As I pedal my way north along the
Rhine in the rain, the world’s most famous bicycle race, the Tour de France, is
underway. I never paid much attention to it myself but this year I’ll be eager
to catch the mountain stages. You see, Bart and I have just finished an
eight-day cycle tour climbing some of the highest Alpine road passes, many of
which have been made legendary by the cyclists of “Le Tour”.
Many people may
find it a bit strange to want to cycle every day up one, two or even three high
mountain passes in the stinking heat of a European summer, only to come
straight back down the other side. But “collecting” these passes, or “cols” as
the French call them, can become quite addictive! We’d loaded up our bikes and parked
Bart’s campervan in the quiet ski village of Saint Sirlon d’Arves, where it
would be safe while we were away, and started our tour with one of the most
famous and beautiful cols, the 2642m Galibier. Hours of hard climbing took us
up into the mountains and the last of the winter snows alongside hundreds of
other cyclists keen to add this col to their “tick list”. Most cyclists undertaking
these rides are cycling superlight race bikes with no luggage and some even
have support vehicles. So I was pleased
to do the climb on my superheavy touring bike with all my kit for a week on the
road and to make the top not too far behind Bart! The climb was rewarded
with spectacular views of Park Nationale des Ecrins and a bit of a party
atmosphere on top as all the cyclists celebrated their achievement and queued
to take a photo in front of the sign!
Our next famous pass was the 2360m Col
d’Izoard, a bizarre landscape of bare mountains and weathered rock formations.
As we sat on top eating our picnic, we watched with admiration as an elderly
coupled arrived by bicycle on the summit. They were probably in their sixties
or seventies! When the man stepped off his bike, he was almost bent double with
a bad back but the woman was fit and beautiful for her age with long, plaited
hair and tanned skin. We hoped to still be cycling when we were their age!
After Izoard we ticked off the easy 2109m Col de Vars which was notable for me
as there I passed the 15,000 miles mark on my world bicycle trip.
I never come
first or win anything in life but that was about to change as we pedalled on to
tackle our next legendary col! The highest road pass in Europe is the 2802m Col
de la Bonette which seems to sit on the roof of the Alps, high up in remote and
rugged mountain scenery. Bart and I couldn’t believe our luck when we got to
the final section of the long, hard climb to the col – snowploughs were just
clearing the last remnants of the winter snows to officially open the road for
2012! As soon as we could, we squeezed by the machines and pedalled furiously
to be the first official cyclists over the col this year. Forever a sweetheart,
Bart let me go ahead to reach the col first and crowned me Miss Col de la
Bonette 2012!
We added many more miles and many metres of ascent as the days
rolled by and we conquered one col after another. And as the temperature soared
into the thirties, we watched the world go by sipping cold drinks on the
terraces of bars and cafes in the pretty, little French towns that we cycled
through. On our final day we cycled over the easiest col of the tour, the 1367m
Col d’Ornon, and then the most difficult one, the 2067m Col de la Croix de Fer.
As Bart’s GPS gave a temperature reading of 36 degrees, we climbed a long and initially
steep approach road that dispiritingly plummeted back down several times,
forcing us to climb again all the height that we’d lost. But eventually the top
came and we cycled over the col which is dominated by the impressive rock
spires of Les Aiguilles d’Arves. A short descent took us back to the van at
Saint Sirlon and we were surprised to see it joined on this quiet spot by about
twenty other campervans. Bart and I laughed all evening when we found out that
we had parked in the middle of a campervan club reunion!
All-in-all on our
8-day tour we conquered 14 cols over a distance of 632 kms and with 14,567m of
climbing! We may not be signing up for next year’s Tour de France but I think
we have earned our title of the “King and Queen of Cols”.
Photos on Flickr in the Alps folder
Photos on Flickr in the Alps folder
CLICK ON MAP TO ENLARGE
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