Day Three

The plan was to get up early, fresh as daisies, to tackle the monsters ahead before the sun really got going. And so we left Saint Michel at 10am, just the two hours late, just as the sun got going.
There is no faffing about with the Télégraphe. The climb starts in St. Michel itself and you're into 7-8% from the off. The installation on the col overlooks the town from a sheer drop. 
The road twists and turns all over the place but does so in the shade of the trees that occasionally reveal the increasingly stunning view of the l'Arc valley below. At 1566m it is not a tough climb on its own - we managed its 11km in two hours.
The Col du Télégraphe lacks a sense of achievement as not only is it severely dwarfed by the main course, the Galibier, but there is also a downhill to Valloire, undoing a couple hundred of metres of elevation wrested from your thighs in getting up the Télégraphe.

The easy descent into Valloire takes 10 minutes. The town is a ski resort of varnished pine and frilly flowery garnishes. Shops bulge with walking sticks and half-price skiwear. After the regulation coffee and stack of pastries we availed ourselves of the Carrefour just by the D902's signpost to the Galibier for essential rations. We met a Dutchman in his mid-sixties heading that way too. Square jawed, weathered leathery skin and a distant, faraway look in his glistening eyes, he was the perfect specimen of a lone tourer. However, his bike was configured for CC riding, thus falling short of the criteria required for extreme touring - no tent, slipping bag and mat!
CC Rider on youtube

The Col du Galibier starts off easy enough but without the forest of the Télégraphe, the heat counters the easier gradient. The col saps your strength and resolve in the second half of the 18km as the valley is straight up and exposed, the road following the river Valloirette beneath steep cliffs and scree. Flies gather and investigate your eyes, earhole and nostrils. You get passed by an e-bike; motorcades of bikers on immaculate Harleys and Beamers glide by. Eventually, the Dutchman flew past us and D, like a dog after a ball, left me behind for the chase.

Things take a turn for the worse just after the very welcome café Rosa, where The Dutchman had left D for dead. The road leaves the valley and hurdles a moraine of some sort in a series of steep 'ramps' before settling down again.

As with most cols the steepest bit is the final couple of km, though the Galibier, from this side, does manage to stay within 10% for most part.

Not much at the top except the photo shoots in front of the sign - and spectacular views from what is one of the Alps' highest roads. We'd almost chased down the Dutchman but nearing the top he'd given us the slip and he was revelling in congratulations from motorists and bikers alike. D and I got a few claps too as we stretched the sinews for the triumphant spurt for the line.

There is a short 600m drop down to the Col du Lautaret, itself no pushover at 2058m. From there the road towards Briançon is wide and smooth and we shot down to the Cinq Vallees campsite just beyond France's highest city.

The campsite is good value but for the hefty Wifi charge. There is an onsite pizza bar, and a small shop for those necessaries for the next col along.