Embrun to Briancon: White Water and Snow Covered Peaks

June 8, 2017

We began the day with a petit dejeuner buffet at our hotel, our favourite way to start the day. We stocked up on OJ, cafe au lait, bread, beurre et confiture, croissant, pain au chocolat, yougurt, apricots and prunes, cereal, cheese, ham, and a boiled egg. It's no wonder we don't need lunch and survive on snacks like bananas, cherry tomatoes and peanuts.

Embrun is a nice town to spend a night but we have really grown accustomed to having access to the internet and this town has been left off the map. The only internet reception we could find was 2G and that's too slow to be usable. Our hotel offered free wifi but it turned out to be access to 6 free logins shared by the entire town. Nope, that won't work. As a result, we couldn't route plan or post to the blog, find restaurants, yada, yada, yada. Oh well, it reminds us of how travel used to be.

Embrun, new city in front and old city in the distance.

We set off under sunny skies north towards Briançon. We decided we would follow the N road up the valley to Briançon until the traffic started to bug us. David's knee has been cranky the past couple of days so it needs a well graded road and a smooth surface, which the N road would mostly satisfy. The N road hugged the Durance River as it wound its way along the lower slopes of the valley. The alternate route climbed up and down the opposite side of the valley, a much more challenging route.

View back down the valley. Snow melt is evident in the river.

As we approached the town of L'Argentiere La Bessee, we came upon a white water kayak slalom course where there was a class underway. It looked as though it was a course where professional athletes would train and compete and we did see a couple of kayakers attacking it with a lot of gusto. It looked like exhausting work as they went through a sequence of gates both downstream and upstream. The less skilled jumped into their own plastic kayaks and played in the friendlier waters downstream.

The town itself reminded us of Barkerville, in BC, with its tin roofs. It is situated at the bottom of the valley along the Durance river and it also happens to be a mining town, where they mined silver. Today, they are working to present mining from a historic perspective which goes back 800 years, so if inclined you can tour the museum or take an underground tour of the very extensive underground shafts and tunnels. On the steep climb out of town there is a huge metal sculpture of a miner, to pay respect to the town's history. *** Correction: that's no miner!! It's a sculpture by Christian Burger of British mountaineer Edward Whymper, the first mountaineer to summit the Matterhorn in 1865. Sadly, four of the team of climbers fell to their deaths when their rope to which they were all connected broke on the descent. The steel sculpture, about 6 m high, was inaugurated July 17, 2009, to mark the Centenary of the Bureau des Guides des Ecrins.

Miner on the hill overlooking L'Argenteire NOT! It's British mountaineer, Edward Whymper.

We stuck to our plan and carried on to Briançon with a brief stop at a small lake which had a gorgeous campground, although it was deserted for now. The lake was full of tadpoles so I imagine it will be quite a racket in the months ahead. I just hope they aren't the type that has invaded France which make an unbelievable noise at night, something like a bunch of mallards ...um...making whoopie. Seriously, it's not the nice sound of a chorus of frogs!

The traffic on the N road never reached a point that motivated us to take the alternate route so the day felt fairly relaxed. The wind picked up from behind as we neared Briançon and we were whisked along as we entered town. Road construction was underway en route which is a good sign that Le Tour will be coming this way. France likes to provide nice road surfaces for the boys on the tour and it's a nice perk for us as well. One caveat however: the roads within the cities and villages don't receive a cent and are almost always shot to smithereens.

Entrance to Briançon, a frequent stop for the Tour de France.

We entered Briançon via a small road by the river and when we turned the corner to find our hotel, the road abruptly headed skyward, at about a 10% grade. The traffic was thick so we walked the few blocks to the Eidelweiss Hotel. The two ladies working there were so kind. We had arrived early so they hustled to prepare our room and they upgraded us at the same time. The room had a balcony and a magnificent view of the surrounding mountains with their chairlifts, some peaks at higher elevations were still covered with snow. We are in the alps now! Briançon boasts that it is the highest city in France (1326m), having a population well over 2000. Since we will be climbing from here, I'm happy it's already 'en haut'.

Old city in Briançon. This street is much steeper than the photo lets on.

Looking up at the ramparts of the old city, Briançon.

We strolled to the medieval village for drinks and dinner. It was very quiet as their tourist season has not begun, but Briançon really impressed us and would be worth taking more time to explore. The centre ditch in the main road carries clean mountain water and is a favourite watering spot among the local dogs. Only thing is, they haven't figured out how to drink from it without water going up their snouts. It made for some great entertainment.

Gigot d'agneau, a traditional French meal, accompanied by Dauphinoise potatoes.

Briançon, before the tourists descend on it.

Watching the dogs was try to drink from the ditch was hilarious

There are plenty of little boutiques to wander through in Briançon.

Today's ride: 57 km (35 miles)
Total: 926 km (575 miles)

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