FRENCH ALPS: Epic ride to COL D'IZOARD & COL AGNEL

A historical mountain pass, the highest international border of the Alps, a motorcycle ride from Italy to France and back to Italy across some of the most beautiful mountainous roads of the region. Join the journey and conquer the passes Col Agnel and Col d'Izoard with me. Good morning, get-to-go travel crew. Our start of the day will not be a big surprise because we will more or less start exactly like we started yesterday and drive to Col di San Pire, but then we will not take the Varai Tamaira again, but continue direction France. Our goal of this day was actually not to end up in France, but to ride to the area around the town, in Badonecchia in Italy. But from where we started, the shortest and at the same time the most scenic route was the way through France because it would allow us to travel in the Alps the whole way. To be honest, I don't mind at all to do this route again. I would say a mountain pass a day keeps the doctor away and the more mountain passes, the better. If you want to know more about Col di San Pire, check out my last video because this time we didn't stop at the top, nor did we take the small gravel road to the ride that is called Varai Tamaira Ridge Road. Instead, we just continued our ride on the small asphalt road and enjoyed the view to the other side of the valley. This is so beautiful again. It feels to me like there's literally no road in the whole area that is not worth to be driven. At the town San Pire, at the bottom of the mountain pass, we took a left turn on route SP 105 and we're on our way to France again. So this sign here already tells you that this is the road to France now and this area is funny. You can really do some border hopping here and cross from one country to the next over all these mountain passes and then back. So that's pretty nice. And soon, we were riding up the second mountain pass of this day, Col Agnel or Col del Agnello. You know, there are these people who just want to ride gravel roads, but I have to admit that I still love to ride beautiful mountain passes on asphalt too. Of course, something like the Varai Tamaira yesterday is an absolute highlight, but riding these curves here is just so much fun too. I would not want to miss this. You always know that you're on top of a mountain pass when it gets more busy and see, here we are. This is not only the top of the pass, but as well the border between France and Italy. Can you imagine a more scenic border crossing than these mountain passes? It's just really nice. Col Agnel, or in Italian, Col del Agnello, is at an altitude of 2,744 meters and is the highest border and the third highest paved mountain pass in the Alps. Even in the main season, Col Agnel is not that heavily used though if you compare it to other main connections between France and Italy. And this border crossing has indeed a long history. Col Agnel is one of the many passes suggested as the route taken by Hannibal in his march with elephants to attack Rome at the start of the second Punic War around 218 BC. My fox was not too happy when I told it that with all the luggage, it looks like an elephant too. There's only one problem with lovely mountain passes and the problem is that riding down always means that they're over soon. ♪ Got time on our side, we're in a state of hope ♪ ♪ I need you on my fire, I want you every time ♪ We stopped for a lovely lunch in the restaurant Le Vieux in Pierre Grosse that I can highly recommend. The cool thing when riding here in France and Italy close to the mountain is that you go really from one pass to the other. So we will go to the next pass now, which is called Col d'Izoard. We just had very good burgers because the waiter said that the restaurant is famous for it. I actually had a veggie burger, but I'm still so full. It was super good, but it's not the smartest decision to eat something so heavy, especially if it's over 30 degrees Celsius outside. From Moulin Ankera, we followed route D5 and at Villevey, we turned off to route D947. You see this old castle here? It's called Fort Kera, but I actually don't know it and have no information about it and just read the name on a sign. So if anyone knows something about this place, drop it in the comments. After Fort Kera, we continued our ride on route 902 through several small villages. And we're really on our way to the top of the next mountain pass. Col d'Izoard that we're riding up now is actually a pretty cool pass in my opinion. It's a bit more busy than many other mountain passes because there are lots of people who use it as a hub for their hiking tours. And it is as well a major connection here in the area. And it has some really spectacular rock formations. We will drive by there soon. Before you reach the top of the pass, you cross a moon-like barren landscape. Pinnacles of weathered rock tower on the side of the road. This part of the pass is known as the Casse des Sertes and has formed a dramatic backdrop for everyone crossing the pass and to some of the key moments of the bicycle race Tour de France. Some people think that Col d'Izoard is one of the most beautiful and diverse passes in the Alps. The top reaches an altitude of 2,360 meters. And the other side of the pass, unlike the moon landscape of Casse des Sertes, offers a high alpine surrounding with forests, green meadows, and several hairpins. And again, the end of another beautiful mountain pass. Too bad that they all have to end at one point. We followed route D902 all the way to Briancon and turned to the ski resort Montgenèvre, direction Italy on route N94, where we actually crossed another mountain pass with Col du Montgenèvre, that you don't even realize, though. Somehow I don't really see it on my GPS and it might be that we already missed it, but I think we maybe already crossed the border to Italy again. Not sure, though. Ah, no, I was too early. Here we are, that's Italy now. Hello, Italy. Back in Italy, we didn't lose much time. Road on SS24, direction Dulz, and from there to the mountain town of Sao do Dulz. Guys, I'm very excited because I will take you to one of my favorite places to stay in the Alps ever. I have already been here, I think, two times, three times, but I always return. It's just lovely. So stay tuned for the roads that we will ride tomorrow. It will be a highlight of this trip. I can already promise you that. Did you like the ride over some of the highest mountain passes in the Alps? If you were a part of this journey, give this video a thumbs up and leave a comment. The next episode will indeed be another highlight of this whole trip. I will not only take you to one of my favorite hotels and so far best-kept secrets in the Alps, but as well to the famous mountain pass Col del Finestre, and not least famous Trada dell'Asiata, the Asiata Ridge Road, that is maybe one of the most famous dirt roads of the Alps. Tune in next Thursday to join the ride.