June 30, 2017
Le Bourget to St-Pierre d'Entremont
Over Col de l'Epine and through Gorges du Guiers Vif
We knew we weren't going up Mont du Chat so started by navigating with Garmin to La Serraz. True to form, it wanted us to go up a steep hill instead of staying on the very quiet D 13. We turned the navigation off and soon enough saw signs directing us to Col de l'Épine, our first goal for the day. It was a cool ride up through farms and then forest, with not as many roadies as yesterday. A nice viewpoint before the nondescript summit (a parking lot for hikers, empty today) and then a fun ride down to Novalaise, a prosperous-looking village where we had lunch, bakery sandwiches eaten at a sidewalk table. Later we realized that this was where Al had likely left his sunglasses.
Back on our bikes we continued down towards Novalaise-Lac then around the east side of Lac d'Aiguebelette. We found the turn towards Attignat-Oncin easily only to discover that we needed to go up and then up some more to get over a ridge. After Attignat-Oncin, it was downhill all the way to Les Echelles.
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We had considered staying at Les Echelles because the weather was quite unsettled, with a big dark cloud looming ominously. However, the town wasn't appealing so we made the decision to continue to our planned stop, St-Pierre d'Entremont. Silly me, I hadn't realized there was a climb involved, but there was. At the top, a spectacular bit of road high above the Gorges du Guiers Vif, then gently down to the village.
We arrived just as the rain started and found refuge at Hôtel Le Grand Som. We opted for demi-pension (55€ per person for room, dinner, and breakfast) so we would not have to go outside again. Dinner was ravioles dauphinés, tiny herb-stuffed ravioli baked in a cheesy sauce, with salad and apple crumble for dessert. It rained heavily all evening and most of the night, so we congratulated ourselves on our good fortune.
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66 km, ascent 1528 m, descent 1120 m
Today's ride: 66 km (41 miles)
Total: 255 km (158 miles)
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