French Alps 2005

Friday - Moto Meca to the rescue!

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At breakfast Kid told us his bike had been overheating badly the previous day, he'd spoken to the owners of the Plein Sud and had a motorcycle shop called Moto Meca in Briancon recommended to him, just down the road.

The Hotel Plein Sud.

3 miles down the road, Moto Meca, you won't find a more traditional or helpful bike shop than this.

Despite language difficulties, the mechanics helped all they could, a great bunch of guys.

It was taking some time to fix, so I led a breakaway group to a cafe in Briancon town square. It was blistering hot, refreshments were urgently needed.

Back at Moto Meca, The Thermostat was removed and tested then the radiator was stripped off and cleaned inside and out before being re-fitted and re-filled, this time with cheap supermarket water and anti freeze.

At 1.20 the bike was pronounced fit, Moto Meca closed for its two hour lunch and we headed for the Col de l'Izoard, I was just hoping it would be cooler up there!

We were overtaken by a group of German bikers on the way up. one guy on an old airhead (R100RT) overtook me on a blind corner, completely on the wrong side of the road. I was quite surprised to see them all still alive at the top enjoying a cool drink, I wonder if they all made it home?

We made it (safely) to the top. It was certainly cooler up here.

The monument at the top of Col de l'Izoard, 2360m - 7742ft

The view South, from a rock outcrop overlooking the road down.

And the view just to the right of the above picture is this, Oh, that's not snow on the mountain side, just the colour of the rock.

Next stop, Col de Vars, 30 miles south...

It was a bit dull when we got there, but this is the is the top of Col de Vars, 2109m - 6919ft

Not much here at all, a shack selling T-shirts and toy 'fat mountain beavers' and other tat

and a monument, not much of a view I'm afraid :(

That bicycle wheel belongs to a solo cyclist from Manchester (England) who had set off on Monday from Thonon to cycle the Route Grand Alps, he intending finishing Sunday! Very humbling...

We dropped down from Col du Vars in to Jausiers, it was 3.45,  the next pass for us was Col de la Bonnette, the big one! The next town or village after that was perhaps 50 miles away. We decided to look for a place to stay around here.

A quick walk to the local Tourist Information suggested the Hotel Sans Souci, sorry, no swimming pool tonight lads!

The Hotel Sans Souci with the Hotel Bel Air** next door

After freshening up, I went down to the bar for a cool beer. After serving me the lady pointed down the bar and gabled off a load of French. All I could make out was the word 'derier' from the Renault car advert meaning 'rear'. Comprehension suddenly dawned and thanking her I wandered out to the 'rear', bemused by my new linguistic skills.

An hour later we wandered next door to the Bel Air and tried there 'derier' too :-)

We had our evening meal at San Souci, I really enjoyed it, the Hotel and meal was more like old rural France, and probably the better for it.

The end of our third day on the Route Grand Alps, not a lot of miles done, but Kid's bike was fixed properly and tomorrow we would ride the highest pass in Europe, the Col de la Bonnette!

The third days route and 65.7 miles completed

From the GPS, today's vertical track profile.

Garmin trail and waypoints download for today

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