What goes up continues to go up.........

So Day 1 of the Tour de Hume and, perhaps foolishly, we decided to do a route with 6,600ft of climbing. This involved starting up Alpe D'Huez to the 16th hairpin (starts at 21 and counts down to the top) then turning off and riding along the Auris balcony road which is a vertiginous road cut into the side of the mountain and twists round high up above the valley with fabulous views of the surrounding mountains. It eventually tops out, followed by the inevitable descent back down to the valley floor before we headed up a nine mile climb to the Col de Sarenne at 1,999m (or 6,600ft in old money). After the initial steep climb back out of the valley the climb was just long and steady (very long) until we finally managed to reach the top. The climb up had been virtually traffic free (as was the balcony road) with only a few cyclists to show we were on a recognised route. From the Col we descended to Alpe D'Huez which seemed a bit weird, but was very welcome after all the uphill stuff. Here we had an epic fail - approaching from an odd direction we did several circuits and were unable to find anything open, the summit of the TdF climb or the route down via the 21 hairpins. Trapped in a ski resort that was like a vision of hell, we eventually took a road signed Bourg d'Oisans and managed to join the main road between hairpins 2 & 3. We found the descent tiring as we constantly on the brakes and you could probably have fried an egg on the rims of my wheels - but we made it down safely with time to visit the local pharmacy to try and buy dental floss. Frankly I thought my mime of dental hygiene should have won an award (who actually knows the French for dental floss???) but it seemed to create some confusion amongst the staff and other customers.

Back here we have enjoyed tea and cake on the balcony and an excellent meal cooked by our hosts and eaten with them and the other cyclists, a really sociable way to holiday while being able to cycle on your own during the day.  Photos are various of the ride / scenery