Best way to the Alps

[Mikey2341]

Having taken inspiration from the video on here of Dynamo's highest pass trip, I'm planning on a two week tour to ride to a friends house in the Alps in the summer and have started to plan the route. Will be heading down through England to Newhaven to get the ferry to Dieppe, then riding south towards the Alps. I'm guessing this has been done a bit before? Any areas to avoid or must see? Research so far suggests following the Avenue Verte to Paris and heading down from there, I would've thought it best top avoid Paris? We would then like a decent go at some of the famous Tour de France climbs, before ending up in Albertville

Any tips / suggestions? We will be camping and have roughly 2 weeks or so to get there. The most direct route looks around 1000 miles door to door

Cheers

[nirakaro]

“The Alps” is a big place - which bit? You could, e.g., head south from Dieppe towards Orleans, take a left up the Loire for a few days, cross over the watershed to the Saone around Macon or Lyon, and head into the Alps from there. I did that in the other direction last summer, and found it a very pleasant route. I don’t know the stretch south from Paris, but I’ve heard it’s not the most inspiring part of France.

[Mikey2341]

“The Alps” is a big place - which bit? You could, e.g., head south from Dieppe towards Orleans, take a left up the Loire for a few days, cross over the watershed to the Saone around Macon or Lyon, and head into the Alps from there. I did that in the other direction last summer, and found it a very pleasant route. I don’t know the stretch south from Paris, but I’ve heard it’s not the most inspiring part of France.

Ultimately we need to end up near St Jean de Maurienne, so would like to finish climbing the Col Du Glandon or Croix de Fer if we could.

[Mike Sales]

France is a good deal bigger than U.K. They have a lot more road miles per car, and in my limited experience it is possible to find a route on minor roads through la France profonde without too much traffic. I just drew a straight line from Boulogne to Geneva and more or less followed it on the yellow roads. Don't worry about planning, just let serendipity help you discover this lovely country.

[Barrenfluffit]

You could take Donald Hirsch's route to paris as far as Versaille and then head SE from there. I don't know about it thereafter and maybe Versaille is too close to central paris.

[TrevA]

If you have time, I would head over towards Geneva and then go south from there through the Alps. You'll be a take in a fair few TDF climbs - Aravis, Colombiere, Madelaine, Cormet de Roseland, to name a few.

[gbnz]

I just drew a straight line from Boulogne to Geneva and more or less followed it on the yellow roads. Don't worry about planning, just let serendipity help .

My approach too. Dieppe's a nice crossing, It's worth cycling south or north of Paris (Or jump on a train to pass through it), otherwise drawing a line on a map and staying to the minor roads is an excellent approach,

[bikes4two]

If you have time, I would head over towards Geneva and then go south from there through the Alps. You'll be a take in a fair few TDF climbs - Aravis, Colombiere, Madelaine, Cormet de Roseland, to name a few.

...and if you do end up over towards Geneva, consider doing a bit of the Grand Tour de Alpes (link here) which gets you near to your destination area.

[ossie]

You could cycle to Harwich and take the Eurovelo 15 from the Hook of Holland to Basel and then continue.

You would have a flat, well established, signposted and off road (cycle path) route right down to the swiss border......

[Mikey2341]

There are some great ideas here! Thank you!

[TrevA]

If you have time, I would head over towards Geneva and then go south from there through the Alps. You'll be a take in a fair few TDF climbs - Aravis, Colombiere, Madelaine, Cormet de Roseland, to name a few.

...and if you do end up over towards Geneva, consider doing a bit of the Grand Tour de Alpes (link here) which gets you near to your destination area.

I did a circular tour from Geneva a few years ago, the outward leg followed much of this route, so I would recommend it. We only got as far south as Briancon, then headed back north again.

[hondated]

Ultimately we need to end up near St Jean de Maurienne, so would like to finish climbing the Col Du Glandon or Croix de Fer if we could.

Ridden both of them, well I would given one is just before the other coming from bourg d'oisans, and well worth heading for. Enjoy.

[DonaldHirsch]

I cycled to Geneva via Le Havre a few years ago (starting from here made bypassing Paris easier), and in Burgundy limited hills and traffic by doing about 100 miles along the Burgundy Canal. At that time the towpath on the second half was better for bikes than the first, but I think there were plans for improvements. I also enjoyed ending via the Col de La Faucille, a 1000m climb through the Jura where you end up above Geneva with a magnificent view of the main Alps including Mont Blanc. If you want further info on any of this, email me donaldhirschparis@gmail.com

[profpointy]

Did that run on a bike last summer (albeit 1000cc petrol assisted) and visited a few historic forts along the route - there are lots give it's been a contested border for centuries. There's an IGN map of France showing all the castles & forts which I used as my road map. Forts weren't purpose of the trip, but there were so many on the way. Highlights included the fortified star-fort town of Neuf Brisach - stayed in modest hotel within the walls. Visited Verdun (Fort Douamon) and the cemetry / ossiary in rememberence of one of the most horrific battles in history, and also took in a couple of Maginot Line forts.