Quote:
Originally Posted by backofbeyond
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.
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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?
Quote:
Originally Posted by backofbeyond
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).
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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
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