Bern-Nice day 4

Day 4: Sainte-Marie de Cuines to Valloire

Started off with a little bit too late breakfast at 8 o’clock. Got to chat with a French woman who arrived late the day before on bike. She came from Annecy and had been over some other passes, over St. Maurice something, and then over the Col de Madeleine. She was travelling quite lightweight compared to me. So, yeah, and it turned out that we were going to the same place today and soon tomorrow. I left the hotel a bit late, 9.20. Along the bike route towards Saint-Michel-de-Moyenne, I took a little bit of a detour along the old road, because the standard bicycle route goes on the main road, and that sees a little bit too much traffic, so I took the old road. It has the disadvantage that it goes up and down a lot, which meant that before I even started my climb, which is the entrée for tomorrow, I had already done 340 meters of altitude. At Saint-Michel I started the real climb. I had hoped that I could do it in 2 hours, and I did it in 1 hour and 48 minutes or something. And it was a very nice climb, I mean difficult, but it was not as difficult as I recorded from last time (maybe the training on Bantiger at home actually helped!).  The incline was between 6 and 9% (they indicate it each km). However then there is suddenly a flat part and then the rest of the km.is of course steeper.  Nevertheless, I drank a lot of water and I was sweating a lot. But I finally arrived at Col de Telegraph at 1500m, had a small panini, and then went on to Valloire, where my hotel turned out to be a little bit of a disappointment, because, I mean, literally an empty hotel. They had the reception open the whole time, and they don’t even have a room they can give me at 1.20 in the afternoon, even though I told them beforehand that I was coming that early. A bit of disappointment, but at least it now looks like the pool is open. It wasn’t before, but now the cover has been removed, so maybe I can get a dip in the pool.

Went out and had a Galettes for dinner (Crêpes from Brittany).

I am going to the fortress on the top of the mountain. Col de Telegraph.

Here the reality is evident. A lot of altitude gain.

Every km with distance to go and incline over the next km.

Finally.

And I’m there as well!

Isotonic recovery drink

I love France. But upkeeing their houses/hotels is not one of their strengths. But….

It turned out to a perfect (French) engineered solution to a problem.

Galettes

No photos from Valloire.A skiresort in the summer.