ik ben eindelijk begonnen mijn ritverslagen van VORIG jaar uit te werken. Béétje laat maar nou ja, misschien geeft het dan wat ideeën voor iemands planning voor DIT jaar
Onderstaand een ritje door een gebied waar we graag komen. Het ligt maar een uurtje rijden van ons huis en biedt een heerlijk RUSTIG stuk bergwereld met heel weinig verkeer, zelfs in het hoogseizoen!
We gebruiken dit gebied ook om 'nieuwelingen' te laten oefenen in smalle paswegen... zonder dat er nu direct gapende afgronden naast ze opdoemen ! Je moet wél op de weg blijven natuurlijk, en sommige haarspelden zijn best lastig (maar daar gáát het juist om), maar hetgeheel is wat liefelijker dan de ECHTE passen in de buurt zoals de Iseran, Galibier en de andere 'groten'.
Veel plezier met kijken/lezen:
Due to severe time restrictions I never got to work on our Summer 2009 trips anymore. But now some of the most pressing work is behind us, we're not moving yet, and it is still freezing outside, so I can work a bit on the 7000 pictures we took!
Here's a ride we did on August 4th, leaving from our base in Les Allues one afternoon, to take one of our favorite little passes up into the Bauges Mountains.
The Bauges are a group of mountains between Chambery, Albertville and Annecy. They are high and forbidding, there is no skiing in winter, so not many tourists. Which suits us just fine. And they're just about half an hour away fro our home.
The special thing about this mountain group is that there is a wide valley INSIDE the range, at some 3000 feet altitude. There are only a few ways IN, and one of them is the little pass we took on this ride. So even if it is close to some larger towns and cities (Chambery and Annecy) it is pretty remote from everything as well.
Here's the track of the route we took:
Our place is at the bottom right. Somewhere at the top is a green flag with the text 'Bench Parking'. I stuck it in the POI list for a next time. Real ice picnic bench, where we met two Italian people who were playing cards and just chilling amidst the quiet and grand nature around them.
But first, lets get there.
Here we are riding along the small road towards Chambéry, just outside of Albertville, heading west. What you see, apaprt from all the vineyards, is the broad valley through which the Isère river heads west. There's a toll road (highway) long the river, and a regional road as well. We preferred the old road leading us through all the little (wie) villages.
Look up, just underneath the horizon of the mountain in the background, there's a huge castle.
It is the Castle of Miolans, and subject of a separate travel tale (we went up there to visit !).
A peek through the bushes, looking south. Our home is behind those mountains covered in the clouds. Below is the Isère river valley.
This is the climb up to the Col du Frêne over the D911.
These are the typical mountains of the Bauges (AND some of the other mountain ranges here and going south). They are eroded and only the hard granite core has remained (and is crumbling).
The roads in this area are for 'connoisseurs', those 'in the know'. I am pretty sure 'Edelweiss' is not taking its customers here... so hush !!!
What more FRENCH a picture can one make? A 2CV and the omnipresent 'cycliste'......
ALL the 'cols' (passes) in this area have some pretty tight hairpins to conquer. The road up the flanks of those steep rock formations don't have a lot of room to play with.
And then, all of a sudden after the curve madness there's the highest point (some 950 meters - 300 feet) and it is almost an anti-climax.
You get out of the forest and rocks and there is this wide valley or plateau opening up to us, completely surrounded by high peaks, but lovely and green and flat (!) in the middle.
Where 'flat' of course is relative.....
THIS is what I mean. There are maybe three main roads in the entire valley and the main inhabitants are cows, not people. Here's a herd grazing in the green pastures !
While the high peaks of the Bauges (to the east in this photo) are looking on and standing guard.
There are only a few villages in the area, here's the entrance of one of them...
Now we've traversed and are (in the left of the map picture) on our way south, along another huge rockface that stretched for many miles....
And, as the law of physics has it... 'what comes up, HAS to go down again... '.
Nina shot this sign in passing (she often shoots signs so we remember later on where the photos were taken).
This one was a bit 'full'. School bus stop, and at the bottom one of the Savoie Bicycle routes.
I prefer the motorbike, of course......
A glance back. We drove past that rock not long ago...
But, we're not done yet. We turned around that bog rock near St. Alban-Leysse and got ourselves (or rather, it was ME getting US) onto some VERY small roads....
... which led to yet another very little-known pass, the Col de Marocaz. Only the locals use it, and some weird guy on a mountain bike *gg*
You need good control over the motorbike and no fear of blind corners, roads without shoulders or oncoming French Formula 1 drivers in mini cars....
... and you need to stop sometimes, to make photos, take some rest, and just plain enjoy the views! Here is the Isère Valley again in the background
Still not on the valley floor. Our destination is the valley in the distance, taking a right turn at the foot of that dark mountain. Still some miles to go (and remember, average speed here was 42 km/hr over the entire trip!).
When you come down from the mountains on these 'local roads' you often enter the old villages as if 'through the back door'. We sometimes think we're on the private property of a farm......
We found the main road again down in the valley. Now we're goif to cross and ride along the other side of the valley, back east.....
That's where we were......
... and a last look on the Bauges direction Albertville, and another old castle ruin.
As usual I stayed on the road for too long, wanting to see ALL the corners and passes and villages...... Nina started to be very cross with me at that time and we decided to head back to the highway and 'race' back home.... no more pictures of that part....
See ya next time !!!!
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( en zelfs 2 keer vroege dienst _002 ). Vandaag late dienst en morgen een dag dienst. Woensdag is pas mijn eerste vrije dag.