Nice roads for motorcycling

Midi pyrenneen

Bagneres de Luchon to Moleon Barousse via Port de Bales – road has been upgraded, very scenic

St Girons to Cazeres via Ste Croix and Merigon or head North to Montesquieu, Rieux, Carbonne to get to Toulouse – very pleasant

From St Gaudens to Boulogne s Gesse, several nice roads via Sarremezan, or Ciadoux, or Aurignac , or Masseube, Marciac, Eauze, hundreds of roads in the Gers, an area with small population, therefore little traffic. Watch for deers even in the middle of the day!

Pyrennees: From Frontignan (Near St Beat)Cold des Ares , Cold de Portet to Castillon - Easy , a bit bumpy, road can be wet in some places in autumn even on a sunny day.
Other option from Aspet , col de Larrieu  to Arbas, col des Pres to Castelbiague

From Castillon to Oust: Col de la Cote, quiet road, nice scenery

From Oust to Aulus Les Bains – nice – Aulus to Massat – beautiful  scenery Col d Agnes – road narrow but was fixed for the Tour de France 2011
Aulus to Col de la Trappe to Oust – very nice road

Massat to Tarascon – Col du Port – quiet, narrow, watch for loose cattle from Spring

Tarascon to Ax Les Thermes, Pas de la Case – Busy road

Pas de la Case to Andorra la Vieilla – beautiful road with lots of overtaking lanes

Ax les  Thermes to Quillan via Belcaire – nice and scenic

 Quillan to Limoux – nice , before Alet les Bains, turn right D70 to Veleza, Terroles Arques, narrow road, very scenic along the gorge, Arques to  St Laurent, Ferral les Corbieres D613: very nice, good surface

Limoux to Carcassone, Limoux to Mirepoix : nice curvy roads, no traffic

All through the Corbieres are nice roads going to scenic places like from St Paul de Fenouillet to  Cubieres through Gorge de Galamus then on to Chateau de Peyrepertuse, Chateau de Queribus...narrow roads but very scenic.

To the North East of France

From Carcassonne to Gorge du Tarn via  Trebes,  Puicheric, Laredorte, Labastide, Lacaune, to St Afrique, travelling through Parc des Causses, lovely forests, lonesome roads , few small villages.
To  Broquies, Tarn River
AUBERGE  LE PESCADOU: Alain is a motorcyclist with a collection of vintagebikes and a workshop, nice hotel with pool, home cooking, a locked up yard for bikes.

From there cannot remember which road throught the country to the Pont de Millau!!!!

Got lost around Le Puy en Velay, the same around St Etienne, ended up in Feurs D1082 North of Montbrison.  To Civens: found a maison d hote on a farm, Simone et Bernard, Les Rivieres, 42110 CIVENS .......Home made cheeses, yogurt, jam,...wine served with meals.

Country road to Tarare, very nice, to Cormatin, Tournus, Loubans: lots of vineyards , very scenic, Lons le Saunier, Champagnole, Pontarlier, Morteau.

From Morteau, scenic roads to Switzerland ,to St Croix, down to Yverdon, great windy road

AVOID PICK HOURS FROM 4PM TO 7PM when the French workers drive back to France

Morteau to La Chaux de Fonds to , then very narrow road to Les Ponts de Martel, view to the Alps
Morteau to St Hyppolyte, right to Signal de Roche D or, very nice.
After the snow season, roads are covered with gravel for kilometres, a way to fix the cracks..., it is a bummer!

Montbeliard to Hericourt, Echavanne,  Giromany,  To Ballon d Alsace, down to St Maurice, back up to turn left down to Sewen, Masevaux to Thann, up the Route des Cretes

Several roads go left or right from the route des cretes. Watch for paving in corners, other motorcyclists

Munster: the place to see Cigognes , in the heart of the city, hotel Au Val St Gregoire with a garage

Lots of roads through Alsace through vineyards, colourful villages...near Guebwiller, Cernay, Chevremont...

Pontarlier to St Croix, Yverdon to Moudon to Lausanne, a nice way to get to Lausanne down the slopes of vineyards to the lake

Lausanne to Montagne 3 milles very scenic , you can follow the road to Austria

Annemasse, St Cergues, col de Cou to Habere Poche, down to Orcier,

Thonon les Bains, back up to Bellevaux to St Jeoire, to Filinges: easy riding very pleasant

Provence: such a nice place with cigalles singing in July, fields of lavender blooming in Spring, it can be raining all over France except in Provence....so many roads to so many pretty places, you ve got to see them all.

South of Avignon:  St Remy de p[rovence, Les beaux de Provence, Maussane les Alpilles , Mouries, Eyguieres. Parc national des Alpilles

Aix en Provence to Pertuis, Ansouis, St Martin de Brasque, La Bastide des jourdans, Manosque, St Martin de Bromes, Allemagne, Riez  - from Riez to Puimoisson et la begude Blanche very pretty –

From Riez to Moustiers to les Salles Verdon. From there best to ride the Gorge du Verdon via route des cretes in the morning and return  via Tunel du Fayet and Aiguines in the afternoon,

Then from Salles down to Aups, Villecroze to Draguignan, nice ride to Grasse up to Vilaute down  to Comps, Montferrat.

Cheap hotel in Castellane with bike cover: Studi Hotel – fridge in room and balcony, they own the Plein Voile Hotel on the other side of the Gorges du Verdon a Salles sur Verdon

 Mt Ventoux is a must  ( I rode from Cadenet to Lourmarin – busy – to Apt no traffic nice windy road, then to Sault, up Cold des Tempetes, down  to  Malaucene, back up via Bedoin to Le Chalet Reynard ).....

and so are the spectacular Gorge du Verdon.

The route Napoleon is interesting between Cannes and Digne, on the way from Castellane you can go through the Alps into Italy

From Digne, interesting road to  the lac de Serre Poncon a savines le lac, the Napoleon Road from Digne to Gap is uninteresting withtraffic and trucks and many  radars. From Sisteron to go west to Serrres, Nyons, down to Carpentras is nice.

Grenoble to Gap, to St Die : nice and scenic

Ardeche

Bolene to Pierrelatte : on the Rhone Valley South of Montelimar a field of nuclear power station

Bourg St Andiol to Vallon Pont d Arc: nice and easy

St Andiol down the Gorges d Ardeche, very scenic

Vallon Pont d Arc to Ruoms, St Maurice to Privas,  Les Olieres, St Saveur,  St Martin, to Agreve, St Bonnet, all wild country. Watch out for storms.

Cevennes:

Uzes to  Anduze,  follow cornice des Cevennes, great road, no traffic, follow signs to Mont Aigoual, road uneven, cold and windy at the top, weather station museum, free entry

Down to Valleraugue, to Ganges, great road, other option  road to Le Vigan  or to Meyruen  to join the Gorges du Tarn. Al very nice.

Following a very hot summer,  high evaporation over the Mediterranee will cause heavy rainfalls over the Cevennes, Ardeche and Provence, watch out for flooding in September

Perpignan to Ile sur Tet :  visit les Orgues

Maison dhote, Le Magnolia,  center of town:  large locked garage, beautiful home

Nice restaurant  on the Ram place, outdoor: La casa del Ram – vende biere locale artisanale l Alzina – very nice beer.

N116 to Andorra: scenic but broken bitumen no fun on the bike. From the Spanish border, Puicerda, very nice road to La Seu d Urgell, Sort, Esterri lots of corner but good surface,  to Salardu, steep climb , lovely....down to Vieillha, Bosost  up the col du Portillon to Luchon

Bagneres deLuchon to St Beat, up to The Mourtis ski station down towards col des Ares....very nice windy road.

Bagneres de Luchon to  Col de Peyressourde to Arreau, then   Col d Aspin  to Campan : easy and scenic

Campan to Cold du Tourmalet, very good road to la Mongie and Pic du Midi, then narrow with lots of cyclists , very steep dangerous descent on the other side to Luz St Sauveur.  Very scenic to  Cirque de Gavarnie

Argeles Cazaux to Col de l Aubisque, another renowned road, lots of hair pin corners,  camper vans and cyclists.. caution.

Laruns to Cold du Pourtalet: road is narrow, broken bitumen, pass the Sapnish border, great road to wherever you want to go in Spain!

Nice Auberge on the French side  near Oloron at Gurmencon. Le relais Aspois.  Closed on Sunday. Top cooking, garage for motorbikes

Road from  Arudy to St Christau winds through thick forests, narrow but scenic

Oloron to Col de Somport; excellent road with overtaking lanes, long tunnel  9km long into Spain

Arudy to Lestelle, Lourdes, turn right at the bridge to Omex, Seus,  Juncalas, Artigues, Bagneres de Bigorre: narrow roads, tiny villages, very scenic

Bagneres to  Capvern, nice views ov er the Pyrennees, turn right follow signs to Gouffre  d Esparros, narrow road , scenic, no traffic.

Then to Labarthe de Nesthe, Montegut, St Bertrand de Comminges to Moleon Barousse up the mountain and down to Luchon.

Arreau  to Tunnel de Bielsa: many trucks. Tunnel is one way,poor lighting, remove your sunglasses before entering;  good opportunity to overtake the traffic at the lights. Nice road in Spain to Ainsa, take minor roads between Toria, Biescas and jaca to discover old villages.

Pays Basque: mostly a wet area, when sunny it is magnificent.

Pau to Mourenx, Navarrenx , Mauleon Licharre to St Palais, to Iholdy, Irissarry, Biddaray

Friendly Hotel Noblia, home cooking

Between St Palais and St Jean Pied de Port, Hotel Pecoitz in a remote village but closed on Fridays!

To Cambo, over the mountain to Urdazubi via Ainhoa, nice road, scenic, to Elizondo, can go back to St Jean via col d Ispeguy

Elizondo to Pamplona: great road, up to Roncesvalles, to St Jean; great corners and scenery

Or before  Burguete, turn right to Aria, Escaroz, Ochagavia to Port de Larrau to France

Or from Escaroz to Isaba  to Col de la Pierre St martin, nice forests on the French side, dry on the Spanish side.

Pays Basque , the mountains are not as high as in center Pyrennees, the riding is quite pleasant.

Riding theMassif Central and Haute Alpes was cancelled due to bad weather in July.

The Roads: Looking at the road map

Red is a route national, often busy, trucks, not well maintained as they lack National funds

Orange and Yellow are major country roads, often in very good condition, financed by the conseiller General of the area

White is a minor road at times in a better condition than a route  nationale, particularly in touristic areas or joining rich communes

Le Journal des Motards   written by the readers -give you pages of addresses for Relais Motards and hotels with a garage

Join the Chevaliers de la Route for 35 euros and you will meet members all over France, if you breakdown you can call members in the area who will assist you.

motards@journaldesmotards.com

BP28

83481 PUGET/ ARGENS Cedex

Attention:

Spring: wide tractors and trailers slow and taking the whole road – Farmers own the roads

Vineyards area:  crushed grapes carried on trailers are loosing juice , slippery roads and roundabouts

Autumn: hunting time, deer, wild pig attacking vehicles even cyclists. Do not go into forests on Wed, Fridays, Sat , you could get accidentally shot

Car moved to the side of the road to let you overtake, thank them by putting your right leg out

Drivers think that motorcyclists don’t need much room and they have no idea about road positioning for cornering or about avoiding pot holes. As much as they give you space to overtake when they come in front of you, they will take part of your side of the road, at time most of your side, expecting you to squeeze close to the edge of the road and push you into the grassy unknown terrain

Truck drivers are not road friendly at all, they cut corners and sometimes need the whole road  + road shoulder to turn corners so are buses..