Embarking at Newhaven and first night at Compiègne
Hydration stop in the Jura
Seeing Mont Blanc fully-white rising above the cliffs, then the immense glaciers and the view along the Valais from the Forclaz made a huge impression on me. It wasn’t my first time in the Alps but it was my first on a motorbike that I’d ridden from London.
My Yam FJ750 was a year old and I set off with new tyres; it was riding great but these were my first attempts at mountain roads and it was a steep learning curve. Although there were frontiers with border police, they didn’t bother with bikers but the currency and language changed.
Camping of course, that’s what bikers did. I had a week for the Alps and then a week with biker mates in a gîte on a farm near the Dordogne, Bob and his partner Chris. It looks an epic ride getting to the gîte from the Alps: 946 km from Evolène in the Val d’Hérens (Valais, Switzerland) to Sorges in Périgord (France), via both St Bernard passes and Aoste (Italy), the Iséran, camping on the banks of the Isère near Chambéry then full summer heat crossing the Rhône and the Massif Central.
I travelled light: waxed cotton jacket, leather jeans, Moto-X boots, Spandau Ballet t-shirts, jeans and trainers, camping gear, a small backpack with camera, film, documents and tablets for hay fever. Mobile phones were sci-fi; just three channels on TV back in London and I worked for one of them, LWT outside broadcasts.
Light traffic on the roads and never a problem with finding a pitch for a tent. I was lucky with the weather but it feels summers were better back then and the glaciers were definitely hugely more impressive.
- I rode the Susten - Furka - Grimsel - Great St Bernard - Iseran route again in 2016 Susten - Furka - Grimsel - Great St Bernard
I left London first thing on Friday 22 July and returned on the 1700 ferry on Saturday 6th August 1983.
New scans of my 35mm Kodacolor II negatives, type 5035, rated 100 ASA, a batch I bought in London. Pentax LX with 50mm f1.4, 28mm f 2.8 and 135mm f3.5 lenses. Epson 4990 Perfection scanner.
Col du Clergeon (979 m.)
Riding mates for the day, pause before splitting
Camping among the vines of Fleurie
Col des Aravis (1486 m.). Mont Blanc in the haze to the left.
Mont Blanc from St. Gervais
Glacier des Bossons, Mont Blanc massif
Col des Montets (1461 m.)
Col du Forclaz (1527 m.), first col after the border
Camping at Evolène (1371 m.), Val d’Hérens (Valais)
Rest day - hike across the glacier towards the Cabane des Dix CAS (2928 m.)
Gletsch (1757 m.), foot of the Grimsel and Furka passes with a view of the Rhône Glacier
Susten (2260 m.) and Furka (2430 m.) passes
Grimsel Pass (2164 m.)
St. Gotthard Pass (2108 m.) (Italy)
Nufenen Pass (2478 m.)
Rest day - hike towards the Cabane des Aiguilles-Rouges (2821 m.)
Grand St. Bernard Pass (2473 m.) and the bike I rode the pass with.
Grand St. Bernard Pass (2473 m.) and frontier to Italy.
Petit St. Bernard Pass (2473 m.) and frontier to France. Biker I rode the two St Bernard passes with (see Gr. St. Bernard photo)
Col de l'Iseran (2770 m.)
Camping on the banks of the Isère near Chambéry
Saint-Flour, Auvergne
Summer heat
Gîte at Sorges, with Bob and Chris (pillion)
River Dordogne
Twin Sealink ferries Villandry and Valencay crossing tracks at sunset on the Dieppe-Newhaven route