Unbelievable ...... Col de la Croix de Fer to St Jean Maurienne

Today began after a restless night because I was part way up a climb today to over 2000 meters. I persuaded Isabel my host to cook me up 3 eggs in addition to the normal wimpy French breakfast of bread and jam. I took off relatively early at 9:00. 

It was a beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky and I had an absolutely fabulous day and since pictures speak louder than words I will say little more but show a lot of pictures.......

The climb began with a modest descent which I didn't like since it meant more to climb.

 Then up .....

...... and up past a dam and reservoir ......

....... and up some more .....

...... and up until there were no more trees, but the "hills were alive with the sound of music". 

 ..... then a last push to the top.

Unbelievable, as many cyclists as cars ..... But on such a clear and warm day at the top a real party.

....... with many hard core young good climbers having a great day? Among them was the crazy old American with a touring bike with his sleeping bag, fenders and the ever present bouquet of flowers .... each one picked as another excuse for a rest.

After lunch and basking in the glory of the summit at 2067 meters for awhile .... the descent !!!!!!

Trying here to capture what it looked like from my view over the handle bars......

...... and down with the peaks I had almost touched now in the background.

The top and the early descent were like going through "play-land" with mountain bikers, hikers, hang gliders, and lots of hot young cyclists on light fast bikes .... and then there was the the old guy with the white beard, the flowers and the sleeping bag. What was he doing up here?????

Someone had hiked up and cut a nice slalom run down this glacier after the big stomach on Monday.

This decent was down through and under the ski lifts and I felt as though I could be in Steamboat or Aspen making a ski run. 

Duncan and Bobby Kerr and anyone else who skis can relate to my frame of mind on this decent.

Finally the valley below ...... but much to my chagrin I was not in Italy but still in France. 

I found an inexpensive hotel and a bike shop for maps, tightening of my break cables, a new pair of shorts and some advice for another big climb to Italy. I also found a nice Chinees restaurant.

The advice for crossing to Italy from several sources has been mixed. It comes down to 2 choices ....... a long and difficult climb over the Col du Mont Cenis to 2084 meters ..... or the even more difficult (some say impossible for an old guy with a touring bike and 2 months worth of gear), climb to 2646 meters through Valloire and the Col du Gilibier.

This is what I will ponder tonight!!!!!!

Meanwhile my hosts for the night.

 

....... and a young Spanish couple I had dinner along side of who were here on vacation from Barcelona, both were cyclists who alternated days riding while the other looked after their clearly very tired young son.

Tomorrow my decision on how to go to Italy .......

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The first real day in the Alps

I woke early today with my alarm at 7, a little anxious for what was ahead. First though I needed a good breakfast and the Splendid Hotel had a good one with good coffee, corn flakes, granola, fruit, toast and cold milk (a rare item in French cuisine).

Now as an aside ..... my family and many of my close friends know of my interest, some might say my fascination or obsession with the Dalai Lama and Buddhist philosophy. And for the past 8 or so years of my goal to meditate daily.

 So then, on probably the most anticipated day so far on the trip, who do I run into at the breakfast buffet .....

No not the Dalai Lama himself but 2 Buddhist monks from Tibet. They were on a month long tour of various ashrams in Europe and were visiting a major Buddhist center near the Splendid Hotel in Grenoble.

We had a long and naturally very deep conversation at breakfast. One of them spoke excellent English but the other older guy asked all of the questions and as with many wanted to know all about America. He was especially elated to hear how people in America have "free Tibet" bumper stickers. I was fascinated!!!!!

After that it was hard for the day to get any better, but it did.

I left the city and followed the river up. I couldn't resist and left the valley a little before noon for a modest climb off the main road and a descent into Vizille.

At this point the valley was wide enough for some agriculture, but the mountains in the distance were ever present.

...... with the peaks covered with some morning clouds left over from yesterday's storm.

As I went up the valley it got more and more narrow. I really didn't need my map today because there was clearly only one way to go.

Sometimes the path was very narrow, with barely room for the river and the road, with the train opting for a tunnel. But sometimes it broadened out a bit with room for a small village.

In one village I stopped for water and threw a football around with some kids. The boys loved American baseball and actually had football. It was amazing how unskilled they were with a football and while I am no great football talent myself I do have the basic skills and they were amazed and thrilled to see an old guy who could throw, catch and go deep for a long TD pass.

Naturally one guy, the bashful one had a t-shirt that said New York.

As usual word spread about the strange American in town and before you knew it there was a crowd and of course a photo with my iPad, as always an item of curiosity.

After this as I moved up the valley there was a big dam built in the 1980's that was too ugly to photograph, and then back to some of the most incredible scenery I have seen. 

 Here beside the mountain was probably a limestone processing plant with some nice bolted tanks. I should have stopped so that I could write the day off for business.

The afternoon began to get late and so far I hadn't been able to line up a room. I stopped in at a local Tourist office in a very hip upscale resort town on the lake near the dam and all they would do is recommend fancy places in their town. 

I really wanted to climb more, split up what I saw to be a big climb and get further up so that the next day I could make it over the top. It was about 3:30 so i had some time and energy and I met a guy who told me about a place to stay another 20 miles and 500 meters vertical (I think that is about 1500 feet) which I thought I could do and I set off.

...... and I climbed ...... and climbed  .... and climbed.

It even stared to get cool and at one point when I passed a stream gushing down it was cold.

I passed a few turn offs to some of the famous Tour de France mountain stage climbs like Alp-d'Huez and Vaujany which are huge dead end climbs to isolated mountain ski villages. These I wisely didn't attempt. As I climbed what I thought felt like much more than 1500 feet or half of Greylock I decided I had better recheck my meters to feet conversion.

Finally when I had started to get worried I came to a the small village of Le Rivier d'Allemond and a small and empty hotel.

They had food and a bed though not lavish, very welcomed.

The lady Isabel who owned and ran the place was partly Spanish and even served a salad like I had enjoyed in Spain along with a nice steak and potatoes with catsup. 

I had a nice dinner and went to bed early apprehensive for crossing a high mountain pass tomorrow that was one of, I think 2 I needed to cross to get to Italy.

Total for the day was only about 50 miles but about 1500 meters vertical.

The view from my window last night.

And Isabel who was a lot of fun but didn't want to have her photo taken

 

A needed rest in Grenoble

I slept this morning in my little hotel room in Grenoble until I woke up around 8. I had planned to take a rest day today to think about whether I was ready for crossing the Alps to Italy. 

In Spain the unexpectedly rugged terrain along the northern coast had me intimidated and burned out. So I had wimped out and bypassed the bulls in Pamplona and avoided the Pierenies by crossing into France on the coast.

But in France when I got to the Rhone River and went north I committed to crossing the Alps if I was going to continue east to Italy. With the decision already made I spent the day getting prepared.

I found a good bike shop and had my breaks checked out and replaced the rear tire which had dangerously worn down to the canvas. I got some maps and talked to several people on the best route. And if i was up for the challange. Besides for the first day since Santiago on day #1, it rained ...... and not just a drizzle but a pouring rain all day long.

And I explored the city of Grenoble, which I really liked. It is not what I expected, a fancy, rich, tourist city of Olympic fame. But instead a gritty, college town with light manufacturing base whose best days were behind it, more like Worcester or Albany or Glens Falls at the foothills of the Aderondaks than, say a hip Bolder, Co. 

My hotel called "The Splendid Hotel" was in the center of the downtown.

Splendid Hotel ....

The town had a great trolley system with some major parts of the town under construction with a new trolley line being added. 

...... the trolley ........ and a picture of where I am headed with my beard ..... this in NOT me!!!....

All around the city were the looming mountains today shrouded in clouds.

Nice to see work still in progress with people working on the new trolley.

All in all it was a productive and restful day in town with another great Chinese dinner and an early night to bed in nervous anticipation for beginning to cross the Alps tomorrow.

Up to Grenoble and the Alps

First I have to try and describe last night. 

It goes without saying you should feel free to skip this part and go to the pictures

I was dropped of by the train in Roussollon on the hottest afternoon imaginable with the sun scorching and a hot wind blowing. It was a small town about the size and condition of Pittsfield. I had one little slip of paper with an address on it. 

It was Saturday afternoon and almost everything was closed except a few tabac/bars. Starting with the ticket agent in the rail station on through 2 bars, nobody knew of any hotels in town or heard of the place written down by the nice lady at the tourist office. This wasn't the way it usually went. Finally a lady in a pan-aria (baked goods) shop looked at my little slip of paper and somehow found a phone number for the place on the sheet of paper and called up. 

All of this for a guy who couldn't speak French to people who didn't know a word of English. I was gestured to stay right there and wait, so I ate a few chocolate croissants while waiting. 

In a few minutes a guy who spoke very good English showed up on a really nice bicycle and told me to follow him home!!!!!!!

The jete was up on the hill a little outside of town in a very nice residential area built in the 70's. It was run by the absolutely nicest young couple with 2 lovely children. Christopher was about 30+ and an avid cyclist who worked as a service technician on equipment not unlike what I sell. His wife Oudd ran the jete with rooms for about 8 or 10, and took care of the 2 most adorable children.

Oudd fixed dinner for me even though it is not usually part of the deal. And we all ate together. The kids thought I was Santa Clause and I was so sorry I didn't have any presents. I will have to send some when I get home.

As you can see we had a lot of fun!!!!

The kids went to bed like little angles and Chris and I stayed up and laughed a lot telling stories of cycling adventures. He trained when younger to race and grew up in the same little town as Oudd on the French Italian border right on the coast. He grew up on skis and a bike.

In the morning Oudd made me a lunch for the ride and Chris had my route to Grenoble all planned for me. They all waved goodby as from the porch as I left.

From there the day only got better with a nice tailwind as I rode up to Grenoble. The scenery was beautiful, mostly agricultural and I took a few detours on small parallel roads.

There were lots of small quaint typical French villages

...... and all was going well until I took one too many side roads and lost the thread of the flat way up the valley. All the while I could see big mountains looming in the distance.

I did have to make on big climb .....

 ..... this shot is for Chris my friend to show the route I took to Grenoble ... The sigh says Col de Chatain 684 alt.

The climb to get back into the main valley was volentary but it was worthwhile as I got to drop back down and have an incredible view of what were not only big but sharp and jagged mountains unlike any of the mountains I had seen before this.

It was clear that these were different. Not old, green and rounded like the Appalachian mountains in the east or big, remote, sharp and new like the Tetons out west, or big, wide high and long like the Pyrenees but mean looking and dangerous almost angry and I was headed that way.

I found a modest but very nice hotel for the night and had a fabulous Chinese dinner before bed. I am so tired of rich French food. I wanted rice .... And more rice and something spicy.

Tomorrow I will explore the city and get ready to see if I will attempt to cross over to Italy.