We rolled into Cuneo (587m) crossing the high double decked viaduct that carries the highway and railroad over the Stura di Demonte river into town. Turning right after the bridge, to the piazza at the train station, we cooled off at the large fountain before rolling on up the gradual grade to Borgo San Dalmazzo (641m). At the lower end of town, we headed south on Rt.20 toward the Tende. At Robilante (686m) I photographed a bit of the chain saw store that seems to have several thousand chain saws in its catacomb like stone building. There are no forests near Robilante. Then we stopped at the Albergo Ristorante Minerva where I have often spent the night after riding from Borgosesia, a distance that makes this an appropriate stop. I got a large beer and Brian, not wanting to violate training rules, decided on coffee. Brian being an Anglo-Italian, explained in Italian, what I could not, about my appreciation of the great hospitality that I have received over the years, treating us to the family style (no menu) back dining room.
From Robilante (686m) the road begins to climb a bit while the Tende RR climbs over huge viaducts and loop tunnels to gain altitude. This rail line is noted for being in tunnels more than in daylight and when not underground it is mostly on bridges. From Limone (1010m), the real climb to the summit tunnel begins, a tunnel not for us and not the real attraction of this pass. From the tunnel entrance at 1321m we took the old road, that has been sanitized (paved) for ski slope maintenance vehicles, to the summit of the Tende (1908m). Here, from the border, the road looks as it did in 1913 when the tunnel was built. "Rocky road" describes it well and of course narrow and steep. The view to the Roya river gorge reveals what appear to be about 100 hairpin turns stacked steeply, sometimes on revetments, on top of each other. The turns are so tight that only a short car or jeep can take them in one swing. It took us about as long to descend as it took to climb the other side because the road is rough and there are the endless turns with deep rocky ruts. It is an amazing road.
Once down to the main road at the tunnel and back on pavement, we blasted off to glide down the sweeping turns. It was on one of these turns that I crashed in the rain and broke my hip in 1986. After some swift sections to Vievola, the RR line appeared from its tunnel only to vanish into a loop tunnel and many bridges as both it and the road descend to the town of Tende where we found a perfect hotel in an alley with simple quiet rooms. The dinner was great but this could have been an illusion common to riders who bike all day, although this didn't affect my appreciation of the fare.
Just before Breil we turned west up the Col de Brauis (879m) as we began to feel the warm weather that was later described as a heat wave in the flatlands. In spite of the elevation and thin overcast, it was pretty warm and I was glad for the roadside spring 2/3 of the way up and the sour cherry trees a little farther up. The landscape here is Mediterranean with sparse vegetation, olive trees and broom (gorse) blooming bright yellow. A long descent took us to Sospel to the great ice cream store and bar near the big bridge. This picturesque town has a train station on the sparsely traveled line between the Tende and Nice with several of the dark blue cars with gold trim from the orient express on display. It is the main junction of several mountain routes including the Turini pass (1607m) that figures prominently in the Monte Carlo Rally in the spring. We headed up the Turini by the direct route because we wanted to get to the Bonnet/Restefond pass by the shortest route.
As we descended to the Vesubie valley, Brian broke a spoke while rounding a hairpin turn. It was so loud I thought he hit a rock. We made some adjustments so he could ride on to St Martin (930m) where we found no bike shop but grabbed a bite and headed up the Col St Martin (1500m) where there is a MTB and ski rental shop. As the others, this road has spectacular vistas as it clings to rock walls and dives in and out of bare rock tunnels. Tunnels in which martins nest and sometimes defend against bicyclists by dive bombing and pecking heads. We got the freewheel off, put in one of my spare spokes, and descended to the west where a panorama of mountains with many roads became visible as we dropped down to the Tinee river. The road follows the Tinee in a gradual climb to St Etienne de Tinee (1144m) where we stopped for the day.
On the way up we came upon the obligatory passage through a flock of sheep going the same way. Passage is only possible with the aid of the dog to whom the shepherd must give the command by whistling in a way that seems to explain all. We continued on up and cruised over the top feeling pretty good, so Brian decided to take the scenic loop that climbs another 100m. Having done this before and having found the view not substantially different from where we were, I chose not to go. When Brian returned we rolled down to Jausiers (1220m), some 22km's that seemed to take forever.
At the bottom, instead of turning left into Jausiers we turned right up the Ubaye river past Condamine with its cliffs riddled from top to bottom with tunnels that connect huge fortifications that keep their silent vigil for enemies long gone. We passed the junction with the Col de Larche (1991m) (Colle della Maddalena) that joins the Route des Grandes Alpes from Borgo San Dalmazzo, and started the climb of the Col de Vars (2111m). Local hillside slippage has made the road steeper in some sections than the listed 10%, while also causing some flat spots.
At the summit we met a young first-timer who, as is common, did not know what he would need so he took more than that. He had among other extra baggage, an aluminum lawn chair strapped to one of his panniers. Fortunately he had the gears and the enthusiasm to haul almost anything, as did the overweight ~50 year old couple on a tandem that was substantially loaded front and rear in addition to pulling a large two wheeled trailer packed to the limit. In spite of their gears, I suspect they spent numerous rest stops on the way up. I don't know how they did their descents, even with a hub brake.
At Guillestre, the pleasant mountain town at the base of the Col de Vars and Col d'Izoard (2361m), we turned west to the valley to skirt the Izoard because we wanted to make it to the Lauteret pass by evening. The main highway and railroad to Briancon follow the Durance river and have only one 200m bump over which the road rises at the narrows of the valley. At Briancon (1321m) we turned west and rode into the usual wind up to the Hotel des Glaciers at the summit of the Lauteret (2058m) to drop in on M. Bonnabel who runs this fine hotel. The sad news was that next year he will retire and won't be there to greet us and tell us entertaining tales in his Inspector Cluseau manner. We ate well and got a good night's sleep.
The descent has a couple of fast places in it just before Valloire, after which the road starts climbing again to the Col de la Telegraph. However, the fast section before Valloire yields at best 80km/h without a tailwind. The rest of the descent is either too flat or too crooked to exceed 60 km/h. This is in contrast to the inflated speed reports presented by TV announcers of the TdF that exceed reality by a wide margin. From the Telegraph, it's the big descent to St Michel sur Arc (890m) where some stores are open on Sunday so we stopped for a good grocery store lunch before heading up the valley toward Modane (1017m) where most traffic goes through the Frejus highway and railroad tunnels to Torino. From here there is little traffic on up to Lanslebourg (1399m) at the base of the Col du Mont Cenis (2083m).
After Lanslebourg traffic was even thinner as we climbed the Col du Madeleine (1746m), a small but steep bump out of Lanslebourg and into the high valley of the Arc toward Bonneval sur Arc (1783m) where the Iseran climb begins. The side valleys exposed views of glaciers and snow covered peaks as we approached Bonneval, a grey village of stone buildings with stone roofs. A tourist store that is "always" open had what we needed to go to the top of the big one, the Col de l'Iseran (2770m) this sunny and fairly warm Sunday afternoon.
From Bonneval the first climb goes into the upper valley with only one turn, a second climb rises into the high valley and the last steep climb goes to the top. Considering the elevation of Bonneval, it seems unduly far to the summit. I wasn't climbing well and was overheating even though I packed my cycling cap with snow at intervals. It was hot enough that the melt did not run down my face but evaporated off the cap. At the top we sat on the massive concrete road sign as I had done more than 30 years before and had the usual picture taken by an available camera operator. The view down to Val d'Isere, made famous by Jean Claude Killy, reveals a valley that is chock full of ski hotels and commercial amenities.
The descent from Val d'Isere was swift and with sparse traffic. I stopped at a campground with hotel just before Seez (920m) where I had stayed last year. When Brian pulled in he explained what I had misinterpreted up until then. He had to be at work tomorrow, not home tomorrow evening as I had deduced from his "I've got to be back by Monday". Had I remembered what we had planned via e-mail, I would not have been under the mistaken notion of an extra day that I had created for myself. So with my wishful thinking reset to reality, we said goodbye and Brian rode off into the proverbial sunset. We'll do that extra day next year.
So while I was taking a shower, Brian rode up the Petite St Bernard (2188m) and down to Pre St Didier (1050m) where he ate dinner and hitched a ride home. Meanwhile I had a huge mixed salad and a delicious frutta di mare pizza before a good night's sleep to attack two tough ones the next morning. I was disappointed because I was looking forward to showing Brian the Col de la Seigne. Something I am sure would have been the highlight of the "five" days.
I descended to Courmayeur (1226m) eating lunch at Entreves (1306m) at the south portal of the Mont Blanc - Chamonix tunnel before heading up the Val Ferret. The road starts climbing steeply and only levels off after a few km's along the cascading La Doire river at about La Vachey (1642m). The road gets smaller and at Pre de Bar it becomes a rocky jeep trail that ends at Rifugio Arnuva (1769m) [a can of Coca Cola LIt3500] where formerly only a milking shed stood. From here it is a steep trail (no riding) requiring carrying the bicycle at times. Only about the last 100m along the summit of the Col Ferret (2564m) can be ridden. The sign at the bottom states that the climb takes 2 1/4 hours so now I have a calibration on what this means because it took me one hour to hike it with the bicycle. The descent to Ferret (CH)(1700m), that is substantially longer and not as steep, also took one hour. Although there are walking sections, such as when crossing snow, the advanced trail rider will find this descent mostly rideable.
Finally the hiking trail falls steeply the last 100m to La Puele (2071m) a milking shed from which a jeep trail makes the rest of the ride to pavement easy. The south side of Mont Blanc is far steeper than the north side at Chamonix and therefore, in some ways, more spectacular with hanging glaciers that make the mountain's character more intimate. It is also a more rugged terrain that is less spoiled by human development. From Ferret (1705m) the paved road allows a swift descent to the Grand St Bernard highway at Oisieres (901m) and on down to Martigny (467m) at the corner of the Rhone valley.