traverse of the french alps

barrabus

If Blorg can do it so can I ……..
Just back from the Alps, where three of us cycled toured from Geneva to Nice doing a version of the Grand Traverse of the French Alps.

Did roughly 700ks over the ten 10 days with 13000 to 14000 metres of climbing (not to mention the “day off” mountain biking in Jausiers:D.)
Hit lots of famous climbs like Col L'Iseran, the Telegraphe, the Galibier, Col d'Izoard, and the lung bursting but billiard table smooth la Bonnete as well as a few less renowned classics like the sustained 9% of the Col des Arrivas, and the scenic Cormet de Roseland, Col de Vars to name but a few.

Not sure what the most enjoyable climb was, through the forest up the Col du Telegraphe in the rain with thunder in the background was atmospheric to say the least! I can confirm the Galibier does indeed have a special aura, that holding off someone racing to beat you on a carbon bike when you are on a touring bike with panniers up the Col d'Izoard is fun and that the additional part added to la Bonnette to make it the highest road in France / Europe hurts.


Advice for the boardies going to France in October (when is that trip btw way I could be tempted):
1. Wrap up particularly if you are going over 2000m,
2. Do all your bike bit shopping in a big town as the smaller places have very little and the summer / ski resort towns may be closed down. ( I spent three days looking out for a replacement spare spare tube)
3. Lots of hills in Ireland are as steep if not steeper, they just don’t go on and on and on and on and on like they do in the Alps, it is all about picking a pace you can sustain.

There are a million and one places to recommend as a base for one day trips, Beaufort stood out to me because of the hundreds of kilometres of marked road routes for which a guide is available from the local tourist office.

I am now looking forward to the weekend …..back on a carbon bike with no panniers, a different experience I imagine .

barrabus

barrabus

Chips Lovell

Bravo. I'm dead jealous.

DirkVoodoo

Really great photos, sure beats cycling to college in the rain for 15 minutes.

Bravo!

emty

Super photos,great advice,starting to look forward to our trip now.Thanks Barrabus!

blorg

That looks really great Barrabus, looks like you got slightly better weather than we did! Really looking forward to our Alpine trip now- we are going Thu 2 - Tue 7 October, flying to Grenoble and staying in Bourg d'Oisans.

Trojan

Sweet - well done. When you get a chance post up a route map on Gmaps for us

Funkyzeit

Looks like a class trip...lucky git...:)

Raam

Wow, that looks absolutely class. I wanna go now!

PeadarofAodh

After seeing Tonto's photos from Spain and now these I'm definitely planning on hitting Europe for a cycling holiday asap!

On a side note: As I'm heading off to South Africa in 1-2 months, would anyone have any experience of cycling around the cape area? I'll be based in Port Elizabeth for about 3 months, maybe more, so would be interested in any cycling tips/routes etc

Raam

PeadarofAodh wrote: »

After seeing Tonto's photos from Spain and now these I'm definitely planning on hitting Europe for a cycling holiday asap!

On a side note: As I'm heading off to South Africa in 1-2 months, would anyone have any experience of cycling around the cape area? I'll be based in Port Elizabeth for about 3 months, maybe more, so would be interested in any cycling tips/routes etc

I was in Port Elizabeth last year. Jeffrey's Bay is not far from there, and it's a cool surfing spot, if that's your thing. I didn't think much of PE itself.
However, if you can cycle down the Cape of Good Hope, then go for it. It's simply amazing down there. If starting from Cape Town, head out along the M6 and then the M65 (they aren't motorways) The section around False Bay and the other side of it is also really nice.

I've marked the area here...

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&ll=-34.196469,18.695297&spn=0.805328,1.235962&z=10&msid=113920163981166772834.00045727b3e414760fc03

PeadarofAodh

Thanks for that Raam, appreciate it. I've heard it's a watersport spot so may well find myself on a surfboard rather than the bike most of the time!

Any other info you can send my way via PM about the place? Wouldn't mind knowing a bit more about the place before heading off