Category: French travel

Riding up Col de l’Iseran

Yesterday Nina and I decided to benefit from more cloudless sky and ride up to the Col de l’Iseran (Iseran Pass) that connects Val d’Isère – the famous posh winter sports resort) and the Maurienne Valley and Modane on the other side. It was HOT in the valleys, up to 30 C, and fresh up on the pass which is up at 2770 m elevation (9087 feet). Not high to US standards, but wait….. the roads up aren’t the same as in the US either *grin*. If you have any doubt about your ability to ride straight while having a…

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Col de la Madeleine

Collected here is a small series of photos of the Col de la Madeleine. The photos were made in 2005 and 2006. Col de la Madeleine is one of the more challenging ‘cols’ (or mountain passes) with rather narrow roads on the east side. The hairpins are not too difficult, but there are quite a few places where there is hardly room for a motorbike AND a car to pass each other. The east side of the pass (we usually go UP on that side) is the steepest and narrowest, climbing up from the valley that connects Albertville with the…

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Ride to French Riviera (2)

Here’s Part Deux of our second day riding south…… most pictures are by Nina again, after we dropped our last pair of  batteries into her Coolpix ! Here we are arriving at the town of Grasse. Back in 1994 we stayed here in a horrible little hotel, mosquitoes and bug infested with 2 inches of dust atop the closets and furniture. So we’re not so fond of the place. Fact is that it is the world’s birth place of PERFUME ! So you see perfume shops, factories, advertising and markets everywhere. Must be the lavender fields growing to the west…

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