Some Alpine Tour de France Pictures

With the 2012 Tour de France almost upon us, I thought I'd put up some of my pictures of Alpine places visited in previous years. Some of these they are going to this year, some not!


First, a place they aren't doing this year, Col d'Izoard. We camped there, within a dozen yards of the top, in 2006. The Race going over with the eventual winner, Oscar Pereiro, in yellow.


Col d'Izoard, the mountain view north.


Col d'Izoard, the road view north. This was to Briançon. I picked up a Tour de France roundabout sign from there, right in front of the Gendarmes. Mind you the race had already gone through, so it was fair game.


Col d'Izoard, the road view north east.


Col d'Izoard, the view south through Casse Déserte, a notorious spot at the end of the climb from the south.


The view back up through Casse Déserte, towards Col d'Izoard. Yes, I cycled down then up for a bit of fun. Got caught behind a car on hte way down. Ain't just always the way! 


Col d'Izoard, the Coppi Memorial. Also Louison Bobet remembered here. Europe remembers it's cyclists in the most beautiful places.




Now on to Col de Richemond, which is a much smaller climb. They are going over this in 2012. We camped on the banks of the Rhone the day before and came up on the day. It was a last visit during the 2002 Tour. First, the race going past on it's way up the east side.


Col de Richemond. The view back down to the Rhone valley where we camped.


Col de Richemond. Le Train Bleu taking Armstrong up.




Col du Galibier. One of the main climbs in the Alps that we visited in 2002. This year it's not being used. This is the view north.


Col du Galibier. And the view south-east towards Briançon.


Col du Galibier. The Henri Desgranges memorial. That's the guy who thought of the race in the first place (or Géo Lefèvre some say). His idea to sell his newspaper was to highlight the delights of the French countryside, including it's many wines and cheeses, by sending round many journalists following the cycle race. in the first year, 1903, there were 6 stages with the longest being 293 miles, around twice as long as nowadays.




And onto Col du Glandon. This was done a lot in the late 1990s and early 2000s. We visited in 2002 and 2006 but only as a ride through. In 2006, I did cycle up from the lake just to the south of the summit. Mainly as I only had a few minutes before the race was due to pass. This is the view north towards Col de la Madeleine.


Col du Glandon. Me at the sign.


And this is the view Col de la Croix de Fer, which is the main climb with Col du Glandon on it's slopes.




So onto Col du Lautaret, which isn't in this year's Tour. We camped on it during 2006. Here's a Tridem going up the west side.


Col du Lautaret. The view of the Lautaret glacier, pretty much on a level with out campsite.


Col du Lautaret. The race comes past and we got a Cofidis bottle, from Bradley Wiggins himself!


And a last col, the Cormet de Roselend. They aren't going here this year. We visited in 2002, camping just at the head of hte valley before coming up on the day. Yep,  that's my car parked right at the top.


Cormet de Roselend. The view south towards Bourg Saint Maurice. We could see them climbing for ages, steadily becoming a bit more than dots, until they appeared below.


Cormet de Roselend. The race comes past, eek, my car!




For people that don't know, to while away the time before the race appears, the Publicity Caravanne passes throwing out freebies. The vehicles are all shapes and sizes.


Final Goodies Haul from the 2006 Tour.

Some Pyrenean Tour de France Pictures

With the 2012 Tour de France almost upon us, I thought I'd put up some of my pictures of Pyrenean places they are going to this year.

This is the Col d'Aubisque finish in 2007 with Cadel Evans just getting to the top.


This is the view from half-way to Col d'Aubisque towards Col du Solour, again in 2007.


This is the view from Col d'Aubisque towards Col du Solour, again in 2007.


This is the finish in Luchon in 2009, with Ballan just coming in.


This is the main street in Luchon in 2003.


This is the main street in Luchon in 2003 with the race coming through.


This is a wine merchants in Luchon in 2009. I got read out on the Eurosport coverage about this!


This is the start in Luchon in 2009. Wiggo just heading for the start line.


This is the signing on in Pau in 2007. This is where the yellow jersey of Rasmussen did not appear.


This is the view from Col du Solour of the Cirque du Litor, in 2007.


This is the view from below Col du Solour of the Cirque du Litor, again in 2007.


This is some of the wildlife on Col du Solour, in 2007.


This is the view from Col du Solour, in 2007.


This is narrow top of Col du Tourmalet, in 2005.

Snowy Camping

Some of my non-camping friends always think I'm balmy camping in winter, especially in the recent snows. So, here's a brief pictorial guide to how it's not so bad.

First, you get these kind of views as soon as you get up.
 

And plants seem to cope okay.


My tent closed up, with a solar panel for night time lighting. Yep, I'm using a cheap pop-up tent. There's no wind, and the fabric copes with low temperatures like the -15C we got one night. So a simple tent is fine, although the really cheap £10 festival tents probably aren't going to work!


My tent open showing that it's fine and dry inside. With it being cold enough to have no water, keeping everything clean is pretty easy. When the temperature is 1C, life gets much harder!


My tent inside with fairly simple bedding. I've inherited sleeping bags over time and now use a 3-bag technique to keep me toasty warm.

Since I drive to site, it's not essential to minimise weight and packed space, so this is fine and cheap. Having Thermorest or Alpkit self-inflating air mattresses is vital, and makes a big difference. Others might use blankets I guess. Final trick, as I'm not sweating during the day, I sleep in my day clothes.I've never been anything bar toasty warm doing this, with no need for hot water bottles.

Here are some of the others tents.


And our camp fire place. Looks a bit awkward to light?


In the afternoon, the sun starts to come through giving some more views of tents.


And the view out across the Fens.


Our Willow tree is quite amazing, and lit at night resembles the holy trees in Avatar.

But, there's a wire going across the picture, why might that be?

A longer view shows the outside of our workshop, with stove producing smoke!


Inside, you can see the random nature of the work from our bench.


But also deduce that it's not quite as cold as outside from our stove fire!