Monday, July 7, 2008

La Route des Grandes Alpes Day 12: Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur to Allemont

84.8 km total
Col des Festreaux 1,106m
Col de l’Holme 1,200m
Col de Parquetout 1,398m
Col d’Ornon 1,371m

After yesterday’s punishing weather, we were a little hesitant when we saw dark skies this morning. But after a big breakfast and covered in long sleeved shirts, we felt powered for the day.

Except for some fast downhill stretches, we were happy to avoid the N85 as that road is better fit for cars. So after having taken the D23 to Chauffayer and some N85 towards lovely St-Firmin, we took on the steep climb to Col des Festreaux. From there, we went down to Corps before climbing over Ste-Luce to the sweet Col de l’Holme.

We stayed pretty much level and passed the little village of Villelonge so we didn’t expect much from the Col de Parquetout at 1,398m. Wrong! This one is steep, very steep. 15% and 18% marks were painted all over the turns, probably for a local race that had taken place there. The descent reminded us of our local La Croisette in Genève, but steeper and with a road surface in worse condition. Going 45 kmh felt like risking way too much, so the brakes were used a lot. We made it down in one piece and picked up the road towards Col d’Ornon.

The south side of this climb is OK but not spectacular. The northern side facing towards Le Bourg d’Oisans is the more interesting part. We rolled down at good speed and stopped right before Allemont as our support car was smartly parked along the road indicating that we were spending the night in the chambres d’hôtes right there.

And even though the clouds had been threatening today, we managed to stay dry.

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