COLLE DELLA MADDALENA: On the road from PROVENCE in France to ITALY

A wise man once said, the open road is there. It will always be there. You just have to decide when to take it. Join my ride through France. Visit the idyllic region for once with me and ride over the mountain pass called La Maddalena all the way to Italy. You know, it's funny. I always estimate that the border between two countries is on top of a mountain pass because that's the case with so many borders here in the Alps. But this one is different because we now entered France and we are kind of in between two mountain passes. After our ride to the mountain pass Port de Valera in Andorra, we planned to approach the next mountain pass here in France. But then life of course had other plans again. So here you have two options. Either drive through a tunnel again or take the mountain pass. It's called Col de Puy-Morant, I think. No clue how to pronounce it. And we want to take the pass of course, but what's that? Seems like the road is closed. I think I just would continue and see if that's true or if we maybe can sneak through somewhere with our bikes. Yes, let's go. Here we are officially on top of the pass. It's not that high, 1,915 meters, but there are even more signs. I have a very bad feeling. I think this road will be closed and we will have to turn around soon. But look at this view. For that, it was already worth it. Col de Puy-Morant is a mountain pass in the French Pyrenees. The pass historically crossed the border between France and Catalonia until the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 ceded the whole area to France. It has been a well-traveled route since the 18th century and has featured the Tour de France several times. Only in 1994, the pass was bypassed by a tunnel. That's why usually the pass is not very crowded these days. Okay, that's it. I think this is the end of the road. I guess we could sneak through, but you never know what is with the road and as well, not so nice to break the laws in a foreign country. So I guess that means turning around now. Seems like this is really the trip of blocked roads. To avoid starting the day with a ride on boring highways, we took route N116 direction Perpignan. The road was a bit more crowded than we would have preferred it, but we didn't regret our choice because the route took us through the Pyrenees Catalans and offered much nicer views than we had expected. Look at this. Aren't these villages here nestled into the mountain amazing and very cute? After a nice start of the day, we are on the autobahn now because we try to head direction to the Italian and French border as quick as possible. So head on to Italy. We had passed the city Perpignan and rode along a laguna, which made me a bit sad because I wished we would have brought more time. The area around Perpignan is supposed to be one of the best places to kite surf in France. And I would have loved to stop for a few days to chase the waves and the wind. But the only wind I was chasing on this day was the one blowing in my face on the highway. We have done about 200 or 300 kilometers on the autobahn now and we'll probably stop somewhere in Provence if we can find somewhere to stay. Because we knew it would be difficult to find a place to stay in Provence in the main holiday season, we looked for a hotel in advance and had already something in mind when we turned off on the lovely roads direction the village Moussane-les-Alps, which is situated in the heart of Provence. I'm so happy to be able to enjoy the end of the day with some small roads and I really don't want to complain because I'm super happy that I can travel at the moment. But it is crazy how booked all the hotels and accommodations are. The one we booked now was literally the only hotel and accommodation in total available in a surrounding of about 200 kilometers. And we really wanted to stop soon and not in three hours. I think it might as well be overpriced, but I think it's at least pretty. So we will see. As much as I normally love to stay in nice hotels, I felt indeed a bit tricked into booking this one due to the lack of other possibilities. Beaumarnier Hotel is indeed set absolutely spectacular. Standing on a rocky outcrop, Le Village de Beaux-de-Provence is among the most beautiful villages in France and has a very rich architectural and historical heritage. At the foot of Beaux-de-Provence, surrounded by the wild nature of the Arpilles Regional Park, you find Hotel Beaumarnier. Did I enjoy my stay? For sure. Would I book it again and recommend it to you guys? I don't think so, because there are so many beautiful little boutique hotels that are more unique, personal, and authentic all over Provence than this hotel. Good morning, guys. I'm super excited today because we will go from France to Italy and to a place that I always wanted to ride, but never have been before. But it's probably about seven or eight hours ride from here. Google says six hours, but it always takes a bit longer with stopping and so on. So guys, fasten your seatbelts for a bit of highway first. We left the Provence region of France on highway A51 and followed the route for about 140 kilometers to the town Talar. Wow, guys, do you see the mountains here? That's where we are heading to, and it as well means that we are going to leave the highway soon. I'm so excited. Can't wait for this. We rode through the center of Talar and finally really hit a road that would take us direction to Italy and direction to the mountain pass called La Maddalena on the border of Italy and France. Not bad, this route. Not bad. It's still quite busy, but very nice for a kind of transport ride that we are doing at the moment. And Queno, what you see here on the sign, is in Italy, so you really know now we are on the right way to Italy. ♪ Deep waiting for you is what I say of this trip ♪ This is the town Barcelonet, which is supposed to be super nice, but we stop here basically only because we need to find an ATM, and the place we are going to only accepts cash, and there very likely will be no ATM, so this might be here our last chance. Barcelonet is located in the Southern French Alps and is the largest town in the Ubai Valley. Barcelonet has gained importance as the intersection or starting point of several mountain passes. Seven alpine passes can be reached from here, which makes Barcelonet a magnet for motorcyclists, cyclists, and mountain bikers. The high alpine peaks in the area also offer hiking and climbing in summer and skiing in winter. Now the heat wave is arriving here in France too, 39 degrees. The mission accomplished, we have some cash, and now are heading to Italy. So these are the roads I really love, with nobody around and the first beautiful hairpins. The mountain pass ahead connects the town's Josier in France with Vinadio in the Italian Piedmont region, but don't get confused. The pass has two different names. In France, it is called Col de l'Arche and in Italy, Col de la Maddalena. The 65-kilometer route is well-developed and has pretty wide lanes due to its need to be accessible for trucks. On the French side, the pass starts slowly as there are only a few hairpin bends, but the incline is pretty steep and up to 12% in places. Here is the top, quite busy. We will stop for a picture though. The top of Col de la Maddalena reaches an altitude of 1,996 meters, and I quickly decided to use the Italian name Col de la Maddalena instead of the French. I am very sorry about this, but the Italian side of Col de la Maddalena is just a little more spectacular than the French one. I really love riding in all parts of Europe, but I'm always happy when I'm back in the Alps. It's really like my home, especially this area here between France and Italy. They say home is where your heart is, but for me, home is where the Alps are. And maybe that means that a piece of my heart always stays here in the mountains of Europe, no matter how far I travel into the unknown. And in this moment, I felt it. I was home. And I was about to experience one more time why my heart would always beat loudest here, on one of the biggest adventures of this trip so far. Thank you for joining the ride to Col de Puy-en-Morant, De Provence, and Col de la Maddalena, all the way to Italy. If you are excited about Italy too, give this video a comment and a thumbs up, and subscribe to my channel to not miss out on the next episode next Thursday. It will be the most adventurous of this trip so far, and take us to some of the most challenging roads in the area, Malrava Raita and Malrastura. Make sure to tune in next Thursday to one of my favorite days of riding of this whole journey.