Leaving the rain behind! 

Feeling the need once again to cross  “La Manche” and experience the better roads and more bike friendly motorists, I opted to go a bit further a field this year to the Swiss/Italian lakes, specifically Brissago on lake Maggiore.  I decided on Motor Cycle Sports and Leisure Tours (used to belong to the mag of that name) and, with John Goodson, booked the trip as both our “other halves” were otherwise occupied working or waiting for hospital appointments.

32 people on 19 assorted bikes was the eventual tally, all to meet at Dover on Sunday at 07:15 for the quick crossing followed by 350 miles to our first stop overnight in Dijon. We opted to travel to Dover on Saturday evening to stay in a B&B. This turned into an horrendous journey, torrential rain and a blocked A20 due to a 40 car pile up, then fog and darkness completed the fun. This was compounded further by the fact that John’s radio wouldn’t work and we couldn’t communicate on the move!  Gerty Garmin saved the day and we duly arrived to cover our room in drying money and other assorted items. A fair few of our travelling companions were from Ireland and one group of 6 managed Teddington before breaking down which proved to be the first of many stops they had. They turned up on the back of a low loader at 07:00 as we were leaving Sunday morning. 

The French ferry was new and securing the bikes was done very easily in special bays, except of course for “the starship enterprise” which wouldn’t fit in any of them! Despite this, the crossing was good, the weather improved and we were soon off the boat and heading south. The providers suggested routes and you can opt to travel on your own or stay with our hosts. We opted for a bit of both and went our own way, forsaking the motorways, after lunch and still arrived in good time for the evening meal at our overnight hotel with secure parking. One of the aims of the tour is to provide excellent accommodation which we definitely couldn’t complain about. The Irish, well they did finally arrive at 01:00 in the morning, in time for a bit of sleep before the next leg.

The next morning saw us up and off in convoy for the most part, on pretty N and D roads, but with the weather looking decidedly wet with another 300 plus miles to go. Our hosts, Peter and Gloria, were on a 600 Silver Wing Honda scooter as Peter had recently had a hip operation and couldn’t cock his leg over a normal bike; however they still managed to romp along at a reasonable speed. We crossed into Switzerland at Pontarlier near Lausanne where we stopped to get our Swiss motorway passes (you can risk not getting one but there is always the worry of the fine). Once again, as we were about to leave, the poor Irish couple on the Aprilla couldn’t start it. Various people tried to help but eventually they were left to await the arrival of the break down truck which was becoming a very popular mode of transport for them. Off we went with the sun now shinning, Peter’s words ringing in my head –  “the Swiss are crap drivers who will cut you up, turn suddenly without warning,  Swiss police have no sense of humour, speed limits are strictly enforced and white lines and crossing markings are made of plastic and are lethal in the wet. The Swiss are also even better than the UK in coning off great expanses of carriageway with nobody working on them for miles.” He was right, they also don’t seem to like filtering bikes and are likely to amble all over the carriageway in slow moving lines. 
 

The route from here took us around Lake Lausanne and up over the Simplon pass which we were told was mostly cloudy, wet and cold. We duly stuck on all our gear after lunch, ready for the worst. The ride up was good fun, it was sunny and hot at the top with excellent views and we were sweltering!  The ride down saw us assaulted by various mad car drivers and half naked sports bike riders obviously in a race we weren’t aware of. Then came the last 17km, it looked ok on the map, a D road through the mountains taking us to Lugano and the lake. It started after a nice little town when the nearside became steel railing with a sheer drop on a very narrow road with a cliff face on the offside and very very small sharp bends. This was compounded by it being the rush hour and a continual stream of “pocket rocket” hatchbacks driven by baseball capped maniacs using the entire road coming up the hill in the opposite direction. At this point I wished for a normal sized bike with a shorter wheel base that would make the turns without having to slow down to almost nothing and not use all my side of the road. I longed for a tank so I could get my own back, the drive seemed endless and my nerves were getting frayed from the near misses when eventually the road widened out and we finally reached Lugano. The fear of a collision with the side barriers and the cars stayed with me for the rest of that trip and I certainly was not riding at my best. 

A brief trip alongside the lake saw us at our destination where were received by the hotel manager and treated to a champagne reception. Discussion at dinner that night had everybody commenting on the “road from hell”, fortunately we were returning by another route. The Irish, well they arrived by taxi at midnight having no idea now where their bike was, I don’t think I would recommend Green Flag! The hotel was a 4 star and stunning, John and I had a suite on the top floor and every room had a balcony with view of the lake. Tea, coffee and Merlot were available free from 07:30 until 16:30 every day. With indoor and outdoor pools plus sauna and secure parking, we were made to feel very welcome.

We relaxed for the first day taking a boat ride to Ascona. On the second day, John and I opted to ride the length of Maggiore on the opposite side to the hotel, then on to Lake Como where the temperature was 35C when we got back to the bikes after lunch. From there to Largo Du Lugano and then back to the hotel – 164 miles through some very frustrating but pretty back roads where the speed limit was more often 30mph. Of the 3, France certainly had the better roads they were more bike friendly and their lane discipline was much better (never thought I’d say that). Some of the group opted for a long day doing all the mountain passes and were met with sleet and snow but still seemed to enjoy themselves. The last day was spent sightseeing via a boat on the lake and we duly packed our gear prepared for the 650 mile journey back to Calais. That night, the hotel manager cooked paella on the patio round the pool which went down very well with the guests.    

The journey back to Dijon for our overnight stay this time took us via the Gotthard Tunnel and Basel. You can’t believe how hot it was in what I believe is the longest tunnel in Europe (it went from 13C outside to 25C) which was a good thing for John as he had been getting very cold up till then. We had opted to do this leg on our own with help from Gerty Garmin which did on occasion take us to some interesting places due to major road repairs. The weather turned wet before we reached Dijon but despite crossing and re-crossing in and out of France, Italy and Switzerland, we weren’t asked for a passport on the journey until we reached Calais to re-enter the UK. We did use quite a lot of motorway through to Basel and even encountered a slow moving queue lead by a Swiss motorcycle cop who cheerfully returned our wave as we passed them all.  On arrival in Dijon, the rain had stopped and we sat with our fellow travellers outside around the pool having a nice pre dinner drink and discussing the day’s happenings. The Irish, well they got taxied back to Lausanne where they were reunited with their bike which had been fixed (hopefully permanently now) and arrived about 21:00 in time for dinner.

The last day dawned 350 miles to do in France to meet the 17:00 ferry followed by 150 miles on the UK side. The sun was shinning and John and I set off on our own lead by Gerty. On the second swing round the town, I resorted to some “adjustments” to our route and we were on our way along some very nice, quick D roads where we were lucky not to be included with the several people getting pulled by the Gendarmerie for excessive exuberance! We all rejoined the A26 at Reims and then batted along to make the ferry which everybody made except the Irish Aprilla set. I am guessing that they opted for a later ferry plus a more relaxing ride now that they had a bike.

After an uneventful crossing, we opted for the A272 from the M23, stopping in Billingshurst for a meal to arrive back around 21:00 having covered around 1600 plus miles in 7 days. John and I both agree that the tour was very well organised, the accommodation was excellent, our hosts Peter and Gloria were brilliant but the Swiss/Italian legs were a little disappointing in terms of nice riding roads. MSL Tours definitely major on the quality of the locations, accommodation and food whilst allowing you to pick your own speed and route to travel if you don’t want to follow the herd.

I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to use them again, in fact most of our fellow travellers had already been multiple times and it was like holidaying with old friends .The trip, including 7 nights accommodation plus breakfast, 3 evening meals and the crossing, was £685. We did discover that the Swiss hotel alone was £200 a night out of season without breakfast so the trip was good value!