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The only impossible journey
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Photo by Daniel Rintz,
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  #1  
Old 6 Nov 2005
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Must see spots in France

My name is Leslie and I live in Belgium, I'm 20 years old and I'm planning a European trip. I'm thinking of crossing about 30 coutries and I've got 2 years to prepare. My first country will be France and though I'm going to buy lots of books about every country I'll be crossing I would like to hear what spots you think no one should miss. Oh yes and I'm planning to skydive at dropzones all over Europe so if there are skydivers on here do post dropzones worth going to.

Thanks in advance!
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  #2  
Old 6 Nov 2005
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Given your interests, the recently opened Millau Bridge springs to mind...
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  #3  
Old 6 Nov 2005
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  #4  
Old 7 Nov 2005
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Quote:
Originally posted by Stephano:
Given your interests, the recently opened Millau Bridge springs to mind...
I'm going to take up BASE one day, you red my mind!

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  #5  
Old 8 Nov 2005
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France is soo big... Anything that looks like mountains on the map is great. Massif Central (Gorges du Tarn, Ardeche), the Pyrenees, Provence, the Alps, you can't go wrong on a bike. In the Alps stay away from the main roads on weekends, lots of traffic. Also, pop over the border into Italy, the mountain villages there are even more picturesque.
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  #6  
Old 9 Nov 2005
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hello,
well as the other wrote, France is huge. But since you want to travel further than just France, you will certainly pass the border to Italy. Well there is a huge amount of nice rides.
Like col de la Bonette, or Briaçon, as well as the whole border area between Italy and france. For example the "Ligurische Grenzkammstrasse". This is the street along the border between Italy and France from Limone (Italy) down to Monaco. It is a off road track, mostly gravel, sometimes in bad condition but great to ride (Length about 100km).

What about the road from Susa over Col de finestre (also Italy but near French border) to Sestriere, so called "Assietta-Kammstrasse". Easy gravel roads but nice to ride and quite easy, about 35km.

Well anyway, the area around Monaco and upt to the north along the border is just great. Was have benn there several times and I will go there again.

In case you need more specific info, let me know!

Have a nice ride
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  #7  
Old 9 Nov 2005
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eiffel tower :-)

alain is arranging some bike trips in provence :
http://www.provence-moto-rando.org/

+ the pyrenees, massif central, bretagne, etc ... the list can quite long for each country (have a quick look at lonely planet or any guide).

for skydiving : a ggogle search "skydiving" gave me this for example :
http://www.veloce-skydive.com/
(some spots, contacts etc ...)
and the federation francaise de parachutisme :
http://www.ffp.asso.fr/

happy trails and jumps



[This message has been edited by vincent danna (edited 10 November 2005).]
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  #8  
Old 10 Nov 2005
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Thanks people!
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  #9  
Old 30 Nov 2005
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Aix en Provance shouldn't be missed ....Bordeaux coast if you have the time....

(South coast)

Enjoy
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  #10  
Old 14 Jan 2006
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depends on what you prefer.
the sea-alps are a must if you travel by motorcycle.
if you (or somebody else) are looking for a place to stay, check here http://le-chais.de.vu

regards...
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  #11  
Old 21 Jan 2006
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I would reccomend the route des grande alps, it runs 450 miles from evian to monacco. It is one of the ancient trans alpine routes, along with the route Napoleon. It is spectacular and very popular with bikers, for good reason. It crosses some of the highest passes so can only be traversed in the summer. I drove it 4 years ago and it was awesome. 2 days thrashing the bits off a sportscar, terrific stuff! Even in june we were above the snowline, although the road was clear and the weather warm enough to have the roof down. I had the slightly surreal sensation of driving up a road I had skied down as a red run a couple of years previously!

Andy

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[This message has been edited by moggy 1968 (edited 21 January 2006).]

[This message has been edited by moggy 1968 (edited 21 January 2006).]
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  #12  
Old 24 Jan 2006
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leslie,
i live in alpine france part of the year for more then 2 decades. if there is interest (means a group of 5 at least), i will offer a motorcycle roundtrip through the french alps again, on tarmac and dirtroads mostly following the famous alpine roads described in the denzel alpine roads guide for example. last year we did it after the stella alpina meeting, which is 2nd weekend in july.

so if you or anyboy is interested, please contact me by email.

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  #13  
Old 24 Jan 2006
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Etretat, not far from Belgium

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  #14  
Old 25 Mar 2006
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I made a trip last year in south-east. I highly recommend these places :

Lac de Sainte Croix - Gorges du Verdon
may be overcrowded with tourists...



The Alps :






Col de la Bonette - 2715m.




[This message has been edited by sebouille (edited 25 March 2006).]
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  #15  
Old 9 Apr 2006
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If you get to Holland, you must jump at Texel, one of the islands just off the north coast. They've got (at least when i jumped there 5 years ago) a Cessna Caravan for fast turnaround.

It has a beautiful view where you can see the islands stretching into the distance and the mainland in the background. Great club atmosphere too.

B
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