What a trip!
Really enjoyed the week, covered just under 2k miles.
I had done some preventative work to ensure more reliable steady voltage
Note the shitty oxidising rec reg connector spade crimp.
Stanleys fh008 and metri pack connectors soldered
Ahhh thats better.
The capo rode great and all the work i had done lately paid off.
I also swapped my side stand and switch over to an ebay one i bought as i had to bypass and have the old one welded adhoc in Wales last time.
The dyno/tuneecu custom tune had the fuelling spot on and some other work had the bike purring, despite this the old saying of fail to prepare and prepare to fail came to mind so..
..spares and tools were packed.
After docking in cherbourg we hit the road closer to six so high tailed it to http://www.lalunelake.co.uk/LaLuneLa...Breakfast.html about 200 miles away and the first and only capo foible reared its ugly head. As the dark came in i noticed the side stand light was glimmeing slightly and was that a very slight miss?
Bastard switch was bypasses promptly that night in La Lunes garage they provide, tens mins later all sorted. Btw i cant recommend these guys enough as a stop over option, seriously nice folk with a great place to stay. For 50 euro you get your own large room with double bed, ensuite with shower. You also get a lovely meal with desert and all the beer/wine you can drink included.
Next day up and ready for the 500 odd to Annecy.
Much like the lads headed to the Wales camping doo i was expecting it to piss down as the forecast was bad. And like the camping doo we dodged the bullet and somehow ended up having the hottest weather ive ridden in. At one stage the bike read air temp at 95 degrees f on the move. Ended up changing out of my hein gericke trousers. They felt like feckin bin liners in traffic and whilst the jeans left me feeling exposed i could at least regulate my temp and my god they felt soo nice after the sweat box like HG's.
Anyway nine hrs later we hit Annecy. The 50 odd miles in are awesome, fast sweeping a roads with tunnels, rivers, bridges, mountains, you get the idea, all burned into my mind forever.
Arse was pretty much destroyed after that days journey and we checked into the chalet we had booked on the lake side.
Let me start by saying if i ever ever win any serious money i will be returning to Annecy to buy property. Mind you i would have to get fit and have plastic surgery though as everybody is beautiful and seems to exude health and vitality. The women were drop dead gorgeous and a hazard to safe riding when roller blading in lycra haha, hypnotic that.
Next day onto chamonix
Crazy good scenery! Scary good roads!
Onto Mont Blanc and likewise. Got colder and colder the higher we went.
Decided to tap on to Italy via the Mont Blanc tunnel.
http://www.apriliaforum.com/forums/s...never-heard-of
Best not to fook about in it eh.
There are blue lit dots about 100 meters apart lit all along the inside and your told to keep two blue dots away from the vehicle in front. Its 11 some kms long and cool if a little claustrophobic at times.
Out the other side to Italy
Look up and prepare to have you breath taken away
Its mad you have ridden under a mountain with a glacier on it to another country!
Short hop to Courmayeur
The pass over the mountain back to France was giving our respective sat navs issues for some reason. The road was in shite and huge chunks of snow were all over it in places. Weird as it was hot in the sun but cold in the shade.
We were going to strike on but i had misgivings as we had a rake more altitude to gain and it could only be worse up there. After checking we were told it was unpassable and closed so after a bit more exploring we bent over and paid the 26 odd euro back through the tunnel.
Back to Annecy that night and we cooked up the food we had loaded the bikes with from Super U the previous avo. A rake of beers ontop of that and it was lights out, that crystal clear mountain air tires ya!
Next day we did more of the Route d'Albertville wich appears to be a total playground for bikers. Lost count of the amount nakeds being mercilessly blasted up and down this route all day. Frechie is very welcoming and ALWAYS wave, the lower the salute to the ground the cooler! Some serious boyos hooning this road and all sorts of bikes too. There was a lad on a slick shod sxv defying the laws of physics.
Overall the Frech biker is a real enthuasist that uses his bike hard and tend to buy realistic road machines, not so many out and out sports bike out there tbh and they are still not any slower despite them.
In the evenings we would drink out on the porch and listen to the bikes screaming along ocassionally and try to guess the machine.
Also as a point of interest we didnt see one single example of a lad wearing the complusory hi vis.
All too soon it was packing up time and we got our deposit back as we took good care of the joint and cleaned it.
We took the toll roads as we had to get back to La Lune in Le Mans that evening. We managed to miss the bad weather but i did have to pull in at one stage to pull on a few more layers.
My brothers Rockster has a smaller range and he coasted into a service station half way there on fumes, a close call.
La Lune was a welcome sight that evening and the food and beer finished me off
Out cold in minutes!
Next day onto Cherbourg and got the overnight ferry and home.
Great trip had and cant wait for the next adventure! Cheers for all the advice lads and the route help it was appreciated.
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