I'm not at work today

Right now I'm in the alpine town of Barcelonnette. Its 37km's from the Italian border. All of which is uphill to the pass (1991m), which I'll be cycling up tomorrow.

On Tuesday 10th i went up my 1st alpine pass. It was the col de cabre and at 1180m high not the biggest thing I've had to trike over. However it was in the alps and i was just a little bit nervous of how steep it was going to be. Have to say i was slightly disappointed with it! It only took me just over an hour to climb up the 10k's to the summit and that was me taking it easy!!!!! The views from the top were just WOW and the descent had some great "O my god brake" hairpins.

The following day it was back on the road, leaving Apres sur Buech and taking the road to Gap. It was only about 40ks but as the campsite was a 3km trike up a hill with a 12% gradient the day ended up with me panting in the heat like a dog! I was going to spend two days there but there was no way i would be walking up and down that hill.

So on the road to Barcelonnette....i took the long way round. Don't ask me why! This involved going around the lake as opposed to along it. The roads were steep but the views were worth the effort. it was, for me, a long day on the road. I left Gap at 0830 and didn't get to the campsite till 1530.

Well my time here in France is almost over. Can anyone believe that fat little me cycled across a whole country...............