Our S. France and Alps tour went out on the 29th June – after an initial showery ride down past Rouen we enjoyed increasingly better weather as we headed through the Loire valley to one of my favourite parts of France, the Massif Central region.

Along the way we stopped at Oradour sur Glane, the massacre village has some call it. We have been there many times, but for anyone who has not seen it, it’s well worth a visit. Once at our hotel base, everyone enjoyed day off with some riding to Rocamadour and Padirac caves whilst I took a small group up the col of Puy Mary. This is a popular route for the Tour de France and indeed only a few days later we watched them on TV has they rode up it. I have to say the one advantage of using the same routes are that often re-surface the roads for the tour, and sure enough the tarmac was new and ultra-smooth.  

Actually I have now solved the mystery of why our roads are so poor over here – the French have cornered the world market in tarmac! – Never have I seen so many freshly paved roads and why can the French lay it so well? Ultra-smooth and hardly any joints – I really do think they have the best surfaced roads in Europe.

Anyway I digress, passing over the Millau Bridge and down the Tarn Gorges the temperature continued to rise into the 30’s and stayed with us down the Ardeche Gorge up Mount Ventoux (another favourite of the Tour de France and where the famous British cyclist Tommy Simpson collapsed and died from exhaustion) and through the lavender and sunflower fields of Provence.

Heading north we got to ride the Col de Galibier (see picture above) in what can only be described as stunning conditions, the top offering fantastic views across the Alps.

Our reward for all this riding (not that we needed one) was a two night stay at one of our favourite hotels in Chamonix Mont Blanc. Most took a day off the bikes and headed for the cable car up to Aiguille du Midi. At 3842m high, you don’t want to be rushing about, but once again stunning views in every direction (see picture gallery).

With such good conditions we took the opportunity to take the small cable car to Pointe Helbronner, a peak in Italy above the town of Courmayeur. This is only open in summer on good weather days and is not for the faint hearted as it travels some 3.1 miles at several 1000ft over glaciers with just one central station.

Back on firm ground we left Chamonix, passing the world famous Geneva fountain for our final night in France.

Some time since I toured in France and we returned mainly of the request of some of our customers – a good choice… Jan.