June 14, 2011

The sun is out again but there are clouds too, so it is not too hot. 

Our ride today takes us through the Gorge de la Bourne, a place I had never heard of.  We had decided just to run through the first part of the gorge before turning off onto our route taking us to the big climb of the day – the Col de Rousett.  That is until we started down the gorge, which turned out to be absolutely immense and totally spectacular.  So we carried on right to the bottom – which of course meant we then had to climb all the way back up the other side, adding an extra 30 km or so, as well as an extra 750 metres of climbing,  to our route.  It was worth the extra effort though as it was one of the most memorable stretches of the tour so far. 

We carry on to the Col de Rousett (1250 metres) – one of those climbs you expect to encounter in the Alps.  The road snakes back and forth (see photo taken from the top) and back and forth, ever upwards.  The last part of the climb is quite taxing – 4 kms of 10% incline – but we make it – and what a view!  The run down the other side turns out to be nearly as difficult as the climb up as there is a really strong wind blowing us all over the road as we go. 

We are going to Die tonight – no really – it is the next town along the road.  We find a camp-site for the night which is absolutely full of Dutch people.  As we now know, mountains are a bit of a novelty for them.  Bikes are not, but they always show an interest and ask about the trip.