A little detour through France

Well…..we had a choice of 2 plans today.  Woke up to the sound of rain on the roof.  Got a slow start because we thought a 2 hour trip to Turin was the only option.  However, another option became possible when, on the way to Turin the clouds cleared and the sun shone through.  Option 2 involved driving up the Autostrade to Courmayeur at the foot of Mont Blanc.  Take a couple of photos of the mountain, take a leisurely drive through France, hook up to the Autostrade in Italy near Susa and head home after a relaxing drive of about 5 hours.

Lunch planned at Courmayer at about 1, maybe slip into one of the sleepy little French villages along the way for a coffee and pastry – Val d’lsere, Bonneval-sur-Arc or perhaps Lanslebourg-Mont-Cenis?  Oui Oui says Pam with enthusiasm!!! 

What could go wrong you ask????

Well you may ask, I’m asking the same question…..

Due to a very limited plan and absolutely no research, little was I to know these ‘villages’ were actually mountain passes through the French Alps!!!!  Pam was not a happy vegemite and may one day talk to me again.

The first section was great – Autostrade to Courmayeur, lunch, beautiful town, Mont Blanc didn’t co-operate and was covered in cloud.  The local mountain – Mont Bianco was in full view.  We caught a view of Mont Blanc later and took photos.

Then the fun started, we decided to take the scenic route through France.

The first mountain pass was a surprise and went to 2100 metres, lots of pine trees, lots of road room.  No problem. The last one wasn’t too bad; the downhill run was very good.

The middle one caused a few anxious moments.  We could see a distant mountain range, topped with snow and cloud….couldn’t be going there???  No way.  However…..We drove closer and closer eventually entered into the cloud.  The road was wet, slippery, there were no guard rails, we couldn’t see more than 20 metres ahead, and just enough to see a rock wall one side and a few tufts of grass the other where the road fell away to nothing.  We were lucky in that nobody else was stupid enough to be on the mountain that day so we didn’t meet anyone coming the other way in the worse section of about 5 kilometres (or 45 minutes).  I should probably mention Pam was on the outside most of the time and was just a little sad all the way.  We made our way through the top of the cloud, took a photo from the window of the car.  Pam wasn’t big on photos today for some reason???  At one stage Kate took us on a short cut, single lane, dodging chook pens and vege gardens......pleeeease!!!!

We eventually made it down all the mountains; out into the sunshine again, took a couple of photos and got into Turin about 6 hours after the original plan at 7pm.   

Had a great pizza for tea (I bought tea, Pam has forgiven me).  Watched the pizza man make the base and load the pizza full of stuff.  I had the Dynamite – all the hot peperoni, hams, salami, olives….the works.  Pam had a cheese and tomato and other stuff we couldn’t understand.  The people making it couldn’t understand us, but we got pizza, beer and wine!!!  Food diplomacy works again.

Just a side note – On the Autostrade on the 17^th (Bolzano to Como) we went through 28 tunnels totaling 35 kilometres.  Today on the Autostrade (between Como and Courmayeur) we went through 25 tunnels totaling 35 kilometres.  The longest being 7.95 kilometres.  They have a sign at the start of each tunnel showing the distance.  Pam  started recording it a few days ago just to see how long we spent underground.  They haven’t got any tunnels through Stelvio Pass or in the French Alps where we went!!!!  Maybe next time.

Sorry about all the photos today - I culled them as much as I could....it's late.

Vernon looking for 'that' photo.

France - we didn't get over about 15km/h.

The only photo above the clouds.

Taking the photo and leaning on the guard rail.

Check the road at the left.

Blue lake in the mountains.

Closer look at the lake.

Mont Blanc covered in cloud.  Mont Bianco in the foreground.

Is that our road to Mont Blanc...looks like it.

Closer look at Mont Blanc.

Valley in the French Alps with a house at the bottom.

The road in or out?

We're going where???  Again - great guard rails.

Almost at the bottom. Out from the clouds.

Lake with our road and tunnels on the left.

More tunnels.

The road somewhere.

Mountain pass and bridge through the French Alps.

Our road with the snow on the mountains.

We have got to get there sooner or later.

My kinda road.

So safe....trust me Pam.

Pam taking photos...safety first.

Going up over the next pass.

Another look at that village.

THAT lake - such a beautiful colour.

Took too many photos obviously!!!!