European tour 2014 day day 5

Day 5

Today we were going to leave France head into Italy then return to France and end our day in Switzerland. The first part of the journey I had ridden before on my very first Alpine bike ride and wanted to share this with the rest of my family as I knew the roads and views were stunning. The rest of the ride would be a surprise to us all.

 

Today would take us from Bourg, up the D1090 through La Rosiere onto St Bernard’s pass then into Italy on the SS26, we would then head on through the Mont Blanc tunnel. Once back in France we would follow the D1506, once this hits Switzerland it turns into a random road we’ll follow this into Martigny then join the 21,9 and then the 11 to get us into Interlaken, then if we had time and depending on the weather we would head to Lauterbrunnen.

We woke to lovely blue skies with just a wisp of thin white cloud. Breakfast was the same as yesterday, as this was the only hotel we would be staying in twice. The bright skies lifted our spirits as yesterday was a little on the grey side. I was really looking forward to today’s drive as I had ridden it before a few years ago and knew what sights we were in for.

I love this road from Bourg to La Rosiere, it winds its way up the mountain side through villages and forests and as you climb the views just get better and better. We did make one little mistake and came off the main road and dropped into one of the villages. I could see from the Garmin that the road would join the main road again so we kept on going. What I hadn’t banked on was the very steep assent from the side road back onto the main road. We managed to pull out ok, but my brother Ian and son Martin both struggled to get out. I ended up standing on the main road and directing them so they could get a run up to get out. My mother told me off for picking the route as I tried to explain that I’d never been there before and wasn’t aware of the slopes.

 

However this was soon forgotten as we arrived in La Rosiere and found somewhere to park.  The sights were just as I remembered them, if not better. We saw snow-capped mountains, forest lined valleys and far down below we could see the town of Bourg. We took a break here for a photo opportunity before carrying on our journey up to and through Saint Bernard’s pass. This part of the drive is quite straight forward but, despite being June the road was still lined with snow, in some places feet deep. As we passed the monument we once again pulled in for another photo opportunity. We took selfies next to the monument, threw snowballs, and watched Marmots play on the mountainside.

We hadn’t gone far, and because of the stops we were now running behind our time schedule. We set off again and passed into Italy here the roads got interesting again as they wound their way down the side of the mountain. It’s funny how parts of the road you remember and other parts you don’t. We made good time and we were soon at the entrance to the Mont Blanc tunnel.

 

Unless you have to or you want to, I personally would avoid the tunnel and go the long way around. I had decided to add it to our route as some of the family had not experienced it before. I did however forget how extortionately expensive it is. Once through we stopped to regroup and take a break. It was then I noticed a view that I had seen the last time I’d came through. There above was Mont Blanc, snow-capped in all its glory.

Our next stop was going to be in Chamonix. We were going to visit a tourist attraction called Walk into the Void where you can walk out into a glass box, high above the valley, to get a true panoramic view. Unfortunately we were well behind time so sadly decided to give it a miss.

 

I was now into new territory, I had never been this way before.  Despite the road being a normal size carriage way it seemed wide, but then everything seemed bigger, the mountains the forests the skies etc. We were making up time and enjoying the ever winding roads that rolled through the countryside. We left France and entered Switzerland the roads wound their way through spectacular wild countryside.

 

Soon, way below us, like a model village appeared the town of Martigny. We weaved our way down the mountainside, the town spread out in front of us, once on the valley floor we followed the 21 then the 9 toward Aigle, the valley was flat and was a mixture of towns, villages, and perfect square fields. Hugh mountain ranges framed both sides. At Aigle we left the 9 and joined the 11 heading toward Interlaken. This road left behind the man kept valley base and we were once again back into the natural green wilderness.

We travelled up the 11 for a short while when I decided that we had made good time and all deserved a break to stretch our legs and have some lunch. We stopped at a hotel on the main road called Hotel Le Relais Alpin, for no other reason than it was there. The views were breath taking and coffee and hot chocolate were the order of the day.

 

It was now mid-afternoon and I guessed we had a two hour drive to Lauterbrunnen.  As the weather was nice, I wanted to see it today in case tomorrow was not as fair. We then of course had to find the hotel. After a nice rest stop we once again headed off up the 11, this  was a nice road to drive and once we got to Spiez we followed the lake into Interlaken and then onto Lauterbrunnen.

 

 

We arrived at Lauterbrunnen in the early evening.  In the pictures it is depicted as a small rural village that’s dominated by its waterfall that falls hundreds of feet from the mountain top to the valley bottom, but in reality it’s not quite as the pictures suggest and has multi-storey car parks and a massive railway station. I was a little disappointed to be honest. However put this to one side and walk towards the waterfall and you can see its beauty and wonderment. We enjoyed our time there and even walked our way to the viewpoint below the waterfall, making sure we took plenty of photos. We decided that we would also eat here and found a lovely restaurant just on the edge of town.

 

Evening upon us we decided to make our way back to Interlaken to find our hotel, surprisingly it wasn’t that far away and we had passed it on our way to the waterfall village. We booked in, just in time to see the sunset.

European tour 2014 day 4

Day 4

A rest day.

Day four was never going to be a riding day; I had always planned today to be a rest day, for two reasons.  The first was we had covered a lot of miles the last four days, to get us down to the Alps and we deserved it.  The other reason was personal, my wife’s best friend and god mother to our son Martin lived in Tignes Les Brevieres, she sadly passed away from the big C and we wanted to pop in and pay our respects and say hi.

 

Bourg Saint Maurice is a lovely little town it has all you need a super market to stock up, if you need too.  It also has a lovely open air pool if you want to go for a swim and look up at the mountains and watch eagles soaring.  There are an array of shops and restaurants, however you must remember the half day closing. If adventure is your thing you can go white water rafting, cycling, climbing, off road riding and driving and paragliding among other things

One thing I had noticed for this the time of year, is that there was still an awful lot of snow capping the mountains, and later that day we were told that the pass through the Col de I’Iseran was closed due to snow.  Luckily for us we weren’t heading that way although, if you ever get the chance to ride it, it is a lovely road ride.

The morning was a little grey with the threat of rain, but the cloud was broken and the sun did its best to shine through. We had a typical French breakfast of breads, hams and jams. There were juices and hot drinks too, with yoghurts, fruit and cereals such as muesli. We ate heartily and prepared for the rest of the day

We left Bourg and headed up the mountain to Tignes Les Brevieres. These were the first proper alpine roads I had ever driven, many years ago, and every time we visited I always said, I’d love to ride these roads one day, which is one of the things that inspired me to get my bike licence.

 

The road out of Bourg is straight and fast, you then get to a few hairpin bends, then the road winds along the side of the mountain until you reach a few more hairpins. The road then follows the side of the mountain valley weaving in and out until we turned right and the road drops down slightly in to the little village of Tignes Les Brevieres. Although I say little, the village has doubled in size since we first went there.

 
 

Here we spent a short time with Lisa’s family before making our way up the summer road (ski slope during the skiing season) to Tignes Les Boisses where we paid our respects. Here we then walked to the dam and looked down the valley to take in the views. They were working on the dam and although not empty you could see the old bridge at the far end where the road used to go. We also watched the swallows flying out from under the dam trying to catch flies to take back to their young.

 

 

 

We then headed back down the mountain to Bourg to find somewhere to have lunch. On the way down we passed where it had rained, it looked like it had rain very hard and the clouds where low. However we were lucky as we’d missed it. Soon we were back in Bourg and wondering around looking for somewhere to eat. We found a nice little Brasserie just off the high street down from the train station where I had a sandwich, one of the biggest sandwiches I’ve ever had. In fact all our meals had been good value for money. We also needed to do some shopping so Sue and I went to the garage to get some top up oil and then went clothes shopping in the larger outlets.

It was this afternoon that I heard once more from the RAC. They called to tell me my bike would be repaired and ready to go tomorrow (day 5) Thursday, and that they would hire me a car so I could go and pick it up. This put me in a quandary and I told them that I couldn’t make that decision alone and would have to first speak to the family. They agreed and said they would phone later.

Speaking to the family I realised that the situation we were in wasn’t ideal or the way it had been planned, however the bike shop was an eight and a half hour drive away. It would mean an early start just to get there, then a hotel for the night, then nearly a nine hour ride back to meet up on the evening of day 6, and that was if the traffic was in my favour and I had no hold ups. It also meant that someone would have to take my place as the navigator for the next two days, a job no one wanted to take responsibility for. They also were concerned how tired I would be after two such long days. We had a long talk about the pros and cons and despite the fact that I wanted my bike back, it made perfect sense to leave it and carry on with our adventure as planned.

Later that evening the RAC rang again to confirm they had booked a hire car and hotel for me.  I told them that I had not agreed to this and that I in fact was going to leave the bike at the repairers and collect it on our return journey.  They seemed a little put out, but agreed and said if I did change my mind over night that everything was in place.

 

That evening we were all still full from lunch, so decided to go for a walk around the town picking up some presents and souvenirs as we went.  We also looked in the smaller clothes and shoe shops etc. after a while we found a nice little café where we had hot drinks and ice cream before thinking about retiring.