Stage 9

Here is the answer to the previous post. We parked the car 4 km down from the Col de la Madeleine, toughest climb of the 9th stage of the Tour de France 2010.
Despite our very early start, the place was already very busy at 9:30ish and we could not park any closer to the top. So after parking we decided to hike up to see the col and perhaps find a nice spot to sit and wait for the riders.
On this picture, the col is on the left and the white squares are all the RVs that must have spent the last 3-4 nights there to be sure to have a good place.

Same road segment from a different point of view.
And now looking back: we can't even see our car from here!

A lot of people are walking round at the col. As many have come on their bikes. This is pretty brave when you know the climb (on the north side, the one the Tour will climb) is 25km long...
Some are getting ready for lunch - or snack (at this point, it's probably 10am).
After a couple of drinks at the top, we walked down the road looking for a place to sit and found one there:
a few hundred meters from the top,
and just above a switch back, which could give us 2 times more chances to see something.
So here we are, sometime around 11:30am, sitting, and waiting for the race to make it there. Wait wait wait wait...
The guys next to us had a little radio so we could sometimes hear were the riders were. At noon they closed the road to traffic. Only bikes and pedestrians. And then a couple of hours later, the organization cars drove up to tell the people to get off their bikes and off the road. I thought they were coming soon... But more wait...
Between 2 and 3pm (I kind of lost track of time doing nothing - we couldn't really go anywhere or we would have lost our spots) cars started to come up: the caravane!
A stream of vehicules advertising for the Tour sponsors.
A lot of noise, a lot of goodies thrown to the crowd... This is usually when people get hurt: look close and you'll see how people run in front of the cars to get the goodies. Some people died this way, but I don't think it happened this year.
Here come the crackers. Who said the Tour is not popular anymore?
And then, finally aroun 5 or 5:30, 2 helicopters approached (filming the race) and 2 planes were doing circles over our head: the race is coming! We couldn't see much further than the previous switchback, but we could hear the crowd below chearing for the first bikes. Then the red car of the Tour chief appeared and, even though I spent the whole day bored and wondering what the point of being here was, I couldn't help feeling exhilarated when I finally distinguished the first helmets. When I finally thought hey! I need to take pictures! some riders had already gone by. So here are a couple of the pictures I took: here is Luis Leon Sanchez (he finished 2nd that day).
And here the 2 heroes of this year: Contador and Andy Schleck (#1 and 2 overall).
These guys are REALLY fast. I tend to get exhausted just looking at people working out hard, or even just imagining myself climbing up a steep road... But they all seemed to be riding so easily! They were speeding up the last moutain after maybe 4-5 hours of riding mountain roads. Crazy. It did make me want to try harder when I have a chance to get back on my bike.

After watching these guys (it lasted less than 30 minutes), it was time for us to go home. So we cut again through the fields, and after what seemed to be a never ending walk (I had blisters of course), we finally got to the car. But all these people on the mountain did as well. So it's all together that we drove down the mountain:
not too fast, it gave me time to take pictures of the scenery
2 bikes going way faster than us
it doesn't say "no passing" anywhere, but I guess we won't
more scenery
snow!
and finally down the col, up the Tarentaise valley and then the road climbing to Tignes!

Nice glacier we can see from the road and where I want to go
And after a long day of not doing that much, but full of emotions (plus we had crepes on the way home), we were back in Tignes.

This is where the fishermen are

Yes you can spot them in the bottom left corner of the lake of Tignes. After overheating (and overeating) in Beaune we needed some fresh air and some exercise. At an elevation of 2100 meters, with enough snow on the glacier for a few turns, that would do it.



Our first day there did not involve that much exercise though, but our heart rates did go up: at 5am or close, we took the car and drove up one of the highest road in Europe.Ominous clouds, no guard rails...

This one is a little blurry but I still like it.
Last few switch backs...
And we're on top!
Now same thing, but downhill. We are going from the valley of Tarentaise (where Tignes and Vla d'Isere are) to the valley of Maurienne (Bonneval, St Jean de Maurienne).
If you look a little close at this picture, you'll see, right in the middle, a running chamois.

And further down in the valley, the little cuties...
We're now on less winding roads, speeding past mountain villages.
Clouds are moving away.

The fortified buildings, fort Victor Emmanuel, part of the Esseillon barrier built in the early 1800s to protect the col du Mont Cenis but that was never used.
Interesting geological structures.
And here we are finally parked... but where are we? Why such an early start?

Special

A picture I took just for you F.H.Woods.

Back in Beaune

with a much nicer weather than in January... Maybe a little bit too hot!
We had more time too, so we visited domains located out of town as well.
One of them was the Château de Pommard:





While waiting for the guided tour of the caves, we could look at the buildings. Here is the old kitchen:

Dali sculptures in the yard.
Painted barrels.


And finally the caves:
Barrels are purchased for each cuvée from a few different barrel makers so they can compare the results, the flavors given to the wine after fermentation.
Another stop was in Nuits Saint Georges, one in Vougeot, Chambolle Musigny... more tasting, and more visits of caves. To do again.