Another early start, I must get to Cannes in good time. Just as we were packing up the bike this morning it started pissing it down, not having a front mud guard made things very interesting indeed. Aside from throwing mud and all kinds of rubbish at the radiator, my left leg got soaked as did my feet and hands. My textiles obviously aren’t as waterproof as advertised. We began to make good progress, taking the autoroute from Dijon to Grenoble then switching to the N85 Route Napoleon.

The further south we travel the better the weather until it was too hot to wear a jacket. After Grenoble I’d set my GPS to take me the shortest route to Cannes, I thought this would be Route Napoleon and it was for the most part, but it also took me along tiny D roads, through random mountains and on right-hand hairpins so tight I would struggle to push the bike around. Still Route Napoleon was awesome and it one one of the highlights of the trip so far. Curiously I found that instead of waving as other bikers had done, the ones here did all manner of antics, my favourite was a guy bombing it down the side of a mountain on a right hand hairpin waving his left hand and both legs. It wasn’t the easiest of tasks wrestling the ZXR with luggage and pillion around, but it was thoroughly enjoyable.

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