I changed onto my touring bike today, and was much happier. It’s not that the roads are steeper than in Yorkshire – it’s that the steep bits take hours, not minutes to climb. So, slow and steady it is. It’s a good job the mountain roads in the USA very rarely went over 6%, which is manageable on my road bike.

I’ve had Garmin trouble and had to hard reset it – losing all my preloaded routes. Which is my excuse for doing a complete circuit of town before eventually locating the foot of my first col. Just over an hours climbing stacked hairpins in the shade of the forest brought me out onto a high alp at about 1400m. Brown cows, bells, pasture, and stunning views. And an early cheese salad for lunch. Then on over the first col of the day (where children were feeding the animals) and down into the main gorge.

Decision time. Turn right and descend, or left for the Croix de Fer? Another 800m of ascent over 15km. Too early to turn back, so switch protesting brain off and up we go.

It was fairly easy at first, but then it steepened through the ski village in the bowl of the corrie, before starting 5km of steep hairpins up the headwall. These were spectacular, with huge drops off the side. Some drivers were so anxious to avoid the edge that they narrowed the tiny road dangerously. There are some fine walks from the col, and I think I’ll have a day off the bike and do one tomorrow.