Alps 2013, 6/04, Briancon to Castellane
Best day of the trip so far. By far.
OK, so the French really know how to make croissants. I lost count of how many I had at breakfast, but it was an unhealthy amount. The weather could not have been nicer and we had a great route planned for the day. The lady at the front desk of the hotel gave us a website to check for real-time pass closure information for France, and the news it gave was not good. At least a half-dozen passes Peter had planned for us to ride were still closed. The orginal route had us going over Col de la Bonette, but that was closed so we sat down after breakfast and did some quick planning.
We headed south on N94 toward Guillestre, which was pretty but not a particularly interesting road. Once we approaced Col de Vars (D902) the road began to improve dramatically. Great pavement, a good mix of hairpins and sweepers and some terrific views got the day off to a fantastic start. There was a sport car rally group taking a break at the top with some interesting cars I haven't seen before.
Working up Col de Vars
Full-res pano available here
Near the top of Col de Vars
Sports car rally stop at the summit
Ford Escort RS Cosworth
Hot-rod Celica?
This guy had a unique way of packing
Um, OK...
After the bumpy ride down the south ramp of Col de Vars the next item on the list was Col de la Cayolle. We went west on D900 through Barcelonnette, then continued on D902. We started to see big yellow signs with "ferme" and "Cayolle" on them, but these were bigger than just the "pass closed" signs we had seen before. We sent Peter back to snap a picture of the sign, and the three of us did our best to translate the French. Since there were some times on the sign we came to the conclusion that the pass was closed at certain times. Or open at certain times. Either way, since we had a lot of time to reach our destination today we decided to press on and see what happens. Turned out to be a very good idea.
Col de la Cayolle was the highlight of the trip so far. It traversed very diverse scenery, from low canyons to deep forest to canyon-wall-hugging ribbon of tarmac to bridges over waterfalls to a snow-capped summit. The pavement wasn't the best on the north ramp, but the scenery made up for it.
Eventually we got to the road closure area, and it turned out to be a direction-controlled one-way temporary bridge they were using to replace a section of road. Lots of loose gravel covering the metal bridge made for a fun crossing. We didn't know if this was just the beginning of the construction, but that little bit was all there was.
Our first hint of the canyon riding to come
Full res pano available here
Some other riders passing by
Not a lot of room left over
Dave heading up Col de la Cayolle
Looking back on Col de la Cayolle, the best is yet to come
Col de la Cayolle was nothing if not scenic
Peter
That's Dave on the bridge
Dave on Col de la Cayolle
The top of the pass was really cold and snowy, with ice and snow in patches on the road. There was barely enough room for one car to get through some of the snowy sections.
The south ramp of Col de la Cayolle may not have had the varied views of the north, but the pavement was perfect and super-twisty. A proper pass, almost (but not quite) good enough to be mentioned with the greats like Sella and Giau. I just wish that section was longer.
Looking down the south ramp of Col de la Cayolle
Curvy goodness
Crosstourer on Col de la Cayolle
Full-res pano of Col de la Cayole here
"Action" shot of Peter nearing the bottom of Col de la Cayolle. I brought the smaller Nikon D3200 body instead of my normal D300, and I was finding it much harder to get any good action shots. I don't think it has the horsepower to track moving objects as well as the D300 does.
And here comes Dave
Unusual high-angle for a shot like this. You can see his giant Garmin 276C on the right side of the bars
Route des Grandes Alps indeed
We stopped for lunch at the base of the pass at a little cafe that had a couple friendly dogs to keep you company.
Very cool knife
Dave's lunch
"You're not going to eat all that by yourself, right?"
My buddy for the meal
Best day of the trip so far. By far.
OK, so the French really know how to make croissants. I lost count of how many I had at breakfast, but it was an unhealthy amount. The weather could not have been nicer and we had a great route planned for the day. The lady at the front desk of the hotel gave us a website to check for real-time pass closure information for France, and the news it gave was not good. At least a half-dozen passes Peter had planned for us to ride were still closed. The orginal route had us going over Col de la Bonette, but that was closed so we sat down after breakfast and did some quick planning.
We headed south on N94 toward Guillestre, which was pretty but not a particularly interesting road. Once we approaced Col de Vars (D902) the road began to improve dramatically. Great pavement, a good mix of hairpins and sweepers and some terrific views got the day off to a fantastic start. There was a sport car rally group taking a break at the top with some interesting cars I haven't seen before.
Working up Col de Vars
Full-res pano available here
Near the top of Col de Vars
Sports car rally stop at the summit
Ford Escort RS Cosworth
Hot-rod Celica?
This guy had a unique way of packing
Um, OK...
After the bumpy ride down the south ramp of Col de Vars the next item on the list was Col de la Cayolle. We went west on D900 through Barcelonnette, then continued on D902. We started to see big yellow signs with "ferme" and "Cayolle" on them, but these were bigger than just the "pass closed" signs we had seen before. We sent Peter back to snap a picture of the sign, and the three of us did our best to translate the French. Since there were some times on the sign we came to the conclusion that the pass was closed at certain times. Or open at certain times. Either way, since we had a lot of time to reach our destination today we decided to press on and see what happens. Turned out to be a very good idea.
Col de la Cayolle was the highlight of the trip so far. It traversed very diverse scenery, from low canyons to deep forest to canyon-wall-hugging ribbon of tarmac to bridges over waterfalls to a snow-capped summit. The pavement wasn't the best on the north ramp, but the scenery made up for it.
Eventually we got to the road closure area, and it turned out to be a direction-controlled one-way temporary bridge they were using to replace a section of road. Lots of loose gravel covering the metal bridge made for a fun crossing. We didn't know if this was just the beginning of the construction, but that little bit was all there was.
Our first hint of the canyon riding to come
Full res pano available here
Some other riders passing by
Not a lot of room left over
Dave heading up Col de la Cayolle
Looking back on Col de la Cayolle, the best is yet to come
Col de la Cayolle was nothing if not scenic
Peter
That's Dave on the bridge
Dave on Col de la Cayolle
The top of the pass was really cold and snowy, with ice and snow in patches on the road. There was barely enough room for one car to get through some of the snowy sections.
The south ramp of Col de la Cayolle may not have had the varied views of the north, but the pavement was perfect and super-twisty. A proper pass, almost (but not quite) good enough to be mentioned with the greats like Sella and Giau. I just wish that section was longer.
Looking down the south ramp of Col de la Cayolle
Curvy goodness
Crosstourer on Col de la Cayolle
Full-res pano of Col de la Cayole here
"Action" shot of Peter nearing the bottom of Col de la Cayolle. I brought the smaller Nikon D3200 body instead of my normal D300, and I was finding it much harder to get any good action shots. I don't think it has the horsepower to track moving objects as well as the D300 does.
And here comes Dave
Unusual high-angle for a shot like this. You can see his giant Garmin 276C on the right side of the bars
Route des Grandes Alps indeed
We stopped for lunch at the base of the pass at a little cafe that had a couple friendly dogs to keep you company.
Very cool knife
Dave's lunch
"You're not going to eat all that by yourself, right?"
My buddy for the meal
