We awoke to cloud passing our campsite – not over our campsite but through the campsite. As the sun encouraged the cloud to lift, we could see that there had been a smattering of snow on the surrounding mountains. So it wasn’t just a case of us being acclimatised to hotter weather near Naples – it really had been cold last night. Still we’d been warm enough with duvets and blankets.
According to the information, Friday was market day in Alp d’Huez about 10 km and 1800 m up from our campsite. As I’m sure you know, Alp d’Huez is one of the iconic climbs of the Tour de France. It’s 21 switch back corners are a thing of Tour legend. It doesn’t feature every year but this year they will go up twice. One stage even passes our campsite. Anyway, the Alp was a “must see” and as Simon was reliably informed that there would be fried fish, off we went.
Going up was strange, Simon didn’t know the road but every turn, slope and vantage point was familiar. Hats off to the cyclists we passed riding up, we wouldn’t have fancied it.
At the 6th bend on the ascent there were flurries of snow. By the time we got to the top, it was -3C and snowing. We drove round the town looking for the market. No market – no fried fish. It turns out that there is only a market in the summer (July and August on the Alp)
Never mind – there is definitely a market at Bourg d’Oisans on Saturday.
We descended from the Alp and went on to St Chrispohe en Oisans to look at the waterfalls. Again stunning scenery and the fir trees had a dusting of snow. It was more like a Christmas cake than a late May afternoon!
Oh and it might be cold here but we’ve just heard a Scop’s Owl!
simonandp 