Friday, July 4, 2008

La Route des Grandes Alpes Day 9: Bouyon to Guillaumes

84.0 km total
Col des Ferres 596m
Col de Saint-Raphael 876m
Col de St-Léger 1,069m

Today we were heading for adventure! The picture perfect experience at La Catounière continued with a lovely breakfast. We seriously contemplated staying an extra day but the road was calling.

We were heading for Puget-Théniers and in order to avoid the scenic but busy D6202, we continued along the D1 over Les Ferres towards Roquesteron. After Sigale, we followed the Clue du Riolan. These quiet, well surfaced roads with their lovely nested villages are a real must for anyone looking for something unique.

From the Col de St-Raphael, we headed down towards Puget-Théniers. Before we left the top, 2 British cyclists had joined us. After we said hello, they took off before we did but we quickly flew by them in the descent. Our speed must have impressed them because the next day, our Secret Weapon happened to talk to them and they remembered us as "descending very fast".

From Puget-Théniers, we contemplated the two road choices to Guillaumes - the final destination for the day. To follow the main road over Entrevaux and further through the Gorges de Daluis OR to head up to the Col de St Léger and descend towards Daluis. We choose the 2nd option while our 4-wheeled support opted to go along the main road. Good that they did as the road up to Col de St-Léger was the narrowest one we have encountered on our trip and the way down to Daluis is simply off-road and is officially closed to traffic. We were lucky to have an MTB tandem.

We descended slowly and carefully from St-Léger and stopped a number of times to let our disks cool down. Today was so hot and had been so tough that by the time we arrived at the main road close to Daluis, we felt we were almost cooked. These were the holidays we had chosen and it was supposed to be fun.

So, we moved on and were awed by the beauty of the Gorges de Daluis. This was the reason why we chose to ride over the Col/Cime de la Bonette on the way down and would climb the Col de la Cayolle tomorrow. Indeed, the road through the Gorges de Daluis often splits in 2, forcing the north-south lane to go through tunnels. The south-north connection stays more out in the open, thus offering the better views. That was the one we were on. This day ended up being the toughest day of our trip but what an exceptional experience!

We will come back here for sure but you will not find us at hotel Les Chaudrons in Guillaumes. This was the only hotel that gave us a bad experience on the whole trip. Too bad.

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