Day 29
After a long night of drinking, smoking cigars and chatting I eventually left the home of my friend at at around noon the following day. My plan was to try to get up the highest unpaved road in Europe which is the Coll Du Jandre. However, my over indulgence the previous night had left me short of time so I headed in the general direction of Briancon to see where I ended up at the end of the day.
Needless to say my journey that day through the French Alps was nothing short of breathtaking view after breathtaking view. However, I was very surprised at the fact that I managed to stop myself from running my bike off of the road whilst staring at the awesome scenery.
I had booked a room in a remote Gite but on arrival I found a notice in the window saying that it was closed. I managed to raise the occupant from a drunken stupor and he told me that there was no water due to a plumbing problem. When I asked him in my limited French about alternative accommodation, he looked at me, shrugged his shoulders, took a large swing from his bottle of wine and closed the door. I eventually found an alternative about 20 miles away and as I headed there I got caught in a massive thunderstorm so by the time I arrived at the place I was soaking wet. It was a ski lodge with lots of people staying there and it was a tad pricey at 50 Euros for a night without breakfast. However, it was warm and dry and I settled down for the night as the rain continued to fall.
Day 30
It had rained all night and although it was now lighter, it was still falling when I departed. However, as I headed for Les Deux Alpes the skies cleared. When I arrived at Les Deux Alpes it took me a few minutes to find the unpaved dirt road that led to the summit but once I did I scooted up it and very quickly the town disappeared as the altitude increased. Fully loaded, the bike easily climbed up the road which has numerous steep inclines and hairpins.
This road which is primarily used by vehicles servicing the ski lift is mainly of crushed rock but in the hairpin bends, the large heavy vehicles that use the road, have turned the rock in to fine dust. It was like riding on talcum powder spread on glass but the bike took it all in it’s stride without any problems.
The road kept climbing and climbing until eventually it took me to the summit at 3165 meters above sea level.
A quick turnaround and back down to Les Deux Alpes, then on to Val D’Isere, and then over the Little St Bernard pass which I had crossed the previous year.
On the other side of the pass I headed for Aosta in Italy where I found a great little apartment to stay in for the evening for under 30 Euros.
Day 31
The next day I decided to transverse three of the major Alpine passes in one day. The first one being, the Great St Bernard pass was just North of Aosta. The last time that I had been here I was forced to take the tunnel but not this time and despite some rain and low cloud I managed to get to the top but it was still clouded over and consequently no spectacular photographs from the summit. Then dropping down towards Martigny in Switzerland I headed for Gletsch at the base of the Grimsel pass.
I made a quick coffee and cigar stop at a very traditional Swiss hotel and sat in the sun for a while to heat up a little. Then once refreshed, I headed for the Grimsel pass.
I then rode up over the Grimsel pass, then down the other side to Innertkirtchen and then up and over the Susten pass.
Once over the Susten pass it was a straight run along the valley to Chur and in to Germany via Lichtenstein.
After crossing in to Germany I rode East for a while before settling on a Gasthof in the small town of Obergünzburg North East of Kempten. The place was under some kind of renovation and at about 50 Euros for a night not particularly good value but as it was getting dark by the time that arrived there, I stuck with it and settled down for the night.