2004 summer holiday.
06 - 22 september.
Kawasaki ZR-7

First the bare facts:
Total distance: 6,393 kilometers.
Total amount of fuel used: 371.41 liters
Total amount of engine oil used: 2.3 liters!
Number of rear tyres used: 1 (yes, NEW BT020, completely gone!)

This year the holiday was a 'Tour de France' (on a motorcycle).
Basically it was doing a lot of riding over as many mountain passes as possible.
Roughly the route was: Netherlands - Belgium - Vosges - Pyrenees - Alps - Vosges - Netherlands.
I did it alone because my friends bike was broken. 14 times putting up the tent in the afternoon/evening and packing it all up again in the morning, only left the tent for a second night on 2 occasions so I could ride without luggage.

September 6, the journey starts with great weather (25-27 degrees Celcius). My friend had decided to do some bicycling in Belgium so he had a reason to go camping on the same campsite as I did for the first night. He waved me off on tuesday morning.

The first days aren't really that spectacular. The weather is fine (dry, sunny, 25-30 degrees).
On day 4 (9 september) I took the first photo:


Looks promising: curvy road, blue sky, motorbike, mountain pass.

11 september, a partly cloudy day, still warm though. I am getting into the Pyrenees, the mountains between France and Spain. Getting higher and higher ...


On the Col de Marie Blanque, 1035m.

12 september, for today the longest day trip is planned. 340 km over some of the highest passes of the (French) Pyrenees. On most of the mountains it was quite nice weather on one side and fog on the other. Still no real rain, but that can not have been far away as I spoke another biker that had rain for most of his trip (he was traveling east-west, I was traveling west-east :-) ).


The highest pass for today. Blue sky on the left, fog on the right.


You get all kinds of visitors on those mountain passes.

All the mountain passes that are part of the Tour de France are very popular with the amateur cyclists. When they go up they are struggling to keep some sort of pace, but going down some are real mad man. But on the real Tour de France on the 18th of july 1995, on the descent from the Col du Portet d'Aspet there was a mass fall and Fabio Casartelli died because he had hit a concrete block with his head.


The memorial for Fabio Casartelli (road # D618).


19 km of curves to get here :-)

14 september. Today a trip without all the luggage. I want to visit the new bridge near Millau. It is the highest bridge in the world! The first time I could see it was just a couple of km before Montjaux, some 9 km (as the crow flies) away from the bridge. At that time (10:45) it was still a bit foggy.


Millau bridge (as seen from Montjaux, D993)


Getting closer (somewhere on the D41) ...


... and closer ...


... until right underneath it!


The water in the Tarn river between the bridge and Millau is very green.


The bridge, seen from the town of Millau.

Later that afternoon I had to do a piece of road that was marked as "difficult or dangerous to ride". And guess what, it had just been resurfaced and was covered in loose gravel. Darn, these French take their maps very seriously. If the (Michelin) map says that it is "difficult or dangerous" then that it will be! And on top of that they had managed to let it rain while I was there too!?!


"Difficult or dangerous to ride"

16 september. The Mont Ventoux again. I've been here a couple of times before but it never gets boring! This is such a special place, partly because of it's special appearance and partly of my rather scary first aqaintance with it back in 1992.


The climb from Chalet Reynard to the top (D974)


The buildings on the top


No comment

17 september. Into the High Alps today.


Approaching the "Big Uns"

At the start of the road through the Gorges du Cians there was a sign that the road was blocked after 9 km. I continued because sometimes it is possible to pass a 'roadblock' with a motorcycle. After 9 km the real sign 'Route barré', I continued until I saw some vehicules and people. I made a couple of photo's and walked to the men that were coming in my direction. I asked if I could continue my way. "Non, non! Explosion! Deux minutes!". They were removing dangerous pieces of rock with dynamite! That's what you get for being stubborn and ignoring the signs.


Just after the blast.

 
Before and after.

After the 'blast' I returned and followed the advised detour. Man that was amazing. The D2202 to Guillaumes and the D28 to Valberg are very nice roads with lots of high speed left-right-left-right combinations. After that my arms hurt from throwing the bike left-right all the time!

The Col de la Bonette

The highest paved road in Europe.

18 september.


Col d'Izoard


Col de l'Iseran

19 september. Today I treated myself to the Col de la Madeleine, Col du Glandon, Madeleine again and the Col du Petit Saint Bernard. It was my birthday today so the treat was well deserved....


Col de la Madeleine

22 september. The last day of the trip. Initially it was planned to be home on the 24th. There was a slight change that my friend could join me on the last night but that was not going to happen. So I decided to do the route for the 22nd and the first part of the route for the 23rd and a lot of motorways all on the 22nd so I would be home again. And I got home at about 21.30, after 902 km (I got on the motorway (Autobahn) near Kaiserslautern at 15.40, at the same place that I did during the Euromeet).

One final picture at my 'second home' (first use of the tripod I had carried around for over 2 weeks).


Does it show that it is only 4 ° Celcius?

So that was that for my summer holidays. I have been extremely lucky with all the good weather I had. My friend was monitoring the weather and saved some satelite images. If I had left 1 day earlier or later at any point I would have had a lot of rain. But I only had rain on 3 occasions. And the worst rain was on the last day on the motorway.


And the plans for 2005?
Maybe do it all again (with my friend, as he will be doing the trip then)

OR

Take the MZ Baghira to the French Alps. Travel as light as possible (no camping?). Anyone wants to join me (e-mail me at website AT kawazr7 DOT xs4all DOT nl)?