Finding the good roads in Ardennes, French/German border region and Switzerland

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Huge

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Evening All.
I'm planning a tour next year and being a nerd, I like to know where all the good rides are so I can link them up.
Got myself a really good book on UK rides a couple of years ago and it's been great for tips and ideas.
Any ideas for helping me plan the above mentioned regions?
Cheers, Hugh
 
Hi hugh, i didnt go where you are planning on from the title of your thread but if you venture towards the pyrennes, picos or swiss alps I can offer some experience of the routes.

I thought the picos and pyrennes woud make a very decent week long tour if done together and arguably better than the alps due to less traffic, less cops and imo as good if not better scenery.
 
Michelin map and look at green side lines on roads,

Ardennes have some pretty good roads - depends on how long you are going for and miles per day.

We've stayed i la roche en ardenne, vianden (Luxembourg), near spa or the Nuburgring are all good.
If you want to go as far as Switzerland the B500 from baden baden is great and goes all the way
 
Pyrenees

...but if you venture towards the pyrennes, picos or swiss alps I can offer some experience of the routes. I thought the picos and pyrennes woud make a very decent week long tour if done together and arguably better than the alps due to less traffic, less cops and imo as good if not better scenery.

Andy,
I'm setting off from Santander early Sunday morning to check out the Pyrenees before tootling up to see a mate near Bordeaux. After picking you brain on tyres this morning (thanks BTW), any general tips on the Pyrenees? ...do this, avoid that...
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Thanks. Do let me know exactly when I became a PITA. :lemo:
Hugh
 
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Re: Pyrenees

Andy,
I'm setting off from Santander early Sunday morning to check out the Pyrenees before tootling up to see a mate near Bordeaux. After picking you brain on tyres this morning (thanks BTW), any general tips on the Pyrenees? ...do this, avoid that...
-
Thanks. Do let me know exactly when I became a PITA. :lemo:
Hugh

@JimmyMac knows all the snowy mountain roads that are ideal for a sportsbike ;-)
 
Re: Pyrenees

Andy,
I'm setting off from Santander early Sunday morning to check out the Pyrenees before tootling up to see a mate near Bordeaux. After picking you brain on tyres this morning (thanks BTW), any general tips on the Pyrenees? ...do this, avoid that...
-
Thanks. Do let me know exactly when I became a PITA. :lemo:
Hugh

If you can do the miles head for Jaca, all roads will be decent if you follow the mountains, then a bit further SE the n260 - d934 up across the border to Pau. Pau is a big place so traffic in town is a bit of a headache, but the road up and over the tops from spain, then down into pau is just brilliant for everything, one of the best runs ever. You will get the barren moon like summits then descend into forests etc.... If you then head for mont de marsan (motorways from pau to get there quickly) I would go cross country through Aquitaine to Bordeaux, french motorways are soooooo dull and the distances are epic, best avoided as much as possible.

You will not do more than 40-50 mph average max in the mountains even if you are riding like a god, so bear that in mind with your planning. It can take a full day to do 200 or so miles with stops.

Accommodation wise, Jaca is a holiday place for skiing so plenty to choose from. I recall a decent big hotel in jaca was only 40-50 euros out of season. Pau, we stayed at a campanile there and it was ******* terrible, shared the bathroom with cockroaches and the bed with some other things not yet discovered by science. Waitress was fit though. Pamplona is a fab place too, did my stag do there in 2003 with the bulls.
 
No problem, my pleasure. Theres loads of great riding in the pyrennes, its a must. The route I have described is just a short loop, maybe 2 days max, what I think/hope Hugh is after. I am hoping to go back and spend a week next year, waiting to see what the 2019 GSA is going to be like first.
 
Great stuff Andy. I just need to convince my garage to put my new Road 5's on before the F*CKING DAY OF DEPARTURE!!! ARRRRGGHHH.
I told him the Portsmouth Ferry is at 5 on Friday and he thinks he's doing me a favour squeezing it in just before. The amount of money I send his way...
#heart_condition
#M27_rush_hour_filtering
ugh
 
It's definitely worth going via Germany and the Black Forest as the B500 from Baden Baden is one of the best roads in Europe. If you like to 'make progress' I'd strongly advise avoiding Switzerland altogether from the north side since they really dont like anyone travelling above 50mph and it's really difficult to do so. It's beautiful but they dont like motorised transport. Better to enter Italy via Austria (or France). Jalfreu pass from Austria is a less well know awesome mountain pass and can be followed all the way down via the Stelvio Pass to Como where you can go back up into Switzerland to do all the more well known passes like the San Bernadino, etc.
 
Thanks Royal. I too saw the 44 teeth video. They're flippin organised those Swiss police. Regardless of how unorganised we are, that kind of police honey-trap would get short shrift in the UK.
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Thought experiment: I wonder if the Swiss government isn't as lovely and friendly as they'd like to make us think they are? Anyone seen a map of Europe circa 1942? A big black blob with a little white swiss dot in the middle. Maybe panzers couldn't go uphill?
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I'm with BvG on this one. I'm not going to Switzerland if they're in favour of that kind of money grabbing bullsh*t.
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In terms of recent history. I'll give the Swiss the benefit of the doubt. Maybe Hitler was biding his time. Do the bank job after smashing the Brits in the west and grabbing the land and the oil in the east...
 
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I've not watched the BvG vid yet but it sounds exactly like my Italian girlfriend always describes; the police literally hide in the bushes to catch people speeding and have no qualms doing what would be considered money grabbing here. When we rode down a few years back we met some guys in Bologna who had been fined around ?400 on the spot just for going over a solid white line in the Swiss mountians. They were marched to the cash points! I drove through Switzerland recently to get to Italy as I figured it can't be as bad as the Italian family were describing but I was literally stuck at 50mph all the way from the Northern border to the mountains. Once I reached the mountains I could let rip because most people go through the tunnels so the passes such as San Bernadino were really quiet and I just had to keep an eye out. On a bike it's probably easier to get through traffic but in the car I was being flashed and beeped at just for over taking on the main roads!
 
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