On the Road...day7 cont.
All of a sudden, things get messy. There’s an intersection, but no signs…a little further up the road ends in a small village. Or rather…narrows to about 2meters... (if that!) ....and then splits into various lanes leading any which way between the buildings.
From a birds-eye view, the next 20 mins would be hilarious
…
A tiny hamlet glued to the steep hillside, a maze of narrow lanes and paths leading everywhere…and 5 bikes inching their way back and forth through the laneway-spaghetti…. making near-impossible U-turns, loose each other completely until only the mobile-phone gets them back together at the carpark just outside the place…and all that in the mid-day heat.
I mean…. the whole bloody place wouldn’t’ve been bigger than 100x100 meters, Jeezaz!!
After all that, we reverse our steps and finally come across the sign…
There we go ! Found it ! :kna::kna
Did I say that the pics looked spectacular on the net?
Cop THIS then !! 
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This is just incredible. The little single-laner claws its way along the hillside, the views are majestic…the pace drops to a crawl…is this for real??
We hit the “main” road again at La Garde, just a kilometre from Le Bourg d’Oisans.
Everyone’s gasping, the bikes as well…a round a liquids for everyone!
A small servo offers itself….
Karel’s face says it all.
Another attempt is made to contact Renato/ BiancoBlu regarding the swap of the bikes…"are the 2 GS12s ready? Where and when can we meet?"
No replies...
It’s a quick stretch back to the Col de Lautaret…near the top is the turn-off up yet another one of the Great Old Classics…the Col de Galibier.
( Writing this now…how much can one cram into a single day? How much can one absorb of all this?
It’s mind-boggling!)
Climbing…and climbing…and climbing…the Galibier is a high one at over 2600m
The Citroen 2CV …or commonly known as “The Duck”. It went out of production sometime in the ‘80s after a production-run in the millions, this one looks either very well-kept…or restored. It’s a true cult-car over here…like the little Fiat 500 or the original Beetle.
No powerhouse with a 2cyl 600cc Boxer engine…but it gets you there.
EVERYTIME !
Couldn’t let that one slide past, aye?
Dropping towards St. Michel de Maurienne
Decisions have to be made from here…there’s lots of uncertainty about the Col de Finestre and Assietta Ridge Road at this stage. The last 2 weeks before leaving AUS I’d scoured the Euro newsgroups and forums…and there were lots of threads regarding those 2 roads and their closure for bikes and quads (only!!…all other vehicles are fine!!!!
)
Controversy, too…
The pics posted showed signs that the roads were closed, others insisting that they’d done them the week before and all was fine…no conclusions offered. Hmmmphhhh…
Fines are HEFTY if caught...instant confiscation of bikes has happened before...and foreign tourists are NOT excluded!!
Two ways to cut east from where we are…the Frejus-Tunnel or the longer way via Lanslebourg, then south across the Mt. Cenis to Susa…starting point of the Finestre.
Which carries one of the question marks…from there it’s about 80km to the other side of the Finestre, which seemed to be unaffected by the closures…the Assietta starts close to the top of the Col de Finestre.
Some concrete-spaghetti got us to the Frejus Tunnel…but at a 107 Euros for 5 bikes, we baulked ! Big, fat clouds were pushing in fast, too…
Then the dreaded main-road to Modane first, some roadworks in town directed us onto the old road via Aussois up the valley…NOICE!
Nice sweepers mixed with some tighter sections, little traffic…the going is good, but the afternoon is coming to a close.
Tootling through Lanslebourg, the skies behind us are black when this catches our eye...
The Hotel Les Marmottes it is then!
Oh Gosh…what a day….that D211 Balcony Road cut deep, what a PERLER !!
Close your eyes...whadda ya see?
