After two wet days in Paris, we made our way to the Gare de Lyon to catch the train to Lyon. We caught a bicycle train, meaning that you can put bikes - ours stayed fully loaded - into the luggage van. Six hours later we were in Lyon Part-Dieu station with six minutes only to get all six heavy bikes off the train. Now all we had to do was find somewhere to eat and somewhere reasonably cheap to stay. You guessed it, the food came first. After this we quickly found a hotel across the square from the station where we waited for David to arrive on a later train.
The next day we left the hotel early and headed for a bakery for breakfast. As it was Ascension Day and a public holiday we bought food for lunch and dinner as well. Some of us gorged on the delicious sausage and ham rolls from the charcuterie. This accomplished, we started on what was to be a fairly long day. We rode through some beautiful country with occasional views of the Alps, glimpses of what we had to look forward to in the days to come. At lunch we stopped on a small farm track near St. Marcel-Bon-Accueil and sat looking down the valley at the impressive sight of Mont Blanc away in the distance. That night we camped on top of a hill with views of the mountains at Les Abrets.
The next morning the serious climbing started although in retrospect, it was not as bad or as difficult as what was to come. Now that we were a further south, the weather was a lot better with blue skies and temperatures a tad too hot for long climbs in the mountains. We climbed steeply through the Gorges-de-Chailles and the Gorges-du-Guiers-Vif to the Pas-de-Frou where the road literally hangs off the edge of the cliff face. Halfway up the Col du Granier, we stopped for the night at the village of Entremont-le-Vieux. A beer or two at the local café was very welcome. Here we heard that the Classique des Alpes, one of the highest category cycle road races was coming through the next day.
We got up late, packed up leisurely, raided the bakery and slowly made our way to the top of the Col du Granier to join the crowds waiting for the race to arrive. All of a sudden, about two o'clock, they were there, first a few then the main bunch which included people like Lance Armstrong and Tyler Hamilton. Armstrong who went on to win the Tour de France finished third. We still had 24 kilometres to reach our campsite, but it was mainly downhill. Unfortunately, on the steep descent, David suffered from three blowouts as the rims on the small wheels of his Bike Friday overheated. He decided to pull out of the trip as it would be unsafe to continue into the high mountains if this was going to happen. It was a subdued group that night at La Rochette.
The next couple of nights we camped at La Chambre after climbing the Col du Grand Cocheron into the valley of the river Arc. We had an enforce rest day here as Tony had pulled some spokes through his rear rim. With the help of a local cyclist, we bought a new rim which Alan rebuilt. We celebrated with a meal out in the camp restaurant.
Our next climb was to be a challenge. We had two days off in le Bourg-d'Oisans to look forward to but first we had to climb the Col de la Croix de Fer at 2,067 metres high. The day dawned very misty and so it stayed all the way to the top. The mist just got thicker as we climbed which was a shame because the views would have been beautiful. We slowly made our way to the top where it was freezing. After changing out of our wet clothes and adding more layers to keep warm on the way down, we made a short detour up the Col du Glandon, 1,908 metres. Ironically, as we dropped down into le Bourg-d'Oisans, the weather cleared. By the time we reached the campsite we were in bright sunshine. On one of our rest days, most of us climbed to l'Alpe-d'Huez which took us just a wee bit longer than it takes the Tour de France riders.
During the next couple of days we headed to Briançon. We spent the first night in La Grave before making the climb up the Col du Lauteret. This climb ended up being very hard as we had roaring headwinds most of the way. We were surrounded by magnificent views of the mountains but as we dropped into Briançon, it started to drizzle. So after getting ourselves organised in the campsite, we went into town to find a place to eat.
The next day dawned wet and for most of the morning, we rode in the rain. By lunchtime it had cheered up and by that night's stop in Embrun, we were back in lovely sunny weather.
The following few days were spent riding through some really lovely countryside, some of the best in France, I sometimes think. We climbed several cols, made our way round lovely lakes and through gorges. Our journey took us through Chorges to Espinasses, over the Col Lebrault. We followed the river valley through the Gorges de Blanche and onto Seyne for the night. The next day was up the Col du Fanget, down through the Clues de Barles (a very interesting area if you like fossils) to Dignes-les-Bains. From there it was up and over the Col de Pierre Basse, Col de Corobin and finally for that day anyway, the Col des Robines. We camped at a lovely site near a lake and spent the evening in town drinking hot chocolate.
We followed the Lac de Castillon for quite a way before climbing to Castellane. This was a lovely town with lots to see. After a cup of coffee, we climbed to St. Thyrse and then down into Comps-sur-Artuby for the night. We were now getting close to the Mediterranean. Another two more days riding and we would be there. The climbs were getting easier as we followed the range of hills to Fayence. It was just a few more kilometres before we had our first view of the Cote-d'Azur. Then it was down into Cannes from where we followed the coast to Cagnes-sur-Mer. Being a Sunday, the beaches were packed and as we got nearer to Nice, we got caught up in the Nice triathlon. The police allowed us to ride along the closed roads with the competitors.
The next few days we spent sightseeing visiting Antibes and the lovely old towns of Cagnes and St. Paul-de-Vence. Suddenly it was time to head to Nice airport for the flight back to London.
In summary, we spent three weeks coming down through the Alps. At times it was very hard but it was a pleasant trip. The scenery was beautiful, the company great and the locals all very friendly. They tried very hard to understand our attempts to speak French.
Overall we rode 1,700 kilometres from St. Malo via Paris to Nice. Out of 42 days in France, we rode for 35 days and climbed 13 cols. Our longest day was 95 kilometres and our shortest was only 15 kilometres. We had two punctures, a broken spoke and a broken rim.