The Tour de Provence, organized by the Moto Club Sénas Durance, has by now almost become a tradition for a handful of AMAL members. This is because the Tour is excellently organized and manages each year to impress anew with beautiful routes through spectacular landscapes.
On the other hand, this tour should not be underestimated, as five days with daily stages of 200–250 km, often demanding mountain sections as well as sometimes extreme temperatures, require a reliable machine.
If that is still not enough, one can also do as our two AMAL members, Pascal Petitjean and Roland Weiler, and undertake both the outward and return journey to the Tour de Provence — each about 850 km — on the same pre-war machine with which they also complete the Tour itself. For this, one needs not only a lot of trust in one’s 90-year-old motorcycle, but also a good portion of courage (and maybe just a tiny little bit of madness…).
On August 23rd, the two were to set off and ride down to Sénas in two daily stages. Before the Tour officially began on Wednesday, Pascal and Roland rode a bit through southern France and even showed their machines the sea.
On Thursday, the second day, they already headed up Mont Ventoux, where they took the opportunity at the summit to take beautiful photos above the clouds. On Thursday at noon, a stop and lunch were planned at the Manade Agu, a bull-breeding ranch in Eyguières, where participants were shown how, with the help of horses, a young bull is isolated from its group and marked.
On the fifth day, after more than 888 km, they returned to Sénas for the closing festivities on the town hall square, followed by the final dinner.
Our two colleagues, Pascal and Roland, then immediately set off for home again and, in addition to the 120 km already ridden in the morning, covered another 360 km northwards. The next day, after more than 3000 km, the two arrived back in Luxembourg safe and sound and without a single breakdown.
AMAL would like to thank the Moto Club Sénas Durance for the excellent organization and the wonderful Tour, and tips its hat to its two members, Pascal and Roland, who covered more kilometres in ten days on 90-year-old machines than many motorcyclists manage in a whole year with their modern bikes. A fine example of passion for old machinery.
More pictures in the galery below:
