Alpine Splendour

Alps for more photos click here

As we set off from Le Puy-en-Velay we headed towards Valence over a mountain pass - through thick fog and cloud, and it was freezing!!

The temperature dropped down to 6 degrees, and draggin jeans just weren't made for these temperatures, and we certainly don't have warm enough jerseys either. The wind was just whipping through our jackets. So we stopped at Valence for coffee to try and get warm and hunted through the local shops for anything warm to wear – without success. Couldn't see anything of the Alps with the thick fog so mountain passes were a waste of time and we hit the motorway and went to Grenoble. Big shopping centre … and a new jersey for each of us. Somewhat warmer we rode to Bourg St Maurice – about 6kms from Les Arcs for a warm overnight in a B&B. The sun finally came out ½ hour before we arrived at Bourg St Maurice – and our host told us it had been shining there all day!! So before settling in for the night we went for a quick ride through the area … just in case the cloud made a comeback in the morning! The B&B was great, and had a lounge and big open fire, with english movies ( Johny English in fact) we could watch! Luxury.

Today – and the cloud was back!! Freezing cold again, and couldn't see more than 100m down the road. Our plans of riding in the Alps and enjoying all that beautiful scenery seemed doomed. We looked at all sorts of options of different routes we could take, or where else we could travel in search of the sun … but decicded to stick with Plan A and head towards Switzerland and Interlaken. As we climbed up the first pass to La Thuile we broke above the clouds and it was spectacular !!! Amazing views and lots of photos looking out over the sea of cloud below us (as attached!). Big smiles ! Lovely in the sun ! And fantastic riding conditions. It is such a beautiful area of the world, and one of the places Warwick particularly wanted to ride. So we travelled towards Mont Blanc enjoying every twist and turn of the road with clear blue skies and blazing sunshine. Although still a quite chilly 10 degrees. We went through the Mont Blanc tunnel (for a mere cost of 23euro!!) - a tunnel of 11.6km – and popped out into the other side to be greeted with …. thick stinking cloud and fog!! My vote was to turn right around, pay the toll again and go straight back through the tunnel. However, the driver overrides my vote and we drove through Chamonix and towards Martigny - in Switzerland. So we started the day in France, crossed the alps into Italy then back into France again. Over the pass from Chamonix to Martigny took us to Switzerland (and now we are back in Italy again overnight!)

The weather in Martigny was still stink and not improving, so we decided to head back to Italy over another pass in hope of finding the sun again. Martigny is interesting though as a wine growing region, and they have planted vines on every inch of the available hillsides. Forget front gardens … these people have vines planted right up to the front door! We travelled over Col du Grand St Bernard at a height of 2473m - quite a climb. And all the tourist shops were full of … you guessed it. St Bernard fluffy dogs! We did rise above the clouds again and enjoyed another beautiful ride in the sun for the rest of the afternoon. Lucky !!!!! So we are overnight at Aosta – another ski village somewhere in the Italian alps … and tomorrow's plan will be decided when we see what the weather looks like in the morning. We are staying overnite in a small family hotel and for 10euro each, mama cooked dinner. A superb 3 course meal including wine! Best dinner we have had by far in ages!

By the way …. 12,000 kms to date.

Friday - we started the day with a 50km ride to the base of the Matterhorn so we could see it from the Italian side. Then backtracked over some of the same roads yesterday, but that was ok, as we were seeing the view from the other direction! Another lovely sunny morning – but got down to 3 degrees at times which is damn cold on the bike! Back into Switzerland and back into cloud. But we pressed on anyway towards Interlaken and the cloud broke up a bit during the afternoon. Switzerland is so green, with the lovely Swiss style houses, and cows with bells, and mountains … it is a very special place. So we are staying tonight at Grindelwald just outside Interlarken – and it's costing the same tonight for a night in a hostel, as it did last night including dinner and breakfast! But you can't travel this part of the world and not go to Switzerland