Continuing on with our European trip away from SEA STAR sail above. Dan and Kathy have left Italy and Sardinia, Spain and Portugal behind as we slowly motor on back towards Germany and our July 25th deadline. LET'S ENJOY THE MOUNTAINS! This distances of entire post from Mont Ventoux, France to Petite Saint Bernard took six days of riding.
Sea Star red mobile and Dan in a field of French lavender. Just one of many on the trip!
Our ride to Andorra and back to France
There are four sets of pictures on this post. Unfortunately the captions are not visable. Lots and lots of altitude!
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| Ski poles for sale in the mountains. |
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| Yet another ancient castle. Some have been renovated to modern hotels. |
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| As we climb these mountains to the passes, cols, at their summits we bought our stickers and attached them proudly to the panniers |
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NO TOUR FOR US
So that is how we came to be climbing Mont Ventoux a day or two before the 2013 Tour De France riders arrive. A lot of people have the same idea. It seems a miracle that riders do not fall to their death when riding the outside of that twisty, steep, unforgiving mountain road. We passed wanna be riders, going all out for the summit. For us, until we met traffic, it was just fun. It won't show in the pictures but a sport car passing over the mountain pass and going down the narrow road caused traffic to stop as cars and other motorcycles tried to give him room to pass. We were riding up a very steep grade and simply had to stop in place. Very difficult for a motorcycle. Just as I was thinking of bailing off the back so Dan could support the bike, another rider in front noticed our problem and somehow cleared out for us to pull up. We had a nice chat with other riders at the top. They were curious about how we had our own bike for the trip, so we were able to recommend Stefan Knopf for transport.
http://www.knopftours.com/Web-Site/MotorbikeTransport.html
MONT VENTOUX to VARS, France
Vars town to Col de Galibier followed by Col de L'Iseran
A day of riding high!
Before 1976, the tunnel was the only point of passage at the top, at an altitude of 2556 m. The tunnel was closed for restoration until 2002, and a new road was constructed over the summit. The re-opened tunnel is a single lane controlled by
traffic lights, which are among the highest such installations in Europe.
From the north, starting at
Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne (including the
Col du Télégraphe), the climb is 34.8 km long, gaining 2120 m. in height (an average of 6.1%). The actual climb to the summit starts at
Valloire and is 18.1 km long at an average of 6.9% (height gain: 1245 m). The maximum gradient is 10.1% at the summit.
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| Tunnel |
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| Yum candy! |
Example of just one of the truns encountered as we accended and decended these wonderful mountain passes.
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| Really? This is a great find! I wonder what named the valley. |
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| Our Alpine Hotel in Vars. |
Down into the lovely valley, Isere and back to ITALIA! for just a few minutes.
Driving through Col de Petite Saint Bernard- (just wait until you see its big brother Grande Saint Bernard!) nearer to Switzerland.
The Little St Bernard Pass (French: Col du Petit Saint-Bernard, Italian: Colle del Piccolo San Bernardo) is a mountain pass in the Alps on the France–Italy border. Its saddle is at 2188 metres above sea level. It is located between Savoie, France, and Aosta Valley, Italy, to the south of the Mont Blanc Massif, exactly on the main alpine watershed.
The pass is the site of a
stone circle measuring (236 ft) in diameter. A
standing stone once stood in the middle. It has not been precisely dated but from coin finds it has been attributed to the
Iron Age, possibly being a ceremonial site of the
Tarentaisian culture (c. 725 BC–450 BC). A Roman temple dedicated to
Jupiter was later erected nearby along with a Roman
mansio serving travellers along the pass, and it is thought that Carthaginian general
Hannibal used this route.
The stone circle was partly restored in the 19th century. WWII battlements have been located there.
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| Always searching out coffee and never disappointed in Italia! |
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| Look a monument to the wonderful dog bred for mountain rescue. |
Example of just one of the truns encountered as we accended and decended these wonderful mountain passes.
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