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 …
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 …
Day 3 – Route des Grandes Alpes – Termignon to Valloire Today is described in the guidebooks as “moderate”. It’s fair to say we found it at the extreme edge of moderate, and not on the easy side! I suppose our decision to detour off the main road and follow a “scenic” route was at …
https://cateandjonathan.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/IMG_0181.mov The picture tells the whole story! Back on the 18th of this month when I posted the last entry, we were sitting on the boat looking out at the rain. Here we are nearly two weeks later and it is still raining. In between we have watched Storm Francis come and go and spent …
I’m writing this sitting on the boat, looking out across Falmouth Harbour through mist and rain. The forecast doesn’t look good: more rain to come over the next few days, and strong winds (40+mph tonight). On the plus side, all the outstanding work on the boat has now been finished, and we have picked up …
With the weather getting hotter and sunnier by the day, we thought we’d enjoy a little break in Annecy. There is a well marked cycle path around most of the lake, so ideal for a good, but not too challenging, cycle, with plenty of opportunities to cool off with a quick dip in the lake. …
We’ve spent a day wandering around Val d’Isère. The lifts are running, or at least, some of them, so we took the express lift up to the Solaise ski area for a little sightseeing. This lift was the one I used to come off the mountain after my injury, so was the last lift I …
Apologies for the scarcity of recent posts: there has not been a lot to write about with the twin confinements of my broken ankle and the Coronavirus lockdown. Hopefully things will start to pick up a bit now… It is all good news! As the lockdown eased, we have been able to return to France, …