{"id":29332,"date":"2018-06-11T12:46:57","date_gmt":"2018-06-11T11:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/?p=29332"},"modified":"2019-04-11T15:13:26","modified_gmt":"2019-04-11T14:13:26","slug":"from-the-gorges-de-la-bourne-to-lans-en-vercors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/from-the-gorges-de-la-bourne-to-lans-en-vercors\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Gorges de la Bourne to Lans-en-Vercors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zagan the motorhome is surrounded by lush green valleys and grey cliffs in the western Vercors, just a short hop from the mountain metropolis of Grenoble. We’re in a huge free aire alongside a small, closed wooden Alpine restaurant and a ski lift at Lans-en-Vercors (N45.12401, W5.59163<\/a>). The route here from La Chapelle-en-Vercors took us through the notorious and beautiful Gorges de la Borne, which provided a heart-stopping blast of adrenaline in among a few lazy days in these here hills.<\/p>\n

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Free motorhome aire in Lanes-en-Vercors, just south-west of Grenoble<\/p><\/div>\n

Yeah, so that gorge drive! Whoops. As I’d noted in a previous post, I’d done some hunting about on the t’Interweb for mention of motorhomes crossing the various twisting east-west D roads across the Vercors, and not found much. When I switched the search to “camping car gorges de la bourne”, or the other route names, results came back, but obviously in French. In my best attempt to translate them, it was clear the Gorges du Nan, Gorges de la Bourne, and the Combe Laval were all off-limits to us, and I adorned the map with ‘NOT OK’ in blue pen against each of ’em.<\/p>\n

So far we’d not tested any of this, but for the D518 (Petits and Grands Goulets), which the knowledgeable locals on the forums said were OK, now that the teeny old Grands Goulets has been bypassed with a big fat tunnel. That one proved to be fine, as expected, easy to get though. The next test was the route north from La Chapelle to Villard-de-Lans, the D103, which I could see merged with the far eastern edge of the Gorges de la Bourne (the D531), but from having run\/biked the other gorges, the really tight and high bits were all to the west, so I assumed we’d be fine. Which we were, as soon as we’d gotten out the other flipping side!<\/p>\n

As the D103 approached the gorge things started to get a bit narrower than I was expecting. A few overhangs and blind bends cropped up, but not much traffic and nothing more than we’ve seen in the past. Although saying that, that was the past, and this was right now, so the fact I’ve managed not to front-end a bus or lorry in days gone by wasn’t offering me all that much comfort right at that point in time!<\/p>\n

\"The

The D103 just before the Gorges de la Bourne. At this point my palms started to itch…<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Gorges

Errmmmm! Even when the signs say we’ll easily fit, that annoying wee voice in my head loudly disagrees.<\/p><\/div>\n

As the D103 merged with the D531, things got a bit more interesting. Being a world-famous road, the traffic increased, but on the flip side it wasn’t far until we crossed the river side onto the other side of the the gorge, so the cliffs and overhangs were no longer up against the side and roof of the van. At this point I realised I’d messed up, but I wasn’t quite sure how badly. There were no other big vehicles, both a blessing and a mind-messer: why not? Could we fit through the rest of the road? Those overhangs were looking lower and lower, the tunnels tighter and tighter. I made a short-lived attempt to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience and failed as my back tightened up and my mind went limp, needing a mental face-slap to keep going, not that there was much choice.<\/p>\n

Finally out the other side, in one piece and having not removed anyone’s wing mirrors, left a big white stripe down any walls, or cracked open the top of the van ‘like a tin of fish’ (a phrase from one of the forums which I quickly remembered as we edged along) we pulled over for a quick breather. Phew. Through. The video below was taken from after we merged with the D531 – apologies for the dirty windscreen, I have no excuse:<\/p>\n