Final day – The return home The picture, I’m afraid, says it all. The strong northerly winds of the last day or two have brough cold weather, rain and, in the mountains, snow. Discretion being the better part of valour, we have opted to escape to home. This morning we cycled anout 8km in the …
Day 4 – Via Rhôna – Le Pouzin to Les Sablons Well, as can be seen from the moody photos, the weather has become much less settled. It was about 20 degrees cooler today than last week as autumn takes hold. Today felt like a long day – 97km fighting a cold, strong, northerly headwind. …
Days 2 and 3 – Via Rhôna – Avignon to Lapalud to Le Pouzin Great God! This is an awful place and terrible enough for us to have laboured to it without the reward of priority. Well, it is something to have got here, and the wind may be our friend tomorrow. Now for the …
Day 1 – ViaRhôna – Arles to Avignon Well, after surviving the mountains and given a few days of rest at the beach, we are no longer saddle sore and were missing the cycling 🚴♀️🤪. So… we’ve decided to ride all the way back to the mountains along the Rhone initially, then over the Jura …
Day 11 – Route des Grandes Alpes – Menton to Nice Arriving in Menton, four days ago, the lure of the Mediterranean sea and warm, sunny weather, persuaded us to stay and rest our aching legs for a while. We have had a great time, sea swimming every day, wandering around the old town among …
We’ve made it! Ten days, 512.5km, and 13,022m of ascent later, and we have reached the Mediterranean at Menton! Needless to say, we are delighted, and plan to celebrate tonight in suitable style (ie, another beer). Today alone was another difficult day, climbing the Col de Turini, one of the steepest of the trip, then …
Day 9 – Route des Grandes Alpes – La Bolline Valdeblore to Roquebillière Thanks to our unscheduled extra climb yesterday, today was a short and gentle day – and much appreciated for that. Cycling distance 26km, ascent 572m. Leaving the village we continued immediately on the climb to Col Saint Martin, stopping in a sister …
Day 8 – Route des Grandes Alpes – Guillaume to La Bolline Valdeblore. Such an exhausting day! We finished the cycle so late, I’ve even had to write this blog a day late (that, and the chambre d’hôte had no wifi). Our decision, the previous day, to stop in the valley, rather than tackle the …
Day 7 – Route des Grandes Alpes – Barcelonette to Guillaumes Today was an easy day with stunning scenery. We left Barcelonette and began the 30km ascent up the Col de la Cayolle. Within only a few kilometres we entered a narrow gorge that gently climbed to the col. In many places the narrow road …
Another day described as “moderate” in the guide, which turned out to be anything but… the numbers are similar to other days (52km, 1216m ascent), but we encountered some of the steepest sections yet, up to 10% percent gradient, sustained for at least a km at a time. I’m under strict orders from my physio …