27 June 2025 (sunny and hot) 62km

Began the day with messages from Shaz and Briana, suggesting that I might have been hacked. That's a bit like telling a gorilla he's got a sore tooth and needs to see a dentist. Not quite actually....a gorilla would work it out.

However, with my technophobe alongside me, she worked it out and hopefully those hackers are now trying to figure out my new password.

With that taking a little time, we hit the road by 6.30am, with Julia ably guiding us through the streets and neighbourhoods of Grenoble, on our way toward Chambery. 

Once on the cycle path and out of the city, the riding this morning was stunning. Huge mountains and massive pieces of rock just gazing down on us. 

Diverted into Crolles, which had some massive places of industry, to pick up breakfast from a brilliant Auchan Intermarche.

Cycled on a few more kms and in a small village, found a kids playground (no paedophile jokes please), and sat and enjoyed breakfast in the shade.

What a great spot for breakfast. Shade and a seat, our first two priorities and somewhere to rest the bikes. Added bonus a rubbish bin and also a freshwater tap. There was also a toilet, but considering the rest of the site, it was in a disappointing condition.

It was now 10.15am and the second part of our day was to come. 

The cycling now was a gradual incline, knocking off a couple of hundred metres before our final climb for the day which would be about three hundred metres.

The scenery was just getting better with the surrounding mountains standing out, in the late morning and early afternoon sunshine.

Got the climb in just before we stopped at an Intermarche to shop for lunch and dinner.

Then it was a short ride to the lake that the camp is situated on. Didn't check in first as Julia wanted a swim in the lake which was an incredible turquoise/green colour. 

I mean, how could you not??

My togs were down under the food in my panniers and I couldn't be bothered unpacking, then repacking and finally unpacking again at camp, one km away. 

After Ju's swim, we spread out the plastic groundsheet and had a delicious lunch of salmon salad followed by custard tart. 

Yummy!

Then we cycled a km to probably the best camp we've had so far.

Euro 19, good free wifi, swimming pool, (fantastic) lake, if you don't fancy pool, food, drink, proper loos, charging of devices area (free).

After placing our stuff on the ground in the shade at our pitch, we were straight in the pool.

We've already decided that we'll spend two days here, and you'll see why by the photos. 

Today's riding was idyllic, with the most stunning scenery. From here, we hope to have much the same kind of scenery for at least the next three weeks, but the climbing will be more intense.

The weather for the next week is nothing below 30 degrees and it really makes no difference where we go. Unless we catch a train north. But we think we'll be ok with just cycling the mornings and resting up in the afternoons.

For dinner it was burger and chips with beer/wine. Delicious!

Sitting on a bench seat overlooking the snow-capped, (Yes...snow-capped) mountains.

How is there still snow up there with these temperatures?

Although the hill climbs don't fill us with joy at the prospect, hopefully these hills will lead us to the kind of riding we've had today and great views as well.

We both agree that we can leave big cities well alone when you have vistas like we've enjoyed today.