6 September 2019 Last Day of Trip

The last day in London before heading home to Perth via Milan. I started the day with another walk around London visiting the Greenwich Maritime Museum ,walking around Greenwich and the tunnel under the Thames before heading to the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square ,lunch at a Chinese restaurant before heading back to the hotel .a total of 15 kms of walking .

In the afternoon a run at Hyde Park for 9 km .

Leicester Square

 Greenwich_foot_tunnel

View from the Southern Entrance of the foot tunnel

Cutty Shark

National Gallery

Favourite Painting at the National Gallery 

The Arnolfini by the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck

London September 5 & 6

The next day , I had a morning run and walk before catching the train to Portsmouth to visit a friend from University . After dinner it was a train back to London .A long day . I ran around Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. It was interesting as this is the week after the anniversary of the death of Princess Diana in 1997 and 22 years ago . I was in London the day after her death and again running around Kensington Palace there are flowers and gifts at the Gate .

Post cycle Tour London 3 & 4 September 2019

Following the end of the cycling trip , we ended the trip at Milan a 3.5 hr drive from Valloire.
Arrived at the airport and left the bike bag at Left Luggage at Melpensa Airport .The Easy jet flight unfortunately was delayed for 2 hrs so left Milan at 7.30 and got to the hotel at 11pm.

Was a long day and obviously no training.

The next day I had a 10km run but ended up doing a walk around London visiting the British Museum and The Natural History Museum and then seeing Lion King in the evening .Managed 11.2 km with some walking and then in the evening a short run of 9.2km

Total distance for the day 20.4km

2 September 2019 Col de La Madeleine

The last ride of the trip and there were only two of us doing it .Ian and myself. It was a hour's drive from Velloire to the small town of Chambre at the base .There were several routes up but it was decided this was the easiest to get to but wasn't the easiest climb.

Started at the town with an easy 6% climb. After that it was mainly 8 and 9 percenters and a  10%
and 11 % as we rode up . There was a bit of clouds and fog as we climbs. At 9.5 km mark we met up with Mike who was driving the van and had a coffee .Needed it and it helped with the climb and energy.

From there it was another 9 kms to the top. Hoping for less gradual climbs but it remained 8 and 9 mainly.
Relieved to get to the top . Not much happening as it was the end of summer. Mainly motorcyclist  and a few cyclist. Got the pictures at the top and then came down .Great lunch of pizza at Chambre café.

Managed about 1500 m of climbing in 19km .

Had a good rest in  the afternoon and then did a short run in the hiolls following the ski trails .Managed to get 450 m of elevation . Legs were tired but was quicker for the same amount of elevation compared to a week earliere

1 September 2019 Col Du Telegraphe

After a few hard rides we opted for a less difficult climb from the other side of Col Du Telegraphe from a town called Saint Michel de Maurienne. A 12km ride .Like al rides there is no such thing as an easy climb.The road does kick up a bit .There were a few 8 and 9percents but generally it was a good ride at 12km short. We had coffee at the top be it not so good coffee and then rode back to the hotel in Valloire with a 2km climb at the end . We did about 950m of climbing. We have now done Col Du Telegraphe both ways.

Soft toy marmotte for Molly

31 August 2019 Alpe D'Huez

We travelled from Valloire today to Bourg D'Oisans , a town at the base of the famous Alpe D'Huez .Last Time I was here in 2015 I rode up the Alpe and did a triathlon as well a few weeks later with the famous climb part of the bike route.

The Wikipedia blurb states:

Details of the climb[edit]

The climb to the summit starts at Le Bourg d'Oisans in the Romanche valley. The climb goes via the D211 from where the distance to the summit (at 1,860 m (6,102 ft)) is 13.8 km (8.6 mi), with an average gradient of 8.1%, with 21 hairpin bends and a maximum gradient of 13%.^[7

The drive of over an hour took us to the town at about 10am and we then started from the car park at the base with lots of cyclist doing the same. It was a slow ride for just 14km of climbing but with the heat took me 1.45 .Slow but acceptable with the fatigue I was carrying from the biking and running. The gradient is more demanding with the 21 switchbacks .At the top it was a bit of a struggle finding the official finish line I went around the resort just for good measure.

Again in the afternoon another short run of about 6km .this time a flattish run along the river .The legs were truly tired.

30 August 2019 Col Du Galibier

Today was one of the iconic rides of the trip.The climb to Col du Galibier from Valloire.This was about 18km and about 1500m of climbing. we rode down to the village a 2km descent and then slowly started the long climb to the top.It was great if not hot weather and lots of motor cycles zooming along to the top. It took me 2.5 hours and Ian passed me about 100m from the top . But we all finished . great views from the top .definitely a harder climb from Valliore then col du Lateret but both iconic in their own way . The last time I did this was coming back from a long ride from Briascon having climbed Galibier , I had to do it again so it was a long day and very hard.This time it did not feel as bad .

In the afternoon I did a short run of 8km getting about 360 m but felt really tired in the legs having ridden for 3 plus hours earlier in the day. I turned back when I reached a herd of cows who started to move when I arrived.

28/29 August 2019

After the hard hike yesterday to Mount Crocione, today was an easy day for me.I opted for a short ride to Menaggio just to get the legs moving.it was just 25kms and fairly flat. Lots of tunnels that I had to ride round and coming back meant having to cross the road a few times on a fairly busy road.

In the afternoon a trip by hydrofoil to the town of Como for a bit of sightseeing and dinner,

View from Top of Funicular in Como

The next day it was off to Valloire ,France ...a 4 hour drive though the Mont Blanc Tunnel .Lots of tolls later and we are at Valloire driving over the Col Du Telegraph at 1500m .

We then had a quick ride to the top from our hotel .A short 7km ride . I did a 5km run really slow with about 200m elevation along the river flowing to Valloire.

Col Du Telegraph

Run in the evening

View from Room ,Valloire