At the end of June, myself, Mrs F and my stepson Tom rode down to Folkestone, hopped onto the Shuttle and set out on a week-long ride through France. Me and Mrs F were riding 2-up on my 1200 GSA and Tom on his shiny MT07. It was Tom's first proper road trip (and first time out of the UK on his bike), so we didn't want to push ourselves too hard. However, thanks to some advice from fellow Tossers on here, we decided to head into Switzerland and tackle the infamous 5-Passes Loop. Two nights were duly booked at the Hof And Post Hotel in Innertkirchen and the plan was to ride there from Dijon, stay the night, spend the next day riding the passes and end-up back in Innertkirchen for a second night before heading out of Switzerland and back into France (via the Black Forest in Germany as it turned out!).
This isn't ride report as such, but some snaps I took during our day riding the Passes, just to give you an idea of how breathtaking the scenery is. We were blessed with amazing weather, clear, sunny and dry, whereas the next day was wet, so we timed it just right. I wouldn't fancy some of those hairpin bends riding 2-up on the GSA!
There are different ways to ride the passes depending on how much time you have and how many of them you want to ride. We did a figure of 8 route, leaving Innertkirchen at about 9.30am and riding up to the Susten Pass through stunning alpine scenery. From there we rode to the Furka Pass via Wassen. At Gletsch my Zumo 660 decided to play up and we inadvertently ended up riding the Grimsel pass a little too early in the day (it's on the loop back to Innertkirchen). Realising our mistake, we turned round, road back down the Grimsel Pass then on to Ulrichen where we picked up the road to the Nuefenen Pass. From there we rode the St Gotthard Pass before heading back towards Andermatt, back over the Furka Pass for the second time, the Grimsel Pass for the third time blast) arriving in Innertkirchen by 7.30pm for a beer or two and some grub.
Have to say, it was the best day's riding on road I've ever had. The scenery is amazing - if you get to see it in decent weather - the roads weren't busy with bikers and if you're heading down to that part of Switzerland you'd be mad not to put a day to one side like we did to ride the passes .
This isn't ride report as such, but some snaps I took during our day riding the Passes, just to give you an idea of how breathtaking the scenery is. We were blessed with amazing weather, clear, sunny and dry, whereas the next day was wet, so we timed it just right. I wouldn't fancy some of those hairpin bends riding 2-up on the GSA!
There are different ways to ride the passes depending on how much time you have and how many of them you want to ride. We did a figure of 8 route, leaving Innertkirchen at about 9.30am and riding up to the Susten Pass through stunning alpine scenery. From there we rode to the Furka Pass via Wassen. At Gletsch my Zumo 660 decided to play up and we inadvertently ended up riding the Grimsel pass a little too early in the day (it's on the loop back to Innertkirchen). Realising our mistake, we turned round, road back down the Grimsel Pass then on to Ulrichen where we picked up the road to the Nuefenen Pass. From there we rode the St Gotthard Pass before heading back towards Andermatt, back over the Furka Pass for the second time, the Grimsel Pass for the third time blast) arriving in Innertkirchen by 7.30pm for a beer or two and some grub.
Have to say, it was the best day's riding on road I've ever had. The scenery is amazing - if you get to see it in decent weather - the roads weren't busy with bikers and if you're heading down to that part of Switzerland you'd be mad not to put a day to one side like we did to ride the passes .