French and Italian Alps - June/July 2012

[Neil Stone]

That looks like an amazing trip Andy !
Did I read that bit right? Your ferries were free? REALLY???
Please tell me more.

We're heading for France and Germany at Easter next year (meeting up with friends for a 50th birthday).
So planning Newcastle or Hull ferries.

 

[AndyCook]

well not really free, but didnt need to pay anything!

we have a Tesco credit card and shell card, the points get converted to Avios (new name for airmiles)

the ferry crossing from Newcastle > Amsterdam and return, for a tall vehicle, two adults, 2x dinner and 2x breakfast each way and sea-view cabin would have been £600
but i had accumulated 100,000 Avios since last year, and 10,000 Avios can be exchanged for £60 towards ferry
so we used to AVIOS to buy the ferry ticket entirely.

I travel a lot with work in Europe, and use credit card to pay for hotels and expenses, and then claim back the expenses from my company
I go to Norway a fair bit so rack up the Avios quite quickly as its expensive there

 

[Graham]

Very nice Andy.

Any plans to do a similar trip in the future?

Part same tracks, part new ones?
I guess it's not really practicable to go on one's own, in case of breakdowns.
It could be a long walk, or a long ride back to a village for some assistance.

Do you think 2 vehicles is about right, or would 3 be better
Whats your feeling on that?

Some thing I would be interested in, if I was in UK for long enough.

Gra.

 

[AndyCook]

Hi Graham

yes i would like to go back again, but not this year
There are some tracks we couldnt do due to landslide and e.g. snow/ ice in tunnel du Parpaillon
l http://www.mountainpassions.com/summer/ ... illon.html
i would like to go back and visit the tunnel (but we drove an equally impressive tunnel on way upto Fort Jaffreau.
we didnt make it to this fort either due to snow!

and there are other trails to do in the area in the Alps and others we did on roadbook i would miss out - so i could easily make a better more customized route.
no more than 3 vehicles.
we were a group of 2 vehicles for 3 days, but the other days my wife and i only. but i do carry land anchor, handwinch, waffleboards. and 2 mountainbikes!

There is also a lot more i would like to do and see in the Alps.

also i have thought of north Africa too. but i do like doing a load of offroading days, then spendsing some days visiting towns and vineyards and doing some sightseeing, cycling and stopping at bars - not something you can do so easily in north Africa!

a trip to Romania or adriatic coast countries is another idea

 

[Neil Stone]

Inspirational stuff Andy.
loving your pictures.
The wife's loving the pics too.
Our trip could be growing !!!!

Did you get much much mountain biking done?

I wonder what's do able at Easter time?

Tell me about your winch, that 'hand' winch sounds intriguing.

I think I need to do some research on navigation aids.

Cheers
Neil

 

[clivehorridge]

Hi Andy,

What a great trip, good combo with the bikes, 4x4 and all that beer & wine!

Anytime you want to venture to Romania, you can pm me, always welcome.

Good for offroading & MTB especially some downhill with the ski-lifts to get you back to 2000m!

Clive

 

[AndyCook]

hi Neil

the hand winch is one of these
http://www.expeditionswest.com/equipmen ... _winch.htm

although one in link is a 800kg model, i have a 1.6t version,
i also have a 9000lbs winch on front - electric winch

i only did a bit of biking, but some great singletrack at 2700m. the wife di well over 100 miles of downhill, i havent worked out the vertical yet, but lots. one descent was over a mile vertical!
i am afraid alps probably no good for driving these trqails in easter. they will be buried in snow! after all the ski centres are still open for skiing at Easter. i have often skiied in alps in mid april.

i used a 7" galaxy tab - samsung, with andrioid. running oziexplorer software and 1:250000 scale ign maps digital.

clive - will bear in mind if i do head to romania - cheers!


Clive - thanks for offer

 

[Graham]

I would take the Alps and similar before a venture to Morocco.
I esp. like the wineries and the long grassy slopes, some thing which might be missing in Moroc.

Gra.

 

[AndyCook]

slow Friday in the office, so i have compiled list of places we camped on the trip
All good campsites and wild spots

1) Europa Camping Sand (Near Willstatt-Strasbourg) - Germany
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll ... 6&t=h&z=17

2) Wild Camp Col de Tende - near Limone Piemonte - Italy
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll ... 3&t=h&z=18
(Not sure what all the earthworks are on the image! no sign of them when we were there camped by old farm building)

3) Campsite Camping Delle Rosa – Isolabona - Italy
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll ... 3&t=h&z=18

4) Campsite – Camping Municipal de Valdebore - France
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll ... 6&t=h&z=17

5) Wildcamp – Lac de Sagnes (nr Jausiers)- France
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll ... 3&t=h&z=18

6) Wildcamp – Nr Risoul ski centre- France
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll ... 1&t=h&z=19

7) Wildcamp – near Sestriere - Italy
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll ... 3&t=h&z=18

8) Wildcamp – near Susa - Italy
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll ... 3&t=h&z=18

9) Wildcamp – ski centre nr Lanslebourg-Mont-Cenis- France
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll ... 3&t=h&z=18

10) Campsite – Ca,ping L’Eden de la Vanoise (Landry nr Bourg-StMaurice)- France
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll ... 1&t=h&z=19

11) Campsite – Camping Ardeche Le Castelet – Tournon-sur-Rhone- France
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll ... 6&t=h&z=17

12) Campsite – Municipal Les Cent Vignes – Beaune - France
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll ... 1&t=h&z=19

13) Campsite – Neufchateau - Belgium
https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ll ... 3&t=h&z=18

 

[Graham]

Nice one Andy,

So a quick pop into Google, and a bit of "dot to dot" and there we have it.

Where and when is the next trip?

Gra

 

[AndyCook]

no more trips this year. done a week on UK lanes and these 2 weeks in Alps.

not going to post detailed tracklogs as I was following purchased roadbook, so not fair on the chap if i post route on here.
BUT one can find tracklogs for pretty much all the route on http://en.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/home.do

 

[AndyCook]

Couple people have asked where I got the roadbooks - I forgot to post the link at beginning

its here
http://guide4x4.free.fr/topic2/index-en.html

I got two books

1) La Tele D'alpe ( a 1 day route)
http://guide4x4.free.fr/topic2/page5-en.html

and
2) NICE - VAL D'ISERE par la France (5-6 days)
http://guide4x4.free.fr/topic2/page12-en.html

Neither that tricky compared to some UK lanes i have driven
- apart from rockfalls to negotiate, and some huge exposed scary drops to side of some trails where you need to take great care.