Doussard to Mont du Chat

We drove to the top of Mont du Chat. Absolutely packed out anywhere near the top so we turned around and drove down 5km to find a spot to park the campervan. After giving hearty congratulations to Erik for finding a spot with plenty of room and a spectacular view, and a celebratory beer/wine, we mounted the Swedish, Norwegian and Aussie flags. Many thanks to Knud and Erica for Aussie flag, which still, thankfully, always gets a great response.
After a few beers we heard a car go past with Aussies yelling out. Pat went around to the front of the van to give them a wave. Unbelievably, in a car a few behind the Aussies was a group of young French men including Hugo, the young French policeman who had helped us when the panniers had been stolen. They stopped and Hugo came over to say hello. Unbelievable.
Later still, more friends arrived - Aussies who now lived in Finland, but were holidaying in southern Europe. Welcome Alex, Georgie, Sienna & Leo - lovely folk, who added much needed style to "Aussie corner".
In Georgie's words:-
" We drove the route and realised the urgency in which the decision had to be made. The mountain was filling rapidly with boisterous spectators dribbling into every available piece of road verge, with still 24 hours remaining before the riders hit! As we climbed the 15 km of Mont du Chat’s windy, narrow road we could feel the excitement in the air. The atmosphere was electric and we were instantly addicted, we had to be part of this. As we wound back down the mountainside we came across a group of fellow Aussie’s, flags flying flamboyantly! Pulling up alongside their monster of a camper van there was an instant bond over chants of ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie’. They invited us to join their festivities ready for the race the following day. There was a small space just large enough for our van beside their camper. Let’s do it!
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Our race was on, we had 1.5 hour to get down the hill, fill the van with water, buy food and drinks to last the next 24 hours, and ready our potable toilet. The mountain road was due to be closed off at 5.30 that evening! We achieved the impossible again and were reversing the van into our tight position at 5.30pm with just millimeters to spare between the road and imminent death toppling over the cliff! We’d made it, we couldn’t believe it was really happening, we were road side in our camper at the Tour de France!". You can find Georgie's blog at
https://readysteadyfinnish.wordpress.com/2017/0…Read more