As others have said, don't sweat it - you got on OK riding through Germany.

If you really want to save time, then I would stay out of the Alps and ride south within France, enjoying their highways which are so much more free of traffic compared with the UK - drop onto the motorways here and there when they are toll free and then back onto the national and departmental routes.
Most French towns have bypasses to skirt around them; the French highway authorities recognised a good idea from the UK quite a few years ago and they have now constructed loads of roundabouts - just get used to going around them the "wrong way" and become used to counting the exits counter-clockwise rather than clockwise.

At the bottom of France, turn East and enter Italy.

Just to elaborate a bit, what I say here is one of those "6 and two 3s" kind of answers.
Because you haven't said what time of year you will travel - for winter, there is little point in heading into the Alps except for the skiing.
In the height of summer, e.g. August, I try to avoid the Alpine areas (although I may be breaking that personal rule of thumb this year just to find out, yet again, why I have that rule of thumb in my mind).
Try the Sud Tyrol (German speaking northern Italy) on the way, if you do go via the Alps.

ps
From Blackpool you can cross the sea via Hull-Zeebrugge and that bypasses the M25 around London and the Dartford bridge.

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Dave

Can't agree with avoiding the Alps in the summer - the French ones anyway. I've been riding them in the summer months for decades, even running commercial classic bike trips through them (till a couple of years back) and I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be June - Sept / Oct.




Not quite the same in winter though -


(view from my flat window)

The only problem with the "round the edge" route is "le grand depart" in mid July where the whole of Paris decamps to the south coast. I've been caught in the resulting traffic jams (anywhere from about Avignon on) too often on both the autoroute and the ordinary roads to go there in the summer now. Four hours in the peage queue at Nice was the last straw. They do have a better class of jam though with open top Ferraris queueing up one after the other (that one in Antibes).

I suspect we are saying much the same, but with the key variance that you had, and still have, a reason to be there (which is also why I may be around the French/Swiss/Austrian/Slovenian Alps area during most of August - still TBC but I would only do that because of others who may manage to "drag me along" for their pre-planned ride).
During the "high summer" I would likely head to the Vercors national park or play in the Massif Central rather than the Alps but, anyway, Paul2129 is heading for Tuscany it seems (at some time of year that is not defined) so why spend time anywhere in the Alps since he says he is on some kind of (undefined) time schedule?


That's what I had in mind when I referred to "high summer".
Certainly, Nice is not nice.
Nor Monaco.

The other Grand Depart to be avoided is the Tour de France route and dates.

Nor, in suggesting the ride south through the length of France, did I mean literally arrive at the Med before turning left although that is one possibility; I wouldn't be adverse to clipping the southern edge of the Alps, perhaps via Briancon, to enter Italy if I were heading to Italy.

ps I have put a like on your post for the pics alone - especially the cbx 6

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Dave

Hi travelling Calais to Briancon solo and wanting to stay in B&Bs any good recommendations ? I am travelling nearly the same route as motoreiter recommended route to paul in previous thread, any recommendations greatly appreciated thanks Jez

Re Briancon, there is a problem atm with the obvious route there from Grenoble along the Romanche valley. There was a landslip near the Les Deux Alpes turn last summer and when I was out there a month ago the road still hadn't been completely repaired. The detour is via Gap - a somewhat protracted journey. I heard conflicting reports about whether the road was still completely shut or whether the bulldozed dirt track around the slip was open to suitable traffic (4x4 ok but not trucks for example).

Other than that the world is your lobster, as they say I've travelled the route from Calais literally hundreds of times and as long as you avoid Paris (imho) you can't really go wrong. Mileages vary from about 630 (draw a straight line on a map and find the nearest roads to it) to about 900 (our return route last month through Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg etc).

The autoroutes are quick (one day if you push on) but pricey and you don't really see much of France. Real back road meandering has taken me three days to do the same trip and the overnighing costs would have covered the autoroute tolls. I've tended to either camp or stay in cheap chain hotels (Ibis etc) so the odd b'n'b I've used have been found on the basis of just driving past them when I felt like I'd had enough.

If you've got a reliable bike, a gps, smart phone, credit cards and some cash then there is nothing much different than riding 50 miles from your house.

You're just anxious about the unknown. Which is why its 'adventurous'

A leep of faith is all you need.

Its fun.



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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.