I'm not at work today

So this is it....my last day in France.

the road it Italy was 37kms long and the pass (itself 17km in length) went over the Col de Larche at 1991m above sea level. The highest pass so far. Talk about saving the best till last.

The day started well and after spending the last 10 days or so triking uphill i was finally getting the hang of it! After about 2 hours on the road i came to the start of the pass. It started steep and lets face it, for the next 17kms it wasn't going to start going downhill!

After just over an hour i came into the little village of Larche, just 7kms from the summit. Feeling the need to refresh and refuel i have an early lunch at a cafe. Half an hour later i was once again ready to go.

The following 6.5kms were spent mostly looking about 20 yards ahead whilst breathing in and out quite deeply and occasionally wiping the sweat from my face.

I sensed that i was getting near the top and as i turned a corner it turned out to be the last. There 400m ahead of my was the top of the pass. The nearer i got the bigger the smile on my face.

At last......after 39 days in France i had finally cycled across it!

and as for going downhill into italy...