Days 13 -16 The French Alps

In the Alps we stayed in Serre Chevalier, a valley surrounded by magnificent mountains with many ski runs, in a small ski village called Chantemerle. 

Chantermerle 

After much discussion it was decided that the riders would tackle Alp d'Huez the day before the TDF stage due to road closures precluding the bus from getting close enough to make the ride achievable, combined with the forecast of rain for the 6+ hours on the mountain. There is a definite Swiss feeling to the Alps in both the architecture of the buildings and the cuisine.

Swiss style cafe in Vauban, serves fondue too. 

There wasn't much for the non-riders to do in the Alps except visit the nearest town which is split into the old town of Vauban and the new of Briancon. Vauban is a charming medieval walled village with lots of cafes and shops, and street entertainers including children in a school holiday program dressed in French army uniforms with replica guns acting out marching to battle and proceeded to shoot each other. Wouldn't be allowed in the new PC world in New Zealand. Over the three days in the Alps I had coffee, lunch and dinner in difference cafes in Vauban.

Vauban

To our surprise we had a visit from Grant Robinson and his wife Tracy who didn't know exactly where we were staying but managed to find us by asking everyone if they knew a kiwi called Neil Butler. Their perseverance paid off when they struck it lucky finding our bus driver Pierre. We had a lovely catch up over dinner hearing stories of their travels over the past year.

The next day Vikki Forster and Ben Pitchforth arrived in Briancon for a couple of nights.  Over dinner caught up with their travel through Italy and with Neil's university mate, Tim King who lives nearby. During the day Neil ticked off another Col (Izoard).

On our final day in the Alps the riders took on both sides of Col de Galibier. Vikki & Ben took me to Turin in Italy for the day. We drove over Col d'Echelle which was very pretty and parked at a small Italian village to take the train to Turin.  We only had a couple of hours in Turin but it was a fantastic introduction to Italy with pizza for lunch followed by gelato and of course shopping. 

Col d'Echelle

Liquid chocolate!!!

We were back just in time to change for Mark Robotham's 50th birthday celebration dinner. Fantastic night with lots of laughs and great food.

Au revoir

Sharon

Day 12 Provence to French Alps

A travelling day today with an early start to make it to Vaison la Romaine to watch Stage 15 of the Tour de France start. The riders took the opportunity for another ride through the spectacular Provence countryside. Pierre had the challenge of getting the bus as close as possible to the centre of the village through road closures. Don't ask how but he managed to get a sticker for the bus that gave us priority access to inside the road closures and parked about 2 metres from the start line.

From there it was absolute chaos as the crowd of tens of thousands of people pushing to get to the front of the barricades in about 36 deg heat. The team buses piled up, rolled out the awnings and set to the warm up bikes. 

Back on the bus for a long drive to Chantemerle in the French Alps. The majestic scenery was outstanding. Our hotel was in a ski village in the Serre Chevalier region. It was a lot cooler in the Apls than down in Provence and the Pyrenees.

Au revoir 

Sharon

Day 17 Chantermerle to Annecy to Paris

Another early start, bags to the bus at 5.45am, breakfast at 6 and leaving on the bus for Annecy at 6.30. The 3 hour trip to Annecy passed quickly and gave us time to explore Annecy for two hours before the TGV to Paris at 12.30. 

Annecy was hosting the start of a TDF stage so there were cyclists everywhere. We enjoyed looking around as we had visited Lake Annecy when we visited France 22 years ago.

Travelling at 300+ km/hr the TGV took 3 1/2 hours to get to Paris. Two Metro underground trips to the hotel, a quick change then off to the Moulin Rouge for dinner and show.

Yet again we use every minute of the day to squeeze in activities!!!!

Au revoir

Sharon

Days 8-11 Provence

The riders in our group used the first day in Provence to ride the Giant of Provence, Mont Ventoux. The non riders looked around two villages, Bedoin and Malocene. Both villages were preparing for the TDF to pass through the next day. Another hot day, 36 deg made the ride a challenge but everyone made it to the top. Bedoin is a small village which consists mainly of bars and cafes, so not much shopping!! Maree and I had Croquet Monsieur (toasted cheese and ham sandwich) for lunch before heading to Malocene to meet the riders who were refuelling at a cafe. 

The next day the Tour de France riders were tackling Mont Ventoux at the end of a 200+km ride in high heat. Our riders set off early to ride the 50km to the base of the Mont than rode up to Chalet Reynard at 6 km before the top to watch the race. The non riders returned to Bedoin to watch the TDF caravan and the race come through the village. We got a great spot in the shade on the roundabout at the base of Mont Ventoux. The caravan is a stream of sponsors cars decorated and travelling in a parade along the race route, throwing out goodies to the waiting crowd. After hours in the sun and heat waiting the crowd goes into a frenzy as pens, lollies, hats and washing powder are thrown from the caravan vehicles. Grown men dive for worthless gifts pushing children out of the way!!!!

On the way to Bedoin we stopped at Isle Sur La Sorgue to the weekly market, a beautiful small village with bridges over waterways around the village. Normally I'm not a fan of markets but this one was outstanding. We only had 2 1/2 hours which wasn't nearly enough time. There was fruit, veges, clothes, linen, hats, jewellery, antiques and ceramics, all good quality. 

After the race finish the bus took us to a winery for a BBQ dinner. We were becoming more and more alarmed as the bus wound its way up an incredibly narrow road through small villages with buildings right non the edge of the road. Our driver, Pierre had to kee stopping to check ahead to see if the road was wide enough for the bus and trailer and ask for directions. When we finally made it at the top of a hill we were greeted to a beautiful vista over the vines of Domaine Mourchin and lovely stone buildings, house and pool.

After a quick dip in the pool to cool of we enjoyed a beautiful meal prepared by a Kiwi chef and fireworks in the village below for Bastille Day. 

Most of the group enjoyed a shorter ride in the final day in Provence and the non-riders followed in the bus to rendevous with the riders for sightseeing in villages. The first stop was Abbey Senanque set amongst fields of lavender then on to the beautiful hilltop village of Gordes for lunch. By this time it was incredibly hot, reading 42.5 deg on one of the garmin computers. Next stop was Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, a busy village with a natural spring and icy cold river running through it. We walked 1km each way in the blazing heat to see the spring but found not much to see when we got there. Neil took his cycling she's off and walked up n his socks which turned out to be a clever thing to do as a couple of the guys walked up in bare feet and ended up with burns and blisters.

Au revoir

Sharon

Day 7 Argeles-Gazost to Lumieres, Provence

An early start today for a 6 hour bus ride across to Provence. A few of the group had a quick ride to stretch the legs before we left.

On the way we stopped at Carcassonne for a couple of hours around lunchtime. Carcassonne is a fortified medieval city with the city wall dividing the old city and the new, and is a world heritage site. It is situated at the top of a hill and the lanes are actual city streets full of tourists, locals and cars. 

It was incredibly hot in the old city but we managed to find a cafe in a shady spot to our enjoy one of the local dishes for lunch, chèvre chaud salade (warm goats cheese on toast drizzled with honey, served with salad). It was too hot for the other local dish, cassoulet. 

The cathedral is beautiful and was a sanctuary from the busyness and heat of the streets. Built in the thirteenth century, It has stunning stained glass windows with gothic architecture featuring  vaulted ceilings. 

Provence is more stunning than I expected. Everywhere you look has amazing scenery. Our hotel, Hotel de Notre Dame des Lumieres is a refurbished monastery with a beautiful pool which our group used each day to cool off and a bonus if air conditioning in the rooms. The wifi service however did not cope with the volume our tech savvy group tried to pump through the network.

Au Revoir
Sharon

Days 4-6 Argeles-Gazost

while Neil was riding up Col de Tourmalet I enjoyed a mini van ride to the top through picturesque countryside. At La Mongie the gondola ride took me to 2800 metres to look out over the steeply pitched mountains with snow covered caps. 

Will add photos once we get wifi working.

Argeles-Gazost is a beautiful alpine village in the Pyrenees. It was much warmer here than I expected, getting to 32 deg most days with rain some afternoons which only cooled down marginally. 

Pretty tree lined avenue

The walk up to Centre Ville from our hotel

Centre Ville town square

This church was beautiful inside too with large chandeliers as you would expect for a French church. 

The photo doesn't do this justice but I was amazed by the steep pitch of the roof at the end. Argeles-Gazost would look beautiful in winter when it snows

View from a cafe on a terrace in Centre Ville looking out over the village

And of course the patisseries are amazing!!

Col du Tourmalet

Our first full riding day dawns sunny and clear. We take the bus to Bagneres-de-Bigorre and ride from to Tourmalet from there. Today was planned as a round trip but the road down the back of Tourmalet is not yet open.  

The Tour didn't climb Tourmalet this year but it did come through the roads we're riding to the base of the Col a few days earlier, so the towns are decorated to the hilt. One village has mannequins posed in windows, balconies and doorways throughout.  

St Marie de Campan is a pretty village marking the start of the climb-proper and last chance to fill bottles for a while. 

It's around 10:30am, high 20s where we are but a sign says its currently 9 deg C at the summit so we all ride with jackets and warm gear in our backpacks. 

I passed this couple near the base and was stunned to seem them near the summit as I descended some hours later. 

About 40% of the way up.

Hilary, John and Bennet stopping for a chat & photo a little further on.

La Mongie is a full scale ski village 5km from the summit

The local donkey wasn't phased by the steady stream of cyclists

Cow and Team Bianchi coloured goats near the summit. 

The air definitely seemed a bit thinner by the summit and was great to see that famous sculpture as I rounded the last corner. 

Some of the team having lunch at the summit cafe/museum. 

Sharon had been given a lift to the summit and took a gondola onto further peaks.  

Heading down was a blast - about 28km of downhill.