Day 13 - Little Italian Loop
Friday 11th September 2015
From Rimplas we head east on the Route des Grands Alpes and are soon climbing up to the Col de Turini through a series of tight turns and tunnels. The road clings to the side of the cliffs. We stop for coffee at the summit at 1,607m.
The hotel is full of photos of the Monte Carlo Rally which evidently goes through here. The road both up and down is hard work, desperately in need of resurfacing. Probably all those damned sports cars.
Our route takes us west into Italy. We pass a church high on the hill, access is gained by a footbridge over the road.
It's faster here down in the valley but we soon come upon a huge civil engineering project. It looks like a new tunnel being built. The old road is traffic light controlled and as we approach the light is on red. There is a countdown timer showing 25. Good, not long to wait. Then as the timer remains unchanging it dawns that the count is in minutes not seconds.
We turn off west at Vinadio and climb up and over the Col de la Lombarde (2,350m) into France. It is an amazing road, starting with 12 tight hairpins all piled on top of each other, so close together that the Tomtom screen seems filled with a big red blob. Surely this must have been an old smugglers' road, it is so remote, empty, untrafficked.
The summit is bleak and windswept with fine views over the Maritime Alps. It is cold at this altitude and the sky is heavy with the threat of rain.
So we drop down through the Isola 2000 ski resort then on down to the village of Isola. It is starting to rain and time to find digs for the night. A few miles more in the direction of the Col de la Bonette (tomorrow's challenge) to the small town of Saint Etienne de Tinee and find the Hotel Le Regalivou, which fortuitously has its very own stonebaked pizza oven in the garden.
From Rimplas we head east on the Route des Grands Alpes and are soon climbing up to the Col de Turini through a series of tight turns and tunnels. The road clings to the side of the cliffs. We stop for coffee at the summit at 1,607m.
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| Coffee at the summit |
The hotel is full of photos of the Monte Carlo Rally which evidently goes through here. The road both up and down is hard work, desperately in need of resurfacing. Probably all those damned sports cars.
 |
| Monte Carlo rally memorabilia |
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| Wall posters on the route to the loos |
Our route takes us west into Italy. We pass a church high on the hill, access is gained by a footbridge over the road.
It's faster here down in the valley but we soon come upon a huge civil engineering project. It looks like a new tunnel being built. The old road is traffic light controlled and as we approach the light is on red. There is a countdown timer showing 25. Good, not long to wait. Then as the timer remains unchanging it dawns that the count is in minutes not seconds.
 |
| Odd place for a church |
 |
| Look at that bridge |
We turn off west at Vinadio and climb up and over the Col de la Lombarde (2,350m) into France. It is an amazing road, starting with 12 tight hairpins all piled on top of each other, so close together that the Tomtom screen seems filled with a big red blob. Surely this must have been an old smugglers' road, it is so remote, empty, untrafficked.
 |
| That's minutes, not seconds |
 |
| The summit of Col de la Lombard |
 |
| Whoa! Satnav overload |
The summit is bleak and windswept with fine views over the Maritime Alps. It is cold at this altitude and the sky is heavy with the threat of rain.
 |
| Pizza supper |
So we drop down through the Isola 2000 ski resort then on down to the village of Isola. It is starting to rain and time to find digs for the night. A few miles more in the direction of the Col de la Bonette (tomorrow's challenge) to the small town of Saint Etienne de Tinee and find the Hotel Le Regalivou, which fortuitously has its very own stonebaked pizza oven in the garden.
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