Tour of
Consolation II
Day 1-5
DAY 01
Basel. Normalo start time.
Cafe in St Ursanne. They speak french. I tried to pay with euros. Over excited?.
French border.
Le Doubs. Then Some other river. Le Doubs again till there was no more Le Doubs.
Summer Storm. Shelter. Repeat 3 times.
Beautiful wet forest. Nordic ski area.
Got dark.
A bunch of fountains. A lake. A town with a 24h pizza machine.
Bivy spot under a ski jump.
Happy.
246Km | 2697m
DAY 02
Early start.
Down some pretty valley. Small roads.
Big bridge.
Small supermarket.
Small col.
Pretty big col.
Huge lake.
Road closed due to rock fall. Could not climb the last really mean col. Not sad about it.
Touristy town. Strange.
Big storm cooking.
Wanted to make it Grenoble. Tough call. Bivy in a municipal camping. Shower.
Not a bad day.
Satisfied.
196Km | 3150m
DAY 03
Good call last night. It rained.
Col du Porte for breakfast. Nice one.
Supercell storm in Grenoble. Absolutely bonkers.
Shelter in a supermarket.
Peanut butter au baguette in bus stop. 45min stop.
Up big col. Noise. Rear disc center lock loose. Shit!.
Is midday. Shops are closed.
Wait.
Ate empanadas de maiz y cebolla.
Found bike shop.
Closed.
Waited more.
Bike ready.
Boom. “Vecours”. Enough said.
Holly baguette royale! What a beautiful piece of this planet.
Day saved.
Still a super col to do. As in really super.
Magnificent solitude and magic light.
Greatest road high.
Got dark and I loved it all the way.
Small camping.
No toilet paper!
Memorable day.
169Km | 3277m
DAY 4
Early start. Cold. Bad cafe.
Back wind. Col after col. Only one gorge.
Better (automat) cafe.
Then suddenly is really hot. Really, really hot.
So hot even I don’t enjoy it.
Boring road.
A big lake. Finding excuses to stop.
Wash day! Decided.
Lovely-crazy French hotelier gave me “a great deal” in a very noisy room.
Had a good beer and a bad pizza.
Still ahead of program.
Not day to remember.
