Monday, August 31, 2015

French Alps

Our last day in France was a spectacle. Beautiful warm weather and the mountains of the French Alps.

We looked at the map and selected a pass through the mountains east of Grenoble. It was a minor road on our map but actually we had accidentally chosen a pass that had been a King of the Mountain point for the Tour de France. So there were bike riders by the dozen attempting to emulate the professionals. We were dodging them all the way. Col du Glandon is almost 2000 metres high, above the treeline and the road up and down is quite steep as you wind up from the valley.

As with most passes there was a restuarant at the top, good for a coffee while Gemma went for a walk along one of the trails. I was much entertained by the bike riders celebrating when they reached the top of the pass, by the paragliders launching from the top and the beautiful views that included Mont Blanc.

King of the Mountain shirts decorate a balcony for The Tour.




The cheese-tasting plate in a little street market.







Mont Blanc on the horizon



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