Tuesday June 28, 2005, 49 km (30 miles) – Total so far: 5,049 km (3,137 miles)

We’re staying on top of a Col again, this time it’s the Meraillet right by a giant turquoise coloured lake, it’s fantastic up here. We’re not camping this time as we’ve found a reasonably priced hotel. The deal includes our evening meal, breakfast plus the room for a very reasonable €€39 each.We did a fair amount of climbing today having been over the Col-des-Saisies prior to lunch (1,650m), then way down to Beaufort in a valley at around 700m, before climbing up another 1,000m to the lake. We passed loads of ski resorts and rode under empty lift chairs hanging in

We did a fair amount of climbing today having been over the Col-des-Saisies prior to lunch (1,650m), then way down to Beaufort in a valley at around 700m, before climbing up another 1,000m to the lake. We passed loads of ski resorts and rode under empty lift chairs hanging mid-air above the roads.

My good turn for the day was to help a French cyclist fix his bike. He’d snapped his chain on the ascent of the Col des Saisies so I took a link out for him and off he went. I broke yet another spoke in my rear wheel, I reckon that’s four gone so far – what a pain.

Our modest 49 km for the day may well be an underestimation as I noticed the computer had stopped working on the descent of Saisies, it was fine after a fiddle with the sensor but I’m guessing we lost a few kilometres.

Petit Casino supermarkets, there’s one in almost every French town

The ‘Route des Grandes Alpes’ runs from Geneva to Nice and takes in some of the highest mountains in Europe, we’re going to follow it south for a while

The summit of the Col des Saisies (1,650 m)

The descent of Saisies

The Col du Méraillet (1,605 m)

he turquoise waters of the Barrage de Roseland

The Auberge du Méraillet