Day Five: France 2018

Backblipped 8th Sept 
 
Got all the way to the bottom of the village today before realising I didn’t have any money on me. Nightmare given the walk all the way back up to and then back down from the hotel – words can’t really convey the climb!!! 
 
So we set off a wee bit later than planned, however what an amazing day we had!
 
Cycled from the village up the valley (view looking back down into the village part way up in extras) to the bottom of Pic de Château Renard where we started the 7km and 750m ascent to the observatory at the top! Oh my!! It was tough going even with the electric bikes – the turbo setting was used on several occasions for sure!
 
The view from the top was incredible (extras) and after a quick snack we prepared ourselves for the descent! My heart was most definitely in my mouth!! And as expected James was a million miles ahead of me!!!
 
This was the view, several bends down, showing the twisty road all the way back down the mountain… And then back up again the other side off to the spot, just out of the shade on the left, which was our lunch destination.
 
Got to the bottom of the mountain and then started the climb back up the other side for lunch. By this point James’s bike was only on 2 bars (despite not using turbo at all!) and so he put it one of the lowest settings and worked way harder than I had to! And even despite that, he then dropped to 1 bar just before lunch so decided to walk the last 15 minutes and save the power for the return journey!
 
Eventually made it to Refuge del la Blanche in one piece for a well deserved lunch and a check on the map (see extras). And also perfectly timed – no sooner had we finished and James had ordered a coffee when the heavens opened. A 10 minute downpour whilst we moved inside and then it was back to glorious sunshine! Another one in extras shows the view down the valley from the refuge – the first mountain on the right is the one we’d just been up!
 
A mad downhill ride all the way back down to the village – think it took only about 35 minutes – an icecream in the sun and then back to the spa to rest our aching bodies!!!
 
Found a delicious creperie for dinner and had a much better, and better value, meal than the night before – even pushed the boat out and had pudding!
 
Travel log:
None in the car however out for 5 hours on the bike covering about 45km.