It was an 8 o'clock breakfast for us and the German guests. The time was good because we slept better with the naturally cooler air than in Florence. Marie Claude gave us some suggestions for the day and the German couple lent us a couple of maps.

They were very well organised as, after confirming the forecast, they already knew exactly what they were going to do . They each ride touring bikes (he has a 1000cc Honda – top speed 240km/hr, and she has a 650cc Honda) – he has ridden for years and his wife for about 4 years. He is aiming to drive the whole of the Alps route but in bits, with lots of exploring. They went over the road we could have taken yesterday and did a circuit south, about 200k m spread over about 9 hours.

We discovered that we could have spent a bit over an hour to get here over a mountain pass rather than the 10 minutes in the tunnel. And it would have been free. The positive is that we did a better mountain drive today and so have done both the tunnel and the pass.

We set off to drive to at least the end of the valley because we had been told there were some lovely villages to explore. It was also suggested we could go further to a town on the other side of the Col (or Pass) or maybe do part of the route we didn’t do yesterday to a nice Lake.

The drive up the valley was lovely with great views . We were delighted to find a geocache on the way and then stopped at Bonneval sur Arc which was highlighted in a book Marie-Claude had lent us. It was of course in French but we knew to keep an eye out for it.

This was not actually necessary as it would have been impossible to miss this picture perfect village. The buildings were in stone, the window boxes were everywhere, tree trunks with potted plants inside were laid on the ground. We had to stop for coffee and take heaps of photos. Marie-Claude later showed us a photo of the town under snow and it was equally pretty. It is 1800m above sea level we discovered later so no wonder it has so much snow in winter.

We carried on up the road which we soon realised was heading us up to the Col de l’Iseran and it is 2764m high. The pass we would have done from Italy would have been only 2083m!! We bought a postcard and I puzzled over the wording on one part. Did it mean what I thought? It said "Le plus haut col d’Europe" but Marie Claude had not said anything. We had it confirmed later – it did say the highest pass in Europe!!

The road was great – high but well formed and well maintained. It had the usual hairpins but they were reasonably gentle. At parts the gradient was 11% but parts of the road through the villages also had hairpins and a 12% gradient. The road was full of cyclists, both motor and pedal powered . It was a real grind up for them but they looked very happy sailing down.

We kept stopping for photos and then going around the bend to find even better shots. At this stage we were kicking ourselves that we had forgotten to recharge the batteries last night and had also left my camera, which would have had spares, behind. However, we managed by swapping batteries around and using the ones in the GPS to take all the shots we wanted.

We had taken photos looking up and looking down and looking across. The Alps are not like our Southern Alps because there is grass so high up the mountains so they run from grass to snow or rock. There were waterfalls everywhere from snow melt and a very icy looking river running below us.

We then realised that the snow was no longer always above us but at the side of the road and very thick. I was amazed at the well constructed 'drains’ so far up that directed the melt down the banks and safely away from the road . But still there were sheer sides that you could only hope were stable. And rock house/shelters amongst this. We noticed many had banks at one end the we decided were to direct any rock fall away from the building. Some looked as though this had not succeeded. I was taking a photo when I was aware of movement and some animal ran over the rocks. I was told later it was likely to have been a marmotte.

We turned a corner and found people walking down from a ski field. I was in jandals and t-shirt as I walked along to see the skiers (in the middle of summer!!!). We took photos then about 2 minutes later realised we were at the top. This was obvious because there were heaps of vehicles, people wandering around, a café come souvenir shop, a small chapel – and a road sign with people lining up to have photos taken in front of it.

The breeze was cool enough here to have me put a jacket on but I still was comfortable in shorts and jandals . We joined the people wandering the area and took a photo for a cyclist who had propped his cycle at the road sign. There was a small hut for no reason we could establish and the chapel was closed but we did buy a post card.

We spent less time going down (even though we were in 2nd gear so we didn’t cook the brakes) as we had taken so many photos on the way up. There was a cache on the other side but we decided not to go down that side as our map showed we would have to retrace our footsteps or do a very wide circle back and we had not visited all the villages on our side.

We stopped at a town called Bressans, mainly to visit a Chapel that was in the book we had that has wonderful frescos. However, it was closed until 3 pm so we could only look at the faded frescos on the outside. We looked around the town centre and admired the fountains. One was like a pine cone and the other was a devil. John put his hand in the water and it was icy!! We were going to eat here but could only find a flash restaurant so moved on .

While looking for a place to eat a motorcyclist heard us speak and asked if we were English!! He was from East Yorkshire and was a real hoot. He told us he had a sister in NZ and he was pleased she was in the colonies. She had visited him once but said his house was too small. He compared her to Mrs Bucket – but said Mrs Bucket was common in comparison. He said she lived in a posh beach area near Auckland in a flash house with room for the boat and we tried to suggest a possible suburb. He then told us she and her husband had a Range Rover. When they saw the Queen’s Mother on TV getting out of her Range Rover with an electric step his sister insisted they had one installed in their vehicle!!

He also told us about his part of Yorkshire and recommended a couple of places to stop. He lives near Malton, which was near where we stayed with Irene last trip. He told us a story about a legendary giant in his area who was so annoyed at being henpecked by his wife he grabbed a huge handful of dirt and flung it into the countryside . This created 2 hills (one sounded like ‘Raspberry Topping’) and (in his words) a ‘fooking great hole’.

We found a café/creperie/restaurant with a nice outside terrace. We had just sat down when our Yorkshire man rode past and yelled out ‘Tow rong ga’ (Tauranga) – so his sister did not live in Auckland after all.

The table next to us was occupied by a group of German motorcyclists, 2 of whom spoke good English and told us to enjoy our meal as they left. They had all the gear, big bikes and maps in folders in front of them as they rode. John was more than a little envious. The waitress was very nice – she had about as much English as I have French but we managed to sort out food and drink orders and that we could order dessert ‘après’ (after) – which didn’t happen as we were full.

We then came back to the house to recharge the batteries and also put the photos onto the computer. We had taken 78, so no wonder we were having flat batteries . Marie-Claude arrived back before we left and made some suggestions for the rest of the day. We had spotted a fort and had asked her about it and also a couple of churches in her book.

We first went and filled up with diesel at the local supermarket. This was the cheapest place we had yet found although we did have to go to 2 to find one happy with our card. It also took us for a drive through the nearby town of Modane which had a long main street and is the main railway station for the area.

We drove up to a reasonably complete Fort, one of a series we could see on the hills. The notices outside were only in French but we could work out that they said one part was forbidden as it was not safe and the other part people could enter but the authority would not be responsible for any injury you might suffer.

The forts sit on top of sheer cliffs and would have provided a great defensive position . One of the forts was part of the Maginot line. We then went up to a fully restored Fort in the series called Marie-Christine. We walked around the Fort and had ice creams in the café in the middle. We managed to make sense of the menu and ordered 2 boules (scoops) with a sauce and a fruit each – and paid about half the price of our infamous Florence ice creams. They had reasonably priced meals but we decided that driving down the steep roads after tea in the dark might not be fun.

We then saw a village above the Fort, Aussois, that I remembered Marie-Claude had mentioned, so we went on. The first thing we saw was the football field. It just seems odd at about 1500m high. I went into the lovely old church while John watched with envy children play on a slide that ended in a bouncy mat. The church was over 400 years old and had the usually lovely stained glass. There was also the war memorial at the side of the church which seemed a very nice place to put it.

We returned via a ski resort that is clearly very busy in winter judging by the parking spaces for buses as well as cars. I was going to take photos of the ‘sculptures’ of local stone at the end of each hairpin as you drove in but John was not keen to stop.

When I logged the 2 caches for the day I was most irritated. Since I had downloaded the caches a new one was out – at the very Fort we had first visited. We considered very briefly returning for the FTF (‘first to find’) but decided against it. It was not far but we knew we had a big drive the next day.

We finished the day with hamburgers at a local café in Modane – after the big ice-creams we did not want much and this was the only place with less than full meals we could find. Also the supermarket had closed at 7pm so we couldn’t get some snacks. We also used the ATM at a bank. You needed your card to get into the small room with the machine in, which was a nice extra security. We were then back in time for John to watch the football (Uruguay v Netherlands). Marie-Claude came and had a chat during half time – neither she nor the German couple are keen on football so John watched alone and I blogged.