Day 4: Decisions Decisions

After a decent sleep (me) / not decent sleep (Drew), we woke to sun and blue skies. It was already hot, and even packing the bikes became hard work. 

We set off and headed straight for a cafe which we’d found last night and ordered the now fairly standard breakfast of coffee & 2 croissants. 

Conversation was pretty much entirely based around 1 subject: which route should we take. There were no fewer than 4 options, which were based around tarmac : gravel ratio. One of the gravel options was described as “hike a bike” which we thought would be zero fun in 30 degree heat. The other gravel option looked quite tempting but added 25km to the route. 

We changed our minds 4 times, and then another twice but given that all 4 options required us to first climb the Colle di Sampeyre, we set off to do just that. 16km at just over 8% average in the hot sun, but thankfully shrouded in forest for the most part.

The going was slow, but we had become accustomed to the low speeds which resulted from the weight of bikes and associated paraphernalia.

The top of the climb, 2.5 hours later, repeated our first decision point: Strada Cannollini (gravel) or down the other side of the Colle di Sampeyre (road). 

I had my heart set on the gravel option and set off accordingly whilst Drew opted for the road option. The gravel option was stunning; a truly remote gravel road with big views of big mountains. 

After a few km, it began to dawn on me that I had around 60km to get through before our strict curfew of a 7pm dinner in the refuge tonight. None of the remaining 60km was going to be quick, with a serious technical gravel descent followed by a slog up a hot valley road and a likely 3 hour climb at the end of the day. 

I replaced adventure with common sense and turned back to take the road route after all. The few km I had ridden along the Strada had been awesome, and left me looking forward to similar road from the front door tomorrow. 

The road descent, as it transpired, was awesome. This was one of the most scenic parts of the Alps I had seen and the road just kept going and going. 

It spat us out onto the valley and almost straight opposite a bar. 

Lunch was an interesting affair. We’d stumbled across a bar / restaurant / grocery store which was seemingly operated by a cantankerous - and more than a little bit forgetful - husband and wife team. 

At the third time of asking we managed to convert an order of two ham and cheese paninis into the actual delivery of two ham and cheese paninis. It took about an hour, our only saving grace being that we were at least sat in the shade whilst the sun was at its highest. It was still very hot. 

Having tried to pay, we eventually left enough money to cover our order on the bar and went to set off. With that, Mrs Forgetful ran outside waving her arms. We were owed 4 euro. Madness. 

Leaving these two entrepreneurs behind, we followed the valley before turning onto our final climb of the day: the Colle de Priet. Sounds nice doesn’t it. 

It’s not. 

The heat undoubtedly didn’t help - it was 34 degrees in the shade, and 38 degrees in the sun. But the bigger offender was the gradient. 10, 11, 12, and up to 18% for stretches. Both Drew and I spent some time walking, and out of ideas I decided to try a Power nap under the shade of a tree at the side of the road. Which was fine, until drivers of passing cars stopped to check I wasn’t dead. I gave up on that idea and struggled on to the top. 

At the top, the road met a gravel road - Strada Gardetta. We had around 4km to go in order to reach the Refuge where we’d planned to spend the night. 

The Gardetta was stunning and tough in equal measure. The climbing had not abated, and although the gradients were down to a more tolerable 8%, this was on gravel. I was completely spent, running on empty. 

Eventually the welcoming sign for the Refuge Gardetta came into view. It was another 1/2 kilometre before we reached the actual refuge. 

We found a flat spot (on the side of the mountain…) and got the tents up. The views from the refuge were incredible. 

Fortunately Drew had arrived ahead of me and had done the essentials, I.e. book us in for camping, dinner & breakfast. 

Dinner itself was a marvel. In this order:

• Lasagne
• Soup
• Meat & roasted veg
• Bread
• More meat & roasted veg
• More bread
• Pudding (lovely, but unrecognisable as anything we’d ever had before.

We left feeling full and after another ludicrously hard day, headed off to bed. 

Tomorrow it’s 100km, 25km of which is on gravel. I hope we recover overnight.