Arrived back in time for the Swiss national holiday fireworks ~ so the wife was happy ;-)
Here's some impressions....
The Trophies:
The aftermath of the night before the 'setting off' when Joe and Colin arrived at my place...
3/4 bottle of whisky
+
1/4 bottle of Jaegermeister
+
16 cans of beer
....
Needless to say, we did NOT depart for Andorra "between 8 and 9 am" ! ! !
The bikes stayed in the garage a little while longer while mass quantities of Alka-Seltzer and O.J. were consumed
But we did finally set off at around 11:30...
Making a coffee break at the Lake of Gruyere:
Then again while climbing up over from Switzerland to France by Martigny:
Finally we made it to our first destination -
Hotel Fifi Moulin in Serres, France. A GREAT place to stay - especially for bikers!
The next day we pushed on - over HOT HOT HOT motorways to Andorra - climbing up to cooler heights as we went over the ElPas de la Casa:
Then we dropped back down into capitol of Andorra ~ Andorra la Vella, where we met up with every one...
The first day - Saturday, we rode up to a ski hut/restaurant where we had a bite to eat and recharged after the miles we had done the days before:
Then we rode back down and went shopping :-)
That evening we had our meal and did the quiz and Trophies ~ but Andorra doesn't stay open very long!
By 1 am we were on our way back to the hotel/camping.
Sunday started a little mixed... Could it rain? Maybe... Maybe not...
So we waited a little while before a hand full of us rode up North to Soldeu and then back down to Canillo to a bike museum.
Sorry - I'm missing pictures here as my battery was dead!
Monday saw us leaving at 9 am heading in the direction of the Millau Viaduct.
Going back we opted to go through the tunnel and not back over the Pass Casa.
Of course coffee stops were plentiful and welcoming...
And then finally the viaduct at Millau:
It certainly is strange how Colin goes about taking photos....
Then next day Colin split off to head North (Paris) while Joe and I headed East to aim for Chamonix (Mont Blanc).
We made it - and what a wonderful area it is.
Of course - Joe didn't let me down... He was up to his high standards with world break db's of snoring...
Then the final day saw dawn coming over the peaks from the East - where we had to head for - Switzerland...
Switzerland... The land of money... Or better said - the land where you need money!
This burger cost £10 ! ! !
And there's two finger sized sausages also £10 ! ! !
We took the road over the Furka Pass:
Where the Rhone Glacier is drastically melting away!!!!
When I was here last - about 5 to 7 years ago - the Glacier came to the end of the clip, but now it melted so far back you can't see it any more!
It's shocking to think that when I brought my parents to see this (12 years ago) my dad told me of his memories.
He rode these same roads 40 years ago (when he was 18 years old) - by bicycle with three other mates of his. He told me that the Glacier came over the clip and down into the lower valley!!!
This is what it looks like now:
So that's my RR of the Euro Rally 2012.
Hope you liked!?
Here's the routes
. So we had Incidents and Accidents. But hey, we'll laugh at them later. I would also like to thank everyone for there generosity, I was extremely moved by it. Here's to next year! 