A Real Adventure on Day 7 of Our Route Napoleon Motorbike Tour: Col de la Bonnette Awaits
- MotoTravelDude
- Jun 7
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 24
495 km and 312km
France. One route on plan, the other catching up.
So last night, I called a couple of garages and mechanics who were still open. A friend at home reliably informed me of other tyre sizes that should fit, but it turns out it’s illegal for a someone to fit an alternative size tyre to a bike.
I managed to get hold of a custom motorbike shop in Nice who were open today, given that it’s a bank holiday in France, that’s a miracle on its own! Using a combination of Google Translate and WhatsApp we agreed a time and a price. I rearranged with the recovery company to take me here for 8 o’clock.
On arrival at the depot, there was one guy wandering around who was adamantly saying that they were closed and have no jobs on for today, except emergencies. After a fair bit of too-ing and frowing with the RAC, they agreed to take me to the garage. The recovery company were adamant that all the garages were closed today, but they were wrong. I even had to get them to call my garage to confirm that they were open before we set off.
The comedy show continued when he couldn’t find the keys to a truck that was blocking my bike transporter, but after 20 minutes and several garage machine coffees later, we were on our way.
A couple of hours later, I’m at SV Moto 06, in the fantastic Gentleman‘s Motorcycle Company’s workshop (L’Atilier Du Gentlemen). It’s full of old memorabilia, Easy Rider posters and everything old Harley. Next door is a custom paint shop with some amazing artwork on the bikes. As well as a performance garage with more carbon fibre than aluminium on all the cars.
They speak absolutely no English here, which is fine as we rummaged through with Franglaise and google translate. In fairness, my French is pretty good.
Credit to the lad who replaced my tyre in less than an hour, keeping me caffeinated and happy. I said I’d give him a plug so check out his custom bikes and cars at:
So I’ve got new rear rubber, better get it scrubbed in! The guys are 300km north of me and are continuing up to Aix-le-Bains, so I’ve got some catching up to do.
I took the long road out of Nice and tried to pick up roughly where I broke down yesterday. One of my favourites is taking my motorbike up Col de la Bonnette. It's up there in the top 10 roads in Europe. Fast, sweeping with awesome views.
As I climbed past the tree line, snow was approaching. The sides of the road still had sheer walls of compacted snow and ice, that gradually got bigger the higher I got.
I saw an amusing sign on the way up warning me of Marmottes (the photo below isn’t mine). I have no idea what a Marmotte is.
Lo and behold, I’m screaming up the hill and a ‘snow beaver’ scurries across the road. Kind of like a fat gerbil, size of a hare. Snow beaver it is then!
The road climbs through the ice walls to Col de la Bonnette, where it seemed every nationality of biker was meeting up. I was a lone Englishman and quickly made chat with the local French, Spanish, Swiss and Dutch bikers (the Germans didn’t want to talk to me). At 2,802m (over 9000ft) I was higher than Ben Nevis!
This is the highest paved through road in Europe, but annoyingly no sign to take a photo of. I was like a giddy child, grinning from ear to ear (more than a mountain snow beaver).
The ride down was equally exhilarating, but this time with cyclists trying to (and on the corners succeeding in) keeping up with me.
I was following yesterday’s planned route and stopped in Jausiers for a coffee and ice cream. The lady at Cafe La Pivoen Givree was very happy, as I was her first foreign customer. Puzzled that I had misinterpreted her French, turns out today was opening day and I actually was her first foreign customer! Hopefully, I left a good impression!
The road through Barcellonette was quick but uneventful, playing with other bikers on route. I then passed the hotel I was meant to be at last night in Espinases. It was around 2pm and my second day was only just beginning.
So with a heavy heart, I asked Google maps for the quickest route to Aix-Le-Bains including tolls. After Gap, I continued West towards Grenoble and realised I had ridden this same road just a couple of days ago, but in reverse!
At Grenoble it was a 90 minute toll up to Aix. As I climbed the west hill, you could see the lake glimmering below. Our hotel is in Yenne tonight. A traditional independent hotel. Within 10 minutes the rest of the team arrived! The band was back together!
One has left last nights hotel late as had a work call, and had taken the same route as me from Espinases, but the other three had pretty much stuck to the planned route!
Dinner was a huge steak and a few chips, along with a creamy goats cheese starter. The owner gave us all a shot of Chartreuse as a digestif. It’s rocket fuel with a secret blend of 130 herbs and spices (beat that KFC). Too potent for me.
I’ve done two day’s riding in one and that Chartreuse has knocked me for six!
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