Not long after we arrived in Valloire ominous grey clouds quickly rolled in and it started to rain. We managed to get the tents up in the nick of time and then headed in to town to find a warm dry café, preferably with WIFI. We were directed to a hotel-cum-restaurant-cum bar and settled ourselves into a corner . I was starving. It was about 5:30pm and the dinner menu didn’t start until after 7pm. We ordered a pichet of wine and Eric was going to order a pizza-type thing to tide us over. The wine arrived and was consumed. The pizza didn’t arrive. I was getting slightly irritable due to hunger and asked Eric where the pizza was and he said in surprise “oh, I haven’t ordered it yet”. We then found out they didn’t serve any food until after 7pm. I simply couldn’t wait that long. I wandered out into the drizzle seeking a boulangerie fix. It was closed. This is a ski town and we are in the off-season even for summer activities so most shops seem to be closed. Eventually I ended up at the supermarket and skulled 500ml of milk and a banana and felt better. I also bought some chocolate biscuits which the three of us ate back at the restaurant bar.
The menu had local alpine specialties such as cheese fondue, tartiflette, raclette and other cheese-based meals. A hot, cheesey comfort-food meal was just what I felt like. I ordered the Tartiflette – like scalloped potatoes but with bacon pieces in it. Julie had a big steak with fries; and Eric had a similar hot cheese dish to mine but with a side of cold meats. Unfortunately the combination of tiredness and alcohol just sends me to sleep and I could barely keep my eyes open at the table; I wasn’t very good company by the end!
The next day we biked up an easy small col then it was all downhill to the main valley which had big highways running along it. We cycled up the valley in the direction of the famous col de l’Iseron, the highest (road) pass in Europe. It started to rain as we reached Lanslebourg so we decided to call it a day. We asked at the Tourist Information which campground had WIFI and a sheltered spot that we could sit under away from the rain. We checked in to the campground and set up the tents inbetween light showers. The sheltered spot was at the entranceway to the showers and we made ourselves at home by dragging the plastic tables and chairs out of the rain. I invited a lone french cyclist to join us for dinner and we had a very enjoyable meal of spaghetti bolognese. I ordered Eric to go grab his pot please (while he was busy trying to use my computer) and the french cyclist to get his cooker. We were laughing that us girls were bossing the boys and Eric said he was writing a book about how to survive a holiday with us two girls – he reckoned he was on to page 144….
It rained all night. The forecast was for rain all day, though Eric hoped it would clear. The forecast for the following day was excellent – we would wait until then to climb the col de l’Iseron. Eric suggested if the weather cleared in the afternoon we could go to a Gite (small family-run hostel) 20km up the road, where they provided dinner and breakfast – and we’d be 20km closer to the pass, meaning less climbing on the day. The idea of the gite sounded very appealing as I sat in the windy shelter by the shower entrance. The campground manager caught Julie filling a pot with the hot shower water to do dishes – and he went berserk. He shouted ‘no no no’ followed by lots of french words, including something to do with us using the electricity in the bathroom for the computer and the phone…. The only hot water easily available was in the showers – the rest of the taps were cold; or in the dishwashing area you could insert a token for 6 litres of hot water – and we didn’t have any tokens (and yes, I wouldn’t have bought any anyway!). The manager then cleaned the shower and toilet block with lots of clangs and bangs – either full of energy or anger - and then our stuff was in the way of his cleaning cupboard… Suddenly I really didn’t want to stay at the campground any longer than necessary. However it was raining so we weren’t going anywhere until it stopped. Eventually the rain stopped and Julie and I went to pack our things. Eric was in two minds about leaving the campsite – he didn’t want to pack a wet tent, which was fair enough. He also didn’t really want to cycle in the rain and said he would consider going if there was a guarantee it wouldn’t rain again. However, Julie and I by this stage were psyched to leave – I craved a warm Gite and a homecooked meal and actually felt like getting out for a ride, even if it did rain. So we did a vote and Eric was out-voted. He was pretty quiet as he packed up and I felt guilty for overriding what he wanted – yet determined that we were doing the right thing.The ride up the valley was nice. Eric seemed to cheer up after this jump shot:
It did rain on and off but never too heavy. The clouds hung low over the steep mountain sides and there were waterfalls from all the heavy rain the night before.
The weather was clearing as we arrived in pretty Bonneval-sur-Arc, a cute village at the end of the valley with stone-wall houses.
We checked into the Gite that Eric had booked and as we hung our tents to dry Eric commented “My only regret is we didn’t come here yesterday!”. All had been forgiven… Dinner was a choice of cheese fondue or spaghetti bolognese. As we’d had spag bol only the night before the obvious choice was cheese fondue. Eric said at these Gites they give generous portions as they are catering to hikers and other hungry outdoors people. Dinner was served at 7:30 and we were all happily hungry. The pot of cheese fondue and basket of bread arrived. We ate the fondue so fast – I guess because we were so hungry, but possibly also because we were trying to keep up with each other! The pot was finished and Eric said “oh, that wasn’t as much as I was hoping for”. There were a couple of Italian men across the small room who had finished their meal – but we could see they hadn’t finished their salad, and we guessed they probably hadn’t finished their fondue either. I jokingly suggested to Eric that he ask the waitress to bring their leftover fondue over to us. He didn’t, but when the waitress came to clear our plates he asked if we could have more fondue. She looked very surprised but said yes. Five minutes later she came back with another steaming pot of melted cheese and more bread. We tucked in. More slowly this time and by my third small square of dipped bread I realised that I was actually full. But we had a nearly full pot of fondue. I felt I had to make a bit of an effort to finish the fondue since we’d asked for it. I put away a few more portions of bread and cheese. Then got an ache in my side. I rested for a bit and the ache subsided. I could fit a few more in surely… Julie had stopped by this time. Eric had the same idea as me “must try to finish fondue!” By now my abdomen was cramping.
Often I find a cup of tea after a meal helps me digest so I ordered some tea while Eric had coffee. A whole teapot arrived, just for me. I finished the pot - 3 cups of tea for one teabag. Unfortunately I think adding 750ml of liquid to goodness knows how much bread and cheese just exacerbated the problem. I couldn’t stand up straight due to the funny sensations in my stomach. I wanted to see the village at night with the mountains in the background and the glow of the orange lights in the church belltower. While Eric took photos, I walked like an old woman, stooped over, laughig at myself for being such a glutton. At least I could try to excuse it as ‘carbo-loading’ for the next day.
My stomach fortunately settled overnight and I woke up feeling fine. Admittedly not that hungry, but at least I could walk upright. Breakfast was fantastic. I was expecting the classical skimpy french breakfast of coffee and a single piece of bread, but (maybe because of the fondue episode) they provided loads of bread, and cereal, and big jugs of coffee and hot milk.
There was blue sky and white wispy clouds breezing over the mountain tops. It was crisp outside, but quickly warmed up as the sun became stronger.
The ride up to col de l’Iseron was magic.
The usual switchbacks meaning a changing perspective all the time; the mountains and glaciers, the green alpine grass, the stone-walled ruins of shepherds huts….. I don’t think I could get sick of such a view.
The air got cooler the higher we climbed. Then a nasty gusty icy headwind started and we put our layers on. The last few kilometres were steep and with a headwind. I had 2 socks on each hand over my bike gloves, which made it hard to take photos; or to eat the fruit cake I devoured when I ran out of steam.
We didn’t stay long at the top as it was cold and windy.
We had something like 47km of downhill over the rest of the day, and the further down we went the warmer it got.
We arrived in Seez at about 4:30pm and Eric started making arrangements to get back to Belgium. The fast trains don’t generally take bicycles, so he was trying to work out the best option. He went to the train station and discovered there was a night train – leaving that evening at 9:45pm – which did take bikes. The train would get him to Paris and then he would work out what to do from there. It was a bit of a sudden change of plans as he had thought he would take a train the next day. It was 8pm by the time he decided he would take the night train so suddenly we had to eat dinner and get him packed up (he’d already set up his tent) and say hurried goodbyes. It worked out well having him join us for the week; a few hiccoughs along the way but it all worked out in the end. It felt a bit funny suddenly being just the two of us once again.
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