Monday Night and Tuesday to Col de la Croix de Fer

The twilight and daylight saving is playing tricks on me. 7pm feels like 4pm, which plays havoc in getting ready to wander into town to get dinner. Well for me anyway.

We wander, we find a restaurant with a wide selection of meatatarian meals, OberGruppenFuhrer has one available choice, a pizza. SuperModel and myself had a hamburger with reblochon cheese each. Delish! Frodo gets magret in huckleberry sauce (duck breast), Kransky a poulat dish, OGF a sicilian pizza, and Buble Boy a lamb shank or was it a magret? Who knows, he wolfed it down. These meals were washed down with a couple of glasses of Vin de patron/house wine, inoffensive soft red. 125 euros

Buble Boy fancies a kebab, we wander on to sip an digestif, a local concoction called ginepi, made from a herb that grows above 3000m.

The local bar has Australian marginalia on the walls, we watch Iceland thump Angleterre. Joshing abounds.And blessed sleep.

The Col de Croiz de Fer - the cross of iron calls to us today, another 2000m day. Been blessed with fine weather, the rest of France sits under cloud.

And it is a fine day, blue skies greet us and cool air, but with the climbing we are expecting, I do not anticipate being cold.

A quick drag down the Romanche valley and the right turn into the valley up to the first dam wall, and then basically 22 kilometres up, one down bit, some 14% pinches, and a few regroups.

None of us are feeling particularly fresh, but we persist.

We go left from here and into that valley ahead, cross the river and up up up

Climbing, low speeds and survival and energy conservation are key.

Here is the link to my ride.

And a map and profile.

We climb to the upper reservoir and regroup. Supermodel is struggling with hunger flat. 6 kilometres is not that far but its still another 300+ metres of climbing. I'm not feeling great but I know I will complete the climb. Kransky is nursing an angry knee. OberGruppenFuhrer is perky. Infuriating. Buble Boy is riding like a demon. Frodo is riding within himself as am I.

Final push. Past the left hand turn for the Col du Glandon we spin up to the pass at 2080 something metres. I am suffering from sweating so much, electrolyte drink gone, banana eaten, water bottle half full.

Encouraged by OberGruppenFuhrer as he passes me in the final kilometre, he is standing there taking photos at the last push.

Wind blowing we retreat into the small cafe on the pass.

Omelettes and a berry tart each are hoovered down with cafe. Just cyclists and the odd motorbike rider. The carpark has a couple of camping cars setting up to enjoy the view.

Smiling in anticipation of food

No-one is in a huge hurry to move, but we do, arm warmers are donned by some, gilets (wind breakers) by all. We roll, regroup, roll, a nasty 12% section and then regroup and roll downhill again for a lovely bit of 1% false flat with a tailwind into town. SuperModel and I take turns until I gently pop off his wheel, recover and get back on at 40kmh. Roll through Bourg to the house. Done.

Everyone is spent.