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.

Autumnal excursions and colours

A week ago I had my normal glance at the Villard-de-Lans webcam to see what I assumed to be a software glitch, as all I could see was snow. But no, the date stamp was up-to-date, and there had indeed been a big snow dump overnight. However, generally very mild weather has been the norm this Autumn, and by the evening nearly all the snow had gone. And I gather that such great variation is to be expected, so I was prepared for anything for my week's October stay - though, of course, hoping for some warmth and some cycling-friendly weather.
Well, so far,so good: daytime temperatures up to 24C in the shade, though also with dramatic Alpine storms.
I don't know if this year's weather has made the autumnal colours especially spectacular, but certainly, for my first October visit, the scenery is perhaps even more breathtaking than in the Summer.
Below are photos from today's ride up to the Col de Grimone and back via the Cirque d'Archiane (a most dramatic valley indeed). The top photo is from yesterday's ride to Gigors, and shows Alpine newbie Martin Wright coming over his second Col, the Col de la Croix, with experienced Alpinist Arved Schwendel.
The walnuts were collected from a roadside ditch by Arved and me, on the way back through Châtillon-en-Diois, and the last four photos are from an evening stroll up behind my house towards the Glandasse, dodging some very heavy showers!

A few local loops

One of the joys of the area around Die is the ability to make up so many different types of route, from day-long epics, to quick there-and-back training loops. I'll add some more epics in due course, but if you're in the area, and you'd like some ideas for shorter rides, here are a few of the ones I've done, mostly in the 90 minutes to 3 hour range.

I'll start with a virtually pan-flat 39-mile course west to Aouste along the D93 - this would make a great time trial course, as there are relatively few junctions, great road surface, and a roundabout each end: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3350037

Next up - one of the first rides I did in the area, with a nice climb, some beautiful views and a long fun descent (watch for a few of the earlier corners on which you might need to back off top speed in case of traffic coming the other way): http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3350119

Heading out east, there are a few nice loops. Firstly, a nice short one (7 miles) to Pont-le-Quart: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3350119. Secondly, 16 miles out to Recoubeau: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3350144, and thirdly an extension of that to Luc-en-Diois, with some nice rolling downhill sections on the return: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3350155

If you want to do some reasonably serious climbing, here are two routes. Firstly, 32 miles to the Col de Pennes: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3350170 - the ascent is about 2500ft, and though the descent isn't suited to great speed, you'll get some stunning views of the Drôme valley and right over to the high Alps. Secondly, the classic Col de Rousset: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3350187. If you haven't done a full-on alpine climb before, this is a good start - about an hour's climb (my best time so far is 57'30") with no difficult sections (nothing over 10%), and a really nice descent. If you can do this, you can do Alpe d'Huez. And the view at the top is breathtaking.

View from the descent from Col de Pennes

View from the Col de Rousset

Three classic routes

As time goes on I'll post as many of the routes that I've done as I can, both as an aide memoire for me, and as a resource for other cyclists using Die as a base. This time round there are three new routes, in each of which I wanted to try out some roads new to me, and to create some 'classic' rides. I was pleased with each, though the credit for that goes to the superb scenery and roads round here.

The first route is the one I did with James Morrison up the Gorges de la Bourne. A couple of notes - I think we missed a nice little bit of balcony at Les Goulets, as an alternative, just before the long tunnel after La Chapelle-en-Vercors; and you can take an alternative route down from Villard, by cutting over the hills instead of going back down part of the gorge. Try to do this when the weather up on the Vercors is going to be good: it can be really unpleasant up there while Die is baking in the sun all day.
 91 miles, Die - Gorges de la Bourne

Next was this solo effort, in which I wanted to get views of Mont Aiguille and the high Alps. Only four cols, but a cracking ride, with the added bonus of the Gorges des Gâts.
78 miles, Die - Col de Menée - Mens - Col de Grimone

Lastly, a bit of a toughie, starting with Col de la Chaudière, but a great mix of scenery. 

87 miles, Die - Col de la Chaudière - Dieulefit - Trente Pas - St Nazaire-le-Désert

Don't take the elevation data too literally: you'll notice that Ridewithgps can't handle tunnels or snaky gorges at all well, so climbing totals get severely exaggerated where there is much of either. That said, these are all routes where you'll want some decent climbing legs and food to power you over the cols. There were no problems finding water to top up bottles en route.

French road signage

I like maps. I definitely like maps, and prefer them any day to GPS systems. I'll admit I've never used GPS on my bike, though I've used it on Dartmoor walks: having got over the novelty, and marvelled at its precision,  I realised that I was more concerned about reaching my waypoints than taking everything around me, despite using it with a good map. I'll still take it with me on Dartmoor, but just for safety, and not general navigation - it stays turned off, unless the need arises. And I'll not deny that a bike GPS can have its uses, particularly in unfamiliar big towns, where signage can be erratic and junctions frequent.

But round here there is simply no need for GPS: the towns are not large, and more importantly, the signage is so good that a decent map and the signs are enough.

Firstly, the maps: though I've moaned about the paper quality, the IGN 1:100,000 series is ample for cycling, though their elevation data is a bit sparse, and you have to learn to read 'between the lines' if you don't want to get caught out with more climbing than you anticipated.

Then there's the signage round here - it's pretty comprehensive, once you know where you're going. Firstly, there are the general road signs, which always give distances and road numbers. (Note: occasionally a road will have two numbers, if two 'routes' share the same road, though there's only the Grenoble to Gap road round here that I can think of that does that.) Secondly there are the incredibly useful km markers along all but the smallest roads, that give distance from the starting point of the road, distance to the next place, and sometimes elevation and % gradient for the next kilometre. And lastly, there are the river and col signs that can confirm that you're definitely where you should be.

The point is that if you use a map and your senses you'll get a much better sense of the geography of wherever you are: not just the narrow strip on which you're riding, but also the rich landscape around you. And boy, there's some rich landscape round here.

Photos below come from today's southerly ride, down to Dieulefit, across to Trente Pas, and back up to return via the Roanne Valley. A pretty awesome ride, both physically and geographically.

French fountains

If you've done some cycling in southern France, you'll know how welcome the sight of a village or town fountain is. We're not talking about some merely ornamental carbuncle, but something of real practical use for a parched cyclist. For the real French fountain is where you can fill up your empty water bottles, drench yourself in cool water, or rinse your washing (if you've had the foresight to bring your laundry with you).

Certainly in these parts it is unusual to pass through even a small settlement where you can't find some public source of 'Eau potable'. Indeed, it's so much the norm that it's pretty safe to assume that any water running into a trough in a village or town is 'potable' unless it specifically says it's not. (See photos below).

Having said that, I'm not sure how far south you have to come before that assumption is safe: last summer I got caught out by a fountain in some anonymous central French town, as I cycled from Exeter to Die (see how I sneaked that in there): it looked all the world like the examples down here, but I guess the slight green tinge should have alerted me. Well, the taste certainly did, and having spat it out, the nearby café provided water, but only after checking that I'd bought a coffee. Harumph.
The reference to washing wasn't entirely made for comic effect. I actually spoke briefly to an old lady in Sainte Croix (near Die) who was in the process of doing some washing in the trough. Which brings me to the bit of advice to fill your bottles direct from the piped water, unless you particularly enjoy the taste of old ladies' washing, and probably rampant French bacteria and parasites.

I'd be interested if anyone knows where the 'Eau potable' assumption is a safe one. All I know is that it's both reasonably safe, and very welcome down here.

Pictures below are of three examples from a ride today. Firstly a massive (40ft long!) trough in Cléon d'Andran, with a clear 'Eau non potable' sign; one from Bourdeaux (check the spelling), the 'Eau potable' sign probably there because there's another fountain just 50 yards away; and two examples from Saillans - the first is one of my favourites, as it's a good example of the attractive AND functional fountains you sometimes find.