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The Ardeche, for those that don’t know, is a region in south eastern France, south of Lyon and a little west of the French Alps which is part of the Massif Central that continues towards the Pyrenees. The hills and mountains reach up from the west bank of the Rhone, peppered with dramatic gorges and rivers which are famous for kayaking. All in all, it's a spectacular and accessible area which is ideal for trail riding.

By and large the French tend to be tolerant, if not encouraging, of all things two wheeled, and that even covers trail riding. As long as riders are respectful of others using the trails and behave reasonably when riding past remote farming communities and villages, no-one seems to mind our presence. Furthermore, you can go into bars, restaurants and hotels in riding gear without receiving a refusal or even skunk eye. Food and drink is obviously great and in the south and the weather in May is warm and sunny. What’s not to like?

Milky and I have ridden in the Ardeche a number of times in the past. The last time was in 2019 on our way to the Alps, so we already knew some of the trails. It was the first visit for Andy. Our plan was as simple as it was cunning, to spend some days travelling down via road and Trans European Trail (TET), a series of mainly off-road routes that cross most countries in Europe, then stay in a cabin on a campsite we know for a week, using it as a base for trail riding in the Ardeche. After that we'd make a decision about our return journey. 

Several weeks before the departure date we pored over the computer screen searching out potential routes and saving them to our phones/sat nav. The preferred platform is Open Street Maps and sometimes Google Maps for the road bits. We did intend to use proper maps, but for the required scale too many were needed to cover our intended rides and would have cost the best part of £100 so we made do with two just so we could spend time poring over them.
Apart from the first night we would seek accommodation whilst en-route as each day's final destination when on the trails can be a little unpredictable.

The first day was a long road ride, via the tunnel, to a small town south east of Paris, Pont-sur-Yonne. The helpful and accommodating folk in La Commerce Hotel were concerned that we couldn’t park in the square outside as a market would be set up first thing the next morning so they insisted we put our bikes in their alley rather than leave them several streets away. Bit of a squeeze but the bikes were safe and sound for the night. The downside was that they needed to be out by 7.00 am but it meant we got an early start to the day's riding.

The next two days were spent following the TET. Now you might anticipate that a fair bit of ground can be covered in two days riding. Indeed, we travelled down many, many trails and small roads but after the two full days we found ourselves at Moulins, about 150 miles south of Pont-sur-Yonne, on road we could have done that in three hours. But of course, the off-road route zig zags a tad and also puts the odd challenge in your path.

The take away from our stay in Moulins was the restaurant we stumbled on which was a testimony to how France has changed. It was Monday evening and it was open, with the memorable chef and host of “La Face a Face” being an extremely congenial and amusing person who, once he noticed my off-road related T-shirt, regaled us with stories and bike related info. It was not just us he engaged with either, he joked and sang to other customers and the food was also more than pleasing.

Our destination, on the eastern side of the Ardeche, was Alboussiere, the best part of 200 miles away and a day's ride if we wanted to avoid motorways. Of course, it is an essential part of our itinerary to stop for lunch each day. Alboussiere is a small town that has most of the important components for a happy existence. Perhaps the most important, the boulangerie, then le petit supermarche with unpredictable opening times, le boucher, fuel station (more about these later), a magasin de glaces, and a bar at the campsite that opens at the weekend.The campsite, incorporating the cabins is run/owned by the town and is therefore very reasonably priced. 

The TET does not have any routes in the area that we were in so we relied on our memory from previous trips plus Wikilocs, a very useful app where people can upload trips and routes that can be downloaded to your device and followed. From these we were able to plan our daily rides, some more successful that others, but such is the way when searching out new places to explore.

An interesting observation is that when we first came to the area there were no Garmins or phones with GPS. Our friend who lived there at the time took us out on trails he knew, and from that we expanded our knowledge, just by following the trails designated for walking, cycling, trail riding, and horse riding, that are subtly marked with dashes of either red and white or yellow and blue paint on rocks, walls or trees. There were places that we remembered going on previous trips but despite poring over the two maps of the area we'd brought with us and scouring the routes on screens we could not identify them. We talked about our dependency on technology and despite our previous ability to boldly go and search new tracks and trails, we carried on using blooming devices. They are a double edged sword, but none the less they are a fantastic. It makes finding fuel, food, accommodation as well as trails, soooooo easy

On a few occasions we wondered what bikes some of the previous route finders had used as one or two of the tracks proved to be a little challenging! In previous articles we have provided a glossary of terms that might describe trails as 'technical' or 'gnarly' - well, there were one or two of those. The majority of the trails are stony, rocky or hard packed, and when I say rocky, that can mean bike-stopping rocky. Definitely not for the novice off-road rider! We certainly knew we had done a some riding each day.

After six days of the spectacular trail of the Ardeche we had a choice to make for the return journey to Calais. It wasn’t too hard a decision. We were about done on the trails and once the decision was reached, we just wanted to get back. 
It took two and a half days to get to the tunnel. Not so much of a dash as a slog. My Kove 450 Rally is not designed to dash on large roads but trundles along happily at 60 – 70mph.

A couple of things to report:
Fuel - Buying fuel in France has its concerns. Most patrol stations are not staffed these days and rely on putting cards, no cash, in reading devices. What they don’t tell you, these card devices, is that sometimes they take a large deposit from your account that they hold on to for a varying amount of time. Anything from €100 - €400 and from 3 days to a week. This can cause some problems as can be imagined. I am going to be following this up as over €400 disappeared from my card which left the balance much lower than anticipated. This necessitated using a different card that incurred charges very annoying and inconvenient. Some might think it is tantamount to legalised stealing. Maybe more to come on this subject.

The tyres that came on my Kove were CST EX01’s. They lasted 3500 miles and not totally worn but probably not up for the 2000 mile trip planned. Unfortunately that model are not available in the UK. I chose an alternative but only the front (CST CM731) was available so chose a different rear (CM 724) that I guessed might be less than durable and little more aggressive than I needed. And so it proved as the rear was knackered before setting back. A little square in profile which made cornering a tad anxiety provoking. It got me back though but has been consigned to the bin. The front fared much better and looks to be good for some time to come.

Both Andy (Tenere 700) and Milky (KTM 790) are using MOTOZ Tractionator Rallz. In fact Andy is doing a long term test on his. So far they have done 5000 miles, including our trip around Croatia last year and are looking pretty damn good. 
Probably on my shopping list now.
 

The tyres that came on my Kove were CST EX01’s. They lasted 3500 miles and not totally worn but probably not up for the 2000 mile trip planned. Unfortunately that model are not available in the UK. I chose an alternative but only the front (CST CM731) was available so chose a different rear (CM 724) that I guessed might be less than durable and little more aggressive than I needed. And so it proved as the rear was knackered before setting back. A little square in profile which made cornering a tad anxiety provoking. It got me back though but has been consigned to the bin. The front fared much better and looks to be good for some time to come. 

Both Andy (Tenere 700) and Milky (KTM 790) are using MOTOZ Tractionator Rallz. In fact Andy is doing a long term test on his. So far they have done 5000 miles, including our trip around Croatia last year and are looking pretty damn good. 
Probably on my shopping list now.

That’s that then. Another trip done and it is soon time to plan the next one. Ideas have been talked about but we need a meeting in the near future that includes some inspiration liquid before final decisions are made.