Day 14 - Briancon Rest Day

Thursday, September 17

Briancon Rest Day

I had a true rest day in today. Sandy and I explored Briacon, a beautiful and very original mountain town. When the Popes moved to Avignon, it got its real start as part of the trade route between Avignon and the northern Italian towns.

Children running home from school for lunch.

Briancon has a beautiful old cite just above it called Vauban. There we saw very narrow streets with primitive sewage system in center. They aren't really used anymore.

Church at Cite Vauban built in 1706-18

The church was very quiet. It was beautiful but primitive.

Sandy at the gate to Cite Vauban with church behind her.

Birthday dinner desert. HOW ABOUT THAT!!

Today was my birthday, so Sandy took me to dinner. We were served one of the best meals ever. French food is dangerous - you will eat too much!

Day 13 - St Jean de Maurienne to Col du Galibier to Briancon

Wednesday, September 16

St. Jean de Maurienne to Col du Galibier to Briancon (80 km)

It’s the big day. Today we traverse the highest point of the TDF in France, the Col du Galibier, at about 9,000 feet. It's not high by Colorado standards, but high it's for the Alps and we are quite far north. The day dawns cloudy, cool (44 degrees), with a forecast of intermittent rain.

We headed out wearing a lot of clothes and carrying a lot more. Within five kilometers I started heating up, so I began pealing off arm warmers and ear muffs. After ten kilometers the climb up to the Col du Telegraphie begins. It is a tough climb for 14 km, at a 7-11% grade. I never thought I would say 7% was good! After about 18 kilometers, we coast down four kilometers into Valloire, a little ski town and break for hot chocolate.

Valloire

At Valloire, the climb toward the Col begins in earnest. We have climbed about 2,500 feet by this time, and ridden 22 kilometers.

A view up a side canyon on the way up. Looks pretty inhospitable to me!

The view back from whence we came.

We ride up 17 km for a total of 5,000 feet of climbing. We saw spectacular scenery as we rode to around 7,500 feet.

Shepherd

We saw hundreds of sheep on the way up, but the most interesting being was this shepherd. He looked right out of the middle ages! At first I thought he was black, but he was really just weather-beaten and deeply tanned. He did not acknowledge me.

A look down from about 0.5 km from the summit.

As we continue climbing, I think it is not going to be too bad. It's just sprinkling off and on (which is actually welcome, at times). At two km from the top, we hit the snow. It reaches about 250 meters in altitude below us. I gradually had to bundle up more while riding the last two km.

Road with Tunnel

How about this road? You can see the tunnel entrance below and to the right. It was open to cars but the summit road was not. We carry on to the top in the foggy snow storm and get our pictures.

The Summit

Finally, we reach the summit in the fog and snow (and oh yes - the COLD the minute we quite working hard climbing)!

Alas, now the trial begins. We start down but our wet brakes are ineffective without the maximum pressure on them. Within one kilometer down, I am frozen and fear I will have to walk and ride down because my hands and arms are very cold and fatiguing rapidly.

Suddenly, out of the mist appears a bar-restaurant and the support car. Hooray!!! We hurry inside for a hot chocolate. No debate. We take a bump down the mountain. It would have been suicidal to try it on the bike, as the snow went down about four km on this side. It rained all the way down to Briancon.

We climbed a total of 7,000 feet over 30 miles. Sandy and Susan provided superb support.

What an incredible day!!

Day 12 - Chambery to St. Jean-de-Maurienne

Tuesday, September 15

Chambery to St Jean-de Maurienne (82 km)

This was a very strange day. We awoke to clouds, moist and cool, but no rain. Then we got lost in Chambery for 45 minutes, until we finally made it out on a main road (which we weren’t planning to take due to traffic). We found that the traffic wasn’t that bad and - WE WEREN’T LOST! We took a major road all the way to St. Jean-de Maurienne without any problems. GREAT!

Scene as we rode up the valley toward the Haute Alps.

We were actually traveling up a major river valley to the Haute Alps region which has many high Cols and is one of the routes to Italy. It was pretty but congested . There just seem to be so many people in France. You just never get completely away from them. Nevertheless, it was a very smooth and easy ride with a gradual climb after getting out of Chambery.

How about that Castle?! Wonder when that was built?

Our route is open over the Col du Galibier.

St. Jean-de-Maurienne is a delightful, little town and the Hotel St. George where we stayed had a locked garage just for bikes. Cyclists from all over come here to ride up to the various Col’s as the sign shows above. We were the only ones at the hotel on since its near the end of the season.

Our first look at the mountains over which we will climbing.

Looks intimidating!

Day 11 - Bourg-en-Bresse to Chambery

Monday, September 14

Bourg-en-Bresse to Chambery (131 km)

This is the day of our first big climb, the Col de l’Epine, which has been on the TDF several times. The route starts off with low rollers and gradually climbs for the first 100 km. Next it abruptly turns up and over the mountain. The grade was 7-8 % for the first about two km and then went up to 8-12% for the next eight km with most being about 9-10%. There really was no let up until the very end.

The Rhone river on the way into the Alps.

A beautiful valley town stretched along both sides of the river.

Here we go - our first big climb.

On the Way Up

The views from the ride were beautiful and grand. Pictures just can’t capture them.

Top of the Col de l'Epine. A fun climb.

It was a very steep descent into Chambery. We had to use the breaks constantly so I alternated front and back; sometimes I had to use both. The descent was the scary and cold part. This area is the foothills of the Alps, so the top of this mountain was only about 3500 feet high.

Apple Tree

Coming into Chambery I saw a beautiful sight. An apple tree with beautiful apples! I took one and it was great.

Going in to Chambery was a real adventure, because it's a fairly large industrial city. The navigation was tough and the traffic very heavy. Thank heaven for the experience of going across the U.S! It reminded me of Troy, NY.

Day 10 - Beaune to Bourg-en-Bresse

Sunday, September 13

Beaune to Bourg-en-Bresse (130 km)

We had a north wind pushing us south, which made for a very nice ride today. We made a couple of mistakes, but nothing major. The road was flat to begin with, then began the same rolling pattern we saw as we approached the Alpes. Susan rode the whole day with us and did a great job.

The evening before leaving Beaune we ate in this resturant that was in an old wine storage "cave." It has been a resturant for 30 years and was quite good. We arrived as it opened, but it was full of diners when we left.

Restaurant in Beaune

In one of the villages we came to today, we saw a church with an amazing steeple. It's constructed so the ribs spiral as they rise. The colors were also fantastic. Storks had nested on top of the church. They were really big!

Village Church

This area of France is known for its chickens; we did see some true “free range” chickens, but only a few. There are statues of chicken in many places in Bourg-en-Bresse. This one is near a grand cathedral. Most are beautifully decorated, as this one is.

Sandy and Chicken

The big mystery is that we see jmbon (ham) everywhere, but have never seen a pig. We did hear one about two days ago, though! I am starting to get ham and cheesed out. I always get a sandwich to take with me, but I wish I could find some Payday candy bars. They are easy to carry and eat, and are very satisfying. I have seen some snickers, but I failed to by more than one. Next time I will stock up!

The French have many things on the menu we rarely see in the US. Let’s start with the common ones: frog legs, rabbit, onglet, liver of various kinds, gizzards of chicken, deer, kidneys, pancreas, and numerous other parts of the pig, cow, and lamb in sausages. They use it all!

Unusual fruits are used in addition to the common ones. Food seems to be well prepared the vast majority of the time, but they are starting to get some fast food places of their own like one called Hippotomus (This has mostly different kinds of hamburger and steak).

Day 9 - Beaune Rest Day

Saturday, September 12

Beaune (0 km)

After 6 days of riding we have done 425 miles. It seems tough because everything is so new to us. We get lost a lot, and have to stop to look at signs. There is a silver lining though; we see many sights we wouldn’t if we rode through rapidly. All in all, it's a lot of fun. Susan has ridden almost all of it with Jim and me.

Beaune is a typical tour rest day for us. First, we had to go to the bicycle shop to get a spoke changed for Jim S. He broke a spoke about 55 Km out of Beaune. We found a good mechanic, but it took a good hour and a half. Then we had to find a place to do laundry, and that took until 1 pm. FINALLY, we got to rest and look around!

Hotel Dieu Hospital

The Hotel Dieu truly is amazing. It was a hospital built in the 1500's for the poor to die in. It was built at a time of epidemics, probably the Plague.

Hotel Dieu inside. Very luxurious for it's time.

The vintner’s headquarters are really luxurious (with a lot of nice cars around them), and the streets crowd with tourists. The signs are in French and English.

I also found the WWI and WWII memorials. Usually, the major part of the monument commemorates WWI, and the lower part commemorates WWII.

We had another great dinner - I don’t know how many more I can take! I had Mirabelle for desert, although Susan is the most adventurous in food. We have seen some really strange things, which I'll discuss in an upcoming post.