Le Grand-Bornand via Valenciennes and Besancon
2018 Part 1: As with every tour this one began at the customary starting point, Kyle’s house in the centre of Bewdley. It was the usual straightforward motorway run down to Dover; M40, M25 and M20/A20, enlivened only by the need to filter through the heavy traffic on the mobile car park that is the […]
Mutiny among the ranks
2010 Part 3: Over breakfast this morning we all agreed that to remain in Chamonix was effectively a waste of time. The rainfall experienced over the last few days was locked in around the Alps and nothing was going to change that any time soon. Realistically we couldn’t ride the passes we had planned on […]
The Alps look wet; lets go anyway
2010 Part 2: It didn’t matter how often or how many websites we checked the 7 day weather forecast for the Alps remained bleak. The eternal optimists among us refused to accept it would be as wet as predicted. The realists on the other hand thought riding south into poor weather was imprudent. Now the […]
The Gavia makes it 10 out of 10
2009 Part 8: With the exception of Mark who’d been on the road for 8-10 hours every day for the last 10 days, everyone was enthusiastic for a group ride today. As usual Phil had planned the ride and the route he’d chosen set him and Kyle up nicely to knock off the final pass […]
The legendary Passo dello Stelvio
2009 Part 7: Last night the Stelvio had been debated extensively and it went without saying that Phil, Kyle and Mark would ride it today. Yesterday Gaz, Taj, Cat, Pete and Bobby had ridden it going up the eastern ramp with its 48 almost zero radius hairpins, and down the gentler western side. However, from […]
Moving on to bigger things
2009 Part 6: Today was a transition day that saw us shifting bases from Arabba to the ski resort of Livigno near the Swiss border. The most direct toll free route between Arabba and Livigno is just shy of 150 miles and goes via Bolzano, Merano and the Stelvio Pass. Phil and Kyle had other […]
A trio becomes an octet in Arabba
2009 Part 2: Today was the day we’d all arranged to meet up in Arabba and as Gaz, Pete and Mark readied themselves for the final leg of their 1,000+ mile journey to the Dolomites it was hard to believe they’d woken up in the same place they’d spent the day yesterday. Low cloud and […]
To Andermatt and the Saint-Gotthard Massif
2009 Part 1: As Gaz, Pete and Mark’s 7am departure time loomed this morning the skies over Bewdley were decidedly dark and menacing. In fact the medium range forecast for Europe as a whole didn’t look particularly promising and snow was even expected in Arabba, their ultimate destination in four days’ time. The idea was […]
Two days in the Swiss Alps and a night in Andermatt
2006 Part 4: The next couple of days were going to be spent in Switzerland and we’d pre-booked a hotel in Andermatt for tonight. Our ride out there was going to be a fairly straightforward affair. Beginning with our by now usual route out of Chamonix we’d drop over the Forclaz and head north-east towards […]
Three countries, two mountains and a tunnel
2006 Part 2: There was no particular plan today and we’d always intended on taking it easy after all the riding we’d done over the weekend. After a late breakfast we gave the bikes a bit of a wash down and checked oil levels and for those that had chains, they were also checked and […]