Euro Bimble 2016 - Corsica

Sunday 17th July 2016 We wake up to another beautiful morning at Camping Saint-Jean eager to ride along the fabulous Gorge du Verdon.The tents are down, the gear is packed, breakfast has been eaten but we are going nowhere. Sean's clutch has leaked empty and the GS is going nowhere until the break in the clutch line (probably requiring a new slave cylinder) is repaired. And without the tools for the job we are going to have to rely on insurance recovery and BMW Motorrad to sort it out.   Lunch stop on the way to Moustiers Sean gets on the phone to his insurers, Carol Nash International Breakdown. It's a long saga and not particularly interesting, but the upshot is today is Sunday so there will be no pickup until tomorrow. Then it's a trip on a truck to Frejus, down on the coast, to the nearest BMW Motorrad dealership. So we end up booking another night at Camping St Jean and use the opportunity to have a mooch around Moustiers. It is a very hot walk u...

Monday 18th July 2116 It's time for a parting of the ways for a few days at least. There is no point to Mick and I hanging around the repair shop waiting for Sean's bike to be fixed so we decide to leave Sean waiting for rescue and head up the north side of the gorge for the last time. The original tour plan was to head for the corsica ferry today but we decide to delay the crossing until Sean rejoins the team. Back on the gorge road down in the canyon It is a glorious road all the way to Castellane where we stop for lunch in the market place. The market is in full swing. I buy some local goats' cheese (very stinky) and I have a Mediterranean salad, Mick has an omelette in a bar we patronised last year. Mick and his frothy coffee obsession  The internet is fast and free so we linger a while so I can catch up with a little blogging. Mick has his usual frothy coffee but I stick to black. Next it is a long looping route in the hills a few miles abo...

Tuesday 19th July 19 2016 We leave the camp site at Peillon at 10am and head over to the Supermarche for fuel. I go in the shop, whch is now open, and buy a few emergency provisions; pain de raisin, wine, bananas and eggs. Mick only buys a couple of nectarines which later turns out be a big mistake. We stop for a breather on the climb up to Col de Turini Looking south towards Nice Next is a lovely twisty ride up to the Col de Turini. Three roads meet at the top of the pass at an altitude of 1607m. We rode over here last year but approached from the north west and departed to east and south on a poorly surfaced descent. This southern approach up from Luceram is much better. A hard climb up multiple hairpins to the Col at 1600 metres. Lunch at the Three Valleys hotel   Col de Turini - 1607m We have a lunch of spaghetti bolognese and coffee on the terrace at the Hotel des Trois Vallees at the summit . Inside the ho...

Wednesday 20th July 2016 Last night the Old Boy recommended two more ravine roads to us. He said they were very beautiful, which considering how beautiful it is here in his gorge, means we really have to go see. We are up early and use the time to get some washing done. It's a beautiful morning for drying our clothes and we are back on the road at 10am. That's another week's clothing sorted Sean is still holed up in his hotel. The repair shop is still waiting for a slave cylinder to arrive so it will be a minimum of two days before he is back on two wheels and he is getting stir crazy. So for us it is a day for the riding of the gorges. We travel back down the Gorges de Vesubie, in and out of short tunnels down the narrow ravine on a switchback ride with vertical rock faces on the right and a steep drop down to the river on the left. In the Gorges des Versubie  Next comes a section of the Vallee du Var before we hang a right and climb up Gorges du ...

Thursday 21st July 2016 Yesterday was so hot we have made a conscious decision to get up and off early this morning to take advantage of the day before we start to boil in our protective gear. As it happens there is much more cloud in the sky when I lurch out of my tent at ten to six in the morning but it is warm, as it has been all night.  We are at an altitude of 1200 metres  but you wouldn't know it. The temperature is about 18C at six in the morning and is climbing rapidly. Climbing up the Col d'Allos Above the tree line So we are on the road before 9am for the climb up to the top of Col d'Allos. We ride through pine forested hills and through a ski resort below the summit.   View down the Ubaye valley to Barcelonnette We get above the tree line and ride a narrow and twisty route up to the top on unfenced roads with scary drops straight down the valley if you miss an apex by more than a few metres. All in a day's work!   Mon...

Friday 22nd July 2016 We are up with the larks as daylight creeps into the valley. It has been rather wonderful sleeping in a comfortable bed with a gentle breeze from the wide open shutters and windows. View from our room Breakfast is served in the garden. Nice fresh bread with jam and honey as is the habit in France. They don't do cheese and meat or eggs at breakfast round these parts.We take our time coming round and slowly pack our overnight stuff onto the bikes. Sean is in touch. His bike is running but the garage cannot (or will not) guarantee that the clutch itself is not damaged. Only one way to find out. Hopefully this is just arse-covering on the part of the garage. We arrange to meet up at the Corsica Ferries office in Nice. There is a ferry we can catch leaving this afternoon and arriving on the island around nightfall. Breakfast in the garden It can't have been much fun for the lad stuck in a hotel in the midd...

Saturday 23rd July 2016   There is thunder in the night and a few big drops of rain fall. It continues into the early morning but it has been a warm night and by 9am the sun has burned away the clouds and it looks like another scorchio day in prospect. Our pitch at Camping Prunelli It was very dark when we pitched our tents last night and in the light of day we find that we have chosen a very small area by the side of one of the camp roads. We really should move our camp to a better spot but it is handy for the water point and not far from the main complex. Anyway it is getting hot and the camp shop bakes it's own baguettes and croissants. The smell wafting down as I walk up there is wonderful. Pools to the left of me.... ...and pools to the right It is a great looking camp with deep shade under the trees and two or three swimming pools. Before 10 we are in the pool. It is too hot to ride until evening so a day chilling out and s...