Day Ten - Pottering in Briançon
Today I would go to Italy, or so I thought at least.
Getting up I had a bit of optimism knowing that the weather report for the day was good. My tent had suffered in the rain somewhat though. Not only had I made the mistake of pitching on soil rather than grass, rain water had pooled between the groundsheet and the base of the inner tent. Great! Touching a one side of the tent's floor was a bit like what I assume playing with a water bed is like - I could see the ripples of the water in the tent material! Not ideal.
Still, there weren't actually any puddles in the tent, so that was a relief. Just dampness between the sleeping matt and tent floor. Oh well - sunshine today so hopefully it would dry out.
I did not have much to eat for breakfast on me, just a couple of flapjacks that had followed me all the way from...Leighton Buzzard. Oops. I really should have eaten them sooner! Still, at least it meant I could leave the campsite having had some sort of breakfast.
Following the previous day's problem involving a shard of glasss puncturing my rear tyre, the plan for the day was to pop in to the local Decathlon for a new inner tube, followed by the L.Eclerc supermarket for the day's riding supplies and breakfast.
I was in quite a chipper mood riding towards Decathlon. The sun was out, my bike was light again, and I had an easy yet entertaining day ahead of me. I quickly found the inner tubes in Decathlon, then found their track pump. No-one was at the bicycle mechanic desk so I just grabbed the pump and topped my tyres up. Seek forgiveness if caught rather than permission, right? I wasn't stealing their air! Tube bought and tyres up to pressure, off to the supermarket.
Not far to ride, but the cycle storage situation was pretty dire. Just a stand to wheel your bike in to. Not good enough! I ended up putting my bike sideways so that I could lock the frame to the stand instead. Not ideal but better than returning to just a wheel (I've had that experience before, never again!). I bought some chocolate orange cake things, like jaffa cakes but slightly bigger, a cold pizza from the bakery, and a couple of apples. Enough to keep me going for the ride.
I had meant to leave the lock there for the return trip, but completely forgot, oops. I guess the 1KG D lock was coming up the mountain pass after all. On I cycled to Col D'Echelle.
The ride certainly improved once I got off the main road. I had hoped that I would not have to do any climbing in Briancon itself but that was not to be. Not a big deal of course mind, the French drivers were as considerate as usual.
The weather forecast had been pretty confident that it would be a sunny day...not according to the cyclists I'd passed on this ride so far however, and not according to a glance at the sky either.
As I cycled along the valley where I knew I'd be turning right eventually, the view extending ahead looked rather murky...and guess who had left their rain jacket in the tent! This guy! I had brought my down jacket, but if that got soaked through it would take a while to dry out, so that was not an appealing option.
Onwards I continued, a bit concerned with the direction the weather was going. I'd already been rained on during the ride but so far just teases of something worse to come. My plan to ride to across the Italian border was further dented by the fact that it was obvious that the descent (and subsequent climb back up it) was steeper than I would have liked. Never mind, I resolved to ride on and make a decision when I got to the peak. My assumption when plotting this route was that the Italian town I was aiming for was further up the mountain, or at least on some sort of plateau, but then I guess that's not usually how international borders marked by mountain ranges work!
I got to the peak of the climb, and a valley that was within the Italian border stretched out before me. What would I truly gain from riding down that side of the mountain pass? Better pizza? Well, the pizza would have been spoiled by the fact that I had a big climb on a full stomach to get back to Briancon. Not hugely appealing. No, I'd just settle with having seen Italy from the top of a mountain pass. Rather than stress about the descent and climb, I instead took the time to sit and observe the scene before me - it was quite relaxing, other than the occasional passing driver. All but one of them didn't even stop to take in the view. Locals, or the nature of driving that it's inconvenient to stop? Who knows.
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I did witness two cyclists riding up the climb, and decided I'd wait there for them to pass. I was tempted to give them a round of applause when they got there, but that seemed a bit melodramatic. When they did finally turn up, we just said hello to each other - a bit of an anti-climax. I cycled back to the mountain pass "col" sign to take a photo with of my bike in front of it then cycled downhill some more to stop by a telephone mast to call mum. I'd already tried to call her at the Italian border but seemingly my French eSim despite claiming to have a full 5G signal didn't like it. Maybe there wasn't a French mast on that side of the pass, despite it being in France still.
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The call with mum was pleasant, although when she told me about her day's Duolingo attempt, I didn't actually pass a comment and just talked about my own topic instead. Oops. I might send her a message now to ask what she said so I can pass an appropriate comment in reaction instead!
After skipping on the plan to go to Italy, the new plan was to eat my main meal in Briancon, but to go back and get changed first and ride back. By the time I got to Briancon it was already 2PM, so that was looking unlikely. I looked up restaurants there anyway to see what was available. A Mexican fast food place, and just around the corner! Don't mind if I do.
A chilli beef burrito and chips for fifteen euros with a drink, not bad, although I bet just the burrito for 11 euros was better value. Anyway the burrito was big, tasty and filling - yum. The view while eating it was pleasant too and I sat right next to my bike so no fear of it getting stolen.
Next it was time for a quick ride down to L.Eclerc again to get more groceries for the rest of the day and also the next morning's breakfast. I probably bought too much, oh well.
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After that, back to the campsite, and far too much time spent in the campsite's lounge! I'd' got an impression of Briancon twice already however so I was not that bothered how to end my holiday, riding to Lyon on the Friday for an early train to Paris became appearing.
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