Mägge and Hille left early in the morning to head back to Davos. We set off to Briançon to explore one of Vauban's fortified towns. Vauban was a military engineer to King Louis XVI during the mid-18^th century. He designed around eight fortified towns in the region, including Briançon, which is now a UNESCO world heritage site. The town is known for its many sundials so we enjoyed hunting for them as we went on our walking tour. We happened to be there on the day that there was a parade through town; we weren’t quite clear what they were celebrating, but it was fun to see them all in costume. We enjoyed walking around the ramparts and seeing all the defensive walls below. We walked the entire way around the town and climbed up fairly high for a good view below. We could also see the other fortresses nearby on the various hillsides. We then wandered through the centre of town, window shopping along the way. We decided to find a sunny spot to enjoy a café and headed back towards the sunny side of the ramparts. Anoop was busy taking photos and somewhere in there he missed* our signalling that we were heading right. We got to the café, ordered and went to the washroom and he still hadn’t showed up. I headed off in search of him and spotted him further down the hill; after flagging him we returned to the café in time for our drinks to arrive. Dad also had a cheese platter since he was peckish. Anoop sampled one of the goat cheeses and Dad told him if you breathed out through your nose while sampling it you would really taste the goat. After trying this he decided it was not a good idea at all and would not recommend doing so. We then headed back to camp to change and pick up our bikes.

We set off for the Clarée Valley near Briançon and parked in a small lot right beside a river. It was very pretty and the ride was supposed to be quite flat which meant I would be able to go too. We had a nice sunny day although once the sun started setting and it was shady in the valley, it really cooled down. The ride was slightly uphill the whole way and very scenic. Towards the end we had the option of heading down into a small town on the way or going uphill to a mini "col". Anoop being super keen to do another col said that we were only about 3 km from the top. We thought we might get a good view and I figured I could make it 3 more kilometres. As we rounded the bend it climbed fairly steeply at 7% for about 2 km. I was definitely not in the riding shape that everyone else was but started huffing and puffing my way to the top. There were pine trees all around us except for the occasional glimpse of the, valley below. I was struggling to keep pedaling, but once in awhile Dad would come along and put his hand on my lower back which seemed to make a huge difference. After several stops on the way up we finally arrived at the top, in the shade, with no view. Oh well – it was still a pretty ride up! We then returned part way down the hill to a sunny spot where we pulled over to enjoy our pain au chocolat before heading back to the car. The way back was really cold since it was all downhill and in the shade – we just kept on going and were glad when we arrived back. It was a beautiful ride and I was glad we had all been able to ride together for a bit.

After dinner a guy named Daan wandered over to our campsite and started chatting. He was cycling from Amsterdam to Monaco! He had just graduated and asked the company he was hired at if he could start 3 months from later so that he could do a cycling trip. He is a naval architect and was going to Monaco for a yacht show there. The plan was to help out at his company’s booth and enjoy a free 5 star hotel stay and parties on the yachts… We figured that would be a nice reward at the end of a long trip although we did wonder if someone was bringing him a suitcase of clothes, suitable for Monaco’s yachting crowd, since he didn’t have much with him! He was on his own and said it could be quite boring at night so he often wandered around looking for someone to chat to. He joined Dad & Anoop for a beer while Tan and I headed off to do dishes. Afterwards we all wandered down to the lounge area to use the internet since we weren’t sure when we would be able to check emails next.

*Comment from Anoop: ”missed” is not entirely accurate. I would say more like they didn’t make eye contact with me while signalling so I had no idea where they had disappeared to.