Rest day. Right. The morning was spent running errands — yes, even on vacation errands must be run. Clothes must be washed, money retrieved from the money trees, postcards purchased, written, and sent, and, of course, the required ‘Cyclist Diploma’ must be retrieved and signed.
The Office de Tourisme of the city of Alpe d’Huez recognizes cyclists who climb from Bourg-d’Oisans with an award certificate recognizing the effort. It is signed by the mayor; we had the Madame at the hotel sign it as well. Gag. This will look good on my cycling resume, eh?
After a leisurely lunch and a stroll through town, we decide to go for a walk — up into the hills. It was a nice mostly sunny day, Dick scouts a route up to some lakes, so we head out. This turned out to be an excellent activity for a rest day. The weather turned warm and we enjoyed some spectacular views of the valleys on the back side of Alpe-d’Huez. Some of us were accosted by some sheep being herded down the hill, but that’s another story.
A view of the mountain behind Alpe-d’Huez — Pic du Lac Blanc. We walk along the top of the grassy ridge stretching from the far left to the center of the pic.
A view of the city of Alpe-d’Huez from the grassy ridge.
Dave and Dick before the big leap…. Just kidding. We walked quite a ways north of the city to some lakes. From this vantage point we can see the valley on the other side of the mountain. In this photo, Dave and Dick are just at the edge of the ridge as it starts to descend the other side.
Here’s one of the lakes at the top of the ridge looking north.
Here’s the valley on the other side of the mountain looking mostly northwest. The lake you see at the bottom is actually a hydroelectric reservoir. Remember the route down from Col du Glandon yesterday when we passed a reservoir? The one in this photo is the lower one of the two that I described. We cycled past this one, as well.
Dave and Robin on the way back to civilization.
Oh, remember the sheep I mentioned earlier? Well, here they come….
This herd of sheep was being herded down the mountain presumably to winter pastures (or for the dinner table?!?) Two dogs were doing most of the work. At first they looked like a swarm of bees moving down the hill. The dogs kept them pretty close together for the dangerous sections (like past the bar/restaurant). The shepherd would appear from the bar every once in a while and direct the dogs. I suspect the dogs had performed this feat more than a few times in years past and knew the route.
Anyway, when the terrain flattened a bit the shepherd allowed the sheep to graze as they descended the hills. But the route the sheep were taking crossed our path. That’s when they attacked….. But not really. Sheep are pretty docile and they just ran past me.
We had to avoid a small herd of the dreaded mountain cows as we walked back to Alpe-d’Huez. All in all, a good restful day.
End off day 4. Statistics:
- Start: Alpe-d’Huez
- End: Alpe-d-Huez
- Distance: 10 km walking
- Climbs: Lac Noir
- Total gain: 100 m
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