#motorcycletour #motorbiketour #motorbiketouring #motorcycletouring

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Join us as we head for our annual European motorcycle tour. Over eight days, we visited many great European roads, including the Verdon Gorge, Comb Laval and other exceptional motorcycling routes.

Finally, able to release our motorbikes from our garages to explore foreign roads after the pandemic, we quickly secured our two-night passage across the Bay of Biscay on Brittany Ferries from Portsmouth to Santander.

Arriving in Spain early on a Sunday morning, we made good progress on our motorcycles towards Jaca. Mainly a mile-munching day, but we stopped by a good view or two en route, making sure each evening would be rewarded with a beer or four!

From Jaca, we pointed out motorcycles towards the Pyrenees, quickly crossing the Spanish/French border and taking in some breathtaking views before stopping for lunch at Col d'Aubisque. Great roads would continue before deciding late afternoon to make progress on the motorways to reach Pamiers.

Leaving Pamiers the following day would be a long, hard ride through the southern region of France to explore some proper back roads finding some brilliant gems along the way, including Saint-Maurice-Navacelles' D25 as we headed towards Alès — knowing however I said it, I was pronouncing it wrong.

Now corrected in how to say 'Alès', and after my brother adjusted his chain, we all headed east towards Castellane, making good progress via Avignon to reach some of Europe's most magnificent motorcycle roads to ride, namely, The Verdon Gorge and the D23 – a ridge road nearby as we closed the day's riding to our Hotel in Castellane. Again, beers were rewarded after a superb day's ride.

From Castellane, we took the Napoleon route north towards Grenoble. A more leisurely day's ride with great views to accompany any motorcycle tour, but clutch issues with my motorcycle meant an unscheduled stop. However, a quick fix using engine oil meant we were back on track. Arriving at the Hotel Neron, north of Grenoble, two would carry on for a few hours more to Dijon to try and reach home in the UK the following day, while my brother and I would attack another few beers, a great steak with wine to complement.

With two riding days left and Comb Laval close by, it would be rude not to visit. So turning our bikes back south a little way, we hit some cracking roads through tight gorges as we started to make our way up into clouds to ride Comb Laval. It was a rather eerie experience; however, I am relieved the view was obscured, unaware I'm on a cliff edge some 600m above the valley of Cholet.

From there, a short day's ride to Vilgusien-le-Lac to rest up and ready for the last push home the following day, only to be scuppered that all Channel Tunnel trains leaving after 2pm a Saturday afternoon were fully booked. We booked the last available train at 1.50pm, but that meant being on the road by 6am if we were to stand any chance of checking in at Calais. An early night was now on the cards, and with bad weather closing in, it would undoubtedly be a wet start.

Our alarms sound at 5am as we slowly rise from the warmth of our beds, our bikes already prepacked; it only meant gearing up in our wet-weather gear to make a swift exit as another guests dog in another motel bedroom barked to our 'trying-to-be-desperately-quiet' presence.

Pitch black, only our headlights showed any chance of confirming the road ahead to the nearest petrol station before making progress on the toll roads. For the next few hours, it was going to be wet as strong winds soon joined the party. The weather eased as dawn broke, and my backend felt a tad squidgy. Damn! I picked up a puncture. At the next Peáge, we stopped to fix the tiniest of air leaks, enough to continue the journey, but would we make the Channel Tunnel on time?

Another fuel stop, a quick spot of something to eat, then on our way again as the time quickly ticked on. After covering over 300 miles, we made it to Calais with just a few minutes to spare. In fact, our timing was so good we headed straight down to an earlier train, which meant arriving in the UK at 1pm and home sooner than planned. A hard day's ride, but no puncture would stop us.

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0:00 We're off to Portsmouth
2:42 Boarding the ferry
5:50 Santander to Jaca
10:47 Jaca to Pamiers
18:07 Pamiers to Alès
32:03 Alès to Castellane
50:22 Castellane to Grenoble
56:57 Grenboble to Villegusien-Le-Lac
1:09:36 Villegusien-Le-Lac to Calais (and home).