Day 9 - Combe Laval and Col de Rousset

Monday 15 July 2019

Overnight the weather has changed. No sun this morning, cloud looming over the mountains around us. It is quite chilly in the stiff breeze as we neck another eggy breakfast at Camping Moto.
Today we have a long bimble around the Vercors planned, so panniers off and let’s get to it.


Gentlemen start your engines

We start the gentle climb up to the first col. it is cool and breezy and the mountain peaks are covered in cloud. Remarkable rock formations rise up in craggy bluffs to either side of the small road.


Rocky bluffs in Central Vercors

As we ascend up to the Col de Bacchus the sun is trying to break through the clouds but it looks pretty ominous up ahead. After the 1000m mark we start to ride into the mist. Soon it is getting hard to see more than 50m in front as we enter thick cloud. Photos and videos become impossible and I thank the Lord for the fresh white lines painted on the road as our speed drops to no more than 20 kph. Fortunately there are almost no other vehicles on this road. We grope our way blindly up over a high summit and work our way slowly down into the next valley.


Col de Bacchus before the fog

Finally the sun starts to win its fight against the low cloud and we come out of the murk as we drop down into the pretty town  of Saint Jean en Royans and our first coffee stop.


Coffee stop in the town hall square at Saint Jean en Royans

From here we climb steadily up to the remarkable Combe Laval balcony road. The sun has won its battle now and the clouds have moved high above the peaks.
Others have described the Col de la Machine and the Combe Laval balcony road that leads to it far better than i can, so I’ll just say wow and leave the pictures to describe it.


Sticker man is at it again












Please follow this link to see the video I made about the Combe Laval ride:

The only problem with the Combe Laval is that it is far too short. Just a couple of kilometres of extraordinary overlooks before you arrive at the Col de la Machine summit. So of course we turn around and do it over again. And again.

Finally we head off for the Col de Rousset. On we way we see another memorial to the French Resistance, this time a cemetery. Some of the graves are marked as unknown. A lot of people died fighting the Nazis in this part of France. 




Rousset is another remarkable road but for entirely different reasons. The drop down the south side can be ridden fast, extremely fast if you want to. A lot of money has been spent on behalf of the lycra lads, but it works just as well for motos.

We are on it today. There is no traffic and the curves and sweepers are just magic.


Looking down from the Col de Rousset

 Here's a link to a video of the Col de Rousset descent:
Col de Rousset, YouTube video, (5:52 mins)


Fabulous hairpins and long sweepers


Col de Rousset southern descent


Zero traffic and lovely road surfaces

It is a glorious descent. The sun is shining, the roads are empty, the bikes are running sweetly. Doesn’t get much better than that.

We return to Camping Moto via the Col de la Croix road that we took yesterday, and stop at the same friendly cafe in Saint-Julian-en-Quint for lunch.


Spicy Dahl gazpacho

And so back to the camping ground after a thoroughly satisfying day. All thoughts of freezing fog forgotten. We, and the sun, have won the day.
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Comments

  1. Michael J4 August 2019 at 10:59

    An amazing bit of road. A bit of video from a week before you were there: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVOzmKvzYi0

    ReplyDelete

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