The Pyrenees / BMW R 1200 GS / MotoGeo Adventures

MotoGeo heads to the Pyrenees in the South of France on the mighty BMW R 1200 GS to ride some of the famous mountain passes which have been featured in the Tour de France cycle races.

Motorbike: BMW R 1200 GS

Check out our review of the BMW R1200 GS

Follow the Route we took on this Pyrenees adventure

Gear used in this video:

► Jacket: Alpinestars Oscar Brass Leather Jacket

► Pants: Alpinestars Oscar Charlie Riding Jeans

► Boots: Alpinestars Oscar Twin Drystars Boots

► Gloves: Alpinestars Robinson Gloves

► Helmet: Arai Corsair X IOM

► Communication: Scala Rider Packtalk

► Phone/Camera Mount: RAM Mount Tough Claw X-Grip

► T-shirt: MotoGeo Where Next T-shirt

► T-shirt: MotoGeo Logo Black T-shirt

► Hoodie: MotoGeo Hoodie

► Stickers: MotoGeo Sticker Pack

► Cap: Alpinestars

► GoPro: Hero 4

Please check out the MotoGeo shop for more MotoGeo apparel

Hotel:
La Villa Du Parc

Eat:

Snack Bar du Soulor – Col du Soulor
Hotel and Restaurant d’Ossau

#motogeo
#pyrenees
#bmwgs
#bmwr1200gs

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Transcript of the video:

We’re at the Pyrenees famous from the Tour de France

Let’s go!

Typical French lunch with the locals

For this adventure I’d head to the South of France to pick up a BMW GS 1200 and head for the

hills.

My plan over the weekend was to ride some of the famous Tour de France mountain passes in the Pyrenees.

So, we’re in the Pyrenees we’re just about to head up into the mountains.

And here we are, this mountain is famous for many exploits on the Tour de France.

There are markings every kilometer. It’s a 16 kilometer climb to the top, luckily we’ve got two wheels and engines so we can just enjoy the road and the scenery.

Let’s go!

The start of the climb was a mixture of tight hairpin bends and slow curves through the trees, before a short ride through a beautiful old village.

Out of town and then I was off on my way this historic mountain.

Oh wow, the corners were just non-stop, loads of hairpin bends some flowing turns all lots and lots of fun.

The roads are absolutely fantastic but it’s a baking hot day, in fact south of France’s I’m in a bit of a heat wave I’m sweating buckets, so we’ve stopped here for a bit of refreshment. Oh the water flowing out of this mountain was ice-cold and crystal clear, just perfect on this scorching morning.

And the higher I climbed the more beautiful the scenery became.

This really is a stunning mountain to ride up and as I came close to the summit some of that road graffiti from the Tour de France still remains, it was great to ride on a road where so many famous cyclists that peddled their hearts out.

So, we’re just a couple of kilometers from the top of the mountain. The roads to great here have been amazing. Non-stop corners, but check that out for a view.

Although the road was amazing and I was having a blast, I just couldn’t help but turn off for a quick ride on the dirt when I saw this trail.

Back on the open road and on to the summit. All I need to do now is negotiate a few

more turns and aww a few cows.

Yay we made it to the summit. The GS handled with ease. We even found a cool little trail on the way up, but we’re now at the summit the best bit, we’ve got all of the way down to go.

Oh we’re a brilliant morning, the roads have been absolutely magnificent the only challenges have been a bit of cow poo on the road and the wandering cows and horses. The GS has handled it all effortlessly.

There’s a cafe here, let’s get a feed

Typical French lunch with locals, we’ve got cheese, salami, ham, patè and a gherkin with some fresh bread perfect.

This is definitely some of the best patè I’ve ever tasted and we are on the road of cheese and the

cheese is amazing. Very, very good.

There are bikes everywhere every make and model loads of GS’s loads of adventure bikes of course, but man we’ve just seen a KTM enduro bike go by so everything’s here.

More dirt trails after lunch, once again I couldn’t help myself when I saw this trail from the roadside

Oh my goodness look at this! Roads, corners, scenery it’s non-stop and from this angle you can see the road that we’re going to ride.

This is incredible, the Pyrenees…oh yes!

Riding this section of the mountain is very different from the ride up. Now, you’re literally riding on the edge of the mountain it’s spectacular, but a very, very long way down.

This is also the area where the famous Tour de France crash happened with Wim Van Est 1951, who crashed while leading and flew over the edge of this rocky ravine. Team members and fans had to tie 40 bicycle tires together to form a rope just to winch him back up.

So you’ve got to take care up here because this is dangerous, it’s a treacherous piece of road that runs on the edge of a cliff it even cuts into the rock in places and inside those dark tunnels the road is really slippy.

Well the heavens open, we checked the weather yesterday and it said around lunchtime we could have a downpour and we have which is going to hang out here for a while have a coffee and hopefully it will pass if it doesn’t we’ll continue splashing through this water….it’s like England!

After the brief downpour I then jumped back on the GS and headed down the hillside. The road soon dried out and I could still enjoy some more corners before the end of the day.

What a great day in the Pyrenees, I can’t wait for tomorrow now let’s eat!

French local food, Potato and Ham soup and then a selection of local meat. Main course time dauphinoise potatoes with duck. Dessert is three local cheeses, what a find, what a day!

So we’ve just come to the end of our stay here a beautiful bed and breakfast. Now this was amazing value. Breakfast this morning everything was homemade

So absolutely fantastic, don’t stay just a regular hotel, stay with a French family, stay in a beautiful home and, of course, eat great food!

Totally recommended this place is fantastic.

To start the next day, my road of choice with a narrow hillside road, it can get a bit tight and steep in places but it’s got great views on the way up and it’s super fun to ride.

Further up the mountain and there were a few wet patches to negotiate but that did little to dampen the fun and this incredible vista more than made up for it. Oh wow!

Just like day one, there was little on the road, but you have to watch out for livestock, as it roams around the mountainside and often wanders out onto the road.

Oh that was a fun little morning ride, now let’s pop back into town and grab some lunch.

We’re in the Pyrenees and we just popped in for lunch. This, is just a regular French lunch, how lucky.

Bon appetit!

The juice is coming out of this, the flavor..magnificent

Hmmm, beautiful

My next road will be another famous Tour de France mountain climb called Hautacam. It’s being used on the tour 5 times. In cycling it’s known as a tough climb, but on the powerful GS it was an easy ride out of town that provided spectacular views straightaway.

Oh, but climb a little further and you’ll find the road just becomes a part of the hillside and you can glide your way to the summit with a huge smile on your face.

Oh what a fun adventure!

The BMW GS had handled the roads and trails with ease the Pyrenees Mountains has been spectacular and France gets a huge thumbs up!

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