Tuesday - lovely driving and the Col De Turini!

Tuesday D'Allos to Nice via Col De Turini 138 miles.

I am going to split today up into sections because again there was just so much to see. 

We started with a glorious drive down the mountain to Colmars.  There were a few anxious moments because the fuel gauge decided to tell us fibs.  The night before we checked and had half a tank of petrol.  When we got going the next morning we were on empty!  There was no puddle so I don't know what happened but we were a bit worried until we saw a little filling station.  It was a beautiful day.....

Once again the sun was shining, the mountain air was crisp and clear everything was right in the world.  The drive was just superb, this is a truly beautiful part of France.  I loved it!

This is the chateau at Colmars.  It is a lovely village with a gorgeous church for some reason I didn't take a picture.  It was market day so lots of people everywhere (nowhere to park!) I love the bustle of a village on market day, it's the best!

Look at that tiny little room stuck on the end.... I wonder what that was used for?

Everything was just perfect - the weather, the company, the car had a full tank of petrol (and oil!) The views were stunning, I could have carried on driving here forever.....  John was actually driving, I was navigating a lovely long road that I couldn't get lost on!

From here we had a choice of routes - the high road or the low road!  I decided on the high road because John had been so understanding the day before - and I could see from the map that it was nowhere near as high as the Col D'Allos!

Mac and Auriol overtaking us in their Sunbeam Alpine.  I was slow and didn't get a good picture, the first fifteen minutes or so of going up to the high bits made me hyperventilate until I got a hold of myself and then it wasn't too bad.  The road got wider and I got happier!

French crash barriers!  Not very high with nice big gaps inbetween! 

I have to admit this is not a road we drove on.  I spotted it across the valley and thought that it would be a good picture with the bridge.  I actually got out of the car and stood on the edge of the road - that means I was very brave - fear of heights is disappearing!

John parked on the other side of the road waiting for me to take pictures!  This was a really nice road to drive on.  We had a delightful morning!  And lots more to look forward to this afternoon!

Now THIS is the scary part!

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 (!)

The light is really starting to go now and I have started hyperventilating again.  You really can't get a good idea from the pictures of just how high we are.  John kept saying that we should stop and take some pictures and I refused.  I wish now I had been a tiny bit braver but I can tell you this - I'm not going back up to get more pictures!

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!

Now for what I thought was the scary part of the day....

Does the signpost give you an idea?  Yes we were finally at the start of the bit I had been secretly (ok so I went on a bit) been dreading the most....driving over the Alps.

We had already climbed about 1000 ft when we stopped to swap over driving.  I had driven along the lovely valley floor on wide double track roads.  Then we stopped so John could take over, we had turned onto a much smaller road....

Do I look scared yet?  I feel it!  The ginger car looks a lot bigger than me.  Bless her she was running like a dream and had stopped her mad thirst for oil when we were going slowly on the high roads.

John ready to face the Alps and raring to go!  He does love his car....

The foothills.  It really is quite odd, you climb round lots of hairpin bends and then suddenly it seems to flatten out again.  Quite often I would be feeling scared and then around the corner was a village.  I would then feel a bit silly for making a fuss!

James and Richard leave us for dust in the Jaguar Mk2.  This is a village on a plain about 3,500ft.  We kept saying to each other "this must be the high pasture"  then we would go up again and find more higher up!

The fear begins.  I know this is a difficult picture to see but we are going over a bridge and looking through the parapet.  This is when I knew I wasn't going to enjoy the next hour or so.  I didn't think it could get any worse.  I was wrong.....

Ok so this is the bridge we had just driven over.  The drop was horrendus.  The next hundred yards was when I started crying.  There are no photos.  I did well to take the one of the bridge!  I was really surprised by my reaction, I expected to be nervous but I didn't think I'd cry!  Of course the really scary bit didn't last that long but it felt like forever.  I don't like 5000ft ravines with bridges over them, but I think I will be a lot better on bridges from now on because I WILL NEVER GO OVER A BRIDGE THAT HIGH EVER AGAIN!

So now we are a lot further on in the journey, approaching Barcelonette.  We really had to get a move on when we came a bit further down so not many pictures, even though it was stunning scenery.

We didn't know it yet but we are starting to climb towards the Col D'Allos - the REALLY scary mountain pass.  I love how crinkly the mountains in the background are!  The day was not over yet though.....

Monday morning - time to climb some mountains.... or so I thought!

Aix-Les-Baines to La Foux D'Allos 241 miles.  And that was a very long way on narrow mountain roads!

Ok so Monday was a really long day with lots to see so I am going to break it down into sections.

This is Lac Du Bourget alongside Aix-Les-Baines (and John's nose!)  After a little drive along here we turned uphill.

We drove up for a bit and then our road was ferme (closed) so we came back down again.  We parked looking across the valley while John did some map reading and rejigging of the route.  I saw this tiger hunting the grass...

If you click on the picture to enlarge it you will see a huge ginger cat!  He was lovely, stalking through the wild alpine flowers.

 We drove on crossing into Switzerland, driving through quaint little villages.  If there was no scary roads I would quite happily live there.  Then we crossed back to into France again.

We carried on past Chambery and Allevard, both beautiful places.

I was driving and it was so beautiful.  The air was clean and crisp, the sun was shining, everything seemed to shiny and new.  You really felt on top of the world!

We were climbing all the time but it didn't seem very high because of all the trees.

You would never guess that we were a long way up here, it just looks like normal woodland.  If you look at a lot of the mountains the trees go nearly to the top, even on some of the jagged edges.

We met this lovely little donkey in one of the high villages.  There were lots of donkeys, I think they must work in the winter when the roads are closed with the snow.  He hee hawed for us and another donkey further down the valley answered!

Here is ginger car parked in the shade cooling down after a long climb!  Just across the road from where we stopped were these very devout cows....

Ok that is enough pictures in one post and it wasn't even lunch time yet! 

Eleven litres of oil later.....

I'm back from my holidays!  So I think I will have to do a couple of posts to give you a good idea of the journey.  I really was one of the best holidays I have ever been on and John and I have definately been bitten by the touring bug!  So here is a little bit about the first three days.....

Here is John with the car (Ginger) all packed and ready to go in the typical Cumbrian summer weather, rain.  I think even the car looks nervous!  We drove to Dover where we stayed overnight, ready to catch the early ferry the next morning.  It was lashing down rain until we got to Birmingham, then it was just grey and cloudy.  We drove over the QE2 bridge in London, John said it would be good practice for me to get ready for the mountain passes!  I was scared and dreading the Alpes but keeping quiet about it, John couldn't wait to get there!     

This is waiting to get on the ferry about 7am.  We had checked the water in the radiator before we set off and it was fine.  We dipped the oil and it wasn't fine, there was nothing there!  So we filled it up and tried not to worry.

Parked at the front of the queue!  And right next to the lift as well so not too far for John to walk.  We really felt the adventure had started at this point.  We have a nice breakfast on the ferry and that passed the time.

Ready to drive off the ferry!  Of course John drove first but don't worry I drove lots as well!  Already the weather was warmer and it was the start of the sunshine!

First photo of France!  Just look at the blue skies and fluffy white clouds!  It was heavenly and this is the effect it had on John...

Happy John!  You can tell we haven't got very far, we stopped soon after and took our jumpers off!  It is so wonderful to feel the sun on your face and relaxing knowing you have all the time in the world, at least for the next few days!  We dipped the oil again at lunch time and put in another couple of litres.  We drove to Troyes where we met up with the rest of the group ready for the first official start the next day.  What a lovely group of people - tell you more about them later.  It was a lovely evening and everyone was very excited to be the first to roar out of the amazing underground car park.  Nevermind that it took us ages how to work out how to get into it in the first place....

DAY 1  Troyes to Aix-les-Baines 277 miles



This is the village of Orgelet.  It had the most beautiful church but for some reason I didn't take a picture.  This is a suggested lunch stop but we carried on, wanting to get some more miles covered, we ate sandwiches at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere, it was so peaceful.

John working out the route at La Faverge.  Actually the car needed a minute to cool down and catch her breath, she isn't used to the heat either!  We crossed the Swiss border several times, it got to the point we weren't sure which country we were in!

John and Ginger at Lac du Bourget.  We were approching Aix-les-Baines and really enjoying the fantastic driving and scenery.  This is the road we had just driven along.

The lake was perfect, the car was running like a dream (apart from her little drink problem!)  Aix-les-Baines it a beautiful town and I would love to go back and explore it some day.  John and I had now become a little obsessive about dipping the oil, Ginger had drunk six litres by this point.  There were no leaks and no black clouds coming out the back so we knew the engine was at least using the oil and probably leaving a nice trail out of the exhaust.....

Anyway I will tell you more tommorrow!

Off on my holiday....

And here is John's car!  We are driving across France, doing the route of the Monte Carlo rally!  Yes I am very scared about going over the Alps.  The car is a 1974 Ford Granada, so five years older than me.  I am hoping it won't break down, I don't know how to do mechanics!  I am looking forward to staying in Nice though!  This is the first proper holiday John and I have had for three years and I am definitely ready for a rest!  Oh and here is a bonus picture just for you Dad, I know you wanted to see the engine!!!

So wish us luck, if you don't hear from me after next week we have broken down on top of the Alps.......send a search party!!!

Kara

This is Kara, she is John's dog and is never apart from him.  She is half Belgian Shepherd (Tervueren) and half German Shepherd and is eight years old.  We got her as a tiny pup, Kara was the smallest in the litter, you would never guess now!  She is a quiet and thoughtful girl, had never been on a lead (we live on a farm)before we started to work in Kendal, now people think she is a trained ability dog for John!  She likes nothing more than a big muddy puddle to lie down and roll in.  Even though she is the biggest of our three dogs she is very much bottom of the pack, if she meets a strange dog she falls in a heap!

An old picture I found

I love this picture!  It was taken a couple of years ago when we were visiting my family in Skye.  We had Becks (the little one) as Alison his owner was on holiday and Becks had a holiday too!  Kara, Belle and Jess are of course used to charging around in Skye!  This won't mean anything to anyone not in my family but the picture was taken just above the second gate.  I think everyone had a nice holiday!

Jeremy (and his partner in crime Winston)

This is our little donkey Jeremy!  He is just the cutest thing you ever saw and puts a smile on your face when ever you see him.  I found out this morning that donkeys are NOT scared of pigs!  The little piggie wiggies were out next to the stables this morning and I have to say I was proud of my boys, Winston was interested and didn't run away even when the pigs oinked good morning to him!  Jeremy on the other hand saw the pigs and was ready for a fight!  He was like Scrappy Doo of Scooby Doo "let me at them!"  The piggies came up to say good morning (very politely) and Jeremy wound himself up and brayed like it was a battle cry, the pigs took off, Jeremy was bouncing on the spot wanting to take off after them!  His tail was going like crazy it was fun trying to get him through the gate!

This is Winston and Jeremy trying to work out how to move the barricade to get into the garden.  Winston was the same height as Jeremy when he was born (11hh!) and is now 15 months and nearly 15.2hh.  Yikes I am scared about how big he is going to be!