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Hunt out the furka pass in Switzerland.
Or if you pass near Davos (switzerland) jump on the Fluela pass to take you into Italy.
Great roads
===STILL JEALOUS===
Nice to know you’re having fun though! I’m guessing you’re around the South of France by now.
Will do a proper write up on my return to the uk. But made my way through France on day 1, through Switzerland and into Italy on day two. Then made my way south to Monaco and West through France again to Spain. Have stopped at a campsite near Barcelona for a few days till I head north west to Bilbao tomoz and catch my ferry on the 21st
Europe, Day 1. Crawley (UK) to Connantre (France) – 333miles
Gonna be a tough first night as it seems the only restaurant/bar in the village is closed. No shops either. It is 8pm now France time and I don’t know where the nearest shop that would be open is. The ride so far has been mainly on motorways (tolls are gonna get expensive!), may try to adjust any route for tomoz if possible to avoid them. It rained a couple of times just to let me remember I have no waterproofs lol
I’m pretty tired now so may just kip and grab a decent breakfast tomoz.Europe, Day 2&3. Connantre (France) – Cannobio (Italy) – 450miles
Woke up to cookoos and birds chirping, slept well once I got to sleep. Can’t wait to get some food! So far ridden 350 miles today, I thought I was good to keep going until I got off the bike to eat. I think I am a little overwhelmed by it all, I thought the highlight of today was going to be the French Alps, but sitting here at the moment looking at the Swiss Alps from the bottom of them has just blown me away. The French Alps are like a down/uphill Motogymkhana!
Am currently in 2 minds: Try and cross the Alps today so that my clothes get a chance to dry out before Italy or to see if I can get a room here for the night and attack the Alps fresh tomoz. I am almost 300 miles ahead of schedule so may stop here and enjoy a few beers! ….Ok, well hotel fail, had me head off into the Alps, I could see ahead that it was torrential rain and was bracing myself to get very cold and very very wet, then someone built a tunnel pretty much everytime it rained a tunnel appeared except one longer stretch where the heavens opened, I was shivering and soaked until one more tunnel appeared; a 17km tunnel that was 35’C so not only did I completely dry out, I was now too hot! When I emerged out the other side there was blue skys and the ambient temp was 20’C, a few miles later it was 21 and so it rose to a peak of 28’C just before the Italian border so I am so glad I continued on with the ride. I am now way ahead of schedule with nearly 800 miles covered in just 2 days. I only have 1000 to go and 8 full days riding to do them so tomoz is a day off from riding except around town. Tonight’s campsite is lovely, the owner speaks good English… a LOT lol, there is a bar which will entertain me tonight so cheers! (hic) After a couple I headed over to a recommended pizzaria, fortunately the food and beer is good because my bad Italian (thanks google translator) is getting me very funny looks from the waitress lol …..OMG, I have just seen the girl I want to marry, looks like P!nk but 10yrs younger with black hair and such a sexy smile! I have love heart shaped food thing, she should have it but has gone now damn it! I had a lay in and got up around 8am, am glad I robbed some toilet roll from the restaurant! Stopped at the bar/cafe where I saw the woman of my dreams for a double expresso which I drank in the glorious warm sunshine then popped back to my tent to grab some sun lotion and went for a wander. The campsite ownder (Pedro I think his name is) told me there was a market in town which I nearly bought a lovely cotton shirt but it’d get trouncedif I wore it and get relegated to the unwearable pile on my return. After the market I strolled upstream where people were fly fishing and there was a bridge which wobbled lots. My ankle is a little sore with the walking now so have found a bar to have a rest of it, one cappachino and an icecream and my ankle is recovered so I headed back to the campsite. I popped out on Lord Vader for a short while but didn’t go far. Time to chill with a beer at midday, maybe go for another stroll this afternoon, or maybe just have another beer. The site owner speaks 6 languages, kinda puts my one and a bit to shame, I was so embarrassed last night buying the pizza. BUCKET LIST: try and learn at least 2 languages to a level that will stop me feeling like I did last night, French makes sense as is the way into the continent, not sure if Spanish, Italian or Germon should be the other? I think Spanish would be most useful but Italy is so nice, I def want to visit again if this lil place is an accurate dipiction of the rest of Italy? [need a fix of a status update]Such a good idea doing this trip[/need a fix of a status update] I think I may be a little sunburnt, not currently looking pink but got that feeling of the familiar sting on my face, I wish I had my sunglasses, never packed them as didn’t want to break them. 200miles a day is too easy, I hope I get to do this again soon, when I do I think 300 miles a day (with my mentality nd me on my own) is a good pace. Think my lack of want or need to organise visits to places may annoy potential compadres from this style of travel tho! Gatta say this tho – RUKKA… Shmucker, def right choice jeans and jacket; ty Mic (that pic you posted made that choice for me! “sending out an SOS” is on the radio… no its not its “walking on the moon”. Am so chilled, have not felt this relaxed in so long, I 100% approve of holidays now! . I wonder if I shared this experience with someone I’d feel the same? I’d love to be able to but the stepping away fom it all is so nice to not need to worry if my choices contradict someone elses. Oh, Pedro is actually called Marco and he is an incredably wise man! I am not used to having this much time to myself…. I guess having someone with me would reduce this time, in a good way as I would be able to do their thing as well as my own, but would I then not be relaxing properly? Stafford, what was it I was not supposed to eat? coz I think I just ate it lol, I feel dirty inside! I had my dinner back at the same place as last night, my Italian still sucked but it was better and the same waitress served me and was surprised I had come back, she chatted to me after my meal too which was nice…. I knew she could speak more English than she portrayed lol. So many happy vibes today, so glad I came on this trip. It is still only early eve, I will pay my bar/campsite bill when I get back so I can head off to Milan as soon as I wake in the morrow…. Milan, Monaco and that road I found await! TOP f**kING TIMES…. Best thing ever! I am sad I was unable to make it to Australia this break but didn’t know I had a job until this month so could not sort it or justify it without a future pay packet. Love and miss you JimJam! In th mean time; beer, beer then sleep ready for tomorrows new adventures. Marco was away so I found another bar to say goodnight to this part of the adventure, I am glad to an extent as it has let me contemplate this trip so far and how I might do it again. The sun has set one final time on this beautiful part of my trip. I will miss you Canobio Really enjoyed reading that so far and looking at the pics Pete. 300 miles a day would kill me but you seemed to cope well with that.
That holiday’s gonna make the new job seem very tame…
Europe, Day 4. Cannobio (Italy) to Genoa[ish] (Italy) 250miles
I woke up nice and early so I could munch some miles and see the lake and mountains as the sun rose through them. It really is a breathtaking part of the world, I wish I could have taken so many photos but to take them all would fill my memory card over and over and I’d never get any riding done. I travelled round the lake then south to Milan and on route I went up one of the mountains on an almost perfect supermoto road which hopefully I captured on my GoPro. Lord Vader likes these roads; the sweepy winding roads through the mountains, the super twisty hairpins when climbing the mountains and it really loves the coastal/lake roads. It doesn’t like citys tho. Not one bit. The clutch was struggling and the engine was getting hot. Because of this Milan and Monza were covered with a little frustration and I didn’t really get a chance to enjoy the cities. when I got out of them and started heading south again the roads were perfect tightly twisting duel carriageways and the temp went up from a chilly 18’C at 8am to a lovely toasty 28’C as I reached the coast of Genoa. I had to get some fluids in me so stopped at the beach for a small beer, then a bottle of water, removed some clothes as now had way too much on. My face was feeling a bit burnt but wasn’t painfully so and I had been keeping the sun lotion on it. From Genoa I headed west desperately looking for a campsite which there were none but I perseverred and jumped off the coast road to “Ali-Barbar” campsite which looked lovely although seemed only set up for motorhomes and caravans and was told they had no room, I soon found another site tho, which again was only set up for campervans so the ground was rock solid and my tent pegs would not go in. adapt and overcome was the name of the game so I tied the tent to a fence which just about did the job for a night. the heat was wearing me down so I had to stay here. I went for a wander once I was set up to find some food and eventually found a pizza place and had a yummy “peppers-only” pizza… damn my pish accent lol. The saving grace of the campsite was it had WiFi so I was finally able to hook up to the world
Europe, Day 5. Liguria (Italy) – Sanery-Sur-Mer (France) 207miles
I felt like I had covered far more than just 207 miles, but the speed limits were very low so I guess that may explain the slower progress! I was glad to get on the road and away from the campsite, WiFi is nice but I didn’t really like the town. I put Monaco in my sights for a late breakfast and I was very hungry by the time I got there, I also wanted to ride some of the F1 track there but try as I might I couldn’t find my way onto the circuit to do so as the roads were so busy you could not afford to be looking for road signs when above ground and then below ground there is a maze of roads and junctions to navigate through which was proper surreal!
I generally do love the way the Italians drive, they are crazy but also actually quite observant, in France the are just crazy and ignorant! lol as my belly was turning inside out I really wanted some food but Monaco was just too crazy for me so I continued onwards to Nice where I had some amazing eggs. I had a daudle back along the beach after what was now lunch as it had taken so long to eat. The bends along the south of France are amazing at times and west of Nice they were beyong expectations. There were no campsites on route so I headed off the coast road and about 5km later found a loverly campsite with posh looking restaurant and bar and even had a pool! As I entered the reception two beautiful lasses greated me with a smile and spoke to me in English, I tried speaking in French but they found it easier to stick with English. The lasses were so pretty I actually walked into the door three times while talking to them lol. Once I had my tent pitched I went to the bar where I just managed to get a beer before it shut, and also noticed the restaurant was closed so I asked the manager where I could eat and she suggested in town, unfortunately we couldn’t get a cab for me but the manager drove my into town so I could get some food and a few beers. The bar I went to said it served food but it was all lies, they did sort me a snack tho and a beer as big as my head! I thought I was able to drink 2 but only got halfway through the second before asking the waitor to call me a cab, this was when the floor in the plan became apparent… no bloody taxis! My phone was nearly out of juice so I had a quick skeg at google maps and wandered off in what I thought was the right direction…. It wasn’t and I ended up twinging my ankle stumbling down a stupidly dark road in the middle of no where trying desperately to find the campsite which I did manage in the end I got back to the campsite with just 100% battery left… not bad timing! As it was so warm I grabbed a shower and thought I’d wash me grots while I was at it, I hang them up to dry on my bike but it rained on them so they never dried. The rain stopped but I had a feeling it would return judging by the clouds and I had no 35’C tunnels on route to dry me out I delayed packing the tent as long as I dared so it dried a bit but not much.Europe, Day 6. Sannery-Sur-Mer (France) to Narbon Plage (France)
300+ miles estimated. Yes I was right, am now rather soggy but I have done well with the weather up until now. I have also discovered that my satnav knows where campsites hide so I needent have upset my ankle last night on the way home! Downside to rain is my tent is almost as wet inside as it is outside, I have put bin bags under my sleeping bag so should be mostly dry. Todays ride was mostly pretty dull tbh but it got me here and Barcelona is only a days ride from here now
It is now 6pm and still raining, too early to go to bed so gonna mooch to town for a beer. I had snails for lunch and some weird battered fish full of bones. snails are a bit like squid which sort of makes sense I guess, I expected them to be warm tho although the shells were so they had been cooked (I hope lol). The beer was good, there was a pic of boobies and bums on the wall and I had some top company ; Bernardo who was a sailor and Fredrico who owned a tabac, we all got shedded and they made me feel very welcome, they even invited me to a festival in a town called Gruissan but I don’t think I have the time to jiggle the route about to be able to make it. It really was an awesome night out and I really thank them for introducing themselves to me
….Ok, well hotel fail, had me head off into the Alps, I could see ahead that it was torrential rain and was bracing myself to get very cold and very very wet, then someone built a tunnel pretty much everytime it rained a tunnel appeared except one longer stretch where the heavens opened, I was shivering and soaked until one more tunnel appeared; a 17km tunnel that was 35’C so not only did I completely dry out, I was now too hot! 
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