Saturday 12th October 2019
Less than a month after my last adventure which began in the Swiss Alps, I’m going back again. This trip is quite different, however, and not nearly so logistically challenging. The plan is to fly to Geneva, leave immediately (without spending a fortune in Swiss Francs on the price of a coffee) and spend a few days in more affordable France, going out on our bikes for day trips in the mountains.
Different bike, different part of the Alps and a different group of blokes, but I suspect that the similarities will probably be that we talk about cycling 24-7 and drink beer. I’m not sure how much material I’ll gather to put in a blog on this trip, since we won’t have to go out in all weathers to reach a distant B&B; if the weather’s bad or we’re feeling lazy, we can just stay put, or cut the ride short. But if anything of interest does happen, you’ll hear about it here first.
Firstly, we have to get there which means another stupid o’clock get up, which is why I’m in bed at 9pm on a Saturday night with my Horlicks.
Sunday 13th October 2019
By 2pm today, we’d driven, flown, driven some more, reassembled the bikes and were set to ride. So far, the only thing I know I’ve forgotten is my Garmin mount which is sad but not the end of the world. It didn’t stop me getting out for a short ride and I found that the Garmin still works well in my back pocket but I can’t use it for navigating. When I get lost, that’s my excuse already baked in.
We had a bit of fun and games trying to fit 4 bike boxes, some hand luggage and 5 people into a Mercedes Vito. It was like the Krypton Factor. We eventually managed it, but not before dislodging a row of seats from their runners. I was trying to work out how to say ‘but it was like that when we picked it up’ in French but thankfully a bit of brawn came in handy and it wasn’t necessary. So we didn’t need to wear out any brain cells for this task, saving them instead for working out how to operate the SatNav. We’d managed to get very lost in Geneva before getting it sorted. More organised blokes would’ve worked it out before setting off, but that would’ve made it too simple. Everything here shuts at lunchtime on Sunday, so at 11.45 we dived into a supermarket for emergency supplies for our meal tonight and breakfast tomorrow. (I couldn’t help but notice that half the cars in the car park were Swiss, their owners clearly making the most of the better prices in France.)
We managed to get in a few miles this afternoon, although after the early start, none of us were going to break any records.
The apartment has no wifi, so I’m not sure how I’ll cope until Thursday with the iffy Orange F network. I might have to talk to people…
Monday 14th October 2019
We went on a supermarket run this morning and on the way called into a Decathlon store to see if they had any Garmin mounts. The salesman gave a wonderful Gallic shrug and pointed to the Garmin display. “We sell the equipment, but the accessories, maybe non”. But, tucked out of the way, we found a battered packet containing two mounts! I can probably sell one of them, so that’s a result.
Today’s ride was to tackle the Col des Aravis, one of the Tour de France climbs. Admittedly, we went in a different direction to the Tour riders, but it still counts in my book. I also found a stall selling genuine Swiss cowbells and having missed out on buying one last month, I was very tempted until I saw the price: €25 for the smallest rising to nearly €90 to the biggest. That decided me: I can do without.
The restaurant at the top of the climb offered a delicious lunch which we enjoyed on a terrace overlooking Mont Blanc followed by an enjoyable descent. Strava users may appreciate my disappointment when my descent time suggested I was ranked 17,310 (in the bottom 0.3%). Of course, the clock started just before we entered the restaurant and racked up all the time we spent there, giving me an average speed of 1.6mph. Most people would fall off going that slow.
I had a bit more left in the tank when we arrived back at base, so to finish off the day I rode up to Les Contamines-Montjoie, the next village up from St Gervais. It was a lovely ride, but it started at 19°C and had dropped to less than 10°C when I finished. An evening in a local bar and then restaurant ended a great day. The weather is set to turn tomorrow so I’m glad we made the most of the sunshine today.
Tuesday 15th October 2019
The weather wasn’t great this morning, but since it was forecast to get worse through the day, we thought it’d be a good shout to get out for a short ride early which is how we ended up 7 miles from home in pouring rain. The good news was that the ride back was a great 350 metres descent followed by a scramble for the shower.
Showered, second breakfasted and ready for the day, we set off by car to Chamonix. It appears that the best burgers in town (so I’m told) were in a sort-of street cafe where we ate outside (but under cover) in makeshift ski-lift cars on the pavement. The food was indeed delicious, made with ‘proper’ meat and light, crusty bread. Although we were reluctant to move (with the rain still pelting down) we dashed a few yards along the street to a very up-market cafe-cum-delicatessen where we spent more money on coffees and cakes than the cost of the burgers. It was well worth it, though. With off-sales at €3 per individual piece of chocolate, the prices were high but artistically remarkable.
We spent the afternoon slobbing in the apartment reading books and watching the rain. When the weather improved a bit, we ventured out to the local hostelry to sample the beer (it was good!) before having home-cooked pasta. And a bit more beer. (We need the carbs). Good forecast for tomorrow.
Wednesday 16th October 2019
The rain yesterday was falling as snow above about 2000m, so today we awoke to a different view. A much prettier view in my opinion, but boy, was it cold! Close to zero at 7am and only about 6°C at 11am. But we’re hardy souls and putting on a few extra layers is no hardship, so we set off at 11.15 heading towards another TdF climb, the Col des Saisies. In this part of the world, you’re either ascending or descending: there’re no flat bits, really.
The climb itself was beautiful, passing through forests, grassy areas dotted with chalets and finally picking its way through ski lifts as we reached the summit. Luckily, the restaurant at the end of the universe (well, it felt like that) was open and willing to relieve us of many Euros for the pleasure of consuming some plats du jour. The meals really hit the spot, and actually, some of us would happily have paid good money just to sit in the warm. Although the weather forecast promised us 18°, at a mile above sea level, we were back to about 7°- too cold to sit outside even though it was very sunny.
A satisfying descent would have been much improved with dry roads. Some roads through the forests had never seen the sun since yesterday’s rain and I didn’t feel safe cornering at speed on those sections. A big truck pulled out in front of me on one of the dry bits and so I had to creep down behind it for a mile or more. Well, perhaps ‘creep’ isn’t quite the correct verb, but you know what I mean.
I had to add a bit onto the ride at the end to bump up the daily mileage to over 52. If I mention ‘Eddington’, geeky cyclists will understand; for the rest of you, too bad. Or resort to Google.
Last day tomorrow. Very sad. It’s been a great few days, and I’m struggling to get enthusiastic about returning to a November England.
Thursday 17th October 2019
The plan today was to cycle to Chamonix as soon as it got warm, but by 10.30 we realised that wasn’t going to happen, so we set off anyway, but suitably attired. The direct route is by motorway, so wisely we chose the indirect route over the hills. This was an inspired decision, since the ride was just the right length for the last day, the climbing not too steep and the views were spectacular.
Chamonix was lovely so we stopped for a coffee and a snack. My coffee was a disappointment. I’m not sure what happened in the kitchen, but I guess the man whose job it was to add the coffee to the cups was on his break. To give the cafe the benefit of the doubt, I ordered a second one and this time it was great – very strong and very French.
Lovely ride back down to the apartment. It’s always good when the final destination is 400m lower than the start.
Bikes are now boxed, butties made ready for the flight and bags packed. We even found a French couple just moving into an apartment so we offloaded several eggs to them which we’d over-provisioned. Just to fly back to Manchester now and see what delights Brexit holds.