February 2015

Apologies for the unimaginative post title, though it "does what it says on the tin": my February half-term getaway, again with my brother. We travelled entirely by train, and though it's still a long day (my preferred choice these days is to fly to Paris Charles de Gaulle, and then train from there), everything was as easy as it could be, with no hitches, and it was both cheaper and easier than driving.

The week was spent with a combination of walking, reading, cycling, and relaxing. The weather started with cold and wet, and finished in glorious blue skies and sun (well, apart from the day of departure: back to rain). Photos below are from our arrival, walks round Vercheny, up the Meyrosse valley, Luc-en-Diois and Le Claps, and a ride to Saoû. In amongst them you'll see a photo of the 'nest' of Processionary Moth Caterpillars (apparently a threat to the pines, but amazing all the same), and a red kite near Luc.

Riding-wise, just a couple of shortish ones: a loop to Recoubeau and back via St Roman (the plan had been to go as far as Luc-en-Diois, but the weather had other plans), and the loop to Saoû, here.

Les Liotards

Lichen gone mad

From Vercheny towards the Roanne Valley

Home for the Processionary Moth Caterpillar

In the Meyrosse valley

A typical 'cloud cap' in the Meyrosse valley

A red kite near Luc-en-Diois

Building blocks near Luc-en-Diois

Geological stuff near Le Claps

Luc-en-Diois

Luc-en-Diois

Saoû

Donjon de Lastic, near Saoû

Les Trois Becs from inside the perched valley near Saoû

The head of the Meyrosse valley, taken from the Col de Romeyer

The Col de Rousset, from the Col de Romeyer

From home to the Alps ... by bike!

This isn't the latest news ... but rather recounting my hugely enjoyable ride from my home in Exeter to Die back in August 2012. I thought I'd put a posting here on the blog in case anyone else is contemplating a similar trip, and might find it helpful; also, as it was a splendid adventure, and you might just find it interesting in itself.

First the context: I had already stayed near Die (the very first time for me), at the Wessons' house in St. Andéol-en-Quint in June 2012, and had an unforgettably wonderful week. Back in Devon in July, I was looking forward to a summer of cycling round the countryside in the warmth, when I realised that summer was going to bypass England yet again. Rather morbidly I started considering how many summers of fully active cycling I had left in me, and decided that I wasn't going to lose another one to the grey, cool and windy conditions England was offering. And so I decided to cycle TO the Alps. As you do.

After establishing that the Wessons would be in residence, and could put up with my presence for a few days, I sorted a route, booked my ferry crossing out, and my flight home. with a bit of creativity with bike racks and cars, I worked out that I could ride there, and catch a plane back, with my bike returning later on my bike rack, kindly carried by the Wessons & their car.

So, to cut a long story short: the route consisted of two days cycling to Portsmouth from Exeter, via Shaftesbury & the New Forest (I decided that the 130-mile route would be a heavy one to do in one day for the first day), and then five days for the planned 530 miles from St Malo to Die (with deviations it came to nearer 600 miles). The weather on the English side was grey and and a bit damp; on arriving in St Malo, the sun was out, and 25C promised. In fact, that was the coolest day, and by the time I got to Die it was 35C.

I was amused while waiting for the ferry - there must have been about twenty-or-so cyclists, all laden down with panniers anywhere they could be fixed. Nearly all of them were heading for Brittany, and when one or two asked me where I was heading, with just my saddlebag for company, there was surprise when I said 'The Alps'. But that's how I decided to do it: as light as possible, finding B&Bs along the way. So my kit consisted of: basic repair stuff (enough to get me to the next town and a bike shop, if necessary), showerproof top (not used, in the end) and arm/leg warmers, in case of chill (also not used), passport, phone, computer tablet, money, and a T-shirt and shorts, so I could wash my cycling kit each night. You'll see a photo below of the 'laden' bike.

And a summary of the ride? Absolutely wonderful. A week of solo riding as I pleased, mostly lovely roads (one or two getting down to Tours a bit on the straight, monotonous and slightly too busy side). There were just too many highlights to list them all, but a wonderful lunch in Thuret, an unbelievably relaxing and cheap B&B in Boën, and a final day of 141 miles, with 12,000ft of climbing, in 35C temperatures and with a decent tailwind, are all seared into my memory.

Firstly the French part of the route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1441823 - as I say, I did make some deviations from this in the second and third days, as I found some of the straight C-roads a bit monotonous and busy, but certainly the route from south of Tours was sheer delight.

Food-wise, I ended up eating café meals twice a day, and coffees morning and afternoon, which allowed me to fill up water bottles. It was warm enough that even with loads of ice in the water was warm within an hour. I also ended up calling at several houses along the way if they'd mind filling up my bottles, as I was getting through about 4-5 litres a day: no-one refused, and several were only too pleased to chat and offer encouragement too.

Cost-wise, it wasn't cheap, as everything was bought as I went, and I couldn't really shop around for places to stay: travelling alone, I didn't pre-book anything, but each place I decided to stop, the first B&B/hotel I called at had a bed, ranging in price from 55 to 25 euros. I reckon in total it cost me £100 a day ... but that was two restaurant meals a day, multiple café stops, and accommodation. Still cheaper than doing an organised tour. And it bought me unforgettable memories, that's for sure.

Blue skies on arrival in St Malo

The first morning's coffee stop

The lunchtime view in Fougères

The fully-laden bike

 

Tours Cathedral, after a lunch of rabbit stew

 

One of the many excellent calorie-replacement stops

.,, and this is where it was provided.

A refreshing view

 

The wonderful café in Thuret

Thiers

And here's me arriving at St Andéol seven days and 729 miles after leaving home. The photo was only slightly contrived...

Training in the Alps

A year ago was the first time I stayed in the house at Les Liotards; this year three of that original let's-furnish-the-house-with-stuff-from-Ikea party returned with four others from Exeter Wheelers to take advantage of the clement weather and mixture of stunning roads for a week-or-so-long training camp.

With ages ranging from mid-20s to, er, 50 (me), including someone who doesn't (yet) admit to liking hills, and a mixture of committed and experienced racers, less experienced racers, and one other (me again), it promised to be interesting to see how we sorted out our riding. The riders: Ellie and John (20s), Jon, Mark, Jamie and Arved (30s), and me. In fact, only two of the riders (Jamie and Ellie) didn't know the area at all, all the others having stayed here before. 

One of the pleasures of the place is its beauty - but this is also one of the challenges for real training too: can you take in and enjoy the scenery but still do some serious, structured training? Well, I suppose that since I ride for fun and don't race, I can afford not to be too scientific in my approach to training (I still enjoy riding at a reasonable level of fitness and competence, and do some time trialling with the club), but I do think that a good and sufficient mix of riding at different intensities will not do most riders any harm.

For the mix of riding, the roads round here really do the work for you: if you've read previous posts or seen the list of routes, you'll know what a good range of roads and routes there are, from nearly flat to big Alpine climbs. And if you take basic the six-day stats, with our individual totals ranging from about 200 to 375 miles, I suspect that we'll all be leaving France somewhat fitter than when we arrived, despite the prodigious amounts of food (especially cheese) that have seen consumed.

Training highlights: climbs up the Col de Rousset, Col de Grimone, Col de Menée and Col de la Chaudière, which both confirmed Jamie as a prodigious climber, followed closely by Arved (and not forgetting John's spirited chasing on Col de Rousset); Arved's dedication to cranking out the miles at an unremitting pace and eating for two; the stunning loop of Col de Grimone, Col de la Croix Haute and Col de Menée which had differing opinions on whether training should include a lunch in a roadside café or not; and a stunning day up on the Vercors plateau: properly challenging riding in quite breathtaking surroundings.

And it's all been helped by extremely pleasant weather: only one day with some rain (gone by lunchtime), and as long as you don't mind lots of sunshine and temperatures in direct sun of about 40C (and air temperatures, down in the valleys, of 20-25C), there hasn't been much to complain about. Even my first-attempt tartiflette drew no complaints.

Photos below are from the Grimone-Menée ride, and going out towards Col de la Chaudière, on a ride which split into two after the descent to Bourdeaux, both groups arriving back in Die with five minutes of each other, though one group having consumed coffee and flan as part of their training.

Routes done over the week or so include:

• To Aouste-sur-Lye, up to Beaufort-sur-Gevanne, and back via the Col de la Croix and Col de Marignac
• To Châtillon-en-Diois and back via the Col de Miscon
• To the Col de Grimone and back via the Col de Menée
• To Pont-en-Royans via Vercors, up the Gorges de la Borne, talking the short cut back at Rencurel to St Agnan-en-Vercors and back down the Col de Rousset
• To Col de la Chaudière, and back (eastwards) by Vallée de la Roanne or (westwards) by Dieulelfit, St Bégude-le-Mazenc and Crest
• To Valdrôme and back via Rossas and Bellegarde-en-Diois

Jon Hare nearing the Col de Grimone

L-R: me, Jon Hare and Mark Williamson at the Col de Grimone

At the start of the Col de Menée ascent, near Chichilianne

Jamie Howard ascending the amazing Gorges de la Borne

Arved Scwendel on the Vercors plateau, near St. Agnan-en-Vercors

Heading out towards the tough Col de la Chaudière

Ellie Bremer at the deserted Col de Miscon

New Year in Diois

Well, it's one year since I shook hands on this (still) dream house, and of course for this visit, it's my first New Year actually staying in the house. And whilst England has been battered by storms, we've had a week including plenty of sun. The relief for me has been that the house has been amply warm with just my trusty Jotul 602 woodburner and some oil-filled electric radiators for warmth, despite some chilly nights.

So, more importantly, to the weather and cycling. The data on average temperatures for the region suggest that I should expect conditions not wildly different from what we get in England. For whilst I am just 2km (as the crow flies) from the ski resort of Col de Rousset, Die is about 1000m (3300ft) lower, and historically has little snow, and gets average minimum/maximum temperatures of about 0C/8C at this time of year.

Road-wise, only major roads are salted, so with night-time temperatures at 500m being below freezing, any thoughts of conquering cols are out - even cars need to be cautious, and when your life depends on about 3 sq cm of contact between the road and slick rubber tyres, discretion is certainly called for. On the plus side there is hardly any traffic around - even if the French don't really do much for New Year, other than close everything early on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day (don't expect to be able to buy any food or go to a café or restaurant after midday on either day), they really don't do much of anything else either. Things only really start moving again from 2 January.

As regards the weather, a little research shows a really distinct difference between Valence and Montélimar, both on the Rhône, Valence about 20 miles further north than Die, and Montélimar 30 miles south. The difference in the average amount and number of days of rain is notable:

Valence:

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
mm	57	58	75	75	86	56	36	50	66	119	54	71
Days	16	14	16	16	14	17	23	21	21	18	18	17

Montélimar:

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
mm	60	60	80	80	80	50	40	50	70	140	60	80
Days	8	7	7	9	7	6	3	4	6	9	9	9

My guess would be that Die is closer to Montélimar weather than Valence. For both, October is by far the wettest month in terms of rainfall, but Valence spreads all its rain over roughly twice as many days. But when it rains in Die, it really rains. If you can understand French, there's a good article here that details the decreasing rainfall from north to south round the Vercors plateau.

This week I've been accompanied by George Humby of Exeter University Cycling Club for the cycling and Clare Greenall for reading, and surreptitious tending of the Jotul. George likes climbing hills (well, he is 15kg lighter than me, so that's my excuse for letting him win any KOMs), but with freezing nights, and mostly unsalted roads, morning rides and anything on side roads need to be avoided. At least we have the superb D93 (the main road to Gap and then Italy) stretching in both directions for about 30 miles. And with the dry climate here, and the lack of salting, certain roads can be ridden. So we have done four rides in the week: to Luc-en-Diois and Châtillon-en-Diois; to Crest, with a loop at the end; in the opposite direction to the Col de Cabre; and the old favourite up the Quint valley and back over the Col de Marignac.

 

I'll have to admit to stopping about 5km short of the Col de Cabre. We'd already ridden past quite a lot of ice, mostly by the side of the road. But at that altitude (950m, about 200m below the Col) I decided that I'd find it increasingly hard to turn round getting so near the summit, so George carried on to satisfy his col-lust, and I turned round and gingerly descended. Both of us were fine, but I'm very much looking forward to revisiting the col in warmer weather: we both agreed that the descent will be fantastic. Here's the route I'll be doing to Col de Cabre. In any case the road to Valdrôme was closed this time, and any side roads, especially those in the shade were likely to be skating rinks rather than roads.

Die-Valdrome-ColdeCabre 85m

Other highlights of the week have been walking round Font d'Urle in the snow; visiting the harrowing museum at Vassieux-en-Vercors, which charts the terrible, futile slaughter of the Vercors resistance, young men, and the razing of entire Vercors villages in July 1944; and, of course, seeing again the beauty of the area, wearing its winter clothes, and in winter weather, both gentle and stormy. Nothing is dull round here.

Les Liotards on the first morning

Clare being very British

Looking down on the Quint Valley from Font d'Urle

Font d'Urle

Beaurières, at the foot of the climb to the Col de Cabre

From the Route de Romeyer, the road home.

And three photos from George of the Col de Cabre. Excuse the bar tape, but George is a mathematician rather than an aesthete. At least he didn't give up 5km short of the col.

More autumnal glories, and routes...

We certainly hit the jackpot with the weather for the week. On the last day Martin and I were sitting on the steps eating lunch, and it seemed rather warm: a thermometer in the sun clocked the temperature at 37C - not bad for late October, and certainly better than what was on offer in England.

Anyway, some routes cycled this time.

Firstly a rather hilly one cycled with Arved: two hardish cols (Col de la Chaudière and Col de Pennes), and though only 72 miles, Ridewithgps clocks 12,000ft of climbing. Even if that is an overestimate, it was a properly tiring ride, and the climb to the Col de Pennes via the longer southerly route was taxing, though really worth it for the amazing scenery it goes through. Incidentally, not one car passed us from the Col de Lescou to the Col de Pennes, 20 miles in all.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3611751

Secondly, a short route round the Vercors plateau. Three highlights: the climb and descent to/from the Col de Rousset (a perfect gradient in both directions, which took me 57 minutes up and 25 minutes down); the Grands Goulets, the most bonkers balcony road you're ever likely to find; and the lush meadows spread out between the mountains of the plateau.
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3611827

Our one aborted ride was going to go over the Col de Grimone and back via the Col de Menée (similar, in reverse, to my ride to Mens in August), but the Col de Menée was closed, and given the windiness (gusts up to 60km/h) Arved & I returned via the unexpectedly amazing Cirque d'Archiane.

Photos below from the three rides.

Arved at the Col de la Chaudière

One of the Trois Becs, from the Col de la Chaudière

Les Grands Goulets

On the road back to St Agnan-en-Vercors

A salamander outside my house

Riding done, the Super Six is put to bed.