St-Pierre d'Entremont to Grenoble

July 1, 2017

We both slept well, best night so far. We had requested breakfast at 8 so had set an alarm. It was still raining heavily so we dawdled over breakfast and packed up unhurriedly. The rain had eased off by the time we left.

We took the quieter road through Le Villard, where we used a very nice bus stop shelter to change from our rain pants to shorts. The rain jackets had come off part way up the first hill! It was cool, but not that cool for climbing. It wasn't a huge climb, but enough, to Col du Cucheron. Jackets on for the descent as the rain started. It poured heavily for 3.5 long cold kilometres to St-Pierre de Chartreuse—where it wasn't raining at all.

Sweaters added, we continued down and down through the Gorges du Guiers Mort. Absolutely beautiful! But what's a "Guiers" and why are the rivers of that name living and dead?

At Col du Cucheron, just before the rain started in earnest. There were wild strawberries here, making me remember Canada Day in 1981, hiking near Chamonix and eating wild strawberries.

In the Gorges du Guiers Mort. I liked the offset arches of this single-span bridge. I didn't intend to shoot with a star filter; somehow it came on and I didn't notice for quite a while!

Porte d'Enclos, Gorges du Guiers Mort. I expect there's a story behind this.

I think Al's photo looks better than mine

St-Laurent du Pont wasn't a particularly nice town but we did find a pretty decent restaurant, Le Montagnard. A nice lunch while we waited for another shower to pass. Then on over the low Col de la Placette (it has a summit sign so it counts) then another long exhilarating descent to Voreppe.

Lunch! Who knew "ravioles" was a French dish?

Another Col to add to the collection. Not high, but there's a sign so it counts!

Garmin helped us find the greenway along the Isère, flat and relatively boring, but much better than fighting traffic through this busy corridor. We crossed at St-Égrève, thinking to find accommodation in Sassenage, but there weren't many options there. We continued on the greenway on the left bank to another bridge at Fontaine and entered Grenoble.
We first tried a hotel near the train station. It was 70€, not including breakfast, and we could not see the room first. We returned to booking.com and found the Okko Hotels Grenoble Jardin Hoche, discounted 35%. We didn't book but rode over and when I went in and mentioned the booking.com rate, I was asked if I'd already booked. I hadn't, but got a discounted rate anyway. 85€ including breakfast and a welcome glass of wine in the "club". Taken.

It turned out that there was an "aperitivo" or appetizer buffet to go with the free glass of wine or beer. Since we had eaten a large lunch today, this made a perfect light dinner. And to think all this was only 15€ more than the railway station hotel!

In our hotel room. Behind this very modern screen is the bathroom.

The nicest shower ever! But it's odd that you go through the shower to get to the WC and sink.

Our hotel. Note that there's no big sign at street level, only way up high (which I only noticed looking at this photo).

An unpretentious entrance for a four-star hotel

57 km, ascent 737 m, descent 1178 m

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Today's ride: 57 km (35 miles)
Total: 312 km (194 miles)

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