Southern France, Alps, September 2025
And again the Alps and again Southern France and again with Marcellus and Extreme-Tours.
Although I've done this so many times before, it's always nice and even the familiarity with the well-known places and roads is not boring but rather pleasant.
Beautiful sceneries and great French food await us again. Plus some adventures (not quite as expected).
This time there are eleven of us. Two of them are car drivers who we only see from time to time on the road.
The weather is mixed. It rains on the way there, and then again later on. On the way south it was sunny and even warm, towards the end rather cool but not very humid.
All in all, a very nice week.
We come from different directions: From Berlin, the Munich area, Switzerland, the Ruhr region, Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg.
There is also a resident from the coast.
The first day brings the very best riding weather. Blue skies, pleasant temperatures.
However: last vacation day in France. Lots of cars in the mountains and a gazillion cyclists.
Very clear air allowed great views - especially of Mont Blanc.
We actually had the Le Revard viewpoint as our last destination. However, I got lost and we arrived in Aix-Les-Bains without the viewpoint.
Karte 2025_08_31
It rained heavily during the night. Everything is wet in the morning, but at least it's not raining. However, an area of rain is moving from the southwest to the northeast. We have mainly wet roads, but the first 250 kilometers are rain-free. Then 15 kilometers of heavy rain and again briefly at the Col de Rousset. Then drizzle and wet roads until the end.
We start with the Mont du Chat viewpoint and then work our way towards Grenoble, passing through the Chartreuse into the Vercors and then to our favourite hotel in Gresse-en-Vercors.
The rocky sections of the Gorges du Nan and Cirque de Combe Laval are particularly impressive as always (although this time in the fog).
Marcellus and the other group find another way past the closed road in the Isère valley and discover the long tunnel of the Ecouges.
Karte 2025_09_01
First 40 kilometers today on small roads in the Vercors. Wet, fog, gravel and all combinations thereof.
Then we slowly headed south and it got drier and sunnier. We also hit some fast roads such as the Col de Cabre and the D994/D94, which winds its way between Serres and Curnier for more than 50 kilometers. The highlight, however, was the sanctuary of cycling, Mont Ventoux. At an altitude of 1910 meters, there were magnificent views in the best sunshine, a flypast by a Rafale and an aerobatic plane and numerous happy cyclists who had completed the 20-kilometer-long and also (for motorcyclists) very fast ramp. The bare mountain is very impressive.
Karte 2025_09_02
Bright weather again today with sunshine, blue skies and pleasant temperatures (albeit with a cool start).
First we continued south past lavender fields before turning north. The route was a little longer than planned. Instead of 380 kilometers, it ended up being 460 kilometers. The reason: the Col St. Michel was closed and prevented direct access to the Col d'Allos. So we went via the Col des Champs to the Col d'Allos. Quite strenuous but also quite beautiful. And it also gave us the red rock Gorges de Daluis and the Col des Champs, but before that there was the magnificent landscape along the Gorges du Verdon.
Karte 2025_09_03
Sunshine in the morning but it's supposed to rain from 16:30. And this despite the fact that we have the big passes over 2000 meters on the program: Col de la Bonette, Col de la Lombarde, Col d'Izoard and Col de Galibier.
The other group takes a different route via Morti, Sampéyre and Agnello. After the Lombarde, a real-world experiment. How far can a Ducati Streetfighter ride into the reserve? Just under 50 kilometers and then there's 150ml left in the tank. After the Lombarde, there was no fuel station until we got back to Barcelonette.
As the day progresses, it gets cloudy and the first tentative drops of rain fall at 16:30. However, we only have 10 kilometers to go to our destination. All in all, a very nice 400 kilometers.
Karte 2025_09_04
It rained heavily again overnight and it got much cooler. It was correspondingly chilly on the high passes. We started in the morning with fog and a few raindrops on the Col de la Croix de Fer and Col du Glandon. On the Col de l'Iseran there was quite some wind at 4 degrees Celsius. Later, we climbed the smaller and larger St. Bernard.
Karte 2025_09_05
I drive straight back to Berlin. That's almost 1200 kilometers. I drive 700 of them on country roads from the Swiss border over the Swabian Alb and on to Thuringia to the Hermsdorfer Kreuz. It's very exhausting but also very beautiful. I arrive in Berlin at sunset.
Karte 2025_09_alpen