Mountains, Motorbikes, Tents and Energy Bars

“ Mike just accept it - we cant all be Bear Grylls or Charley Boorman”

That’s what a friend of mine said to me recently. He was of course referring to the everyday commitments that allegedly restrain our opportunity to get outdoors or have adventures.

Not so was my response and to highlight it this is the story of our own little Overland Adventure,

Cotswold employees John Decker (Training) and Mike Stevens (Retail Ops) along with 3 friends Colin, Chris and Neil. All on the wrong side of 35 and definitely no longer  in the “mountain athlete” category decided to try and complete the Stella Alpina Rally in Bardonecchia, Italy

The Stella is an annual event on  the 2nd weekend in July  - The Challenge is to reach a predetermined point 3000m up the Col de Sommelier via a steep, rutted ,narrow and winding  dirt track on a normal large capacity road going Motorbike

The priorities for the team were

It had to be cheap
Time was a premium
We had to travel lightweight.

This translated to camping– long days in the saddle (2000 miles over 5 days) and careful consideration of the clothing and equipment we would take. Our luxury was to be eating at local cafes in the evenings “steak frites sil vous plait”

The kit

John is Cotswold's Tent Show Guru so tent selection was down to him . In the end we took a selection mostly on Johns advice, for reasons of lasting friendships we all decided that a small tent each was the way forward!

Macpac Microlight -for the hardcore minimalists – John and Neil

Vaude Taurus– great value, easy pitching & small pack size – Colin & Chris

Robens Small Dreamer –bit more space, easy pitching and a huge entrance– Mike

The other big kit decision was the conversion of the non believers to the benefits of technical base layers – John is almost evangelical about the wonders of Icebreaker, whilst I found the synthetic Berghaus X-static tops did a superb job – Base layers are not just for Racing Snakes. The other guys had to either take twice as many t-shirts or just smell.

The trip

Thursday  -The trip was on and armed with some very poor French we wobbled onto the  evening ferry to Calais. Followed by an eerie moonlit ride to a wild camp beside the A1 for our first stop.

Friday - Early start the next day (Energy bars for breakfast) and a superb run deep into France before stopping at a campsite just south of Chambery.

Saturday -Started with a some superb sweeping roads that took us towards Annecy and the Alps – broken up by regular stops for café au lait (our schoolboy French improving all the time)  The highlight of the day  was crossing the Col De Madeline at 2000m  and dropping into Italy via the Frajus Tunnel. Ending the day at a superb Mountain campsite..

Sunday – More cereal bars, coffee and an attempt at the Stella – good news it was dry so the track would be easier –bad news the finishing point would be far higher up the pass than in previous years. Only one thing to do get up on the pegs, keep the front wheel light and make like Simon Pavey whilst trying not to think about what would happen if I slipped over the edge! It was tough going especially as the previous year I had failed miserably but with the rest of the guys pushing on ahead I kept going (if only because I didn’t fancy the idea of going down alone) . Suddenly after a series of steep narrow zig-zags with a precarious drop we were on the plateau at the top of the pass. Triumphant we collected our medals and made our way down (a story for another day) to the campsite.  Quick pack up (another advantage of the light weight tents & thermarests) and back on the now dusty and trail bruised bikes back into France and the campsite from Friday.

 Monday – more superb roads up through France with great gradual sweeping bends taking us through medieval towns and urban cities- The bikes were a great way to travel as people spoke to us and we really felt the atmosphere wherever we stopped (fortunately by this point we were virtually fluent!) . On a bike your part of your surroundings – you experience the weather, the colours and the smells of your environment far more effectively than in a car or train.  This was also the only time we encountered any rain and I was grateful for my Ortlieb dry bag safely protecting my clothes and sleeping bag on the back seat.  I had discovered the benefits of Ortleib and Exped dry Bags on bike trips ( both pedal and powered) in torrential rain before!. Eventually stopping that night stopping at a surprisingly good camping municipal in Laon.

Tuesday - A quick wash (It was about this point that the anti- bacterial qualities of a trek towel really come into their own as our traveling partners standard towels we getting grottier and grimier), more cereal bars, a dash across the channel and we were soon back on home soil  and in traffic on the M25 . No problem some tidy filtering and we were soon on the home run. Various routes took us to very welcome return to our families

Now where is that map of Africa……

. 

Mike