From Champagne & the Great War - weird extremes, Luxury & Suffering
From Col du Galibier
From l'Etape du Tour 2017
From Tour Germaine
From Col du Granon Walk
From Chamonix CC & Birthday Skiing
From Springtime France
From Powder, powder and more powder
From Six Days of Ski Fun in Chamonix with Dave and Jon

Champagne & the Great War – weird extremes, Luxury & Suffering

Thursday, 3rd August 2017

On the way home from the Briancon we broke the journey down by calling in on the Champagne region to find out if any deals were to be had. They were! We grabbed a box of six bottles of Canard – Duchene for much much less than we pay back in the UK. 🙂

Col du Galibier

One of the ultra-classic Tour de France mountain climbs, the Col du Galibier, was part of my acclimatisation efforts ready for the Etape du Tour…

l’Etape du Tour 2017

Monday, 24th July 2017

To try and gain some altitude acclimatisation in preparation for the l’Etape du Tour, I’d cycled up to the Col du Galibier (2642m) from La Grave, did a high level ridge walk from the Col de Granon, climbed a ten pitch rock climb that started at 2189m, and finished by sleeping the night at the …

Tour Germaine

Thursday, 13th July 2017

Steve, Laetitia, Zac, and I set off for what looked like an easily accessible and long (10 pitches) relatively easy (max grade 5+) rock climb. The guidebook said it was a short easy approach. It turned out to be super sunny, hot, very uphill, and well over an hour long. It was tough work for …

Col du Granon Walk

Wednesday, 12th July 2017

As part of the efforts to get acclimatised ready for the Etape du Tour – we had a great medium length walk with Steve, Sandra, Laetitia, and Zac from the 2413m high Col du Granon.

Chamonix CC & Birthday Skiing

Wednesday, 15th February 2017

Last week we were visiting Chamonix for a week of winter sports. We weren’t sure the skiing would be up to much as this year as there has been very little snow. So we had prepared for what might be ideal alpine winter climbing conditions. However, as it turned out there was a large dump …