Hauteluce

We set the alarms for 6:30am this morning. Skipped breakfast and drove 30 miles to our first destination, les Gauges des fuirs. A 50 metre boardwalk 25 meters’ above the canyon floor that was full of rushing water and waterfalls, we got there at 9:30am just as it opened and got the place to ourselves for the first 30 mins which was great for pictures. We were lucky because as we left 2 coaches of school kids turned up.
From there we walked to Lè Chàteau de Montrottier, this was a privately owned Chateau in it’s hay day and the former owner was a huge antique collector, it was full of original artifacts from Henry 2nd to Napoleon. We even managed to get a private tour around the tower which had a weapons room and another room full of things from all over the world including, china, Japan and Africa.
From here we drove to the bottom of the mountain pass and climbed the Col Des Aravis, on the climb we saw the the names of the riders sprayed in the road from the 2020 Tour de France. At the summit we stopped to look in the Alpine stores and see the cows, all of which wear cowbells. Then it was down the other side of Du Col and up the Mount Brisbane Mountain pass. We were well above the clouds now and could see through the clouds to the crystal clear lakes below with the alpine landscape as a back drop. From there we descended over the Barrage de Rosaland which was engulfed in cloud and then a steep climb to the summit of villard sur Don where we picked up a hitchhiker who was a professional athlete on the french alpine skiing team. The it was on to the Villard sur Don, the tightest mountain pass yet and luckily we were going down instead of up because the was an 18% gradient and full of switchbacks, but apart from a smell and the squeak from brakes Wanda did well.
By now it was getting on in the day and we were looking for a place to park up for the night, but luckily our new hitch hiking friend told us about a free airè in his hometown of Beaufort, and that is where we spent the night.Read more