Into the mountains

DAY 9
Much needed rest day in Gap. There was a cycle race from here yesterday and lots of the cyclists have returned to the campsite. Another really hot day with and evening thunderstorm, this is becoming a standard routine.

General walking around town and sitting by the pool again, heaps of kids here though, not so relaxing by the pool. There are about 5 resident peacocks in the campsite, they seem to have the run of the place and make a lot of noise...i wonder what peacock kebab tastes like on the camp stove?

Still having some problems with my gears, i'll check that out tomorrow.

DAY 10
Another rest day, same again really, until i try to adjust the gears on my bike and manage to break both gear changers. Small disaster, Mei is starting to think her new husband is useless, i blame the fact that my bike is really old and this was just going to happen.

Manage to find a bike shop in town where no one speaks English, i point to the broken bits, they smile the smile of a dodgy mechanic that means this will cost me...

DAY 11
Went to pick up my bike at a random time in the morning, not quite ready so i go for a coffee. 11am on a weekday and there are guys in there drinking pastis and some bloke comes in for a swift beer and then back off on his motorbike, what's all that about? These French lead a strange life.

Anyway, get my bike back and the bill is €37, bargain. Manage to get on the road at about midday, straight onto a massive mountain out of Gap, steep hill that tops out at Col Bayard at 1248m. Then huge descent through awesome alpine towns and fields. All day spent on the N85 north, apparently this is the route Napoleon took at some stage in his career, i'll leave you to do the history research but there is definitely a lot of reference to him. Stupidly hard hills keep on coming, another 12% climb for about half an hour followed by descents that have my brakes smoking. Another qfternoon thunderstorm is coming in, just get to a campsite near La Mure as the rain starts, quickly down 3 beers and off to bed, drunk Frenchmen next to us make lots of noise into the small hours.

71 kms, hard

DAY 12
Head for Grenoble on N85 again, basically a nail-biting 18kms where i need to stop twice to let brakes cool, i have a feeling they will just explode on one of these descents, i have a grand total of zero spares with me. We arrive in Vizille about 15kms from Grenoble with a mad look of fear on my face, need a coffee. We decide to stay here instead of continuing into Grenoble, very nice place, campsite has a pool and sells pizza, what more could you want.

18kms, it doesn't sounds like much...and it isn't