Col des Limouches 1086m

A new col for me, and an unexpected delight: the Col des Limouches, east of Valence and Chabeuil, and one of the main routes up to the Vercors plateau. I'd been planning to ride up this road anyway, but I was doubly keen having just finished Paddy Ashdown's truly magnificent 'The Cruel Victory', which charts the story of the Resistance (Maquis) on the Vercors leading up to the horrific days in July 1944. I'll be devoting a posting to the book in due course.

Anyway, prompted by the importance that Chabeuil had in that history, I visited the pretty little town on the way to the col. (Incidentally, I'd avoid the main road to Chabeuil from Crest: too busy and relentless to be much fun. I diverted to roads to the east, and though poorly signposted (take a map!), they offered some great views and nice riding.

The ride up to the col is a mini classic Alpine ascent: with hairpins and ever-expanding views across the Rhône plains over to the Massif Central, the gradient is steady. The col itself (1086m) is unexceptional, and the short descent into La Vacherie is over in a trice, but I imagine a return descent back down to Peyrus would be thrilling, with its nice mix of straight, curvy and twisty bits to negotiate. (If you do carry on south from La Vacherie, the descent to Mirabel et Blacons can be a rollercoaster ride if you have a tailwind. You'll pass over the 978m Col de Bacchus, which I mention here as it won't be getting its own entry!)

As usual, a pile of photos to tell the story...

Roadside flowers

The unusual amount of rain here this summer has had the positive side-effect of lush greenery and abundant flowers. One of the joys of cycling, if you're doing it for fun, is that a bike takes along at just the right speed to see lots of stuff around you, without taking too long to get anywhere. (Of course if you're doing really proper training you'll be hurting too much to be sightseeing as well - but I like to think that I can push myself reasonably hard as well as taking in the world around me. But then, I'm not racing.)  Combine that with the ease of stopping and the quality of relatively cheap decent cameras (I'm mostly using a Sony HX50), and in an area as photogenic as this, you soon have a pile of photos taken. And so for something a bit different, I've been stopping to take snaps of those easily overlooked roadside flowers.

Well, I'm no botanist, so I've no idea what the names of the below are, in English or in French. And sort-of apologies for being so unscientific and giving you no scale for the flowers. But I hope you'll agree that there is something pretty in all of these photos, though some of them are tiny flowers. And in that case, what's the importance of size?

Col de Pennes 1040m - route 1

Unlike Col de Rousset, which is really a one-sided event (the spectacle and thrills are to the south of the col), Col de Pennes has four approaches, all worthwhile. From the east you can ascend from/descend to Recoubeau or Barnave, and on the western side there two roads from the Roanne Valley. I've ascended from both of these from the valley, and neither is particularly comfortable: the ascent through Pennes le Sec is unrelenting at the start, and the ascent via Aucelon keeps a bit of a sting in the tail.

Anyway, today, for the first time, I ascended from the east, via Barnave, and descended via Aucelon. It was a treat: the hairpins (nine of them) above Barnave give the feel of a proper (mini) Alpine climb, and quickly get you up to the col, at 1040m (from about 450m at the main road). From there, watch out for the sharp left turning to Aucelon (see photos). Do be cautious on the descent: there were a few gravelly bits, bit even with a perfect surface this wouldn't be a descent to find your top speed, as it's full of blind twists and turns, and some steepish drops to your right.

One observation I made while doing this ride was how on the ascent from Barnave the road gets to the col despite the geography (hence the hairpins), yet the Aucelon descent really works with the geography, following the contours round every little valley.

Anyway, enough words, and now for a pile of photos. I'll annotate them at some stage when I'm on a PC (it's a laborious task on a tablet), but they tell the story in the order below. They are a mixture of helpful (I hope) and pretty. Though the one of me doesn't fall into either category.