This was a pretty lake we drove past on the way to Barcelonette. You can see we are already climbing. Can I just take this moment to say that the pictures do not come anywhere near capturing how high or how close to the edge I felt - or the extent of how emotional I got!
We came across lots of people floating around! These were just the ones I got in a "group shot", we counted 17 altogether - I don't know how they didn't crash into one another!
We were steadily climbing all the time so every so often I would get a horrible shock when I could see how far up we were. The white thing in the picture is, I believe, some sort of water pumping station. As you can see the light is starting to go as it is late afternoon....
Higher again. I am not terrified at this point. I had already cried on the Grand Serre thought the "bad bit" was over. You can see here there is still a barrier of sorts (!)
Ok now I have got to the stage that I am not looking to take pictures, just pointing the camera out the window! For the last ten minutes (ten minutes!!! Thats a long time!) There have been no barriers. The road is the width of the car. Massive hairpins that make you feel as if you are about to take off into thin air. Even John was quiet (concentration!) Once again there are no pictures. It was beyond me. As you can see we are level with the top of the mountains. Col D'Allos is 7,500 feet.
After we came over the summit we dropped down about a 1000 ft to where we were staying that night. Look what we met! A farmer moving his flock of sheep, he was carrying a couple of lambs, I was surprised to see that in September.
Sheep further down, they didn't go slowly down the mountain either, very sure footed! I am pleased to say we made it to the hotel and had a very nice dinner and I think the best evening of the trip - a select group of us stayed up late and put the world to rights - there may or may not have been gin involved! We really needed it to steady our nerves after the stressful day!
This is the view off our balconey the following morning. It took ages to get to sleep, every time I closed my eyes I had flashbacks to that horrible road. I forgot to mention we had the best welcome in the whole of France in this hotel - a very nice gentleman whose name I forget. The most delightful Basset Hound I have ever had the pleasure to meet what a darling dog he is, I wanted to smuggle him home with me!
The ginger car recovering from her strenous climb. James and Richard's fabulous Jaguar Mk 2 and a french car in the middle.
The light in the bedroom. I know I'm such a girl taking pictures of stuff like that. But thats just me!
This poster was in the hotel reception. It is advertising donkey trekking, I took a picture of it to prove to Jeremy that he really does have the life of reilly, his cousins are having to walk up mountains to keep tourists happy. He still doesn't believe me even though I have photographic evidence!
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