Spain - France - Switzerland
June was about to end, same as my stay in gorgeous Barcelona. While watching the sunset at the harbour I said to myself: “Would you take a ferry back to Greece if there was one?”. “No!” So, next destination: Toulouse!
I start early in the morning trying to skip the Catalan heatwave and I hardly manage to load my bike before I soak in sweat. I take the C55 heading North without anything special on the way. Via C16 I continue North and fortunately I leave the heat behind as I go up the Pyrenees. After a point though as I was approaching the beautiful “Cadi-Moixero” National Park, I started feeling cold as I was wearing nothing under my summer motorcycle jacket. As I started thinking about making a stop to put a t-shirt on I entered a tunnel that I hadn't noticed earlier in the map. Actually it was a fridge about 5 km long that felt like it took me an age to pass it respecting the speed limit while trying to keep myself warm by ducking behind the bike's windshield. Defrosting at the other end I enter France again. This country looked to me like a beautiful piece of land dividing Italy and Spain. While those two countries may have some things in common France is quite different. French can easily be judged as snobbish by the rest of the Mediterranean people but I think this is not exactly true. In my case at least, only by applying a kind code of communication escorted by the use of 1-2 French words (that's all I know anyway), almost all of the times I received a kind and helpful feedback. OK, maybe that also requires another post of mine to extensively analyse this :)
I continue on N152 in a pleasant and flat scenery with nice contrasts of white and blue in the sky. The architecture of the houses shows me that I must be close to France and a bit later I pass the French border at Bourg Madam. It is time for the Ν20 now to take me North and while the weather seems to get worse with dark clouds in the sky the route gets more and more beautiful following a river for a while. If you are not in a hurry after Porta don't do the mistake to continue on N20 and enter the toll tunnel. Take the N320 instead which follows a much more scenic route going up the mountain through Porte Puymorens. I made one more deviation a bit later and took the Ν22 in order to go to Andora. This road leads you high up to Pas de la Casa at 2400 m high, which is the watershed of Pyrenees. Interesting route but not on heavy raining conditions like the ones I was facing hence I soon took the road back to Toulouse.
Here I am on the N20 again, leaving the cold rainy mountains behind for a more friendly landscape. After a lot of km in flat cultivated fields without any bends I arrive at Toulouse.
This city is really very beautiful and personally speaking maybe she was the one that touched me most. Yes, Toulouse really felt like "she". Could be the old part of the city to blame or the nice parks or even more the Garonne river with the amazing lighting at night that you simply feel a love at first sight when you visit it. What I know for sure is that Clement Riguet did his best to make me feel better than home there. Still have not enough words to thank him and his father who was providing me his best beers straight from the fridge whenever he saw me. The Riguet family owns a very nice Youth Hostel ( www.gite-compostelle-toulouse.com ) in the heart of the old part of the city. One night walking around there I saw cars with flags of Ghana waved by screaming passengers who wondered why I don't join them. I continued walking indifferent clueless and laid back instead. Next day I learned that Ghana had won USA in football so I could finally understand their excitement. The world football championship was still going on and I was experiencing screaming fans from town to town but this was the last thing that I was interested in.
What really interested me was the way the sunset made me feel at the Pont Neuf Bridge of Garonne river. If you ever visit Toulouse don't leave before you see the sun go down at one of the beautiful bridges of this river. Be sure you'd love to stay forever there even after the sun goes down as the smart lighting of the bridges makes the view just magical. No captions needed:
My days in Toulouse were over and one of the last mornings of June I find myself leaving this place back, heading East on D888. I was enjoying an easy route with low traffic while lots of trees on both sides of the road were providing precious shade on a sunny hot day.
The route was crossing lowland fields and beautiful villages for a long way but later the scenery changed, especially when I left A75 on exit 39 to take the N88 driving East.
Higher altitude, more trees, less heat and the first dark clouds appeared in the sky. N106 was next. This road crosses the Cevennes which is a very beautiful forest making the route more exiting. Somewhere in the middle of this forest I heard a thunder so loud that it felt like it was aiming my head. This was the starting gun for a heavy rain that didn't allow me to enjoy the whole scenery as much as I wanted to. This went on for quite a few km when I finally left the mountain and the cold back for more friendly lowland places once again and via D6 I arrive at Pont St Esprit where I decide to overnight. This town was by far the least attractive I visited in France but I had already a lot of km on my back and some of them under heavy rain so I decided to rest there. I stayed at a mediocre hotel and when I asked the owner for a place to park my bike he led me to his house's yard where his cute kids where playing. Fortunately they didn't play with my bike so I was able to leave that place next morning without delay.
New day, new destination, perfect weather. If only all our days had such a start. My goal was to make it up to La Mutaret, a village North East of Grenoble. The first km didn't have anything special to remember except some fields with nice colours where I stopped for the necessary photos.
Next interesting moment was after Puy Saint Martin where D6 follows a very beautiful route that goes uphill and after some bends behind the trees I see a forest of wind generators. I experienced an even greater surprise later on D70 after Mirabel et Blacons. This is a relatively narrow road that crosses a full green forest where you drive partially under the trees's umbrella - such a joy on a hot sunny day.
Grenoble looked nice to me on first glance while crossing it without a break and a few tens of km later on D525 the landscape is once again full green and nice. After Saint Pier d' Alevard I make a stop at the lake Bassin du Flumet, a no brainer for a stop but you'll just do the same if you ever go there cause it's too peaceful and scenic to pass.
Few km later I was at La Mutaret, in a wonderful house welcomed by the wonderful family of Simon and Estella plus their two kids. I can't thank them enough by writing just a few words about them here as they did their best to make me feel better than home including an invitation for a BBQ that took place at a nearby village up at 1000 m where I tried delicious local food.
I had to say goodbye to these great people the next morning.
The weather was perfect, Simon is staring at my loaded and ready to go bike and I can read his mind that he would like to ride his as well (he hadn't done so for the last 2 years being a busy father). Before I leave he can't resist taking a picture of me and says: "You know what? Sometimes I wish I could just get on my bike and leave..." I responded with a smile since it was obvious whether I get him or not.
Next destination: Troistorrents, a Swiss village close to the French border.
Driving on D1212 heading North-East the landscape becomes more interesting. One more dense forest with rich vegetation while various tunnels make the road even more scenic. The pleasant experience on D1212 is complete after I pass through Megeve which is located at a nice spot with great view. Next km where pleasant as well but the exceptional spot was on the E25 close to Mont Blank tunnel. Crossing the tunnel is not the best thing to do especially on a bike but this spot on E25 close to Less Bossons gives you the chance to picture the snow and the glacier that goes down the mountain like a sculpture river.
Unique and unforgettable - a stop there is a must.
I get closer to the Swiss border and after beautiful but touristy Chamonix the D1506 takes me to Switzerland in the most pleasant way, following the Arve river and going uphill on nice full green bends. After the borders the road 203 is nothing you can complain about.
Few km later but few hundreds of meters higher I reach the Col de la Forclaz which lies just over 1500 meters altitude. One stop there is not a bad idea at all. I was lucky enough to see some antique cars that made it up to the pass and their owners kept them in immaculate condition making the whole view there even more attractive.
A few more km after Forclaz though, there was an even more impressive view waiting for me. The first curves going downhill unveil little by little, each one from different altitude, the valley – plateau where Martigny is located. This is an absolute must and the only bad thing is that you can't choose which spot is the best one to take your photos.
I leave Martigny behind and via 21 I go North till I arrive at Troistorrents, a beautiful village in a great location but this is something typical for Switzerland as it is well known for the beauty of its countryside.
This is where Tobias and Arianne hosted me. A really hospitable couple form Germany who shared their house with me for a couple of days. They both did everything possible to make my stay there a great rejoicing pit stop and I really needed one as I was already 2 weeks on the road. The BBQ we had on the same night was very tasty and with a little help from the red wine I had a sweet deep sleep.
Next morning my hosts proposed me a trip to St. Bernard and of course I couldn't say no. We take the 21 back South and after Martigny we are once again riding in another gorgeous mountainous route. The higher we go the colder it gets and after passing a few tunnels we see more and more snow.
The view of the lake at Grand St Bernard pass, just under 2500 meters high is astonishing. On this nature's mirror you can see the reflections of the snowy picks surrounding the lake.
Lucky as I was, I saw the famous St Bernard dogs without even paying the fee, as they took them out for a walk when I was passing in front of the entrance of their houses.
We return North, this time in order to visit the Geneve lake. No toll roads of course and no regrets doing so as the route (especially some parts) is very very nice. The lake is very famous so I won't make any more comments about it...especially after St Bernard's cold it looked like a warm hug with its calm water making a very relaxing view waiting for the sunset.
On our way back to the house at Troistorrents we had heavy rain on the way with drops as big as hazelnuts. With a little patience under the roof of a gas station we skipped part of it.
Next morning I would say goodbye to Tobias and Arianne with the best feelings for them, continuing East crossing the rest of Switzerland. My impressions were becoming more and more exiting and I was so curious to see what's coming next. When I asked Tobias about the best route to make it to the East Swiss border without using any toll road he replied “...then you are obliged to pass through fantastic places!”
Stay tuned for part 4!