June 8, 2015
To Villars-Colmars: Approaching the high Alps
Yesterday and today marked the transition into the final phase of our tour - we've bent northward back toward Geneva and are easing our way up to the high alps. Most of our remaining riding will be on or near some of the highest roads in France.
Coincidentally, we've also experienced a change in the weather. For the first two weeks of our journey we had remarkably good conditions, netting us a total of three miles of riding in the rain - we haven't gotten wet on the road since our day ride from Annecy, tow weeks ago. We really like our statistics for the tour so far:
718 miles travelled
3 miles in the rain
99.6% dry riding rate
We don't think that will hold for long though. A significant chance of thunderstorms is predicted for nearly all of the coming 10 days. It's just a matter of time before we find ourselves in the wrong spot at the wrong time and get plastered. As it is, we've been pushing our luck recently: for three straight days now, we've made it to town just before the first rains hit.
In planning out this trip, I built some weather insurance into the schedule - we have quite a few two night stays in the days ahead, and the minimum ride for most days is fairly short. It gives us more options if the weather is poor, and it's always easy to find more miles to tack on if we're feeling frisky.
This morning, after seeing that storms were predicted to begin around noon and last all day, we were glad for this flexibility. We planned for an early start and opted for the shortest route from Puget-Theniers to Villars-Colmars: instead of going up the Gorges de Dalius and over Col des Champs (longer, tougher, slower) we're going through Allot.
On leaving the hotel, we expressed some anxiety about the skies with our innkeeper. An upbeat, cheerful young man, he grinned, crossed his fingers on both hands for us, and then impressed us with his facility in English by talking about microclimates in the mountains. We were to be lucky again today, so maybe he owns a share of the credit.
Enough blather though - how was the ride? Well, it was pretty damn great, as usual. It began with a flattish few miles upriver along the Var to the next town upstream, Entrevaux. This was a beautiful little patch of highway, lined almost town to town with a continuous long colonnade of plane trees.
Even though we wanted to keep a good pace, Entrevaux is a striking pace that demands attention. It's a medieval fortified town with remarkably intact fortifications and character. Situated on a tight bend in the Var, it is impressively walled and gated, with a citadel crowning the hill above. Vauban, probably the greatest fortifications architect of his age (he has left his mark all across France, and some of his fortified border towns have collectively received a UNESCO world heritage designation), had a hand in designing Entrevaux. We pulled off the road for about 20 minutes for a fast look around, and vowed to make it back here some day for an overnight stop.
Back on our bikes, we continued up the Var for a few more miles to the point where it bends north up through the Gorges de Dalius (today's road not taken, and one I was sorry to forego) and then continued west along its tributary and then the even smaller Le Vaire, eventually coming to Allot. I had worried a bit about this road (N202), because the national roads are typically busy, high speed and poor places to bike. This far up into the mountains though, the road was almost traffic free and felt perfectly safe.
Beyond Annot we turned north, still following the Le Vaire for a bit before pulling away and climbing over the ridge separating this valley from the Verdon. The climb was easy and gradual, rising at about a 5-6% grade for about seven miles, before finally cresting. Annoyingly enough this hasn't been designated as a pass for some reason, and we felt cheated by not being able to claim our summit photo at the top.
Once over though, we enjoyed the finest miles of the day - a swift, beautiful 1000' descent down to the Verdon (again!), facing a beautiful panorama of the valley and the surrounding ridges and peaks. From the bottom we turned upstream (no longer really a river) along the Verdon and climbed gradually to our town. Arriving a bit after 1, we pulled in to the only open cafe in town and sat down for lunch, sitting outdoors under the canopy. While we were reflecting on the ride I noted that the weather was still fine and that maybe we should have taken the longer ride after all; but five minutes later the rains began, and kept up all afternoon. Perfect.
After lunch we went to our hotel and were irked to find that it was unattended until 5:30 (I later saw that our reservation had alerted me to this if I'd bothered to read it), so we went out back and sat at a picnic bench under a canopy for three hours, reading, cooling our heels, and watching the rains come down. Almost felt like camping.
In the evening we took a huge hike 1.5 miles each way) to the neighboring village, Colmars-des-Alpes, to test out the menu at its hotel. It was an enjoyable (and dry!) walk, and worthwhile. We enjoyed a light, casual supper and then headed back to the room, arriving just as a light rain began.
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Today's ride: 37 miles (60 km)
Total: 718 miles (1,156 km)
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