The Autumn colours were amazing on the way up.
I drove out to Crete at the beginning of november.
I had a good day ride near Macon which is Beaujalais country. The leaves were still on the vines and that added to the woodland to make the whole countryside golden brown. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera. Beautiful scenery - awful wine though.
I stopped off for a couple of days in Bourg D'oisans and had been hoping to ride some of the famous Tour de France cols. There was a snow storm a few days before I left which closed most of them, but the day I arrived, some re-opened. They closed for good for the season the day after I left, so I was lucky.Col du Galibier was still closed, so I set off to climb col du Glandon and col de la Croix de Fer and then ride back down the same way and finish off with climbing Alpe D'Huez.
The Autumn colours were amazing on the way up.
It was a beautiful day and the mix of fresh snow and autumn woodland was lovely.
This is a nice section close to the top.
Glandon is disappointingly undramatic for a 2,000 metre col
Croix de fer makes up for it though.
Been there, done that.
The eponymous Croix.
Arty version of the Croix.
It was so nice at the top I just lazed about in the sun and decided Alpe D'Huez could wait for tomorrow.
Back down in the valley there are amazing folds in the rocks. Above the folds you can see one of the roads I took the next day.
mission accomplished.
As you can see the weather was glorious.
I actually timed myself for the first time ever - 1 hour 21 minutes to the official finish. The record is just over half an hour!!!!! (Marco Pantani,drug assisted).
I pottered around the ski resort, then headed half way back down and took a Right turn along a single track road that hugged the cliff around to the next valley. If you look at the earlier photo of rock folds, you can see where this road goes.
looking down to Bourg in the valley
It was nice to do Alpe D'Huez, but it felt a bit like "training" - this is more my sort of road
Looking down to some of the famous 21 bends of Alpe D'Huez.
These are the bottom 6 bends. Those who have climbed it will know that the first two seem hard, when you know there are 19 more to go. You can see why in this photo.
more posing.
I rode back into the valley and along to Bourg, then half way back up Alpe D'Huez and took another single track road in the other direction. This kept climbing and was even more dramatic than the first.
This is an amazing road.
It just hugs the cliff above the valley.
The photos don't do it justice - add it to your "must do" list.
Very pleased with myself.
I stopped off again North of Florence and had a day riding in the hills there.
Lovely scenery again.
With added sex appeal.
More bike and mountain - not much light left and two 1,000 metre cols between me and the car.
Fortunately the road didn't drop much between the two cols, so I made it back in the dusk.
I stopped and had a nice lazy day at my brother's in Umbria. Here is the view from his terrace.
I took the ferry from Ancona to Patras and intended to spend a day riding in the Peleponnese, but despite the good forecast, the weather finally caught up with me
this is why I headed straight for the ferry to Crete.
The weather in Crete was up to its usual standard though. 29 degrees in November - lovely. My new house here is half built and I spent the day sitting on what will be the first floor terrace admiring the view, that I expect never to tire of. Those mountains are 2,500 metres - plenty of riding up there!
The Greek expression for sunbathing is "i iliotherapia". Ilio is sun and you can guess the therapia. It works pretty well.