Hannibal across the Alps



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Day 9 Bedoin to La Motte Chaloncon

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Well that was rather a hard day... Mont Ventoux was a brutal climb, 12.5 miles with hardly any let up for the screaming legs and back. I had to stop a few times to get the heart rate down a bit and stretch out my lower back that really doesn’t like steep gradients. One of my breathing points was at the memorial to Tom Simpson, the spirited and stylish English cyclist who collapsed and died during the ascent of Mont Ventoux in the 1967 TdF. Fortunately I have avoided the amphetamines and alcohol. The top of the mountain is being rebuilt which makes it a bit of a chaotic finish line, but the obligatory photo still has to be taken (once I had stopped puffing and swearing). The view from the top is every bit as spectacular as expected. We descended to Sault on a fabulous sweeping road with a smooth road surface and I surprised myself by really enjoying it instead of hanging onto the brakes as I usually do on big descents. It was a huge sense of achievement doing this iconic climb but the r...
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Day 13 Bourg d’Oisans to La Chalp

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That was a BIG day on the bike, ‘only’ 59 miles but 9617 feet of climbing over two cols. The scenery was spectacular but my concerns about famous, tourist attraction, alpine cols were unfortunately proved to be correct. The morning climb up Col du Lautaret was dominated by some sort of old sports car rally, predominantly Porsches which prompted a very apt joke from Neil (sorry Big Bro!): Q: What is the difference between hedgehogs and Porsche drivers? A:  Hedgehogs have their pricks on the outside. It didn’t help that there were lots of tunnels which are unpleasant enough on a bike without being overtaken at speed by said pricks. The scenery however was rather lovely... The Col du Lautaret has been crossed over 40 times by the TdF so obviously one needs another podium photo. The descent was enjoyable as the Porsches had presumably arrived en mass somewhere, and we stopped for a picnic lunch on the way down to give it time to digest before the next bout of climbing. After Briancon w...
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Day 6 Sommieres to Saint-Remy de Provence

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Saturday in France means markets, hunting and cycling. There were some navigational challenges around the market in Sommieres and then shooting groups wearing high-vis jackets in the countryside - presumably the boar are colour blind! Out first coffee stop was the local French Oundle Beans equivalent and it was great to see so many older ladies in the groups. This was my TdF moment of overtaking a French cyclist - I think he was probably well into his 70’s! Next stop was the Pont du Gard, a very impressive Roman aqueduct bridge.  It brought back very happy memories of a fabulous weekend in Nimes with Katie when she was au pairing near here for a summer. We hired ridiculously heavy bikes and had a very hot bike ride to the Pont du Gard. Fortunately Bob is more of a lightweight but it was still very warm today. Just before lunch we crossed the Rhône which is very wide and fast flowing, we had to guess how Hannibal’s army and elephants managed to get across it without being slaughtere...
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