Italian lakes

For my usual Toussaint (All Hollows) trip, I chose like last year to go to Italy. This time I targeted the 12 BIG between Chiavenna and Ornavasso (11 in Italy and 1 in Switzerland). I would have added with pleasure Passo San Marco and Val Malenco to my program but as I wanted to be back in Nice for the Nice-Nantes football match, I had no time for them.

As I did several times before, I woke up at 2 am (it’s early) to catch the 5 am train from Ventimiglia to Milano. I chose to start with the Menarola climb so headed to Chiavenna. In fact I wanted to stop at the station before, but as it was quite a long name (Prata Camportaccio) I couldn’t remember it and took instead a ticket to the simpler Chiavenna. From Milano one has to take the train towards Tirano then change in Colico.

I discovered in Colico that, due to works on the line, the train didn’t go further than Novate-Mezzola. So I began my bike ride a little sooner than expected. After a few kilometres on the busy valley road, I saw on my left a nice cycling path, along the Mera River. In Ponte Nave there was a bridge crossing the river so I quit the cycling path as I knew Menarola was on the right bank. But another bridge 3 kilometres further took me back to the same cycling path. I finally found the good bridge to reach Gordona and the start of Menarola climb.

As I climbed this tiny road in the forest, I was confronted in some parts to carpets of fallen leaves, a feature that would follow me the entire trip. Thanks to my 25 mm Pro3 tires (no advertising, but I found they performed extremely well), I was not too bothered by that (with one exception, we’ll see later).

During the climb, I could enjoy some nice views over Valchiavenna, the valley that leads to lago di Como, and Val Bregaglia, the one going east towards Maloja pass and Sankt Moritz. After having passed the houses of Voga, I finally arrived at some lonely houses in a curve, where the asphalt stops. I continued for 400 m and arrived at a pylon where I stopped, as the track in front of me seemed to get “wilder”. Further investigation back at home showed me that I was just 150 m away from the end of the road, so it would have been maybe a better place for a finish.

Down in the valley, I stayed on the bike path all the way this time, down to lago di Mezzola where it finished. In Colico I stopped for a snack. When I got out of the bar, the rain started, and was to continue all the rest of the day. I followed the road along the north-east shore of lago di Como, and turned left in Dervio to climb Monte Legnoncino. In Tremenico, the place where the dead-end road to Monte Legnoncino leaves the Valvarrone road, a hotel was indicated. As it was still raining and night was arriving, I asked for a room but I was told at the bar that the hotel was closed. So I had no choice but to keep on climbing.

It was some kind of horrible climb, in the night, under the rain. The wet pine needles kept on gathering in my brakes, so regularly I had to stop to take them off. I finally arrived at some car park, with big stones on the ground. My GPS showed me the road was continuing, but it turned to be a forest track. Unaware of where the BIG was set, I wanted to follow the track to its end, but renounced quickly. Riding in the dark, under the rain, and on a non-asphalted track was too much for me, so I turned back and started to go down, whether I had completed the BIG or not (I was happy to find later that I had reached the official top, at the end of the asphalt).

I have planned initially, after Monte Legnoncino, to continue in the valley, turning back in Valsàssina through sella de Piazzo, to reach the foot of next BIG, Croce di Muggio. But it was night, it was raining, and I doubted much finding a hotel in the upper part of the valleys, so I turned down to the lake. In Dervio and Bellano I saw no hotel so continued to Varenna where there was a lot.

The morning after the weather was fine as I was back in Bellano to climb croce di Muggio (in fact it is the official side of the BIG challenge). The road finishes in a little ski resort, Alpe Giumello. There’s a village with some houses but nothing after. I then went back to Varenna to take the boat to Bellagio. This is a very convenient crossing for BIGgers who want to climb Madonna del Ghisallo.

In Civenna I was fooled some instants, as the place looks very similar to Madonna del Ghisallo (for someone who’s never been there), overlooking the Lecco branch of Lago di Como. But as the chapel was devoted to hunters and not cyclists, I realized it was not the good place. Finally I reached the top, with everything I expected: the cyclists’ monument and the chapel (unfortunately, there was someone working inside and he had closed the door to public). At the top I talked briefly with a cyclist that told me it was its 99th climb of the year, and he expected the 100th for the next Sunday. A quadruple godfather of Madonna del Ghisallo, I should have enrolled him for the BIG challenge!

After a short descent, I started the ascent to Colma de Sormano. I had the intention to climb the Muro de Sormano, even if I feared it, as it is renowned to be so steep. But as I said, we were in autumn, and there were more fallen leaves here than anywhere else. On a slope up to 10°, it was not a problem, but with the muro di Sormano gradients, and the amount of wet leaves on the ground, it was impossible. I walked up to the next switchback but discovered a road completely hidden under the leaves. So I turned back to the main road, which is rather steep itself, and reached the pass without problems.

At the end of the descent, I was back at the lake, on the shore between Bellagio and Como. This road is nice, overlooking the lake with little ups and downs, and much less traffic than I had feared. From Como to Cernobbio it was much busier until I reach the Monte Bisbino road. Beautiful views of the lake and the city of Como are offered at the beginning of the climb, and unlike all of the other BIG of the region, Monte Bisbino is reasonably steep, so it was a nice climb. I headed then to Switzerland and Mendrisio, where I stopped for the night, at the foot of Monte Generoso.

Monte Generoso climb begins in a very steep street of Mendrisio, calms down when crossing some houses, then climbs steadily to the finish. There is a train going up the mountain but not functioning as I was there as a new hotel at the top was being built. The road ends at a stop called Stazione Bellavista, but I was not able to confirm that, as a thick fog surrounded me, and I unfortunately saw nothing of the supposed nice views over Lago di Lugano.

Down in Mendrisio, I turned towards Varese and entered Italy again. I passed along the north of Varese, and some very small roads around Olona, to go to my next BIG, Campo dei Fiori. A huge building, which is in fact an abandoned hotel, can be seen on the top when climbing. But the BIG is set at the observatory nearby, on top of a very very steep ramp. When going down, I thought about go and see the hotel, but was not sure of the way as two roads leave the observatory road in two different hairpins, so I continued my descent directly.

After Campo dei Fiori, I took the direction of San Martino, which is also a dead-end road that leads to a solitary chapel. During the climb, and also at the top, I could enjoy nice views to the Valcuvia below. There were children plays, and also a restaurant up there, but on a week day at the end of October, everything was desert.

Down in Valcuvia, I had not a long ride to be at the foot of passo Cuvignone. In fact from this side, you climb north to passo Sant Antonio, where, instead of going down to lago Maggiore, you turn left to go to passo Cuvignone, which takes you back to Valcuvia again. It’s a steady climb all the way, and the descent towards Cittiglio appeared to me quite steep also.

I took once again a boat in Laveno to cross lago Maggiore, as the last two BIG, Alpe Rossombolmo and Mottarone, were on the Piemontese side. I stopped when I saw a hotel in Mergozzo, along a nice lake, just before Ornavasso, the foot of Alpe Rossombolmo. It was not very late when I arrived, so I was thinking of climbing Alpe Rossombolmo in the evening, after having set up in the hotel. But I feared this climb, and riding at night is nice in a way, but of course hides the scenery, which is the main motivation for this kind of trips. So when the man at the hotel locked my bike in his garage, I let him do without protesting.

The morning after, I headed towards Ornavasso under a generous sun. At the Santuario Della Madonna Del Boden I felt something strange about the road, and realized I should have turned right just before. After a few kilometers on a steep road, the asphalt began to deteriorate, and the road became so steep at a moment that I couldn’t no more stay on my bike. After a flat stretch in the forest, and another impossible to ride steep ramp, I arrived at a wooden arch that showed the beginning of the path to Alpe Cortevecchio. From this point, the road was all rideable, even if there were still very steep ramps, and I arrived finally at the top of the climb.


The road finishes abruptly a few hundred meters before what appears as the last house in this part of the mountain. From here you can see a little below the few houses of Alpe Cortevecchio, and in the distance Isola Madre in the middle of Lago Maggiore. I have read, but after my ride, that walking to the crest just over the road would have allowed me to discover wonderful views of the Ornavasso valley below.

After a cautious descent, I was on the highway towards Gravellona Toce and Omegna. At the south exit of Omegna, I took the Mottarone road. As this road climbs along the lago d’Orta, I expected nice views over the lake but it was hidden most of the time by a wall of trees. After Agrano and a little descent, I climbed to Armeno where I took a one-way street (it’s bad) to save me 20 m of elevation loss before reaching the last part of the Mottarone road.

This was the last BIG of this four-day trip, but it turned to be by far the most beautiful, and one of the most (if not the most) extraordinary climbs I’ve ever done. On the first hairpin over Armeno, I began to see a snowy peak (Monte Rosa) rising over the lower, forest-covered, mounts around me. As I climbed, more mountains were showing in every direction. On a stretch looking south, I was even happy to see the familiar figure of Monviso, at a distance of 170 km!

The road from Armeno joins the road from Stresa for the last stretch to a little ski resort. There the road performs a loop around the peak and a cemented, deteriorated and very steep ramp allows to reach the top of the mountain, where stands a big antenna.

From here I enjoyed one of the most beautiful panoramas that can be found, with mountains everywhere: Monte Rosa, Breithorn, high peaks from Saastal, Bernina, and so on. Below could be seen all the lakes: Maggiore, Orta, Varese, Lugano … It was a splendor.

After a long stop and a lot of pictures taken, I started the descent towards Stresa. I passed a tollbooth that seemed strange here as the other road was free and arrived above Stresa, enjoying some last nice views over the town and the Borromee islands.

The trip was now finished and it was time to take the train back home. The Stresa line leads to Milano, where I was unlucky to miss a train to Genova for a few minutes. So I had to wait two hours for the next one that went to Albenga. I finally stopped in Genova, as I renounced to do the ride from Albenga to Nice from midnight to 3 am. When I found myself alone in my hotel room in Genova I thought I should have done it anyway, but never mind, the Sunday afternoon I was back in Nice to see my favorite team defeat 4 to 1 the FC Nantes, and with 12 more BIG in my musette.

Pictures : http://cathie.charbonnier.free.fr/piwigo/index.php?/category/7

Torino Nice Rally 2016

I fell one day on the internet on an event called Torino Nice Rally (TNR), proposed by an English guy named James Olsen. The purpose was to go from Torino to Nice, over a mix of roads and non-asphalted tracks. It was not a race, nor even a Randonnée, but just an occasion to have a good time on the bike in beautiful scenery. The route was loosely designed by James, with many places where riders could choose between difficult or easier roads. There were some BIG on the way, some nice non-BIG climbs and some wonderful mountain tracks.

As I live in Nice, and that Torino is easy to reach, I was immediately attracted by this project. The fact that it was a MTB bikepacking ride and that I had no MTB except an old rigid bike with non-functioning derailleur, and that I had no camping gear, was of little impact, as six months were to pass before the start in Torino. Furthermore, having ridden every road in the Alps around Nice, I was willing to enlarge my territory by adding dirt tracks to my possible routes.

So on Monday, September 5^th, I was ready to take the train to Torino, with my MTB, always old but now fully operative, loaded with sleeping bag, bivy bag and everything needed to sleep in the wild (the fact that I hardly used all this expensive stuff is another problem). I have been joined by another rider, Craig, coming from England, that I picked at the airport the day before, and we met two others at the Ventimiglia station. As we arrived at our destination in the beginning of the afternoon, I left the others to find me a hotel, and once installed I went on a ride around Torino, visiting the parks along the Po, and climbing colle della Maddalena where I enjoyed nice views over the town. At the pre-ride diner, in a Torino restaurant, we were about 50 persons or more, hardly knowing each other, with a mix of nationalities brought together by the magic of Internet. And we spent a very nice evening, talking of course only of bike.

The Tuesday morning, we were back at the same place for the official start. To go out of Torino we followed an Italian guy that led us through some beautiful parts of the town, and the palace of Veneria Reale. The program was to go to the airport on the way, to pick some other participants. But it happened that at a roundabout, while I was at the very last position of the peloton, the two riders just before me turned left instead of following the group. I decided in one second to follow them, feeling that they aimed at a shortcut to reach the mountains quicker, what they confirmed as I asked them. 

We rode a bit on the highway, then on a cycling path nearby. On the first climbs, I saw that my young new friends were faster than me, so I told them not to wait. Later, I saw them at a fountain making water. I kept on riding, thinking I would see them again soon in the climb, but never did, I don’t know why.

And so I was the first one of the rally to reach the foot of the colle del Colombardo (don’t worry, I was not the first one at the top). This pass connects val di Viu in the northwest of Torino to val di Susa, a little bit south, with an unpaved road. There’s a solitary church at the pass, and nice views to the Mont Viso. The track continues to climb after the pass, reaches another pass and then a cairn where the descent to Val di Susa begins.

After some 20 km in Val di Susa, I began the ascent to colle delle Finestre. The first part of the climb after the last village has a lot of hairpins in the forest, and then the unpaved part begins, up to the pass, where the asphalt turns back. It was now nearly the evening and I advised an open refuge, Alpe Pintas, where I decided to stop for dinner. I was soon joined by Craig, that I had at home the day before, funny hazard, then three Italian guys arrived, then two more riders, so we were 7 at time to go to bed. When I arrived, the people at the refuge had proposed me to put my tent in some part of their ground, but they finally allowed us very kindly to sleep inside a large room they had in their house.

The morning after, we left at dawn to climb Strada dell’Assietta. It’s an unpaved road, winding its way on the ridge between Val Chisone and Val di Susa, crossing many passes: Colle dell’Assietta, Col Bleiger, Col Lauson, Col Bourget and Col Basset to finish. From the Pian dell’Alpe, in the descent of colle delle Finestre, there’s a long climb to Colle dell’Assietta, then ups and downs to Colle Basset, where begins the descent to Sestriere.

The normal route of the TNR from Sestrière was through col de Montgenèvre directly to Briançon. But as I’ve already climbed this pass, I went instead to the col de l’Echelle that I had not ridden yet. So, in Cesena, instead of taking Briançon road, I went down to Oulx, then turned towards Bardonecchia where I headed in the “Colle della Scala” direction. It was a nice climb, with large hairpins, and views over Bardonecchia to the Rochemolles valley, where I’ve been some years ago to climb the Sommeiller.

I then went down to Briançon towards Izoard. The program of the TNR proposed, leaving the Izoard road in Cervières, a detour by Col de Peas, which lies a little east of the Izoard. But I left that to the real MTBers, being myself only a road rider that turned MTB for the occasion. After the Izoard and a good stop at the nice bakery of Arvieux, I continued on well-known roads to the Agnel pass.

From this point, if I can annoy my readers with personal considerations, something went wrong in my head. I had evaluated at home my journey at about 600 km and 17000 m of elevation gain. According to my usual standards with my road bike, it was a trip that could be easily done in 4 days, so I aimed a finish on Friday. And despite I was perfectly aware that riding on stony tracks with a fully-loaded old MTB was of course slower than on tarmac with an efficient carbon road bike, and that I had no particular reason to come back home earlier than the Sunday, I was not able, for some weird twist inside my mind, to set a new, more realistic and more relaxed, planning. And so I kept pedalling late in the evening, stopping too late to have dinner, leaving too early and not sleeping enough, until the final exhaustion that made me renounce to the last part of the route.

This being said, let’s continue with the trip. It was getting late as I was climbing Agnel pass. I could (should) have stopped at the refuge at the top, but I had fixed Sampeyre as my stop for this evening. So I kept on climbing and was at the pass at about 21 pm, as the last days of light were fading away. I then went on a long descent, reached Sampeyre like I wanted to, and stopped at a hotel there at about 22 pm.

Nevertheless, the morning after, I was in the colle Sampeyre climb before dawn. Of course, when I reached the pass, the sun was up. At colle Sampeyre, like in Cervières, two routes were proposed: the road going down through Elva directly to Ponte Marmora, or an unasphalted track, named Strada dei Canonni, that followed the ridge between Val Varaita and Val Maira, mainly on the Val Maira side. This road has been presented by James as a rough one, so at first I decided to avoid it, especially as, despite having climbed colle Sampeyre a few times now, I never passed by vallone d’Elva, which looks quite spectacular. But when I saw some views of the Strada dei Cannoni on the internet, it looked so nice that I had to take it. And in fact the scenery was wonderful, winding along nude slopes, overlooking Val Maira of more than 1000 m. But as promised, it was a tough part to ride, the track being very stony.

After having left the high altitude, I entered in the forest, with much less to look around, and on a track that wasn’t getting easier at all. The route has been drawn by James down to Dronero, on the very beginning of the Val Maira. Going all the way back from this point to Ponte Marmora on the valley road had appeared to me as a serious drawback. So when, arrived at some point called Colle Birrone, I saw a sign on my right indicating San Damiano Macra, I went this way without hesitation. Well, I have not ridden the part between colle Birrone and Valmala, and I don’t know what I’ve missed, but when I was on the road it appeared to me as a very good compromise.

So, after a not so long than I had feared ride along the valley, I arrived in Ponte Marmora. The program here was to ride the altopiano della Gardetta, a high plateau lying between Val Maira and Valle Stura. An unpaved road crosses it at an altitude between 2100 and 2500 m. Here again, there were two solutions for reaching the plateau: via Acceglio, Chialvetta and a hard to cycle MTB path, or via the asphalted colle del Preit, both sides joining just below passo della Gardetta.

Apart that I feared the MTB side, I had something to conclude with colle del Preit. Two years ago, I cycled all the way from Nice to climb this pass, as it was the nearest over 2000 m I have not been yet. But after having ridden all day and arriving at the top by the late afternoon, my camera ran out of battery just for the last picture, of the sign pass. I promised then to turn back, as climbing a pass without taking the picture at the top is doing half part of the job. So in Marmora road I turned right towards Canosio (turning left would have taken me to the Esischie and colle dei Morti/Fauniera passes). The climb was as steep as last time, but I finally reached the pass. I took my picture and continued climbing, on a dirt track but well rideable, up to the crossing of the passo della Gardetta road (I have a little regret not to have gone to this pass, but this will be a motivation for coming back next year). I found that the road through the plateau was much longer, and rougher to cycle in some parts, than I had expected. And I was happy that a flat in the descent of the Esischie delayed me and made me renounce to ride it with my road bike the last time I’ve been there.

Apart from the cycling considerations, I have no words to describe the scenery. It’s beautiful in every direction.  From colle del Preit, the road performs a big loop all around the place, first going westwards to passo Gardetta, then following the south side eastwards, with many passes on the way. At some point, the crests over the Tinée can be seen in the distance, then the track comes across some military ruins and a funny open air sanctuary at the colle della Bandia, overlooked a good part of the way by the impressive Rocca la Meija.

But all good things must come to an end, and the exit of the plateau arrives, at colle Valcavera. There begins the descent to Demonte, 2 km below colle dei Morti. In Demonte I just had to cross Valle Stura to climb Madonna del Colletto. It’s a road quite steep all the way, but not very long. From the pass, I went down on the other side to Valdieri, in Val Gesso. To leave Val Gesso, the TNR proposed another pass, colla delle Goderie, that allows to reach Vernante through a little valley called Roaschia.

I arrived in Roaschia as night was falling and should have stopped there. But I had fixed Limone as my stop for this day, and the end of the valley seemed to show a pass that was not far away, so I continued. But what looked ahead like the top of the road was in fact just the beginning. The pass turned to be much higher than I had expected and furthermore the road turned to gravel. There I began, for the first time of the trip, not to appreciate my ride. I was climbing in the night, tired, not seeing the end of the pass (but, as I said, it was all my fault).

I finally reached the pass, which was followed by little ups and downs before the beginning of the real descent towards Vernante. I arrived there of course very late, and stopped at the first hotel I saw (that was about to close). Here again it was too late for meal, and here again I was back on the road in the very first hours of the morning, long before sunrise. I began the gentle climb leading to Limone, annoyed by the traffic that was important despite the early hour.

But, after a few kilometres on this road, exhaustion fell suddenly on me. I had nothing to eat but one or two bars, that didn’t change much my physical state. I continued to climb, at a very slow pace. I passed along Limone as it was still very dark so thought it was not worth the detour to look for something open. In the Limone 1400 village I saw nothing open, so I continued climbing. A little before colle di Tenda there was a bar announcing an opening at 8:30. I could have waited for its eventual opening but thought finally it was useless.

I felt in fact so exhausted that I was quite certain that even after a (hypothetical) good meal, I wouldn’t be in a good condition to ride all the way the Via del Sale, which I knew was hard, having ridden the beginning a few years ago. So in the col de Tende I called it quits. The fact that the Roya valley is reachable from Nice also led me to think that I could do this ride anytime and that it was stupid to do it now when I was too tired to appreciate it.

So I went down towards Tende through the many hairpins of the descent. When arrived in Tende, I had finally the good breakfast I was striving for since hours. Having looked at the train timetable I saw I had time to go down and catch it in Breil, but when arriving in Saint-Dalmas, I finally chose to stop and wait quietly there. Finishing the ride with the train may sound strange, but for me that live in Nice, it’s a thing I do frequently when I go riding in the Roya. And I was not in the mood for riding a 10^th time in the year col de Brouis and col de Braus roads.

In the train back to Nice, I had time to think about my journey. I couldn’t understand, and don’t understand even now, why I decided to finish at all cost my trip on the Friday. At the day of today, I have not yet ridden the via del Sale like I promised myself on top of col de Tende. So now I hesitate between riding it next spring or keeping it for the 2^nd edition of the Torino Nice Rally. 

Despite this little frustrating end, I have only good souvenirs from this TNR, from my little ride in Torino the day before the start to, let’s say, the beginning of my climb to colla delle Goderie. I will certainly do my best to join the 2^nd edition, and I’ve already started to think about my future route, linking the parts I’d like to do again and the ones I’d like to discover.

More pictures : http://cathie.charbonnier.free.fr/piwigo/index.php?/category/8

Pyrénées Orientales, Catalunya, Andorre, Val d’Aran

The day after my Canigou ride, I was back in the train to Perpignan. Ignorant of the roads around this town (except the one I took two days before), I intended to take straight ahead the road to Céret and Spain, but it turned out to be a highway, with two lanes on each side of the road, and cars going well over 100 km/h. I went back, but found myself inside a web of highways, trying to find, with my road map and my GPS, another route that would take me on the Céret Road, avoiding the first part so hostile to bikes. I tried some cyclist path, but that led me nowhere. I looked at my GPS, and it showed me a small road nearby, that I finally reached crossing a vineyard. This kind of adventures makes you complain at first about not preparing well enough your trip but turns some days after into funny souvenirs.

I finally took the Canohès and col de Llauro road. At the pass, I thought that staying on the crest of the hills would allow me to get back to my route in Amélie-les-Bains, a little higher than Céret, so I turned right towards Oms. In fact my map fooled me as it showed a road that turned out to be a footpath. Instead I found myself in La Vila where I had a good climb before arriving in Amélie-les-Bains, that I reached finally with much more climb than expected. Apparently, there is a cyclist path between Céret and Amélie-les-Bains so I certainly would have done better to go down directly to Céret.

A nice cyclist path, the continuation from Céret, well indicated, led me from Amélie to Arles-sur-Tech, keeping me away from the main road. In Arles it was time to stop for the night. In my optimistic schedule, I should have passed the col des Ares this day, but all my wanderings in Perpignan, and the extra climbing on the small roads delayed me of course a lot. But no matter, I was happy to be on the road, my mind filled with the climbs that expected me the days to come.

No more cycling path after Arles, so in the morning, I was on the road to Prats de Mollo and col d'Ares. It was foggy and cold at the pass. In fact I found a quite cold weather at the beginning of my trip. It was not always easy, especially when going down early in the morning, but I kept in mind that too hot would be worst. And in fact, the temperature increased the last day and confirmed me that climbing in the heat causes more problems than enduring cold in descents.

After col d'Ares, I went down to Camprodon, where the climb to my first big, Valterr 2000, was to begin. It’s a long climb, 22 km, where the nicest part are large hairpins in the forest, a little before the ski resort. Back in Camprodon, I had to go to Berga for the Rasos de Peguera climb. First it was on a highway to Ripoll, but as it was mainly downhill, it was quickly done and not too annoying. In Ripoll, I had to take briefly the Barcelona road, but turned right just before entering a big tunnel.

A very enjoyable road led me to Berga, through Les Lloses and Pantà de la Baells. After the Rasos de Peguera climb, I took the direction of Bagà, trying to avoid the Puigcerda main road as much as possible. I finally stopped for the night at Guardiola de Berguedà. As always, I had to explain at the hotel that I wanted to leave at 6. It was not easy this time but finally I was early in the morning on the road to coll del Pall. At the top of this climb the road turns into a dirt track. I chose nevertheless to go down this way, as it was only a few kilometres long and avoided me a very large detour. It was very rough, and I had to walk frequently, but it was worth doing it. But cyclists must be aware that it is a tough track.

To reach Coma Morera, I went down to Puigcerda and Bourg-Madame. I could have gone directly through Queixans and Osséja, but had to take some food before the climb. At some point in the climb to Coma Morera, the road separates in two. Both ways go to the top, but the left side is much shorter. Of course I turned right, which allowed me to visit all the parts of this climb, as I went down the direct way. The road is narrow, steep and not in very good state but the views at the top, in all directions, reward us from the climb.

I spent the last part of the day climbing Puymorens and Envalira passes. In the port d’Envalira climb, there’s a surprising town (Pas de la Casa), 2000m high in the middle of nowhere, built for the tax-free shoppers coming from France. I came into a shop called Supermercat, in the hope of finding some things to eat, but it sold nearly only alcohols and cigarettes, so I found only a bag of nuts as a food.

I stopped in Encamp for the night. The hotel on the road to Els Cortals was full, so I had to go down in town, where I found a cheap hotel on town’s main street. I ate in a restaurant nearby where I had a full course for 11 €. I feared at first that Andorra would be expensive, but it wasn’t at all.

The breakfast at the hotel was at 8 am, but I left earlier to climb Els Cortals and so was back at the hotel with a good appetite. After breakfast I left towards col d’Ordino and Arcalis. In the town of Ordino, I saw a lot of runners as the Andorra Ultra Trail was taking place there this very week-end.

After Arcalis, I went down to La Manassa to start the Port de Cabus climb. I found this pass the most beautiful of all the climbs I did in Andorra. The last part after coll de la Botella is gorgeous. In fact it was so beautiful that it could have ruined my trip. I started the descent with my eyes on the scenery and not on the road. It happened that there was a little crack in the asphalt, and my front wheel chose this very place. I finished on the road, hearing the hiss of my back wheel losing its air. Well, a scratched

elbow and a flat are no big deal, so I fixed my tire and started to go down normally. But as soon as I started to brake, I realised that my front rim had been worn when entering the crack and prevented me nearly to use my front brake. So I started to go down like I could, hoping to have my bike repaired in la Manassa, or to the worst, being able to buy a new wheel in some shop. Suddenly I felt something missing in my back pockets, and realised that my purse was not here anymore. I turned back immediately and had to go up 2 kilometres before finding it in the middle of the road, with everything inside, but with my identity card and my credit card folded in three parts.

So the situation was the following: I was in Andorra, with a bike nearly unusable, no credit card and only the little cash that remained in my purse. Furthermore it was Friday and I feared not to find an open bank before Monday, if ever the case of a damaged credit card was handled. Well, at this point the only thing to do was to go down to la Manassa. On the way I had another flat on my front wheel that frightened me, as I didn’t know if my damaged rim would not cause other flats regularly. But it didn’t, and I finally arrived in la Manassa a little before 7pm, where I found a bike shop (that dealt mainly with MTB, as la Manassa appears to be the place in Andorra devoted to MTB) where my wheel was repaired, to my great relief.

I then resumed my ride but had still in mind the problem of my credit card. I stopped to have a more attentive look and found that even if it was folded in two places, the plastic was not broken and that maybe I could flatten it with precaution. When this was done, I advised an ATM nearby to test it. When I saw the notes going out of the machine, I was of course very happy.

As I was at the top of port de Cabus about 5pm, I had hoped being able to climb my last Andorran climb, Bosc de la Rabassa, before the end of the day, and be able to sleep in la Seu d’Urgell. Of course, with my wheel incident I had to stop in Sant Julia de Llorat instead, where I took a room at hotel Floch, nearly at the foot of the Rabassa climb. Like in Coma Morera, two roads can be chosen to reach the top, that join in a pass called la Peguera just a few kilometres before the end of the climb. This time I chose the most direct way, turning right where the roads separate, but through curiosity I took the other one for descent, which has a little bit more ups and downs. The top of the Bosc de la Rabassa is the entrance to an attraction park, called Naturlandia. Again, I was able to do the climb before breakfast, so I was out of Andorra by 9pm, with the last three Spanish BIG of my trip ahead: col Canto, Estany de Sant Maurici and Port de la Bonaigua.

Coll Canto is steep at the beginning, the road is a bit busy, but it offers nice views to the Segre valley on the left. Closer to the pass, the road gets easier, and the pass takes place in a nice reddish rocks environment.

As I said before, it was exceptionally cold the first few days of my trip, but normal July heat came back on my last day. So I began to be overheated on the valley road that climbs slowly along the Noguera Pallaresa river to the beginning of the Espot and Sant Maurici lake climb. When getting out of

Espot, one has to turn right to reach the Estany de Sant Maurici (and not go to the Espot ski centre like I did, stupidly). The road to the lake is a very tiny one, where very steep ramps alternate with flat sections. There’s a car park a few kilometres after Espot, and from there the only authorised vehicles are 4x4 taxis that carry people to and from the lake. As one may expect, the scenery at the lake is very nice, and is even more appreciated I think when you have struggled one hour and a half to reach it.

By now, only port de la Bonaigua was to climb, but as I said, the heat, and maybe the tiredness from the previous days, caused me to

find this last climb much difficult. The fact it was on a busy road, with many cars, and even more of those motorbike cretins, passing by worsened things. But I have passed by enough of these moments to know that the only thing to do in such cases is to keep pedalling, and that even if going very slowly, the top of the climb always finishes to arrive. This climb to la Bonaigua could have been nice, except for the motorized traffic, but the valley is totally spoiled by a web of high tension wires.

After the pass, I just had to let me down to Vielha, where I arrived at about 9pm and went into my last hotel. The day after, I climbed the col des Ares. Having started with col d’Ares, I found that funny. I then went down to Saint-Gaudens (with a last little pass on the way) where I jumped into the train to Toulouse, and finished this fructuous 14-BIG trip.

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Mont Canigou

After two unsuccessful attempts with my road bike, the first time I didn’t find the good track, the second time I renounced a little after the col del Forn, where the unpaved track begins to get rougher, I finally managed to take my MTB to perform this climb. What I finally saw of the chalet des Cortalets road showed me how ridiculous I had been trying to make it with a road bike.

So on Sunday I took in Nice the train to Perpignan with my MTB. My plan was to stay the night in Prades, climb the Canigou on Monday and join my wife Monday night in Roquefort des Corbières, a village in the Aude department. Meanwhile she would have done the trip from Nice with the car and could bring me my road bike for a further BIG trip in the Pyrenees.

After having left the Perpignan station, I followed at first the old Prades road, parallel to the new main road, through the villages of Le Soler, Saint-Féliu-d'Avall and Corbère. In Bouleternère, I finally turned towards the mountains. I had time before being in Prades and was happy to visit some passes before. So I photographed my bike in front of the col Fourtou, col Xatard and col Palomère signs and went down to the Prades road, that I joined through Finestret. This was a little diversion from the direct road, but it was all downhill and it allowed me to be back on the highway a little closer from Prades.

In the morning, after having annoyed the man at the hotel for being able to leave at 6 am, I headed to Villerach, where starts the Canigou track. The road to this village is found at the south exit of Prades, and there is also an access through Los Masos, a little downer on the Perpignan road. Up to Villerach, the road is asphalted, but immediately after, it turns to an unpaved track. For a few kilometres, before arriving to the coll del Forn car park, the track is nice, with no stones, but from this point to the end, it’s a mix of good track, bad track, with even some asphalted parts, with a tendency to get worst as we advance. But, after a long climb, I arrived happily at the chalet des Cortalets, and was very glad to have finally reached this BIG, that the use of the MTB prevented me to climb before.

To go back to Roquefort, I went through Fenouillèdes and Corbières. These countries in the north of the Pyrénées-Orientales and south of the Aude offer nice roads, hilly and quiet, and are a pleasure to cycle. Furthermore, I was able to pass by the gorges de Galamus, which are a curiosity to see. And in the evening as expected I found again my wife and my beloved Time.

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Ardèche, Savoie

The purpose of the trip was to join my son who studies in Lyon, go with him to the Lyon–Nice football match (allez Nice!), then take him back to Nice. So I left Nice by car two days before the match, aiming to climb some BIGs on the way. After a night at a hotel near Montelimar, I parked in the morning at the Livron station and crossed the Rhône to find the col de la Mûre road.

Nothing much to say about this trip, all things went fine except that the road between Désaignes and Saint-Pierre-sur-Doux was signalled closed 8 km further. This was too far away to try my luck, so I headed directly to Saint-Agrève and was back on my itinerary at Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid, with some extra kilometres that didn’t bother me much.

After crossing the col de Charousse and col de la République, I arrived at Crêt de l’Oeillon. It’s a dual BIG as once the antenna that marks the official BIG is reached, one can see opposite of it the military tower that looks slightly higher. So it’s difficult to go down without climbing to this building. After that, it was all downhill and flat to the Péage-de-Roussillon station where soon a train took me back to the car. I then drove up to Chambery with Mont Revard and Mont du Chat as my new targets.

It was raining when I left the hotel in the morning. But when I parked by the lake between Mont Revard and Mont du Chat, the rain had stopped. I had some light rain when climbing the Revard but the weather improved and I even had some sun at the Mont du Chat. In Mont Revard, I went to the belvedere where they installed platforms to enjoy the view over the lac du Bourget. One was built from glass, to see through the floor. I really tried to walk on this but couldn’t. Of course it’s stupid because I would have walked without hesitation on a wooden platform, even higher than this one.

After going down Mont Revard, I crossed the south side of the lake on a nice cyclist path, and began the climb of Mont du Chat. It’s a long and very steep ascent, where I struggled much longer than expected. It was even one of the hardest climbs I ever did, but I finally reached the top. After a few (fuzzy) photographs, I went down to the car and drove to Lyon with plenty of time before going to the match (by the way, it ended in a 1-1 draw).

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Catalunya, Mallorca

I started this trip in Port la Nouvelle station. I took the train there to Cerbère, close to the Spanish border, where I started my bike ride. The coast road from Cerbère is of course very nice. I followed it up to Llança where I had to leave seaside to head towards Coll de Bracons. I then had about 20 km of highway, going through Figueres, until I took a small road in the countryside that led me to Banyoles and its nice lake, then the small pass of Colitza.

I found again the main road at the south of Olot for a few kilometers, before leaving it again to take the coll de Bracons road. The pass can be seen from far away, but it’s a steep way to reach it. At the end of the descent, I found a train (trains are numerous and cheap around Barcelona) to save me a bit of main road from Torelló to Balenyà, where I started the climb to coll de Formic. It was a gentle ascent from this side. On the other side it did look neither steep, even if it’s of course longer.

While I was climbing, I was considering all the options for the remaining BIGs in my program: Turo de l’Home, Montserrat and the six in Mallorca. I finally concluded that the best solution, that would make me finish sooner my trip, was to go to Mallorca this very night. So I left Turo de l’Home for later, even if I was very close to it, and went instead to Barcelona, by train from Sant Celoni station, to take the boat to Mallorca.

At this time of the year, there’s one boat a day, leaving late in the evening and arriving early in the morning, which is a good schedule as you spend the night in the boat. There are two companies crossing to Mallorca, with approximately the same schedule. I took Balearia because it was the first office I saw on the harbor, but I think both offer quite the same services. The boats are similar, more intended for the crossing of lorries but with a small space for passengers and cars (and bikes). In the boat I saw a post indicating the fare for a cabin was 150 €. I didn’t ask confirmation of this price (that seemed very expensive), as my Spanish is so poor, so I slept on two seats in the Pullman room, where I had a not so bad night.

As I woke up, I suddenly realized that, despite I spent hours at home preparing my trip and building the GPS tracks, I finally left without anything about Mallorca: nor the tracks saved in my GPS, nor any map of the island. I felt destroyed when leaving the boat. I bought the first map I found, but felt that with only the indications from my memory, it would be almost impossible not to miss some BIG of the island. I asked for an internet point at every bar I saw on the coast road west of Palma but didn’t find any. Finally I called my fellow bigger Pascal who pointed me on the phone all the BIGs of the island, allowing me to continue my trip. I owe him an eternal gratitude for that.

The climb to the first BIG, Galilea, was an easy one. On the way down, I had to choose in Puigpunyent which way to reach the next BIG, coll de Soller. Passing by Esporles may have been nicer, but with my earlier wanderings, I thought I had to catch up on my supposed schedule, so I headed directly towards the Soller main road. In Son Sardina I turned left on a parallel small road that was nice and narrow, but turned into a dirt road, going through farms. My map showed it as a real road to the end, but I would have better done to turn right on Soller road a little earlier.

The Soller pass is not very high but with as much hairpins as possible for its elevation, so it was a nice climb. To reach the next BIG, Monnaber, I took the smaller road through Fornalutx, but I don’t think it makes much difference from the direct way. I never saw as many cyclists as in this climb. At this time of the year, racers from all over Europe go training in Mallorca, so with my luggage and my touristic pace, I was overtaken by many pelotons. At the beginning of the descent, the road goes along two nice lakes and the start of the road to Puig Major, the highest point of Mallorca. Unfortunately (my nose is getting longer), it’s a military place so the BIG can’t be put up there.

The next BIG, Sa Calobra, appeared to me as the best one of the island. After leaving the Serra di Tramuntana road, it begins with a short ascent to Coll des Reis, then a long and windy descent. The road is full of hairpins and offers very nice views to the sea. I regretted after not to have tried to go to torrent de Pareis as it was close and looked like a beautiful place to see. Sa Calobra is a dead-end so one has to return by the same road. Eventually the road performs a 270° turn, going over itself, in a place nicknamed la Corbata (the tie) from the shape of the road. Here the wind was so strong that it nearly put me off the road. I remembered having been surprised at the beginning of the day not to find wind in Mallorca, but by the end of the morning the wind installed itself steadily and didn’t leave me until the end.

After the coll dels Reis descent, I was back on the road to Inca. After a few kilometers of ups and downs, I began a nice descent. From Inca to Sineu the road is much frequented, but when I turned left to Petra I was nearly alone. From Petra to Felanitx, the road is a bit busier but not too much. On my left, I could see in the dusk the hill from which the next BIG, monasterio de San Salvador, occupies the top. Between Felanitx and the foot of the climb, there’s a little stretch of busy road, but on the road to the monasterio, I was again alone. It was completely dark when I reached the top so I saw little of this BIG before going down. I then took the direction of Randa, the foot of the last BIG of Mallorca, monasterio de la Cura. Randa appeared on the map as a very small village, so I had no hope finding a place to sleep here. I intended to climb this last BIG, then turn back to Palma to find a place to finish the night, but felt it was a pity to do the climb in the dark and then lose the views it could offer. But to my great pleasure, there was a hotel in Randa, and so a few minutes later I was delighted to find myself in a nice bed instead of spending the night on my saddle.

In the morning, I was happy to have started at daylight, as effectively very nice views in every direction can be seen when climbing this BIG: Serra de Tramuntana in the northwest, the east coast on the other side. The climb didn’t take me long, even with the pictures stops, so I had plenty of time to reach Palma, following the coast, before taking the boat at about 11 am.

I was back in Barcelona by the end of the afternoon, and had to go to Plaza de Espanya station to take the train to Monistrol. I expected the station to be a big building on the place, but in fact it is located underground. Once I had realized the entrances to the station were the stairs going down from the place, I found my train easily.

In Monistrol I went to the hotel Guilheumes, which was nice and where I was left free to leave at any time. I didn’t want to go too early as I thought I had time to do the last two BIGs, Montserrat and Turo de l’Home, and be back in Port la Nouvelle by the end of the day. But I was up before 6am, tried to stay in the room for a while, and finally went my way in the very dawn, expecting to have daylight when reaching the top of the climb. But as it was cloudy and the climb not very steep, I arrived a bit early to enjoy large views from the top (anyway, the clouds would have hidden me anything). I discovered that this monastery was a very big one, almost like a little town, with plenty of buildings, and even a hotel. So I understood why I saw so many vehicles while climbing.

I had now to go back to Sant Celoni, where I already was three days earlier after my climb to coll de Formic, to finally climb the Turo de l’Home. The train to Sant Celoni was leaving from Barcelona Saints station. This station is a very big one, with trains going in every direction. I didn’t expect this and really had difficulties to find the good platform.

In Sant Celoni it was raining. I put my rain clothes on in the station then started my last ascent. Turo de l’Home is 1700 m high, so it was a strong ascent. The last part of the climb is on a little road in very bad state in some parts. The degraded sections are numbered so while climbing it’s possible to know how many are left. I was finally at the top, where it was very wet and cold, and began the descent just after the commemorative picture. Back in Sant Celoni station, the trip was finished, and I just had to wait for the train to Cerbère, then Port la Nouvelle.

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