Tuesday July 16th - Warm to very hot and sunny all day 18°C to 34ºC
A truly wonderful day in the Alps. After bumping into Jani - exCleveland tennis coach extraordinaire, our trio climbed the steep mountain road to the Villard Notre Dame, high above the valley village of Bourg d'Oissans. A magical day with views to the Alp d'Huez, and also to the Ecrins National Park where we walked last year. Only 28k but half of it up a steep hill is better than a gym workout.
Sleeping in is hard to do in a gite. The kids are up, the toilets flushing, and the stairs are creaking from very early in the morning. At 6am we're wide awake and doing business stuff at home before 5pm Brissie time. Ian discovers that Jani - exCleveland Tennis coach extraordinaire is in town for Le Tour and makes arrangements to catch up at 10am at the local Casino supermarket. Breakfast is typically French - bread and jam. I can't complain, it's such a nice Gite with lovely owners and when in France ….
After breakfast, it's a short 3k cycle ride down to the Casino, where Jani is already waiting. He is one of 8 in a house just opposite the Casino in a great location and we go back for coffee. Jani explains he tried to cycle to Villard Notre Dame this morning until after a few k he struck pitch black tunnels and had to turn back. We're intending to cycle the same path, so Ian goes back to the Gite for torches and I go to the Casino supermarket to buy a picnic lunch and 20 minutes later we're climbing the mountain.
There's a few k to the bottom of the hill and then it's an 800 metre climb in about 10k to the top - about 8% rise of relentless uphill. We come to the first of 4 tunnels and our tiny torches do nothing except let motorists know there's someone in the tunnel. We have to walk. You can't see anything. The climb get's steeper and I'm walking. Jani gives me a push, then I walk, then I ride, then I walk. The views are just magnificent and we can see across the valley to the Alp d'Huez, where Le Tour goes on Thursday. There's a stream of huffing and puffing cyclists going past us to the top.
2 hours later and we're at the little village Villard Notre Dame at 1500 metres, a climb from 700 metres at Le Bourg. That will be my Alp d'Huez I think. There's a church at the top, and Jani conveniently finds a few plastic chairs which we park under a tree in the church yard and eat our picnic lunch. It's such a great spot and we can see across to the Ecrins National park where we hiked last year, as well as Alp d'Huez.
Jani rides down quickly - he has another mountain climb this afternoon with his friends. We mosey down stopping to take photos and making sure our breaks don't burn out. At 4pm we arrive back to the buz of Le Bourg and it's hot - about 34ºC. There's a cool creek running through town where we go for a billy boiled cup of tea before riding the last 3k back to Gite La Marmotte. A magnificent day shared with Jani.
A bit of washing, a bit of blogging and a few drinks later and we're ready for dinner. And it's a really nice dinner. Lettuce and salmon/egg tart, mushroom risotto and cheeses, a cheese platter, then a soft cheese fromage with berry syrup. Everyone ate too much.
Tomorrow we're heading up Alp d'Huez, the day before Le Tour, to see what we can see and go as far as we can go.