Getting to Switzerland

I'm spending 10 days trundling around France & Switzerland on the MV in
July. The start & finish point is near Basel, so I need a good route
between Calais & Basel, for which I've allowed a day & a half each way.

I'll be pushing my luck a bit with tyre life, especially as the trip
includes a track day, so I can't deviate too far from a direct route.
Anyone got any recommendations? The twistier the better.

 

How long? It's about a six hour journey, FFS. Oh, you're doing it on a
SOB and want to take your time?

In which case, you probably won't be interested in my 'quickest'
route, which would be motorway all the way via Dunkerque, Lille, Mons,
Namur, Luxembourg, Metz, then nearly to Strasbourg, turning off at
Saverne and taking the obvious route south (d422) to pick up the
motorway again north of Colmar, thence down to Basel.

Twistie variations on this would involvekeeping southward at Metz, via
Nancy, then across the vosges, either towards St. Die and Colmar, or
more southerly via Epinal and Mulhouse. There's some 'fab' mountain
roads either way.

Feel free to drop in while you're down here - email me in advance for
phone numbers if you fancy it - beds should be available (we're about
20 miles West of Basel) , or at the very least meet up for a beer or
three if you're staying in Basel itself.

 

SOB?!? Feck off!!! The day & a half's for various reasons. I'll be
starting & finishing in Swindon, so that's a couple of hours to the
chunnel, plus waiting & crossing time. Then 8 days of riding in between
(6 to 8 hours each). So I'd rather take my time & enjoy the trip there &
back.

Correct, not interested in using autoroutes at all.

Now you're talking - mountain roads would be perfect.

Thanks for the offer, but the accommodation's all sorted. It's a semi-
organised tour by a Swiss guy on the Yahoo MV list. 15 people from as
far afield as Alaska & NZ. We're staying in Unterehrendingen the first &
last night - is that anywhere near you?

 

Calais - Reims - St Dizier - Nancy - St Die - Colmar - Basel.

 

Well I dunno, you don't list it in your sig, so I assumed it was an
old one.

Right, well I took three days to 'do' Burgundy & Champagne regions on
my way over to the EOSM last year, and I can imagin parts of that
route working too. I'd probably plump for:

Calais, Arras, St Quentin, Laon, Reims (perhaps detouring via Eparnay
area for some nice roads), Chalons en Champagne, St Dizier (coming
into slightly more mountainous area now), Neufchateau, thence Epinal
and across the Vosges (allow time to take some detours here - it'll be
worth it) to Mulhouse, or avoiding even the last bit of (non-péage)
motorway, to Thann, then Altkirch and Basel passing close to our house
on this last section.

Err, have you looked at a map? It's about 75 km East of Basel - we're
about 30km West. So not far, in the overall scope of things. I might
be up for joining you for the last section and perhaps a beer or three
if I'm around - let me know when it's happening.

 

I did it three times a week for a few months. In a 17 tonne truck.
And often without a passport.

And it was still pretty good fun.

 

Ace wrote in

That's the route I took to get to Beaune in Burgundy.

The roads around Epernay are certainly worth a visit.

There's a Logis hotel in Moussy just south of Epernay. Auberge Champenoise.
Not the best of decor but the restaurant is superb.
http://www.logis-de-france.fr/uk/re...=EN&action=fastadvsearch&logis=moussy&x=7&y=7

Less than 1km away is Chateau Pierry which does a pretty decent champagne
tasting. The owner will demonstrate sabrage if he happens to be there.

 

You blind bastard.

Typical fucking Volvo driver - can't see a bike when it's right in front
of them.

 

Are you doing comedy stupid, or real stupid?

 

Real. "02 MV Senna" just didn't stand out as being a bike :-o

MTC, obviously, but why _do_ people (mainly merkins, I know) list
their bikes or cars by year like this?

 

I see this one's been covered. A SO MV would be rather nice though.

I shall crawl over the map at the weekend pinpointing all those.

Ah, not looked at maps yet. I really must get around to that.

Cool. Most of the run down will be on Friday 16th July. I'll give you a
shout once I've got my head around what's happening. I only got the
green light to go this week, so I'm not really up to speed with the
arrangements (which I'm sure is pretty obvious :-/).

In the meantime, if you can have a word with the local weather gods for
me, that would be lovely. Dry with temps in the low 20s would be
perfect.

 

I'll see what I can do, but I'm not sure the locals will approve of
such drastic temperature reductions :-}