After such a long ride the day before, Dad was quite happy to drive the other van to our next campsite and Anoop decided (or it was decided for him) that he should also have a day off if he wanted any hopes of making it up Alpe d'Huez. Tan, Mägge and Hille decided to ride to the next campsite since it went over an extra col and it was a beautiful day for it.

The road up to the top of the Col du Croix de Fer was beautiful. We passed by a polka-dot wooden cow cut out and later a horse so we knew the Tour had come through at some point. The polka-dot jersey is for the king of the mountain. Next to the wooden cut-out of the cow, Anoop also spotted a mini-lift that had milk containers on it. From what it looked like, the lift was used to carry milk cans from the roadside up to the mountains somewhere. We went through a couple of ski resorts that were empty looking except for a few locals and continued on up to the top. After the last town, the road narrowed considerably and there was only room for one and a half or maybe even a quarter cars. If we had met someone, we would have had to back up to a wider spot! We kept looking ahead and up the turns to see if there was anyone coming so we had enough time to find a place, but luckily there wasn’t much traffic and it wasn’t a problem.

At the top we had great views of a few ponds, cows grazing and lots of ski lifts. We were feeling rather hungry so we stopped at the café at the top to enjoy a café au lait and a croque monsieur (ham and cheese sandwich dipped in an egg mixture and fried – yum!). On our way back to the car we saw a motorcycle with a side-car. There were two people on the motorcycle and a Saint Bernard in the side-car! Their trailer was filled with dog food, bowls and assorted dog supplies.

On the way down we saw a beautiful lake coming up and luckily there was lots of space for both vans to pull over for some photos. There was also a herd of goats just down the hill and Anoop popped down to take some pics of them. We thought their horns were really neat because they had a spiral to them. Eventually the goats decided to cross the road which stopped a few bikes and cars on the way!

We arrived in Le Bourg d’Oisans in the early afternoon which gave us lots of time to set up and head in to town to see about getting dad’s bike fixed. It had been having some sort of problem on the descent from the Telegraph the day before so he wasn’t keen to ride it until it was looked at. Luckily the guy at the shop knew just what to do and it didn’t involve a new wheel! We then headed back to camp to have a swim in the pool. The sun was nice and warm and we all enjoyed a swim or two once everyone arrived.

For dinner we headed in to town in search of a "menu" to enjoy, but all the places seemed to sell pizza and not much else. So we chose a pizzeria and hid out from the rain under the awning. Along the way, Anoop spotted a strange dispenser machine that seemed to sell “fresh” pizza – we were curious about how the pizza would come out, but we didn’t get around to trying it out…

The next day we woke up to 5⁰ C and pouring down rain. Since no one was going to do the epic Alpe d’Huez in the rain, we had a relaxing morning and decided to make pancakes. Not having any measuring tools and tripling the recipe, we kind of winged it with the proportions which resulted in a sort of crêpe/pancake cross. Since it was pouring out, we had to dash between awnings as we prepared the pancakes. They were very tasty and we had a huge fruit salad which was also delicious. Dad had found maple syrup in the store and had also made a kind of apricot nectar sauce so we were all set!

After brunch we wandered in to town to get a café and hide out from the downpour. Mägge ordered a café grappa which they didn’t have, but instead the bartender put something else in and said “bon courage” as he handed it over. Afterwards, we wandered through town for a while and checked out some shops – we found a particularly lovely hat/toque thing that sort of reminded me of an abominable snowman or a yeti perched on your head… needless to say, it was not purchased. I had seen a neat jersey with all the mountain climbs they had done and were going to do so we stopped by once it opened up after lunch. Anoop and Dad quite liked the jersey and picked up one each. Anoop also found another pair of bib shorts which he assured me were a great deal and he just couldn’t resist. It was still raining, but around 4:30, right when the forecast said it would, the rain stopped. When the clouds started clearing we could see snow on the tops of the nearby peaks and they decided to dress extra warm for the ride the next day. For dinner, Hille made a delicious risotto. Not sure how much to make, he dumped in the whole package of rice and later spotted “16 servings” on the side. Nevertheless, everyone hoovered down several servings and soon there was only a small amount left!