Day 237: St. Michel de Maurienne to Albertville

Down and out of the mountains

Well, we’re still in amongst some pretty big hills, but we’ve finished the big climbs for now.

We had a very pleasant ride after a late start. Tiger and I were recovering from our fun day yesterday and we were trying to get some washing dry, but we were in no hurry.

The road was generally downhill, but a generous headwind stopped us getting any great benefit from that. However, it wasn’t too hot, the cycling wasn’t too hard, so a very pleasant day.

We’re now in Albertville, home of the Winter Olympics in 1992, and still boasting an ice rink and other facilities that came as part of that event. It’s a very tidy town though with architecture that mixes the alpine with more typical French.

To start the day, find the public water fountain in the town and fill your bidons with fresh, cool, alpine water

We’re going steadily downhill, but there are huge peaks around us still

The quant village of La Chambre — gateway to the famous Col de la Madeleine climb

Cycle paths you can actually cycle on!

Approaching Albertville after around 15km on cycle paths