Had a week riding round some lovely parts of France with ELK. Left home, up the route Napoleon through Sisteron, Grenoble, Chambery and into Annecy. Arrived in Annecy on the evening the French were in the world cup final. 
So, after a 90 euro bar bill in the Captain Pub, it was time to head out for the first day's riding....groan.
Annecy is built on a lake surrounded by mountains, a nice start...
We'd done a kilometre already, so time for another lake shot.
Annecy is surrounded by amazing little roads. This is the D67 over to the Col de la Forclaz on the east side of the lake.
At the top
Stopped off in Beaufort for a coffee break. The Grolsch sign says bike parking. Very civilised.
Leaving Beaufort, we climbed up the Cormet de Roseland, a stunning GS-tastic ride..
still the same road
Evidence the Tour uses this road...
Lovely Alpine meadows at the top.
Me and ELK at the top...
The descent wasn't too shabby either..
Headed from Bourg St Maurice, up through Tignes to Val d'Isere
Looking up to La Grande Motte glacier in Tignes. You can ski here all year round.
Tacky tourist shot with not a bike to be seen....sorry
Just after Val d'Isere ski resort where some little fecker just missed my heid kicking a football
We got onto the start of the climb up to Col de l'Iseran
Looking back down the road we'd come up so far. Still a way to go yet.
Looking down from the col road to the Val d'Isere resort
I liked this one cloud sitting above the peak.
Near the top of the Col, there's a little signpost off to the right showing the gravelly track to a fishing lake. It's only a few kms, but nice ride.
Gav heads off on down the track..
The view of the lake at the end was brilliant.
Finally made it to the top of the Col where a smoke break at 10,000 feet had me right back to life
Gav shilouetted against the snow on the road down the other side of the Col.
Looking back up the road we just scooted down..
Half way down the Col, we were joined by this English guy who'd just been to Le Mans, and was on his way to Italy. Stopped and chatted for about half an hour. Bladdy nice bloke...who was loving the car and the drive to bits. As you'd imagine.
Really stunning looking car. Much nicer than in these pics.
And finally, back to Annecy some 10 hours later.
So that's the end of day one. I'll get round to posting days 2,3,4,5,6 later...
Rob
So, after a 90 euro bar bill in the Captain Pub, it was time to head out for the first day's riding....groan.
Annecy is built on a lake surrounded by mountains, a nice start...
We'd done a kilometre already, so time for another lake shot.
Annecy is surrounded by amazing little roads. This is the D67 over to the Col de la Forclaz on the east side of the lake.
At the top
Stopped off in Beaufort for a coffee break. The Grolsch sign says bike parking. Very civilised.
Leaving Beaufort, we climbed up the Cormet de Roseland, a stunning GS-tastic ride..
still the same road
Evidence the Tour uses this road...
Lovely Alpine meadows at the top.
Me and ELK at the top...
The descent wasn't too shabby either..
Headed from Bourg St Maurice, up through Tignes to Val d'Isere
Looking up to La Grande Motte glacier in Tignes. You can ski here all year round.
Tacky tourist shot with not a bike to be seen....sorry
Just after Val d'Isere ski resort where some little fecker just missed my heid kicking a football
We got onto the start of the climb up to Col de l'Iseran
Looking back down the road we'd come up so far. Still a way to go yet.
Looking down from the col road to the Val d'Isere resort
I liked this one cloud sitting above the peak.
Near the top of the Col, there's a little signpost off to the right showing the gravelly track to a fishing lake. It's only a few kms, but nice ride.
Gav heads off on down the track..
The view of the lake at the end was brilliant.
Finally made it to the top of the Col where a smoke break at 10,000 feet had me right back to life
Gav shilouetted against the snow on the road down the other side of the Col.
Looking back up the road we just scooted down..
Half way down the Col, we were joined by this English guy who'd just been to Le Mans, and was on his way to Italy. Stopped and chatted for about half an hour. Bladdy nice bloke...who was loving the car and the drive to bits. As you'd imagine.
Really stunning looking car. Much nicer than in these pics.
And finally, back to Annecy some 10 hours later.
So that's the end of day one. I'll get round to posting days 2,3,4,5,6 later...
Rob
In the meantime, if you click on the 'Photos' link at the top of the threads, you can see all the galleries as they're in the UKGSER community. That should keep you going until you get your bike back 
helmet
