La Route des Grandes Alps

(Nice to Basel by bike)

31 Aug to 14 Sept 2019

“The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start.”

John Bingham

Three years after our last cycling adventure abroad, we felt it was now time to explore new horizons. Cuba taught us that we are not beach/tropic kind of people, what we wanted was mountains. We didn't want to fly too far away either, and then Paul came up with the Route des Grandes Alps. When I heard the word Alps of course I was in!

Route - Planning this one was not an easy job. We based the route on the one in the guide book “Cycling in the French Alps” by Paul Henderson, which is not really a great guide (there are not even maps...) but got us started. The other problem was where to fly to and from, as I got 2 weeks off in September when the flights from Nice are suspended. We finally decided to fly to Nice and cycle from the Med to the Alps, and a bit of Switzerland, with the final destination being Basel (we are still not sure why...there must have been a reason!).

We planned the day based on that guidebook and Google map (tip: if you use Google map add a good 15% to the tot distance). We have been training a bit and built up 4,000km from January, and normally go for rides of 100k and more, however we decided to go safe and try not to plan more than 1 high pass in 1 day even if that meant a few short days of less than 50k. Our philosophy was more like “cycle as if there is a tomorrow” and I'm so glad we did so!

Bikes and equipment – We both had touring bikes, 2 x Kona Dew Drop. Paul was on tubeless but one tyre didn't survive the fly and he had to fit an inner tube instead. Apart from that (and a lost bolt), we had no mechanical problems. Considering the amount of abuse, the breaks did great too!

The less the best. We went light and only brought one pannier each, and me a wee rucksack (we were not camping). We used all we brought, and overall I was pleased with the selection. We were definitely not prepared for snow and low temperatures, but then the cold bit didn't last long so that we got away with it.

Overall this is an amazingly scenic route, as challenging as rewarding. I was a bit scared before setting off thinking of the crazy traffic on narrow twisty and steep roads but the busy bits were not so significant compared to the overall route, and cars and motorbikes are used to cyclists. There were moments of pure terror with careless drivers but not as bad as I thought.

Day 1 – Nice Airport to Levens – 38k / 1,000 m up

31 August 2019

The start was a bit of a baptism of fire, literally... We got to Nice at 10am and there were 32 degrees. The flight went smooth, but once landed Paul realised one bolt was missing (replaced with a ziptie) and had to fit an inner tube to his tubeless tyre. By midday, we were ready to go...the question was: where?? We were a bit lost to start off with and cycled the first 5km n 1 hour, at the speed of a mum pushing the pram. We were just looking around and stopping at every road to see where we were meant to go. After a few missed turns we finally ended up on the road we knew was the right one. It was hot, the water level was running low and there was no shop in sight. Finally on the way to Colomars we spotted a Patisserie, we got a slice of pizza, refilled 4l bottles of water and things started to look brighter.

From there it was actually a nice cycle on pretty deserted roads. It felt a bit like when we were cycling in Mallorca, hot, quiet roads, nice landscapes, the smell of pine and human gradients.

We passed through Aspremont where we stopped to drink (1l of water gone already)and were met by hundreds of road cyclists in some sort of race, luckily going the opposite direction. From there it was an easy 6km downhill to St Blaise on a beautiful secondary road, it was really a pleasure to be on the bike on a day like that. The last 8k of climb brought us to Levens, our day destination. We only cycled 48k, and even thuogh we gained 1000mof elevation we were feeling good and couldn't wait to see the mountains. After all the stress to get there, we were finally entering the holiday mode.

We were staying at the Les Bambous B&B and were greeted by a cure Labrador and a weird guy who didn't speak any English. We still managed to communicate somehow and had a lovely evening in the shade of the porch. Pity the hundreds of mosquitoes were having a good time too with our hot blood... The B&B was a bit out of town (and the toilet was a bit weird too...) so that we walked 2km to get to the shop. Had we known it would have been the last one we would see open for days we would have raided it! 

 

Day 2 – Levens to Sain-Etienne de Tinée - 94k / 2,900 m up

01 Sept 2019

Day 2 will be remembered as one of the hardest ever, and we didn't even go through any of the passes!!

After releasing all the accumulated stress I slept like a log in our nice room and woke up at 7am to get our breakfast (croissant number 1 of many). We then got sorted and by 8.10am we were on the road for what we knew would have been a long day. The air was fresh but the sun was already out. The first 7km were on a nice gentle and panoramic descent along a gorge, after a few up and downs we reached St Jean La Riviera, a small and quiet village at 280m of elevation. We stopped for a short break before starting the first proper climb of the day to Utelle (800m), on a 10km deserted road with a nice gradient.

Utelle is an historic nice village up the hill, and just sitting in its main square for a cold drink was so lovely that we ended up lingering a bit too long... At 10.40am we were finally on the move again on a steep descent with plenty of switchbacks to wakes us up from the heat. 

 

Then we started the proper climb, on a steep 4km ascent to La Tour which killed me. I run out of gears and the average speed was laughable but I did manage to get to the top without pushing. I must have lost 2 liters of sweat on that stretch and it was just great to see a fountain on the top, I could have thrown myself in it!

It was lunchtime, and being Sunday we realised that the only shop in town was closed. Thankfully the local bar was open and provided us with a delicious bruschetta. By that stage we must have burnt 3000 calories already, but with the heat we were not that hungry so that we just enjoyed another nice break in a lovely rural village and prepared ourselves for leg 2 of the day.

By 12.30 we were ready for the descent...although there was another km of climbing first! When we finally got to the descent it was a quick and fast one to the junction to the main road.

The shock came when I saw the sign saying 48km to St Etienne, while somehow while I was planning the trip I got 33 from Google...Resigned we kept going on this long, busy, hot, flattish but not too much straight road up the valley along the Tinée river. We would occasionally pass thorugh a few villages – St Saveur sur Tnée and Isola - but everything was closed, we started to think that we will have to live with recovery drinks! Just glad there were fountains where we could refill the bottles (honest I must have drunk 6l of water that day!) and wash our heads.

The last 30km were a struggle and a slow count down but slowly we made it to the village with a few drops of rain, the only rain we would get all over the trip! We then found our place, Tommy's Place, an apartment in the centre. The flat was nice but all the shops were closed and we had nothing to cook! Luckily there was an hotel in town where we went for a rewarding pizza and got ready for our first pass the day after!

Day 3 – Sain-Etienne de Tinée to Jausiers - 51k/ 1,800 m up

Col de la Bonette (2803m)

02 Sept 2019

It felt like it was easier to find food in Cuba, but despite all the odds, eventually, we did manage to feed ourselves well! We were waiting for the local shop to open at 8am so to get breakfast, but the shop opened late, and when it did there was not much in it. We ended up at the hotel again to get breakfast, which was actually a bargain, €10 for 2 people and a nice one too!

The first 6km were in the valley along the Tinée, then slowly we emerged in the Alpine zone and it started to feel serious as we were going up to more than 2700m.

At km 13 we stopped in the only village along the road, where guess what? Everything was closed. It was a nice recharging break anyway, and I could feel the elevation in my head.

Slowly we kept going and entered the marmots territory (everybody likes marmots!). The ascent after that felt important and approached with a religious silence, aware that the mountains, at that altitude, can crash you in no time. Likely not the mountains nor the cars crashed us, and we kept ascending contemplating the magnificent views, the higher the better. Peaks emerged from every side the more we climbed, and the views temporarily made me forget how painful the climb was. The best part of the day was finding out half-way through the climb that I had another lower gear to use! 

 

The countdown started at k4, -3, -2, -1 and the Col de la Bonette was conquered. We could have gone up to the Cime de la Bonette, 900m further up, the highest in Europe, but we were dead tired and the 10% gradient sign definitely put us off, still not regretting it! We realised then that 2 days before, we set off from Nice at sea level, and now there we were, at 2750m of altitude just with our own power, I felt this was pretty amazing!

On the other side we stopped for a few pictures and saw an eagle floating in the sky at barely 50m from us, that was truly incredible, and we took it as a good omen sign, which we needed as the descent was long, twisty, and we were quite scared of it! I could smell burnt from the breaks and stopped occasionally to water them, with smoke coming out. I then realised that the smell was most likely from the cars not the bike...

We stopped half way through the descent on a lovely spot to admire the views and had our lunch, which consisted of some bread stolen from breakfast and the tinned tuna salad which we found in the shop. Not the best lunch but the views made up for it. The air was chilly up there, and we found some pleasure watching the misery all the cyclists going up to the pass. After lunch we kept going down this fast steep and twisty descent and it started getting hot again.

At 2pm we reached our destination, Jausiers, and since the check in was at 4pm we killed time looking for something to eat. The first place turned us down saying it was too late, the shop was closed too (why??) so that we ended up in the only bar in town and waited 1h for our sandwiches, people are really chilled out here we thought! We didn't mind the wait at all as we enjoyed toasting in the sun, and, aware that we made the first pass, we gained some confidence for the other 9 to come...

At 4pm we went to check in Chalet les Moineaux, a really nice place up the hill with beautiful views of the town and the mountains. It was a bit of a weird place with a huge sport room and the owner was quite weird too, in a good way, we had quite a good time there!

For dinner we went to the place who turned us down before and got a pizza. It looked alright but there must have been something wrong with it neither of us could sleep that ninght, and we could never face another pizza again!

Day 4 – Jausiers to Guillestre - 45km / 1,200 m up

Col de Vars (2108m)

03 Sept 2019

Today was by far the day I enjoyed the most. The views were spectacular, we were feeling good and just enjoying ourselves without overdoing. The sky was blue, and with the fresh morning air I could feel it would be a great day, I beat Paul at table football!

  We woke up, had a nice breakfast and at 8.30am we were on the go without the slightest motivation for another climb. We knew it would have been easier than the day before, still, sometimes it's just hard to tune in... The first 7k were flattish on a big road with heavy traffic, like huge lorries on their way to Italy. I was a bit scared at the idea of cycling on it, but with the early hour we got away alive. We then got off at the junction to the Col de Vars and knew it would be 15km all up from there. 

 

The first 6k were ok, then it started to steepen until the final push to the top. While on the previous days we had little or no traffic today we could feel the traffic getting more and more heavy, where everybody was going God knows!

 

We knew it would have been a short 45k day, so that we took it easy and stopped at the only village along the way, St Paul sur Ubaye (1460m), where obviously everything was closed (why?? it's Tuesday!!), we stopped there a bit anyway to get ready for the final push to the Col de Vars (2108m) which was actually steeper than the day before, and the outline of the climb was different too as we couldn't see the top until we reached it, surprise! 

 

Somehow I managed not to get off the bike, it felt like an intense no stop cardio workout but the view of the surrounding mountains always cheers me up and there we were, at the Col mark with all the Tour de France writings on the road, and taking the “I've done it”picture, we made it again. The col was wide with lot of space to stop and admire the views, so that we chose a bench and took in as much of the landscape as we could, then laid down in the sun, la vie est belle I thought! 

 

We had something to eat (bought in Levens, still the only shop we found open!), took some pictures and got ready for the descent which was extremely scenic. The first bit down to the village of Vars was actually not too steep so that it spared a bit of the break pads, then the last 9k were just a long slide down to Guillestre, our day destination. 

 

We reached it at midday and enjoyed a lovely lunch in the center of town. The place was full of groups of road cyclists, for once bikes seemed to be the majority! Lunch was a delicious salad and we enjoyed it immensely. We then went to check in at Le Catinat Fleuri. I didn't have many expectations for the place but it turned out to be great: central, balcony with mountain views, they washed our clothes for free and the garden with sun lunges were just the cherry on the cake! Strolling around town was very pleasant too and the store was open!! We bought so much staff we could hardly close the panniers!

Day 5 – Guillestre to Briançon – 53k / 1,500 m up

Col d'Izoard (2361m)

04 Sept 2019

In my day log I wrote: “today it was a f****g 8C”. I have no clue what that means in the cycling world but I got the idea it means it was a hard climb. I finished the day with a really respectable average speed of 11.5km/h, and I'm sure is not even the lowest I got in this trip!! The important question is “was I slower on the ascents or the descents!?”

 

Anyway, I had a great night sleep but at the idea of going up again 8/9% climbs I wanted to cry. But sometimes you just need to suck it up and at 7.30am we were on the road. I soon realised it was a busy road, and it would not get much better at any stage. The first 10k were on a flattish stretch by the river in the chill morning air (still no clouds in sight!) then it started to get serious and automatically I got on granny gear, which I would have kept until the top.

So far we had been lucky with traffic, the previous passes were basically just for us, and I remembered with nostalgia the first 2 days of road solitude passing through deserted villages. Today it was really a mess of cars and hundreds of motorbikes no stop, no pity. I was more focused on the long climb then the traffic and just looked continuously at the odometer and counted my pedals (7 for 10 meters). 

 

We stopped at the shop of the first village, Arvieux, which was miraculously open and got a nice tarte frambois and a coke, which we ate at the village bench with a friendly cat. This was not a necessity break, more like a way to put off the inevitable. I'm not even a fan of coke and don't usually drink it, but for desperate moments desperate solutions...

From there it was a killer climb to the top, no pity. We passed another couple of villages before starting a series of switchbacks in the shade of pines. There were many many cyclists, and way more motorcyclists which were a bit reckless on the bends. At around k-7 I stopped and drank all the coke, which made the miracle! I was not on top shape but it definitely gave me the energy to get to the top, slowly... At about k-3 we emerged from the pine forest and got some sublime Alpine views, spoiled by cars and bikers really but at least we knew we were approaching the top. For 500m it flattened and that was a gift from the sky, and then again up up up merciless to the top. The road was so narrow and busy it was impossible to find a place to stop, so that we pushed on and finally saw the mark for Col d'Izoard at 2361m.

It was full of people but we managed to find a place to contemplate the beauty of the mountains and Paul bought the stickers of all the cols we went through so far. Surprisingly there was also a stall selling candies, and we wondered why it was not placed at the bottom of the climb, up there the only thing which would sell well are break pads!

Once recomposed we set off for the 20k descent to Briançon, cheering up the cyclists who were coming up from the other side (I wouldn't like to do that in the midday sun...). We stopped at every 5k to water the breaks and release the tension from the hands from so much breaking. In less than 1h we reached Briançon, apparently the highest city in Europe. The town was busy and noisy compared to all the other places we went through and is surrounded by countless fortresses (bloody Italians!). 

 

We checked in at 1pm at the Hôtel Mont-Brison and spent the afternoon wandering around the old town in full sunshine, it was great to just wander around with no rush nor destination. We had a day off there to recuperate energies, the legs were not sore but definitely tired and really could do with some rest.

Paul spent the day off at the bike shop, me I went to cut my hair, and guess what? From the day after the temperatures would start to go down! 

 

Day 6 – Briançon to St Michelle de Maurienne– 75k / 1,800 m up

Col du Lautaret (1495m)

Col du Galibier (2646m)

Col du Telegraphe (1566m)

06 Sept 2019

Not sure if the day off had any effect or benefit as the morning climb felt as hard as ever. We knew it would be a demanding day with 3 passes and a lot of climbing and set off early at 7.50am. We started by navigating among the crazy traffic ouf of town. It took 8km of mild climbing to get out of town and its heavy traffic, and it never really get any better. We were on the D1091 to Grenoble, so that up to Col de Lautaret (1495m) we just suck it up.

Today for the first time it was cold. The sun was out but it was not a warming one. I was wearing ¾ leggings and a fleece going up and it felt comfortable, true the gradient was not punishing but usually I would have sweat a lot. Slowly we were gaining elevation and could start to see high peaks and glaciers. We reached the col at 10am and stopped to regain some energies.

 

The good news was that most traffic would keep going on that road, while we would turn to the other col, bad news is that the other col was quite high up (2646m) and there were a few clouds around... It was another 8km to the second col, the best scene was a couple of big shephard dogs who were going up with nonchalance to guard their sheep, and had the attitude of being the owners of the pace. While crossing the road a car blew the horn at them and they responded by barking badly back at the car, like if they were saying “we are bloody doing our job here, get lost asshole!”, and then they kept going their way with the same cool posture. Priceless!

Half way through the climb we entered a wall of clouds, it got very windy, like I was scared to be pushed off the bike, and cold. Keeping going was the only survival strategy, until we saw the Refuge and we dived in it to get warm. The place was a bit weird and was selling a lot of unusual stuff, but at least we got a break away from the wind. They were also selling sheep skins (I hope they were fake...). Thinking back we should probalby have bought a few to prepare ourselves for the descent! 

 

We couldn't see anything but were told the actual col was 1km ahead. We pushed on and finally reached it in the fog. This was the only Col where we got no views...with no reason to stop we prepared for the descent after taking a few pictures, and the descent was painful! I definitely was not ready for that kind of temperatures, it must have been just above freezing. Even though we were going extremely slow to minimise the cold effect, at some stage I was shaking so badly I could hardly control the bike. I stopped a second to pull myself together as it was mainly psychological. Don't know if that worked, but we did manage to get out of the block of clouds and reach lower grounds. 

 

Finally we reached Valloire, the first village on the road and stopped at the first restaurant to warm us up with some food. I was then introduced to the Tartiflette, which turned out to be the only vegetarian option... The Tartiflette is a caloric bomb made of potatoes onions tons of cheese and cream all baked in the oven. It was the perfect dish to warm up and get energies back, but in normal conditions not sure I would have enjoyed it so much... 

 

We then continued the descent to the true Valloire, which is a nice ski resort, and then started the last ascent to Col number 3 of the day, Col du Telegraph. I was glad to go up again so to get some warmth in my body (now we were back at 1400/1500m) but the traffic started to be heavy again with reckless lorries overtaking with little gaps. At the Col we stopped and got a good break as we were feeling human again. Many road cyclists were coming up from the other side. 

 

In no time we did the 14km downhill to the village and checked in our Hotel, Le Marintan, at the end of it. We spent the afternoon foraging and hugging blankets still traumatised by the memory of the cold descent. There were a few groups of road cyclists there, and talking to a guy he said they went up to Col de la Madeleine that day and it was snowing there...guess where we were going the day after?

Day 7 – St Michelle de Maurienne to Bessans – 62k / 1,750 m up

Col de la Madeleine (1750m)

07 Sept 2019

Somehow today we managed to drag our exhausted bodies to destination, or more exactly our exhausted bodies managed to drag our unmotivated minds all the way through. We woke up at 7am and it was cold, not as bad as the day before but it was a 2 layers day when climbing. Luckily there was no much descent planned for the day, even though it turned out to have a couple of long downhills too. We had a nice breakfast with other cyclists who were going up to Galibier, and still fresh and optimistic we set off on the main road to Modane.

Surprise number 1 of the day was that the main road was closed after a few km due to mine activity, and the deviation would take us up a hill for 5km adding a good 250m of ascent. We really didn't need that but with no option B we just went up and up, and then down and down to rejoin the road which started to be busy with the Saturday traffic. Finally in Modane we stopped to warm us up at a café and rearranged our clothing. We were also trying to waste time as we knew the check in today would be at 4.30pm.

We set off again and started climbing out of town on the main road until we got to the junction to Aussois. In my plans we should have taken it, but when we checked Google we saw it would have added 400m of ascent and would have been longer. With the prospect of a quieter road, and with a lot of time to spare, we decided to go for it, decision which I regretted as soon as we started descending into the valley, deeper and deeper...Now we were on it so that there was no turning back. 

 

Passed a village at the bottom we starting the long climb, which was actually a pleasure to ride on. Absolutely no cars around, very scenic, the sun was shy but out. We passed by a waterfall, a beautiful balcony road, and many many fortresses, until we finally reached Assois (1471m).

Assois is was a cute, old and big village, completely deserted as it seems more of a ski resort than summer destination. We stopped at the centre and Paul ate a baguette, today it was not his day and he was a bit on a grumpy mode so that he needed some motivation to keep going. We started descending, but we got on the wrong road, so that we had to backtrack our steps and add some more climbing...it was one of those days! We finally got on the right road and started going down, and up, and down down down until we rejoined the main road and its traffic. I'm really very glad we went for it as it turned out to be the highlight of the day.

Back in the traffic we followed the D1006 to Lanslebourg (1399m), where we had our lunch. Again the vegetarian selection consisted of one dish: omelet, which was actually quite nice, and by the time we went out it was sunny again. 

 

It was only 11km to Bessans, and slowly slowly we started the ascent to Col de la Madelaine (1750m). Paul was uninspired, me I felt slow but the mountain views cheered me up and felt like it was a pleasure and a privilege to be there. On the top we met 3 other cyclists who just got back from the next Col, all saying it was freezing cold...we started to get a bit worried as we already felt cold at 1700m, how cold would it be at 1000m higher??

It was 3pm when we started the short descent to Bessans, with occasional views of peaks covered in fresh snow. In 15 min we entered the village and drank our well-deserved recovery drink at the square fountain. The sun was gone and it felt cold again. We strolled thorugh the tiny cute village (320 people) to check out the restaurants for the night meal. It turned out pretty much none of them were offering vegetarian dishes, we were lucky that in the B&B there was a guest kitchen which we used to make a great dish of spaghetti, that's exactly what we needed!

  It was 3pm when we started the short descent to Bessans, with occasional views of peaks covered in fresh snow. In 15 min we entered the village and drank our well-deserved recovery drink at the square fountain. The sun was gone and it felt cold again. We strolled thorugh the tiny cute village (320 people) to check out the restaurants for the night meal. It turned out pretty much none of them were offering vegetarian dishes, we were lucky that in the B&B there was a guest kitchen which we used to make a great dish of spaghetti, that's exactly what we needed!

The evening was quiet and pleasant, but we were worried about the next day as we are very aware that above 2500m things can get nasty, and we knew it would really have been a survival kind of day. Anyway, this didn't spoil our sleep and in 2 sec we were already in the arms of Morpheus in a super comfy warm bed. 

 

Day 8 – Bessans to Bourg St Maurice– 70k / 1,300 m up

Col de l'Iseran (2764m)

08 Sept 2019

The big day arrived. When I woke up I looked out of the window and it was all clouds, with no hope of improvement. I mentally went through all the clothes I had brought to figure out how I could maximise the chances of survival.

We were a bit nervous given the dubious weather (each website was given different forecasts, and outside it was raining...) and the fact that everybody was telling us we were crazy. We really didn't have a plan B, we just waited a bit as we thought there may have been ice on the roads, and at 9am we took a deep breath and said farewell to the lovely B&B people.

At least by that stage it stopped raining, well, at least it was not raining hard. It was Sunday morning so that the roads were quiet, and we were starting the climb from a privileged elevation of 1700m.

The first 6k to the cute village of Bonneval sur Arc (1808m) were basically flat. Despite the temperature (5C degrees) I was warming up and with the big climb in sight I stopped to take off the jacket and optimistically started the climb with a base layer and ¾ leggings.

The weather was very variable but the passing black clouds added to the drama and the landscape, when revealed, was just breathless. We had headwind all day (all trip really...), which occasionally would turn into pushing wind thanks to the numerous hairpin bends. After 3 or 4 km into the climb it started snowing, just gentle flakes bringing the message “time to dress up”.

The climb was hard and I did it all in granny gear, with gradients of 8, 9 and 10%...patience! We did get a couple of short and flattish breathing stretches, still, the countdown has never been so long. There was no stop or lingering around and I was in pure survival mode. The view were stunning, and even though they were reason for concern deep inside I was feeling I was going to heaven. The proper countdown started at km -5, and from km-3 we got a lot of smiles and thumbs up from the occasional motorcyclists and a lot of weaving and encouragement from a Spanish family coming down in a camper van...true we didn't see many cyclists around that day...

Before the last switch back we could see all the Tour de France writings on the road, then the Refuge and finally the Col d'Iseran sign, at 2764m, we made it! By then we also got some occasionally sunshine, and with the fresh snow painting the surrounding landscape it did feel like an important moment, it's certainly one of those days that I'll remember forever. 

 

As per the prepared survival plan we took a few pictures and then entered the Refuge to warm up with some coffee and cake. We started wearing all the layers we could think of in a very unestethical but pragmatic outfit (I'm so glad we have no pictures of that!), got our stickers, spent 10 min looking for the toilet, and finally sorted we said goodbye to that paradise.

We knew the hard part was still to come as it would be bloody freezing on the descent, which could possibly be iced too. Thankfully it was not, but we still took it easy and slow. We also knew we had to drop elevation quickly, and tried to find a compromise with the speed.

 

In no time, which felt like an eternity, we reached Val d'Isere at 1840m, where it was still freezing but at least we were not at risk of hypothermia or frost bites (the ¼ of leg I had exposed was deep purple). Nothing is forever! Being a sky resort and Sunday it was basically all closed down, however we managed to find a bar/restaurant and got a huge hot soup, exactly what we needed! 

After Val d'Isere it kind of flattened out for a bit and became the tunnel zone. We had position lights but when you are in a tunnel, in darkness, and you hear a car approaching from behind you just wish you made your will! We have been very impressed with the general quality of French roads, but the next bit going down was full of potholes and uneven surfaces which required a lot of attention due to the traffic from both directions. We originally planned to stop at another café to waste some time but there was not much, so that at 3pm we reached Bourg St Maurice. 

Getting back to civilisation and traffic was a bit of a shock, we could hardly believe where we came from as everything there was so quiet and human. We were longing for a hot shower as it was starting to rain, the bad news is that the hotel we booked, Hôtel Arolla, didn't let us in until 4.30pm making up some weird excuse, so that we wandered aimlessly in a shut down town and ended up waiting in the train station, dreaming of a warm blanket. That was the only bad experience we had with our hosts. Still, we made it down alive and that was reason for celebration. The other bad news was that in the evening I found out that the following day I would have had to climb even more than that!

 

Day 9 – Bourg St Maurice to Beaufort– 47k / 1,400 m up

Cormet de Roseland (1967 m)

Col du Pre (1703 m )

09 Sept 2019

This was officially our last climbing day. We woke up with a clear blue sky, the air was still cold, but we had good chances of a sunny day with good views. I was aware at every pedal that this was my farewell to the mountains, and although my my legs were very thankful for it, I was feeling sad, and enjoyed every meter of the long climb just happy to be there surrounded by those beauties. 

 

 The first bit out of town was steep, which helped me waking up.The kilometers went by slowly but pleasantly, and at about km 11 we emerged in a kind of lost valley, absolutely amazing. It must have snowed again up in the mountains the night before, as all the peaks were covered in a white dusty mantel which added to the beauty of the place. We seemed to have lost all the traffic behind too and were left to our own in this beautiful lost world. The climb itself was not as hard as the previous ones, and being the last one I was determined to absorb every bit of the landscape, which luckily we could actually see!

At k20 we reached the first col, Cormet de Roseland (1967m) and realised it's close to the Mont Blanc Tour route we did a few years before, it felts a bit like connecting dots on a mental map. It was one of the climbs I enjoyed the most as the views were spectacular and the overall experience unforgettable. 

 

After a few pictures and a snack we dressed up and started the descent to the Lake of Roseland which was deep blue, against the autumn green of the mountains and their white tops, priceless! We stopped at a cafe for a hot chocolate to warm up a bit. It was 11.30am and we knew it would have been a short day so that we decided to have lunch at destination. 

 

The road went flat along the lake, then after a turn there was the junction to the Col de Pre and I lost Paul...I thought he must have taken the right road so that I headed down towards the dam, but he was not there... I'm glad for once I brought my mobile, so that I told him where I was, while it turned out he went down the other road which was a shortcut to Beafurt, I'm sure that's was his subconscious trying to avoid another climb! Unfortunately for him he had to cycle up again. He was not very happy and blamed me for not showing the way...really... Anyway, me I was just laughing at his misfortune (and was glad it was not me having to climb back up!) and waited for him in a beautiful spot by the lake. Eventually he arrived, back in summer mode, and I'm so glad we went up that short 4k climb to Col du Pre, 1703m, as it offered the best views of the place, and we also reached col number 10, which I though was the last of the journey but actually it was not...

From there it was a steep scary 1000m drop descent to Beaufurt, 755m, where we arrived at 13.32, 2 min late for lunch but the lovely lady closed an eye, and we rewarded ourselves with a delicious quiche (again the only vegetarian option) and a delicious slice of locally picked blueberry cake...I'm still dreaming of it! We were staying at the Hotel du Grand Mont and had a great time there. The owners were lovely, and apart from making delicious cakes they had pity of us and even washed our stinky clothes, thank you!!

We had all the afternoon to ourselves and went to explore town, which didn't take long really as it's a village of 2100 people, but it was a lovely one, and there was a kind of shop / museum of the local Beafort cheese which turned out to be very interesting, showing how people worked in the old times and now.

Dinner was Tartiflette again (and a weird bowl of something that looked like mayonnaise soup - Paul was warned he would find that in his bike pouch had he been grumpy again!), more for lack of vegetarian options than greed. I promise I won't eat any more cheese in my life!

Day 10 – Beaufort to Genevre– 75k /370 m up

10 Sept 2019

This was our last day in France. We were glad to start making our way to Basel airport, but a bit reluctant at the same time to leave the mountains behind and enter expensive Switzerland. Still, the show must go on, we charged ourselves with a beautiful breakfast (I'm still dreaming of the super bowl of blueberries!!) and got ready for a flat day. My brain was switched off, the legs were cycling but felt like I had a day off as there was no climbing at all. 

The first 19k to Albertville were on a main road but pretty much all downhill, then we got on an amazing 44k long cycling path to Annessy. That cycling path was absolutely amazing, and for the first 20k we were alone on it, then along the lake it started to get busy with cyclists, that's the future we thought!

 

We originally planned to get the train from Annessy to Annamasse, at the border with Switzerland, as there is no cycling path nor route to get there, and we were worried we would end up on a motorway without chances to get out of it. We were so tired that we both fell asleep on the train after 2 min, slept deeply for 10 min (we were dreaming!) and then got off again in 10 min. We had no clue where to go in Annamasse, but we knew there would have been a cycling route to Geneva, and as soon as we found it, it was basically a cycling highway to the centre, just amazing! Cyclists even have right of way on cars!!! It was very busy too, sign that if there are good cycling infrastructures people will use them!

We were staying at the Hotel Central, which was very central but on the 6^th floor! The bikes didn't seem to be a problem for the staff, and we were just told to put them in the lift, vertically, and they would store them for the night. The room was a bit weird but it had a balcony so that I can't complain. I've been to Geneva before and quite like it, especially its old town. We went for dinner to a Chinese restaurant and then had a pleasant walk to the lake, it did feel like holiday finally, and it was hot again! 

 

 

Day 11 – Genevre to Yvonand – 68k /300m up

11 Sept 2019

We woke up with a blue sky and eager to get moving, and a bit anxious to find our way out of Geneva.

Switzerland has a network of cycling routes which are mostly well-marked. 

At first it was a bit tricky to find our route number 1, which would bring us to Lausanne, in the centre, but eventually we were on it and it was great, separated from the cars, wide and well surfaced. After only 3km we were already out of town, and we thought the path would go along the lake...truth is that we never really saw the lake until km 54...we just saw all the fences of the expensive villas built on its shore. After tens and tens of km like that it got a bit monotonous, and we were starting to feel unmotivated. At times, you could see at a distance the lake backed by a profile of misty mountains, which was pleasant indeed but usually lasted a few seconds. The nice cycling path would also occasionally disappear and abandon us on the main road, which was not ideal but at that stage we just wanted to get to Lausanne.

When eventually we reached it the sun was gone, we went to get some food and ate it in the park, and realised we couldn't be bothered to cycle to our day destination in Yvonand. We bailed out and opted for a train instead, with no regrets really. Mountains are my source of inspiration and motivate me in difficult moments, but here I couldn't really find anything to get me back on the bike.

 

Most Swiss trains would take bikes, and you would wonder why there are no bikes on the Swiss trains? The response is that they charge ½ price of the tickets to carry them, and the train tickets are not really cheap...I'll never complain of ScotRail again!!

Finally we got to Yvonand, a quiet village on Lake of Neuchatel. It was 3pm and the sun came out, and from there it would be hot again yeah! I'm quite pleased we got the train actually, as our B&B Yvonand was so good, and we enjoyed every second chilling out on its terrace, life is good again!

Day 12 – Yvonand to Delemont – 120k /500 m up

12 Sept 2019

I slept like a log and woke up with a clear blue sky and finally with some motivation for a good long cycle. The B&B lady kindly baked a delicious cake to charge us up for a long day, and that was a good morning, old were now the memories of closed shops! :)

So many places we went through today and so many different landscapes. We set off at 8.20am and the start was so much more pleasant than yesterday. We were on a cycling path in woodland by the lake (which we never really saw...again). It was chilled and pleasant with the morning fresh air and it was all flat. We were following the route n.5 and got lost a bit, then we tuned in to whoever placed the signs and kind of got it straight from there. By k40 we were at the end of the first lake and reached Ins where we had a nice little break. 

 

From there it was another 35k flat along another lake to Biel (which again we never saw...). The sun was out and it was just a pleasure to cycle among green fields, occasionally passing by forgotten villages and a few nice towns too. At -10k to Biel it started to get a bit bumpy, with a few useless deviations and short inclines of 14%. We finally reached Biel and went straight to the Bahnhoff, where there was also a huge Coop which provided an abundant lunch...focaccia!

By then it was 1.45pm and we had 77k in the legs. The Swiss cycling network said the stretch from Biel and the village of Sombeval, a 13k stretch, was not routed and advised to get public transport. So we did, it was a 20min lift but by the look of it it spared us some climbing.

We got off in Sombeval which felt like we were back to the hills and followed the route n.64, which started with what felt like a never ending climb, and guess what? On top of it we reached another pass! That was the Col du Pierre Pertuis, at an unremarkable 850m of elevation but did good to the morale and to the trip stats: 11 cols in total yuhuu! We were not quite sure what the profile for the remaining 50k would be like and were a bit wary we may have ended up dead tired, but actually from there it was all a long descent / flat/ bit bumpy. 

We passed through a few quiet villages an amazing gorges in the shade of the vertical cliffs which was quite cool. At k -13 we finally joined the main road, but we always had a separate shoulder, not physically separated from the main lane but still it was nice to feel we had space for ourselves. The road got busier and busier the more we approached Delemont, our day destination. 

On entering town we got a bit lost and just pushed the bike to the Motel au Gros Pré, definitely not the best we have stayed in but anything looks good after 120k as long as it has a working shower. Despite this being the day with the longest distance covered, I was not feeling tired at all. After all the climbing in the Alps, it was like flat doesn't count anymore!

We had a pleasant stroll into town, a beautiful red sunset and an almost full moon, and mentally we were already in Basel looking for cardboard boxes!

Day 13 – Delemont to Basel – 45k /500 m up

13 Sept 2019

This was our last day of cycling and we couldn't wait to get to Basel to celebrate the end of yet another amazing adventure. We followed the route n.23 out of Delemont which would bring us to Basel. We thought it would have been on the main road, but gladly we were very wrong. We spent 30k on quiet cycling lanes mainly by the rail line and secondary roads. We took it easy as we knew we would get back to traffic soon and wanted to enjoy the last few moments of peace.

 It was a very short 43k in total to get to Basel train station, with thousands of bikes parked everywhere and an abundant network of cycling lanes too. We made it. After 843km and 16,020m of positive elevation, we can say that we cycled from Nice to Basel via the Route of Grandes Alpes, this feels quite amazing and I really feel proud of ourselves! I really don't care if we took the train a few times, had it been a decent cycling route for those stretches we would gladly have followed it but I'm in peace with myself and that's all that matters!

We made it!!

Paul has been absolutely amazing with the navigation, without him I'd still be at the first roundabout in Nice! The bikes survived incredible amount of abuse, and he needs to get credit for this too :)

Back to Basel we went to check in at the Hyve Hotel, 500m from the train station. It was alright but Paul accurately described it as a Swedish prison. We then spent 3h wondering around town and visiting all the bike shops looking for cardboard boxes.

??!!??

We didn't have much luck, well, we did find 2 but one was huge, like really huge, and the other was cut in 2. We decided to buy 2 bike bags (only 150CHF each!! What a bargain!?) at the Velo Plus shop, which we will hopefully use again, who knows, maybe for the Alps traverse part 2?