There was thunder in the night – not the ideal prelude to 5 days in the high alps. In the morning thick cloud covered the tops and, though it was still dry in Grenoble, it was clearly raining hard up where we were heading. Nonetheless we were keen to get going.

Sure enough, we were soon in under the cloud sheet in heavy rain – beside the main road up the valley. Coffee at Vizille brought some welcome relief. The town was in festive mood; having hosted the TDF yesterday, today was a Napoleonic festival. The townsfolk were all dressed up in period costumes, and we even saw Napoleon himself and his military escort ride through town on horseback. Fantastic! I couldn’t help noticing that the lack of Gortex in Napoleonic times was a serious drawback.

After coffee, amazingly, the deluge stopped and the sun almost came out, briefly. The gorge narrowed and the road began to climb. Most of the bikes that we saw were on the backs of cars.

Just after lunch we rolled into town and were happy to call it a day. There are spectacular views all round, the campsite is excellent, and Helen has just accidentally ordered a Duval (8.2% Belgian special beer) instead of du the verte. Oh well, I’ll just have to drink it for her. It’s a tough life.

Helen’s track of the day is
Running by John Newman, a track from gym sessions to keep the tempo up and no messing about.