Going to see the Tour.

shockedsoshocked

Since my mum and sister are going to Rome to see the Pope, me and my dad have been given free reign to go see the Tour in France, and I was just after a bit of help.

We fancy going to see the Alp Duez stage (17), but all of the packages involving that are a bit pricey. I was wondering if anyone has any tips on organising it ourselves? What hotels are good etc, if they allow us to bring our bikes :twisted:

Any help much appreciated.

hammerite

I'm doing exactly that. I'd originally looked at hiring a camper van, but they cost a packet to hire. So we're either going to go across in the car with bikes on the back (but we're a bit worried about the room/weight of all our clothes, kit and bikes) or hire a people carrier type thing and chuck the bikes in the back.

We're then looking to stay at a campsite at the bottom of Alp D'Huez (Bourg D'Oisans). Plan is to drive over on 18th July slowly staying overnight possibly in Dijon, stay in Bourg for a week then drive slowly back stopping at a few places on the way back.

We've not booked yet, but will probably this weekend. I found this website quite useful.

http://www.tourism-oisans.com/index.html

While there we'll hopefully be able to see the end of stage 17 and the beginning of stage 18. If I can negotiate with the family I may try to get to see some of stage 16, but that might be difficult!

I've never been over to see the race before, so I may not be doing it the right way but we should have a good holiday anyway!!

matthewbradford

I think that getting a hotel close to Bourg D'Oisans might prove difficult.

I'm taking my caravan over and stopping near Bourg. I know that there are lots of good campsites in the area if you're not adverse to sleeping under canvas.

hammerite

matthewbradford wrote:

I think that getting a hotel close to Bourg D'Oisans might prove difficult.

I'm taking my caravan over and stopping near Bourg. I know that there are lots of good campsites in the area if you're not adverse to sleeping under canvas.

I bought a huge heavy 6 man last year (not knowing it was so heavy!) last spring, but in May moved house. Meaning I spent most weekend getting the new house sorted and never got to use the tent. We were only planning weekends away, but as we didn't use it last year we decided we better jump in at the deep end and go for at least a week!!

I've stayed under canvas many times, though not for quite as long........... (unless you count the time I spent a week sleeping in my grandparents awning on a campsite near Whitby as a kid, sh!t scared every night because I'd watched the American Werewolf in London just before the holiday!)

matthewbradford

This will be my third trip to watch the tour and have thoroughly enjoyed my previous trips. I go over with my wife and 2 young girls (5 and 2) and they love it too.

I think you'll have a great time. Can't wait to have a crack at Alpe D'Huez again, as I only managed to get to hairpin 13 last time.

hammerite

matthewbradford wrote:

This will be my third trip to watch the tour and have thoroughly enjoyed my previous trips. I go over with my wife and 2 young girls (5 and 2) and they love it too.

I think you'll have a great time. Can't wait to have a crack at Alpe D'Huez again, as I only managed to get to hairpin 13 last time.

Glad you said your kids love it (especially at 2!), I was a little bit worried ours would (boy 6) get bored. But he came home from school today with a book about France because it had a picture of the Tour in it! So I think he's quite excited.

I'll be going to have a go up Alp D'Huez, not sure how far I'll get, probably not very far knowing my climbing ability!

Can you recommend a good campsite?

shockedsoshocked

Thanks for the info so far, the campsite sounds like a decent option. Gonna try and arrange things over the coming days, hopefully in time for my dads birthday.

Depending on how things go driving might be an option. But i'm not leaving home without a bike hehe.

matthewbradford

I havent stopped in Bourg D'Oisans previously but looked at various guides etc.

We've booked on this site http://www.le-belledonne.com/

Will probably use this site to stop off en-route www.chalons-en-champagne.net (have stopped here before and it is a nice site)

I know that there are lots of others. 2 or 3 are right at the foot of the climb.

It might be worth looking at the Alan Rogers book in your local bookshop for info.

If anyone would like to tackle a cake stop ascent of the Alpe please PM me.