Featured Touring Cote D'azur And French Alps

@robert moore:
Thanks! More will come soon!

 

Day 4:
Today we rode along the last part of the French coast we wanted to see. Beautiful landscapes lay to the right and left of the highway, or country roads. Unfortunately, we have had on today's trip incredibly many sections with road works and resulting traffic jams. With the "Italian way of driving", directly along the lane markings between the standing, or rolling vehicles, we meandered through with many other bikers. In addition, there were then also numerous toll booths, which again demanded some time. From Marseille it was then quite good to ride and the landscape has changed completely. Huge rock formations, as in U.S. national parks and the vegetation of low coastal growth back to real forests.
All the traffic added an additional 2 hours of riding time to what we had planned.
In Istres/France we have now set up our quarters for the next two days. After driving 1,650 km, we'll treat ourselves to some time off here tomorrow. Away from the hotel's own pool, we also have two lakes at our disposal. One of them, however, is not suitable for bathing/swimming because of industrial pollution. The other has a special feature to show. It is the largest inland lake in France and has a salt marsh, which means that the lake water has a noticeable salt content. We could already 'test" that today during our first swim.
Tomorrow we will then relax in the cozy old town and prepare for the continuation of our tour to the French Alps.
To be continued.

Our todays planned route + 2 hours


Our hotel for the next two nights


Some impressions of Istres




The swimmable lake


A fountain in the polluted lake


The historic part of Istres


In the centre of the old town


On the way to the swimmable lake we found this nice bike


Interesting addons!

 

@Mrs Visor:
You are right. We enjoy every kilometer of the tour. But since we are aware of our limits and will still be on the road for some days, we limit the daily riding time and take rewarding breaks in between.

 

@Sandi T:
More will come soon. Tomorrow we leave to the French Alps. Now the exciting, more demanding section of our tour begins. I will try to continue to provide interesting impressions.

 

@Vulpes:
No. We start here in Istres.
Tomorrow we will pass the Mont Ventoux and some other mountains up to the little town Die.

 

@Vulpes:
Thanks. I read about it. We will resist the wind.

 

@Hubaxe: Therefore I like this forum. Everytime is there someone who has good information.

 

Day 5 - The "off-day":
On today's off-day we explored the old town. This is completely car-free and can only be reached on foot, or a few parts, with 2-wheels. The oldest parts of the city are from 966 AD.
From the area of the "Eglise Notre Dame De Beauvoir" you have a beautiful view of the whole city.
After this cultural highlight, we treated ourselves to French pastries with coffee. "Eclairs Chocolat" and "Tartelette Financier Fraise." Unbelievably delicious!
We have already made the preparations for tomorrow and are ready to go again.
To be continued.

Some impressions of the old town of Istres










A wonderful view down from the "Eglise Notre Dame De Beauvoir"






The delicious French bakery

 

Day 6 - Part 1:
Today was the day. At 0730 we left Istres and started our tour to the alpine regions of France. The weather was today from the stormy side. Constant wind with 70km/h was our constant companion up to the feet of Mont Ventoux. There it has then increased massively and at the summit at 1,909 m above sea level it was then up to 120 km/h. That was really dangerous, because you were almost blown over. In addition, the temperatures of 5 degrees Celsius were not really sparkling and the low cloud cover/fog took us partly completely the view. Therefore, we stopped only very briefly for a photo and stopped again a few hundred meters lower in better conditions. The mountain road itself is no challenge apart from the wind. It was impressive how many athletes wanted to force the mountain from both sides with different sports equipment or walking, or running. In addition, there were hundreds of cyclists and mountain runners competing.
After this first mountain classification, the route continued over winding roads and passes through incredibly beautiful landscapes of the Provence to the small town of Die.
After moving into our accommodation, we took a look at this historic town.
Tomorrow we will continue over the mountains to Grenoble and on to Briancon.
To be continued.

Our todays tour


In the middle of the picture in the dark cloud would be the top of Mont Ventoux.






On top in the storm






We did it!

 

Day 6 - Part 2:
Some impressions of Die



Tomorrow we will be on tour again






Le cathedrale Notre-Dame

 

@Vulpes: The weather on the summit was horrible. We weren't able to see the "moonscape" of it.

 

@Glenn2926:
Thanks for the great pictures!
We only saw clouds and fog.