8 and D2 but the incredible part is the one that crosses the Gorges du Verdon, the biggest canyon in Europe. You can make countless stops for photos and sightseeing.
It is a nature's masterpiece 25 km long, up to 1000 meters steep, ending at the beautiful “Lac de Saint Croix”.
Don't miss this for any reason if you are around. At some points of the route there are rocky little balconies where you can have a fantastic view unless you suffer from acrophobia.
After the canyon I followed the shortest route to get to Aix en Provence. This route couldn't be as special as the previous one and after crossing various lowland fields I arrived at beautiful Aix.
This is where I was welcomed by Kaliopi and Frank and I really wanna thank both of them very much for their hospitality. Before meeting them though, as soon as I stop my bike outside their house an old local woman was attracted by the image of a loaded bike coming from so far. She approaches me mistaking the scene for my departure and says "Tres preparation". Fortunately she spoke a bit of English so we were able to chat with me explaining that I have hust arrived instead. She then tells me in English:
"I can't travel because I am sick. But I travel when I read Socrates so please tell him "thank you" from me when you go back in Greece".
This was one of the greatest highlights of my travelling "career". I found such an appreciation for the Ancient Hellenic heritage so far from home... actually my country follows me wherever I go but I guess I have to make a whole different dedicated post about this priceless feeling and how I have experienced it in almost all my trips...
My hosts were kind enough to show me around the city where we tried some really delicious Algerian food.
Downtown there were lots of art items exhibited and I found the whole idea quite interesting.
I was not patient enough though to attend a traditional event at the main square as the prologue of that old French man was too long. He was reading a giant book and I had already experienced kinda too many things on that day...
Next morning I made my way to Barcelona. Long distance, lots of traffic on the side roads, lots of squares as well so I decided to take the toll road for the first time in this trip.
As you can easily imagine I don't have many impressive images from that part. Just watch out for the wind if you do so cause it can get really tricky on windy days there. There are some wind indicators on the way so you can have an idea of the strength and the direction of the wind. Luckily I had no issues at all and so did the numerous bikers I met on the way. Every single one waved a free hand on the go. Sweet.
After 330 boring km on Α9 I cross the Spanish border. What impressed me the most there was the absolute change of the scenery. Feels like you enter a different world right after you pass the “ESPANΑ” sign. The villages are less neat, the fields as well and those prostitutes that work on daylight on the side of the roads reappeared. Last time this happened was in Italy. The N11 has no big surprises, at least for someone like me coming from Greece but Barcelona has a lot of emotions to offer, no matter where you come from, due to its strong personality, the special colour and history and the countless worth visiting places.
The most special moment for me was visiting the Gaudy creations. The curves he designed and applied on the stone made those masterpiece buildings so magnificent and “human”at the same time.
Seems like bikers should really take care of their bikes in Barcelona. Multiple times I was warned about bike theft, hence parking for bikes overnight can be quite pricey. This was the only dark spot about this wonderful city which easily is one of my most favourites. I stayed a few days there during the world football championship and I experienced how crazy about football the Spaniards are. Each time their team scored, the sound of the screams and the fireworks could travel really far.
Stay tuned for part 3!
