European Driving Roads ???

[Leithen]

As February drags on here in Scotland, with a deceptively dry weekend looming (am I brave enough to ignore the salt and bring the old porker out of storage....?) and despite knowing that rain, hail sleet and snow are still to come before spring arrives - I'm starting to hatch plans of roof down European explorations this summer.

The same question bugs me every year - how to find the really good roads that the magazine road testers rave about? I know I should do a quick email campaign to Car, Autocar, Evo etc - but am I missing some obvious source of info?

Are there any good web resources I've failed to find? Any good books? Any route plans designed for drivers or bike riders trying to get off the autoroutes but not end up in single lane rural hell... Any ideas guys and girls?

[JohnLow]

There's a book called "La France des Routes Tranquilles" - France by quiet roads, roughly translated. Don't know if it's still in print (at least 15 years old), but it was still good info when I used it a couple of years ago.

Lots of interesting, and quiet, roads - and French A & B equivalent roads are great for a quick, fun, blast.

[ultiman]

I know this is an old posting but grotty weather in July prompts me to add a few words.
My last major foray into Europe (last summer) was a blast to Strasbourg then to Switzerland via Germany. I found numerous bikers and others sampling the 3 Alpine passes around Andermatt, namely Grimselpass, Furkapass & another which l forget and which make up a circular route. These can be followed by a finale over the Simplon Pass to Italy, a long and mainly fast route with a restuarant at the top. Dramatic stuff.

[trefor]

Just got back from a mammoth blast around The Alps. To be honest, as long as you don't get stuck behind a truck queue most of the passes are great.

My fave is the road to St Morittz from the North from a town called Chur. I think one of the Bond movies was filmed here and there are plenty of fast straights and switchbacks (he he he).

Another good one as already mentioned is the Simplon Pass - great from both directions. (There's a town called Brig at the CH end which looks a good place to stay - only had lunch there myself).

I need to write another post with the map in front of me so I can get all the road names correct!

BTW - If anyone spots a TVRCC Baseball cap in the Sion valley it's mine! Sidedraught from a truck combined with a gusty day caused it to fly off. My sunglasses broke 5 minutes later too!!

[granville]

I've always preferred to use 'Les Peages' to get down to the Riviera for a quick bamboozle (the stretch down Le Massif Central into Provence toawrds Montpellier and Nimes have some of the best top whack tarmac on the planet). Once there, a couple of nights abusing the Yanks at The Grand in Cap Ferrat and then a couple of nights gawping at the exotica cruising along the Cannes waterfront puts you in just the right frame of mind - you really do feel like Rog & Tony in The Persauders (remember? PURE quality!) - follow the snaking route up through Gap, Grenoble, Aiz-en-Provence, heading for Annecy (oh my God, the lake there IS paradise); zonk up to Zurich and/or Geneva and then back up the German border through Landau and over to Strassbourg and across to Calais or Zebrugge. If there are spped limits nobody told mainland Europe (IMHO) and of the 2 police cops I've seen in years of honking around they generally seem quite happy to encourage max speed as long as you smile, wave and say hello. Do it, do it, do it! I tell ya, the number of times I've driven through the Alps at preposterous speeds: I feel a Matt Monroe moment coming on - now where did I put those Muira SV keys...(Having said that, I was up near Inverary recently near the old A82 , en route for Fort W via Glencoe - blimey - I think I wanna be Scottish!) I love speed: it makes you a better person.