The Col du Galibier to the end of the road; Bonneval-Sur-Arc

Zagan the motorhome had an epic driving day yesterday. He’s now having a well deserved, yet enforced, rest for a couple of days at a free parking place in the ski resort of Bonneval-Sur-Arc (N45.37522, E7.05939). The reason his rest is enforced? We’ve reached the end of the road – the Col de l’Iseran, which is the only road out of here without back-tracking, is still closed following a winter of heavy snow. It’s Mid-Summers day today, but they are hoping it will open in the next day or so (update: it was clear, but a small avalanche has again closed it for several days).

I don’t think Jay slept well on Tuesday night. He was up much earlier than usual and I could tell his nerves were a bit jangled. ‘We can go now if you want? The road will be quieter,’ and then it was a frenzy of activity as we geared up Zagan for the off in super quick time. We were on the road before 9am, which is very usual for us, but this wasn’t just any road – it was the Col du Galibier.

Jay had run up it a couple of days before, so he knew what was coming, and I don’t think that helped. Normally when we approach a mountain pass we don’t have a clue what it will be like. By the time we have gone over it, we’re still blissfully unaware of a lot of what we’ve passed as we’re too occupied with checking hairpins and tight bends are clear, and taking in the views. Having run up to the col, Jay was all too aware of little landslides here and there, edge bits of road crumbling away, a total lack of crash barriers and some narrow sections. So as you might guess he was pleased with my suggestion to go before breakfast as we’d be less likely to meet a coach on a barrier-less bend and go crashing off the edge to our doom.

Spot the road!

So proud of Jay’s driving skills, but even more so today!

It took around 15 minutes of steady climbing to reach the traffic light controlled tunnel that goes until the very top part, but why take the time to drive all the way up here if you aren’t going to the top to see the view? So we crawled up the much steeper and much narrower final section and pulled into the small parking area at the top giggling like school girls at the views below and giving huge respect to the folks cycling up here.

At the tippy top!

View back down the road we drove up – you can just see the motorhome parking area we stayed at too

For once I have the right T-shirt on

Zagan at the top

I make no apologies for the number of photos, it was amazing. And of course we took a video, so I’ll post it here once we have some WiFi.

Jay looking out over the road to come

We could breath a bit easier on the road back down, still no barriers, but less chance of crashy death. Now we could take in the views, which were amazing but not as good as those from the other side (in my humble opinion). We marvelled at all the other folks making their over by various means, but the majority of the traffic was bicycles, closely followed by motorbikes, then motorhomes.

We’re glad we set off early to avoid being a rolling roadblock

Having made journey up to Col du Lautaret a few days ago, we had forgotten just how high up we were. The drive back down the other side seemed to take ages, an endless twisting strip of tarmac cutting its way through some beautiful scenery. We stopped for breakfast at Valloire, before pushing on, down into the valley. We were relieved to reach the free public loo with a drinking water tap and drain in a layby just outside St Martin d’Arc as it enabled us to empty the loo (the reason we had to leave our lovely wild camping place) and top up with a little bit of water.

The road now became very straight and quite boring as we wound along a valley, jostling for position with a river, train line and motorway all using the same valley. After a brief delay behind a chap laying cones, we arrived at a supermarket and I nipped out to restock our empty fridge.

With an empty loo and full fridge we now turned to our next priority, Charlie. We’ve started to give him his additional pain killers that were prescribed by his vet back home, but we only have a small supply. We headed to a large pharmacy (yes, you buy dog medicine from a normal pharmacy here) and they could get what we needed in, and make the capsules to the size he needs but it would take two or three days. As the pharmacy was in a bit of an uninspiring place, we made a decision to head for a motorhome parking that our friends Joanne and Craig from OurBumble.com had used, there we could stay while the local pharmacy made up the prescription.

Over another Col and some more twisting roads and we arrived in Bessans (N45.33165, E7.01563). After a spot of lunch we walked the couple of kilometres back to the town but couldn’t find the pharmacy anywhere. We asked at the Tourist Office and it appears that we found the only town in France that doesn’t have a pharmacy.

Motorhome parking about 2km from Bessans

While at the Tourist Office I spotted a leaflet for a bike race we had seen signposted all along our route today. The Tour de Savoie Mont Blanc runs right past where we were parked and ends in the next town up the valley. So we decamped and drove a further 5km to Bonneval-Sur-Arc (another town with no pharmacy!) so we could take in the action.

Bonneval – Sur – Arc

It’s now 2.30pm as I write this. Jay is just back from running up the Col de l’Iseran and reports that bikes are making it over and it should be open either later today or tomorrow morning. Once we get over the other side, we’ll find a pharmacy and get Charlie’s drugs for him – we still have a few days of supply left (update: with the avalanche we’ll be hunting for an Italian pharmacy instead).

The bike race is due here at 4pm down in the old town – we’re parked in the ski resort area about 800m away. That means that the caravan of tat, sorry the important sponsors’ merchandise, will be here in the next half an hour or so. I’d better head over there and see what delights are being thrown out.

It’s now 6.40pm and I’ve had a fun afternoon waiting for the bike race, followed by ten minutes of watching it. I learned from watching the Tour de France last year to get into a space away from the crowds to make the most of the caravan. It worked and I managed to score one of everything that was being thrown out. It’s Jay’s birthday tomorrow and I have bagged it all up without looking to see what is in there, so we both get a surprise – before half of it goes into the recycling bin… Most of the people cheering in the riders were from the caravan and support cars, so I managed to get a spot right next to the press to snap the winner as he crossed the line.

Big cheers for Frenchman Maxime Bouet who won the stage for team Fortuneo – Samsic

After a few more riders had come in, it’s a mountainous stage so no big pelaton, I was free to wander around mingling with the riders who had finished, their support crew and the many, many bikers needed for a race. I am now primed and ready to face the Tour de France in a month or so.

If you are going to have a bike race, you need lots and lots of the motorised kind too

Ju x