Day 5: Tue 1st July 2009

 

Ride: Briancon to Belfort - 363 miles

 

This morning Cat was waiting for a man with a van to take him and his bike to Grenoble. It wasn't clear what was going to happen after that, but if the problem was terminal he was going to arrange for his bike to be shipped back to the UK and then hire a car and drive up to Belfort to join everyone else the next day.

 

Meanwhile everyone else had a lot of riding in front of them today. Phil had planned a route to Belfort that started with a run over the Col de Montgenevre and a brief spell in Italy. From there it was along the E70 to the Tunnel Alpin du Frejus and then up the A43/E70 virtually all the way to Albetrville. From Albertville the route headed towards Ugine and up and over the Col de l'Arpettaz to Flumet, then the D909 towards St. Gervais, before finally picking up the N205 and riding up the valley to Chamonix.

 

However before leaving Briancon this morning there had been dissent within the ranks and Pete and Gaz had decided that they would skip Phil's ride up the Montgenevre pass road and go the most direct route to Belfort. While they were well on their way Phil and his group of Chris B, Kyle and Chris P stopped off at Chambre Neuf in Chamonix for lunch.

 

After lunch Phil's group made their way up the valley and over the Col des Montets to Vallorcine where they crossed into Switzerland. From there it was up and over the fantastic Col de la Forclaz - an old favourite that was ridden a number of times on the 2006 tour to Chamonix - and into Martigny. From there it was up the A9/E62 heading towards Montreux and Lausanne from where they picked up the E23 and crossed back into France. From there they took the N57/E23 to Pontarlier and finally the A36/E60 for the run into Belfort.

 

The accommodation we had chosen for tonight, Grand Hotel du Tonneau d'Or, is a large recently refurbished hotel with a private car park. It's a bit more expensive than than the places we normally book but Pete had spent a few years working in Belfort for Alstom and was able to get us a corporate rate.

 

 

Gaz and Pete made good time to Belfort and were already relaxing in a bar when Phil, Chris B, Kyle and Chris P rolled in. It had been a long hot day in the saddle and everyone was glad to get out of their leathers, get something to eat and get to a bar.

 

 

Meanwhile Cat had spent most of the day trying to sort his bike out. This morning the man with a van had taken him and his bike to an Aprilia dealership in Grenoble. Someone there had taken a quick look at it and after a bit of head scratching told him it was knackered and needed to be shipped back to the UK. After all this, and after organising the shipping, he'd lost the best part of a day and was now stuck in Grenoble - at least for the night. Rather than simply fly back home he made a plan. Tonight he'd check into a hotel and tomorrow he'd hire a car and drive up to Belfort and meet up with the rest of the group, and continue his holiday.