This is a bit pie in the sky but I’d like to take a long weekend and take the van down France and ride the two Cols. I’ve got to drive down from Lancashire so was planning on getting overnight ferry (St Malo?)so I get a kip and then heading South. I may be taking a mate so would need to find a campsite – possibly central to the 2 places but that’s not essential. The main things to sort out are;

When – was thinking maybe May. Hopefully not too busy.

How – ferry or chunnel. Never been on the chunnel so not sure as to costs for a Vivaro van. What’re the benefits over the ferry?

Campsites – I assume there would be a few knocking about round there. Are municipal ones still the bargain they were back in the day?

Time – thinking a day to drive down and find camp. Spend a day one each ride. Day driving back up.

Any advice or recommendations gratefully received.
Ta.

Ventouux is a long way from Alpe d’Huez , with no direct Autoroute . Bear that in mind .

Stay in Le Bourg d’Oisans for the Alpe .

Loads of campsites , I always use La Piscine , just out of town near the base of the climb .

If it’s a weekend mission it’s a long drive!

Get the Chunnel on a weekend quickie and it’ll be cheap, personally though I’d want 4-5 days for that trip minimum. I’ve done it several times. You can drive Calais to Bourg in 9ish hours, It’ll take 3-4hrs to drive from Bourg to Ventoux. and 11ish Hrs to drive back to Calais from there.

In May the weather could not be the best, although either mountain isn’t that high, I’d go in June personally. L’Alpe is a Ski resort. There’s a good cheap municipal in Allemont which is 10km from Bourg and base of L’Alpe. There’s a municipal in Bedoin for Ventoux but I’ve never stopped there as I stay further out in Villes Sur Auzon

Was down that way in 2012, +1 for La piscine, start of climb is about 50 metres from the entrance. I went from Bourg to Bedoin and it was a fair drive, agree with Blazin look at 3-4 hours, especially at the weekend.
There are several campsites in Bedoin, I didn’t book ahead and stayed at a less than usual French standard site, best avoided with a tent, probably fine in the van.
Enjoy, think I would leave it until late May / June as well, can be a bit of a lottery in early May weatherwise.

Thanks for the help so far.
Bit of a bump for the ‘day timers’.

Driving down for two days’ riding is mental.

Do it properly and spend at least a week down there, you could even take MTBs too.

Chunnel is not expensive for Vivaro BTW.

The most time efficient route is through the tunnel. We went to AdH overnight, which was 14 hours door to door from Bristol, changing driver every 2 hours. I’d want to be there a week given the amount of travel.

The tunnel is much quicker than the ferry (generally) and if you are time-poor then probably a good idea.

I’d also recommend getting a Sanef toll doofer. They mean that you don’t have to stop, open the window, wake the passenger etc. We’ve had one for several years and they are great.

To echo what others have said, Alpe d’Huez and Ventoux are a long way apart (4 hours!). Could you not find some other hills closer to the Alpe instead. Otherwise its more of a box-ticking exercise than a weekend of riding.

Rob

Mr brother and I did a similar thing over about 5 days but including a stop near Annecy. It was knackering, and the total driving to and from Dorset was 1800 miles. Had an overnight on the way back from Ventoux. Being that tired will affect your riding.

Tunnel/Dover-Calais seems the best route for joining motorways, Bourg d’Oisans great destination to stay for biking. Bedoin is pretty nice too.

If you can make it longer then do, there is lots of driving involved. There is so much great riding from Bourg that you don’t need to focus on the Alpe either – tons of beautiful and hilly riding to be had!

Sorry, pedants point – Neither climb is a Col. That’s a pass between two peaks and these are different 🙂

Like faustus says, there’s so much riding round Bourg d’Oisans:
[list]
[*]Col du Galibier[/*]
[*]Col du Télégraphe[/*]
[*]Col de la Croix-de-Fer[/*]
[*]Col du Glandon[/*]
[*]Chamrousse[/*]
[/list]

IMHO its not a long weekend trip. As above Paris – Alps is roughly half way to Ventoux. When we drove Paris to Toulon we stopped for the night, did Ventoux by car although top was shut for snow in April. 4 days min and that would require a very full day one hit drive back especially given you are from Lancashire. Solo driving I think its quite dangerous actually.

Its a long way to ride up 2 hills (not col’s)

I think it would be more of a test of your ability to stay awake driving than riding a bike.

Its going to cost you a lot financially time and fuel wise getting about, and little time to enjoy the environment.

Fly.

I did that trip last september but for 2 weeks it was awesome. For a weekend no way.
If you’re doing a weekend maybe fly to Geneva hire car stay at bourg and ride there. There is more than enough riding for two weeks never mind two days.
The drive down to Ventoux was not particularly fast either. Unusual for France

Both time AND money poor! Will look into Tunnel prices. Think it’ll only be one doing the driving (me).
5 days looks favourite.
It’s not ideal driving 4 hours between them but this could well be our one chance to do them both so we’ll just have to manage.
Box ticking it may well be but they are two of the most iconic Tour climbs going.

Also worth figuring the fuel and motorway toll costs – not insignificant. Definitely think about flying and hire car. That much driving for one person sounds horrendous, and a bit dangerous.

Go to Bourg d’Oisans and ride La Marmotte route which finishes on L’Alpe d’Huez?

I’m in Lancs and can confirm it’s a horrendous distance for one person to drive in a single schlep.

I don’t think we’ve ever done it without a stopover.

If you’re organised then you could leave early, drive to ferry, kip on ferry (Dover Calais), drive to Dijon ish, kip there and drive the rest but you’d need to use the peage which isn’t cheap..

It’s not a lot to put another person on the insurance for a week you’ll be able to rest Better

You’ll be up and down Alp D’Huez in a couple of hours and thinking was it worth it.

I know you’ve got to tick the box but there are so many better rides around there.

Galibier probably the best big day out Croix de fer and Glandon are similar but more accessible. I realy like some of the non box ticking rides which there’s plenty if you research. The whole area is quite addictive.

I wouldnt camp on stopovers too much hassle when you can get a somewhere on booking.com for £30 or less.

June can get seriously hot btw, too hot for me towards the end of the month mid day and if you are just going to ride ADH ( please dont) its kept open all year.

Ventoux looks close but its the other side of the hills so takes an age. I would suggest you spend more time in Borg D’ Oisans and do Ventoux on a another trip.
Ferry takes longer but can be a nice break depending on how it fits in your trip which for me at least would be teo stops from Lancashire.

France is full of nice stuff make a week of it and have a few days in Borg.

Have fun!

Went last year to Bourg for a week in late September. Flew to Geneva and hired a car and hired bikes in Duez. Met some English guys who drove and said they did it in 12hours from Birmingham door to door over night.

I would just stay in Bourg, save on time and petrol and plenty of big climbs as others have said, beautiful place.

on the money thing, assuming you have a tesco club card, you can use the vouchers to buy tunnel tickets apparently. That is the plan for this summer for the trip to switzerland.

I did a follow-the-TdF trip with some friends which basically did what you’re describing, only over a week. That was a lot of driving, with people swapping over on laybys in the middle of the night on french autoroutes in the middle of nowhere.

If it’s just one person doing all the driving, I suggest you make sure you have organ donor cards filled out in French so at least someone benefits.

Pick one of those two places, it doesn’t matter which, and you’ll have a great time! My personal choice would be Ventoux, but mainly because I think the local food and wine is better.

EDIT: May, in the Alps? Do you like being snowed on?

I’d keep ventoux as an option if the weather looks iffy in Bourg D’Oisans, can be great but possibility of rain, ventoux is pretty much always warmer. If riding Ventoux stay in Bedoin (best campsite is 5 mins walk from town called Camping Le Pastory). If staying in Bourg either Colporter or Piscine, both good , Colporteur is a bit closer to town. As others have said lots of great climbs around Bourg and Ventoux is about a 3hr drive (don’t be tempted by the scenic, non motorway route, it can take forever) .

Can also recommend the Col d’Izoard loop through Briancon and Guillestre if you decide to stick around a bit longer.