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Day 22: Menton - St-Martin-Vésubie 76 k
A large hotel room with sea breezes is the perfect location for many things, including fixing a tyre. As G is beginning to top up my back tyre with air, the valve breaks so that repair of the tube is impossible. We bring home the evidence, which is photographed to accompany a note of explanation in the November '05 CTC magazine.
The exit from Menton is surprisingly pleasant and the gradients up to the village of Castillon are kind, despite requiring a climb from 16 to 706 metres. We pass a bus full of school children who cheer us upward. Castillon has remade itself as an artists' colony and we stop briefly to marvel at the views of rugged limestone covered in trees and wild herbs.
We stop to shop in the pretty little town of Sospel. [PHOTO] Another climb of 400 metres to the Gorges du Piaon is quite amazing. Huge plummeting gorges display the striations of limestone heaved upwards to create the Alps. Stripped of vegetation, these massive fragments remain, no longer part of a hill or mountain, standing as monuments to an antediluvian past.
Stations of the Cross mark each bend from Notre-Dame-de-la-Menour to Moulinet. [PHOTO] Some have been damaged and remain as headless fragments while others have retained their gentle smiles. A large white marquee, left over from the recent village fête, provides a perfect stop for lunch in Moulinet. A few racing cyclists pass by, stopping for water at the fountain, before proceeding to the Col de Turini. We never catch up (!) over the course of the remaining 900 metres up stiff gradients.
The views close in as forest increases. Gorges and waterfalls make an occasional appearance. There are plenty of picnic tables as well as places to fill water bottles. Wonderful smells of fungi waft from the steep-sided woods. The climb is difficult so I stop for a rest. Unfortunately, I collect a mass of flies which remain with me until the top. I soon give up shooing them away. Fewer hang about G and no cloud hovers above any of the local mushroom pickers we pass!
Traffic is light until the summit where large parking lots and hotels dominate the scene. An older couple out for a walk congratulate us on our arrival saying they know how tough this climb can be. It is only 3pm so we decide to continue, as planned, despite the road sign that says the road is closed for repairs until later that afternoon. Fortunately, my flying friends have finally abandoned me.
We take our time descending the 1100 metres. There is so much to see on this beautiful sunny day! We are heading into the Alps and the sharply winding road provides extensive and varied views. The stone houses we pass are all narrow and tall, the only safe option on these steep-sided slopes. After a spectacular descent to La Bollène-Vésubie, [PHOTO] we pass Roquebillière, destroyed by a landslide and still looking ravaged though there are a few functioning factories. Tall tenements, painted orange-yellow with washing hanging from the window ledges, are given a picturesque glow by the sun.
Elation is dampened in Roquebillière-Vieux when we find the hotel closed down for good. (It has clearly been closed for some time, though we checked the online Logis de France site before leaving.) Shaky, tired and weak, there is no other option but to cycle the last 8 kilometres up another 970 metres - groan. Fortunately, the gradients are not severe. We are now on the Route des Grandes Alpes.
Eventually, the pretty village of Saint-Martin-Vésubie makes its appearance. I sit on a bench, exhausted, while G goes in search of a hotel. The LdF is full (oh no!) but fortunately there is one room left in an adjoining chalet style motel. The popularity of this town is not surprising as we are on the southern edge of the Parc National du Mercantour.
A hot shower and a series of stretching exercises prepare us for our brief stroll to the restaurant. A warming bowl of soup is following by duck in an olive sauce and generous helpings of local cheeses. Sleep comes easily.
Day 23: St-Martin-Vésubie - Saint-Etienne-de-Tinée 59 k
The day begins hot and sunny. The remaining climb to the Col de Saint-Martin is brief but sharp. The summit itself is ugly with too many souvenir shops and an incongruous "garden for children". A big blue sky forms the perfect back-drop for the many sided views of the Alpine massif. The descent is a blur of green - deciduous trees, pine forests, herbs with the occasional splash of colour from the many wild flowers. We peer down into open valleys to Saint-Dalmas where we visit a very early church. Next door in La Bolline is an even older stone church - the Eglise St Jacques.
A shuddering stop at an intersection soon has us cycling along the river Tinée past intensely coloured deep brick-red rock. [PHOTO] The wind swirls around us and we suspect we are in the playground of Eolus. The few tunnels along this road are easy to negotiate as one can always see daylight on the other side.
As we are leaving Saint-Sauveur-sur-Tinée we see a sign indicating bike lanes (painted yellow) to the Col de la Bonette. The yellow lane appears and disappears, but does prove an attempt to encourage cycle tourism. There is also the beginning of a 2-way cycle path to Isola, painted green and separated from the traffic by a thin strip of ground cover. [PHOTO]
The Gorges de Valabres have easy gradients. We cycle alongside the river coursing over blue-grey slate coloured boulders of varying shapes and sizes. Isola is reminiscent of Alsace with its freshly painted pink and yellow Baroque church, just around the corner from a town hall painted a vibrant orange and green. Friendly cafés and pretty village streets encourage us to stop.
The last 3 kilometres into Saint-Etienne-de-Tinée are along a new bike path. Its width, colour and visible undulations through the countryside makes us think we are "off to see the Wizard of Oz". It is all very pretty but completely unnecessary as there is no traffic on the main road (perhaps it is different in July?). We do wonder about the road engineers of the Alpes Maritimes département when we are forced to repeatedly cross the road in order to follow the lane. It takes us along the riverbank but later we have to climb a third of a kilometre at 10% to return to the turn-off. Not ideal for a family group - you just might lose the adults. The main road, meanwhile, has easy undulations all the way into Saint-Etienne-de-Tinée. This will simply persuade many people that cycling is arduous. The continual crossing and recrossing of the road, and the bizarre reversal of the usual `cycle on the right' rule, makes this installation far more dangerous than the main road. We later hear local women on the square at Saint-Etienne complaining about the public expense. (A l'attention de M. Lucien Bollotte, Directeur départemental de l'équipement des Alpes-Maritimes.)
Four hotels, two with a single star and two without any star are the only offer in town. We end up in a room with a balcony and shower (1 foot from the bed) but no toilet. Not the cleanest place so we soon venture out to enjoy the late afternoon sunshine in one of the many pleasant cafes in the main squares. We listen-in on the conversations of older local women, French and English hikers/mountain climbers and German motorcyclists. The town has a motley collection of ecclesiastical architecture, including chapels associated with former monasteries.
Day 24: Saint-Etienne-de-Tinée - Barcelonnette 59 k
Records today include our 1,000 mile and our 20,000 metre of climbing (for this trip). We will also be cycling on the highest paved road in Europe (2802 metres) and crossing the summit of two cols over 2,000 metres in height - all in one day. The weather is perfect - sunny, cool and not too windy. All we have to do is cycle!
It is a long climb and gradients are rarely easy but there is much to see. Interesting information plaques appear at just the right intervals for a welcome rest. We climb up to the roaring waterfalls at Vens in deep shade. Soon afterwards we emerge onto an empty and barren landscape. A blue and cloudless sky provides long, clear views.
Le Pra (our lowest altitude today at 1000 metres) is a hideous, partially ruined village, its corrugated iron roofs melding into the piles of gravel surrounding it on all sides. The village was destroyed by a flood in 1860 and people were banned from living there for a long time. There is now some life but all is quiet when we venture down into the village to visit the church ("1737" is carved above the stone entrance). The small green gardens and stupendous views of the mountains create a more attractive image.
Bousiéyas, at 1880 metres, is the last place to get water from fountains on either edge of the hamlet. There is also a café/shop but it is closed when we arrive. A woman walking back to her home passes us and tells us about living here in winter when the only roads kept open are 9 kilometres away. She and her husband ski supplies back to their house, sometimes until June if the snowfall is heavy.
Camp des Fourches is a ruined 1890s barrack set up by Napoleon III and closed down in 1976. It is an odd place, like a movie set abandoned by the cast and director. Its brown and dry appearance is so like the mountain that its final disappearance will hardly be noticed. After another 300 metres of climbing the road loops around and we stop at an information board to read about the birth of a glacier in the valley below. Odd formations remain but no ice or snow.
A final assault on the Col de la Bonette seems psychologically easier when we are in sight of the summit. Our bodies, hungry for oxygen, disagree. Despite this, when we arrive at the turn-off for Jausiers (the summit), we continue up another 87 metres at 12 - 15% for a kilometre to the Cime de la Bonette so we have cycled to the highest point of the "highest paved road in Europe". It is a loop around what appears to be a massive slag heap, crumbling onto the road, even as we climb. It not only takes us higher but offers us views of the other side of the mountain into a distant valley where a flock of sheep are barely visible. The ringing of their bells mingles with the whistling of marmots. Unfortunately, we never see a chamois: they can climb 1,000 metres in ¼ of an hour! It has taken us 3.5 hours to climb 1660 metres. We cycle back down to the Col. [PHOTO] One of the cyclists we meet is kind enough to take our picture. [PHOTO]
The top is windy, as is the descent. Traffic is light. Motorcyclists predominate though there are also a few touring cyclists. The views are stupendous so we try to go slowly but it is difficult with an 8% gradient. [PHOTO] We pass ample evidence of landslides on this bare mountain. We are all too soon at the remains of a WWII fort where military folks are in training, then soon after in Jausiers, where we visit the Baroque church. We conclude the day in pretty Barcelonnette with its wider selection of accommodation, restaurants and shops.
Day 25: Barcelonnette - Saint Véran 82 k
We continue to scale great heights on this cool and sunny day. We not only have another col over 2000 metres but we are also ascending to the "highest inhabited village in Europe". Our first amazing sight on the way up to the Col de Vars is Fort Tournoux which has been built within and between the rocks. Even an internal staircase has been created on the mountain face with windows carved out for light.
Our first tunnel before Saint Paul is long and dark. Plastic bollards scattered about near the exit make for scary cycling. Views of snowy Alps and forests in green pastures are not sufficiently attractive to distract one from the hard work involved on the second half of this tough climb, [PHOTO] generally at 9 or 10% gradients. [PHOTO] German sports car enthusiasts (all from the same small town) join the usual flotilla of motorcyclists on this climb.
Cyclists can learn from our mistake and should eat at the summit of the Vars, [PHOTO] the Refuge or the first of several villages with the suffix "de Vars". Otherwise, there are no shops or restaurants until the centre of Guillestre. Also, beware a sharp ascent in the middle of the descent at St Marcellin-de-Vars and Sainte-Catherine-de-Vars. On the descent, there are fantastic views of Mont Dauphin on its rocky plinth. [PHOTO] From Guillestre it is a fairly gentle - and gorgeous - climb to Château-Queyras. The deep gorges are in full sun as we follow the River Ubaye. The last tunnel before Château-Queyras is long with no light, ok if the day is bright. This attractive fort, built to keep an eye on the Italians, is followed by an ugly stretch of road lined by factories and mega-stores.
A 10% gradient into Molines is not welcome. Even worse, we lose the height when leaving Molines and have to re-climb and then climb much more, at 9-10%, to Saint-Véran. We get slower and slower as we get higher and the air becomes thinner. At least this pace gives us ample time to study the large and rambling wooden houses, set on a stone base with stone roof tiles. They appear high up along the ridge. Deep porches shelter the interior of the house as well as providing an outdoor space for the storage of wood, hay, farm implements, etc. Washing hangs here and benches provide the family with an outdoor space when snow and ice have closed the roads. Eventually we arrive at our hotel, thankfully on the lower edge of the village. [PHOTO]
Saint-Veran has existed as a mining and pastoral village since 2,000BC. It is the highest village in Europe. Tourism is now the main business. There is a Catholic and Protestant church, numerous fountains, an official museum in the "oldest house" (1647) as well as an alternative museum run by local folk. Shops selling postcards, pottery and local foods are closed by the time we walk up the remaining 100 metres to the "centre" of this long and narrow village.
Dinner is made up of traditional mountain dishes - a ham, mushroom and tome cheese tart with red berries and rocket, lamb cutlets with baked potatoes, local fromage frais and rhubarb pie. Friendly staff and visitors make for a pleasant evening. However, we are nearly defeated by the climb up three flights of stairs to our room!
Day 26: Saint-Véran - Gap 97 k
First feel of winter chill as we return to Château-Ville-Vieille. This bit of the climb took us 1.5 hours yesterday afternoon. Now, it takes a mere 18 minutes to descend past the 15-metre high Demoiselle Coiffée. The purpose of tables and chairs, positioned every few kilometres, remain a mystery until we see women arranging a long row of sandwiches and oranges. The sudden presence of cyclists on the opposite side of the road confirms there is a cycling event taking place. Unfortunately, we are on the wrong side of the road to take advantage of the free food!
We are forced off the red road (N94, wide enough for safe cycling) from Guillestre to Embrun at Châteauroux-les-Alpes by a sign barring tractors and bicycles from the road. The gradients are fine and this alternative route takes us past shops and fountains. At Chorges we rejoin the red road. It is busy and we are grateful for the shoulder which exists for most of the way.
After the Serre-Ponçon lake, [PHOTO] the traffic decreases but we still decide to get off at la Bâtie-Neuve. If we had known it would involve a 6% climb up to 1176 metres (not indicated on the map), we would have stayed on the red road. A gusty wind makes the ascent feel much harder. Of course, the views into the plain below are fantastic. Huge swathes of clouds and mist waltz between mountain tops. The climb to Pont-Sarrazin is along hillsides of layered shale threatening to tumble onto the road at the smallest encouragement. Wild fruit bushes and stubborn trees perch on the crumbling rock-face. On the descent, the wind is blowing hard enough to push a whole tree sideways. [PHOTO]
Tour de France fans will be familiar with this route which goes past the bend where Beloki fell in 2003 and Armstrong crossed a field and jumped a ditch to rejoin the peloton. A homemade sign marks the spot which looks steeper and more dangerous than the television coverage suggested. [PHOTO] Soon after, we are in Gap whizzing past the bumper-to-bumper traffic to our hotel.
Day 27: Gap - Vizille 91 k
Today we are following the Route Napoléon, a road based on the lower route Napoleon took on his return to France from Elba in 1815. It is now a busy north/south red road which we would normally avoid. However, it is a Sunday and trucks are barred. We optimistically assume the traffic will be lighter than a weekday. Certainly, there is enough traffic to keep our wits about us!
There are two brief exceptions to the N85 - just outside Gap we follow a 2-kilometre bike lane which goes up steeply to a campsite before rejoining the main road (don't bother). The other minor diversion is at Pierre-Châtel where we stay on what used to be the N85. A very short stretch of road marked "no entry" puts us back on the new N85 at the first of three lakes.
To make the day a bit more challenging the wind has decided to head our way, which makes the climb up the Col Bayard (average 7% gradient) just that bit harder. Most of the day we hover at 900 metres but occasionally have to climb up 300 metres from a river crossing. Twice, these are extremely steep, e.g. 3 kilometres at a 12% average! It is rather surprising for a red road to have such an extreme gradient as motorised vehicles are usually so molly-coddled. There are SOS telephones every few kilometres as well as a generous sprinkling of picnic tables. Interesting how one doesn't have this on smaller roads or bike paths…
The Prairie de la Rencontre is a natural amphitheatre where Napoleon roused the troops before descending 6 kilometres at 12% into Vizille. [PHOTO] A stop light at the beginning of this amazingly steep and winding road ensures that the cars come in batches. This makes for safer cycling as we are soon left on our own. An old, confused dog, partially blind and deaf, wanders back and forth across the road. We try to help it but get little help from other road users who slam on their brakes and then drive off. Death seems imminent.
All day we were able to enjoy marvellous views down into the valley, as well as passing through a series of attractive villages and hamlets. Large masses of scurrying clouds eventually develop into a heavy rain storm. It breaks just as we are hunting for a hotel.
The hunt results in our being chased from an isolated 3* hotel run by a maniac (it was closed but signage didn't make this clear) before ending up in a no star hotel which is also closed, but more welcoming.
Day 28: Vizille - Grenoble 18 k
We wake to sunshine and a better mood. There is a bike lane all the way from Vizille into the centre of Grenoble (SNCF station) - except for a brief and quiet stretch through Pont de Claix. As one gets closer to Grenoble, the bike lane runs through narrow car parks. This is fine as long as one is awake to the possibility of a car suddenly turning in. Cars are prevented from treating these as alternative roads by means of barriers which allow cyclists through. All of this means that it is safer to cycle in a single file, though the path is wide enough for two or more cyclists. Easy cycling continues within Grenoble.
We visit the Museum of Resistance and Deportation but depart none the wiser about who, what, when, why or where. Much better is the Musée Dauphinois, which has excellent presentations as well as in-depth information on the history of the Alpine people and skiing. We end the evening in the very friendly Restaurant des Voyageurs enjoying regional dishes while talking with the owner about local tourism.
Day 29: Grenoble - Paris - Calais 10 k
Though we had no problems taking our bikes on a TGV from Paris to Avignon, we have a different experience today. The SNCF employee who sold us the tickets over the phone assured us, several times, that we could indeed take bikes on this train. However, this TGV is a double-decker with no space for cycles (or large suitcases). G's fluency in French combined with the sympathy of the male conductor and the fact that we had been mis-sold the tickets, results in our being allowed on the train. The bikes are propped up, front wheel in the air, one against the other in the doorway. The arrangement is amazingly stable and we are able to leave them on their own for the 3 hour journey. Fortunately, there is only one stop in Lyon - out the other door. We have to pay a 60 Euro fine for "large luggage", which is twice as much as we have paid for our ticket. The train gets in 5 minutes late. Worryingly, this leaves us with only 40 minutes to get from Paris Lyon to the Paris Nord train station. A bit tight - and that was before we knew about the construction and blocked roads surrounding the Gare du Nord.
Getting off the train provides a comic moment as the door suddenly opens, releasing G's bike from its upright position. Gravity pushes G outward so that man and machine overlap. M hugs her bike as she falls and manages a pirouette onto the platform. We grab our bags and scramble them onto our bikes as we run for the exit. Our slap-stick routine continues as we accelerate up six-lane boulevards and cross the massive Bastille roundabout with traffic approaching from all directions.
Bike lanes have been inserted, with flattering confidence in the cyclists' bike-handling skills, between rows of parked cars and pedestrian-filled sidewalks. We surge over the cobbles, through flocks of pigeons playing "chicken", past women with trays of food and a slow-walking whistling man. Time ticks away. The centre of the road is faster and safer than the bike lane. Three large policemen, who look dangerously unoccupied, fortunately decide not to stop us. Now, the Canal Saint-Martin is on our left and the maze of one-way streets around the main-line stations begins to appear. Here, a bridge crosses the canal, but the bridge has been raised to allow a barge to pass underneath. We race along the right bank, find the high arch of the footbridge, lug the bikes and luggage up and over and enter the video-game nightmare of barred streets and one-way signs. I look at my timer in despair. Suddenly, we emerge on the main artery of the Boulevard Magenta, which is solid with traffic... A quick weave in and out of the roadworks and the traffic jam, onto the sidewalk and up the final climb to the Gare du Nord... We sprint over the barrier, scan the information board, rush to the train, find the cycle symbol, leap aboard and watch as the door shuts behind us with five seconds to spare. Exhaustion sets in as we find ourselves on a local train full of schoolchildren with four policemen and one railway attendant walking up and down the carriages hunting for a criminal disguised as a schoolchild. What a trip…!
Day 30: Calais - home 22 k
Grey skies turn to sunshine as we find our way home.
200, 373 feet / 61,073 metres climbed
2862 feet / 872 metres average climbed per day
3,286 miles
5,263 kilometres
70 days of cycling
47 miles / 75 kilometres per day average
Weight of bag: .4 stone MR, .7 stone GR, 4 water bottles
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