The Debora Matthews Fellowship

OK So how to describe the Col du Telegraph? Well imagine the sort of hill you can just ride up for more than a hundred yards without having to get off, and then imagine having to ride up it for an hour and a half. That was more or less it. It was very satisfying getting to the top tho’. For the Motty’s amongst you it was 23km of cycling with 1030m of climbing from when we set off to the top. Although the steep bit was only 12km and 846m.
We’re now in the ski resort of Valloire which is a very attractive place in the mountains, and might well be worth a visit one winter. We’re about 100m below the col at around 1400m which means it’s a lot chillier than we’re used to. The fleece has come out for the first time in a fortnight. When we set off this morning it was light rain which was good for cooling for me, and cleared later on, so we did get good views. There was a very heavy shower not long after we arrived, but fortunately we managed to get the tents up before it hit.
Any animal news today? Well there’s a very pretty Brittany Spaniel opposite us on the campsite, and we saw an eagle, but not much else of note.
You may have noticed I’m avoiding mentioning the Galibier. In a nutshell it’s the Telegraph on steroids. I’m starting to thing that if my cruciate ligaments don’t snap (they’re the bits that hurt the most) then I might make it. Not sure how the altitude will affect things, so far not really noticeable, but probably not high enough to make much of a difference yet.
Need to get the weather forecast before my battery runs out so I will report tomorrow.