La Belle France...

[Magnet]

Sunday:

Just got back in from dejeuner. Mmm Tartiflette

Anyway, clag lifted enough to do a walk, but not onto the tops. Walked up to the Champagny valley again and stopped for a coffee at the refuge at Le Bois. A piece of tarte aux myrtilles seemed to find its way into the tray as well. Didn't last very long









Walked a bit further up the valley, where there is another refuge. There was a huge storm here in the winter and the river burst its banks. The front of the refuge was all a neat grass lawn last time we visited!



Never ones to waste an opportunity, the locals have fashioned some flood defences from the hundreds of tonnes of rubble that the river had deposited:





Anyway, that's enough about walking. Plans afoot for tomorrow. We wanted to explore the roads a bit further down near Briancon. Too far for a day trip, so hotel booked there for tomorrow night and routes planned over numerous passes and into the Ecrins and Queyras.

Your roving reporter signing off, until the next time ...

 

[harry the cat]

You don't get pie like that every day

Direct quote from Magnet.

Roving reporter? Roving pie eater more like

 

[Micky]

Direct quote from Magnet.

Roving reporter? Roving pie eater more like

'Pies R us' ... The Bear will be along shortly, meanwhile, save one for me please

 

[Magnet]

Okay - back to Champagny from a couple of days further south. Routes were planned carefully, but as always things didn't go quite to plan.

Monday - planned a route over the Col de la Madeleine, Col du Glandon, onto the N 94 and over the Col de Lauteret into Briancon, followed by a loop round into the Queyras national park.

Col de la Madeliene a bit cloudier than the other day:



Some nice bikes in the car park:





The waiter in the cafe recognised us from a few days ago. Not sure about the dog though:



Carried on to the Col du Glandon, nice views and a good picnic site:







As with many places in these mountains, some history of bravery during wartime:



Me and my travelling companion:



Next, down to the bottom of the pass and turned left towards Briancon on the N94. I thought it was a bit unusual that at the junction there was a yellow sign showing a diversion to Briancon to the right. We carried on and I became increasingly perturbed as I could not see any signs for Briancon, they were all either covered up or removed.



I stopped and mentioned this to HtC, who didn't seem to have noticed. 'It'll be right', was the predicable reply. We carried on until we came across a matrix sign, saying that the route to Briancon was closed. I stopped in a Lay-by to regroup and a motorist stopped. He was English, but obviously lived in the area. He told us that the road had been closed since April, as the tunnel at Chambon was falling down the mountain. More details here: http://bikelodging.com/blog/tunnel-du-chambon-closed-ferry-opening-dates-new-road/
Some pics of the tunnel on this forum:http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/grenoble-to-briançon-d1091-closed.182525/

Plenty of publicity about this on the cycle forums, but surprisingly little anywhere else, including this site

Anyway, the official diversion is through Gap, on the main road which is apparently quite tedious. Our Good Samaritan told us that the best way round was over the Col du Glandon (Mmm, think I've just been there ), onto the Col de la Croix de Fer, along to St. Michel de Maurienne and then over the Col du Telegraph and the Col du Galibier, back onto the N94. Total time 2 3/4 hours

So we thanked our new friend and set off. An hour and a half after we had visited the Col du Glandon we re-visited it and stopped for a coffee in the roadside refuge:



Then 'round the block' to the Col du Telegraph:





Pressed on over the Col du Galibier and the Col de Lauteret, eventually arriving in Briancon about 7pm.

View from the bedroom window:





This late arrival put paid to my scenic loop into the Queyras and we went in search of dinner

 

[Magnet]

Okay, okay, I know I haven't posted since 19th August, but I've had a few things on

Anyway, back to the story:

As we hadn't been able to do the planned loop into the Queyras the day before, we decided to go south, through Cervieres and then have a run up the col D'Izoard. We then planned to go back north over the Col de Montgenevre, through Oulx and Susa and over the Col du Mont Cenis to Lanslebourg. Turn right there. Back over the Col du L'Iseran, Bourg St Maurice, Moutiers and then back to Champagny.

Did I mention before that things hadn't gone to plan? Well the pattern continued...

Some pics from the Col D'Izoard:











Stopped at Cervieres on the way down for a coffee:







Carried on, back through Briancon, over the Col de Montgenevre into Italy and through Oulx and Susa. Then turned up the pass to the Col du Mont Cenis. Fantastic road, starts with short twisties through the forest then opens out into proper high mountain scenery at the top. Massive difference in temperature between the top and bottom. There's a big reservoir at the top - it was all very atmospheric with blue sky and low clouds floating about:





There is a metal information board at the top describing the history of the pass and giving details of the natural history and industrial heritage of the area. This is decorated with small metal sculptures of various animals (including elephants) and other relevant machinery etc;







Over the top and down some lovely hairpins into Lanslebourg. Our planned right turn towards the Col de L'Iseran was thwarted buy yet another road closure

No choice but to go left past Modane and through St Michel de Maurienne and St Jean de Maurienne, then right up the Col del la Madeleine (again ) this was the third time we had been there in recent days. We needed a coffee stop but I didn't want to stop at the top of the Col again - the waiter in the cafe would probably have thought we were bonkers, riding up and down the same pass everyday

So ...We stopped at St Francois Longchamp, one of the ski resorts just before the col. It was cold and bit grim (but the coffee was good ).

Back over the col and back to Champagny.

Overall, the routes didn't turn out quite as planned, but it was a great couple of days and we've found some new places to explore further in the future

More to come - I'll be back

 

[Magnet]

Wednesday 19th August: Rest day

Thursday 20th - last day before starting to make our way home. We decided to visit Pralognan, which is a small town not far from Champagny. In the winter it is a self-contained ski resort, which is not linked into any of the big lift systems. It's used mainly by French families and is good for a day's skiing if you fancy something different from the big commercialised resorts.

Anyway, as it was our last day we didn't plan anything too taxing. A gentle ride up the valley, look round the town and find somewhere to have a picnic.

Pralognan centre:





The edge of town:





We found a picnic spot under a tree, just above the town campsite:





We got back on the bikes and rode further along the valley where there is a small hamlet, with a couple of restaurants, which are only open in the summer:





A short ride back to Champagny and started to pack for the journey back to England. The homeward leg was planned to take 4 days in total, with a stop in Germany to see an old friend...

 

[JohnnyBoxer]

Great stuff

 

[Magnet]

Right, Friday 21st August, day 1 of homeward journey, destination Besancon. Out through Albertville and up to Annecy. I hate going through there as it seems to be a permanent traffic jam, but I have yet to find a suitable alternative that doesn't involve the autoroute, or take you miles out of your way. Worked our way through and stopped for a short break at a cafe next to a lake:



Carried on through Frangy, a sneaky short-cut round Bellegarde sur Valserine and onto the road that skirts the Swiss border, stopping for lunch at Gex. Up the road to the Col de la Faucille. Big wide sweeping hairpins. We stopped to look at the view across to Geneva:





Carried on along the A5 through Morez and Champgnole, and then through Salins les Bains to Bescancon. Stayed in the Hotel de Paris again as we enjoyed it so much the last time :

Iced tea stop at Champagnole:





Saturday 22nd August - Bescancon to Sarrebourg, via the Vosges (Route des Cretes. Hurray)

Across the D roads from Bescancon to Belmont.

Coffee stop at Rougemont (the cafe owner greeted us warmly as 'Motards' and proceeded to take the micky, in a nice way of course )



Now the really good bit - onto the Route des Cretes, from Cernay through to the Col de la Schlucht, Col de la Bonhomme and into Ste Marie aux Mines. Conditions were really good and no 'gravillons' . Not many pics as we were riding .

Lunch at the Grand Ballon:



Coffee at Ste Marie aux Mines:



Those bears get everywhere!:





On through Schirmeck to Sarrebourg. We'd booked into the Ibis Styles, for convenience. It was a bit out on its own but had a restaurant, so sorted for the evening. Except that it was 'complet' . Fortunately, out in the middle of nowhere on the edge of an industrial estate, was a great Italian restaurant about 10 minutes walk away.

Sunday 23rd - Sarrebourg to Rieden (Eiffel mountains, about 10 miles from the Nurburgring). We worked our way from Sarrebourg, round Saarbrucken and across the German countryside towards the Mosel.

Lunch above the river:



Then onto Rieden, where we met up with our old friend Stan. He was kindly putting us up for a couple of nights. We were greeted with a barbecue and plenty to wash it down

Monday 24th - weather a bit grim, but as we were staying in Rieden until Tuesday, we decided to go sightseeing in Koblenz. We went to the Deutches Eck, where the Rhine and Mosel meet and took the cable car up to the fortress at Ehrenbreitstein:






Deutches Eck from the fortress:



Cloister gardens:



Well, that's about it, other than a morning ride along the B258 to Monschau and a boring slog along the E40 to Zeebrugge, to catch the ferry.

Overall a great time and just makes me want to go back for more .

Thanks for reading

 

[Davel]

Excellent.......

 

[Jonno58]

Great read, cheers!