Wednesday June 29, 2005, 64 km (40 miles) – Total so far: 5,113 km (3,177 miles)
This is the highest we’ve camped yet; 1860m at the ski resort of Val d’Isère, it was a pretty hilly ride to get here too. First we had to go over the Cormet de Roselend (1967m) before descending 1100m to Bourg St Maurice, then we had a steady climb all afternoon spoilt at times by some stormy weather. It’s still raining now at 6.45 p.m. and the thunder is rumbling away down the valley.
A huge storm hit Val d’Isère in the evening. I first heard what I thought was heavy rain in the distance and we could no longer see the mountains down the valley, then a hailstone the size of a golf ball landed in front of the tent swiftly followed by several thousand others. Thunder, lightning and heavy rain following for a few hours and at one point it looked like we were going to be flooded. Our freshly waterproofed tent did OK, but a lot of our gear is now very wet, including my shoes.