Col du Grand St Bernard

Col du Grand St. Bernard

		We arrived in Aosta at 16.30, no money, no maps for this part of the tour and the banks closed. Luckily we found food at a wholesale supermarket, then started the ascent of the Col du Grand St. Bernard, at 19.00 finding a place to sleep under a bridge on the new road.

		Breakfast was cream cheese in stale buns. Non parlo italiano, so there was little choice! This ascent is steep in places but most traffic goes via the tunnel.

		The final 500m ascent was cold and shrouded in cloud. Water droplets formed on the fleece. A couple of tunnels (featuring at the start of the film 'The Italian Job', when the sports cars are pushed off the road - though I think the tunnels have now been removed during recent road improvements) later, and we were at the top of the Col du Grand St. Bernard. This ascent was harder than the Col d'Iseran.

		Noisy St. Bernard dogs in kennels and a small lake viewed at the top. As this route is a major tourist attraction, it is often busy enough to make drivers angry at their own progress... Vintage car rallys follow this route too. So a cyclist is sometimes not the slowest vehicle on the road!

	Out of the clouds on the descent into Martigny. Hungry now and no Swiss francs either! After finding food, we looked for somewhere to stay on the Col du Forclaz .