July 2013 - France/Italy Alps trip on the mountain trails and roads

[AndyCook]

Heading north, we left the road at Sampeyre taking a mountain track over to Sanfront.
This was one of roughest trails we drove and took a few hours, my wife had a great descent on her mountain bike from Colle del Prete (1716m) to Sanfront (500m). Sanfront was also woth looking around, a nice village.

so the trail

the wife on her lapierre mountain bike

some locals on bikes and buggies

descending in low-range

washouts

After Sanfront we hit the tarmac for a longer drive on tarmac north to Sestriere, via Pinerolo
on the way we stopped at a hilltop fort for lunch and met one of the locals

view from fort at Cavour, on plains near Turin

Back in the mountains near Sestriere, we looked the massive Fort Fenestrelle - the worlds longest covered staircase

after a stop in Sestreire, we headed up the Val d'Argentera, I knew this valley from our 2012 trip, there are lots of wildcamps spots, but it was saturday night, so lots of Italians were up for the weekend, so many wild camp spots taken, we found a good spot right by river, where we camped last year

got the BBQ out

and campfire going

these 120 feel the chill easily....

great fire

next morning there were lots of blue butterflys around

we decided to have a rest-day from driving, and leave camp setup and explore on Bike (cooks) and hiking (Taylors)

the bike ride started uphill...

a great valley

but hard work without an engine

nice plants

then on way down i took the singletrack trail on otherside of the river - fanastic mountain biking trail

Val d'Argentera

we came across a mountain refuge with bar and restuarant, and sleepy locals

and then on radios arranged to meet our friends here for a Cold one, after their hike

shower time

and another BBQ

the next day we headed back to Sestriere, and started on the Strada del'assietta http://www.stradadellassietta.it/
a trail nearly 60km long, much over 2000m

 

[AndyCook]

more info on Assietta Road

http://www.dangerousroads.org/italy/285-the-assietta-road-italy.html

Strada dell'Assietta

on Strada dell'Assietta - with Mont Jafferau - the next days trail behind on right

this trail was busy with mountain bikers and also lots of motobikes - many from UK, who met for the annual Stella Alpina the day before. nice guys we met and chatted with them a couple times over next 2 days.

wartime forts from 1700 - battle of Assietta, between france and piedmonte-austro

lunchspot over 2000m

history lesson

fort Gran Serin, 1km away, but no entry sign on the trail... , didnt stop the motorbikes though..

we drove this section in cloud last year, so nice to see the views this time

exploring Fort Serre-Marie

down to the magazine, deep underground

view over to Fort Fenestrelle

then on the trail at Colle delle Finestre and over 50 hairpin bends...

herself cycled down

 

[AndyCook]

So - after an overnight stop at campsite near Susa, we headed to the trails that were the highlight of the trip for me
Fort Pramand, the wartime, dark Tunnel Monte Seguret, and Fort Jafferau @2800m (we were stopped by snow blocking the trail at Col Basset 2596m a few km from fort in 2012)

info on trail
http://www.dangerousroads.org/italy/282-monte-jafferau-italy.html

the fort Jafferau trail is prone to rockfalls, so can be tricky in places

side-trail, which was steep and exposed and tippy in places to Fort Pramand

this fort was used in 1700's then again in WW2 - where top of fort was covered in concrete and heavy artillery guns placed on top

these french couldnt get their truck up the trail to Fort Pramand or through the tunnel

this rockfall was tricky last year, but repair work made it easier to pass this time

into the Dolomite cliffs and caves area now

small tunnel on track to Fort Jafferau

the start for the long unlit, muddy dark tunnel

the other end

and upto the Col Basset 2596m - luckily the snow had been dug away off trail this year (I knew this from talking to a Czech overlander a few days prior to arriving here)

and onwards and upwards to Fort Jafferau

parked at 2800m

fort Jafferau

met the Brits and Austrians, Germans from Stella alpina meet again

BMW flat twin 1980's

wife descending on mountain bike

Fort Jafferau beyond the LC's

our wildcamp spot temporaily invaded by Austrian 4x4 tour group - by an old fort next to the tunnel, and Grottes

we camped here last year @2300m, fantastic spot, my favourite wildcamp spot!
we spoke to a couple Italian rangers and shared a cold beer with them, they told us about the golden eagles we had seen, and said there were 20 wolves living in the valley. we scared poor Josh later by playing a wolf howl sound clip off phone plugged into car stereo - my wife swears she heard a wolf howl back.

the austrian tour leader in a Troopie

hilux

jeep

landy

camp to ourselves

the massive rockfalls and caves that the tunnel passes under

another BBQ and campfire

solar shower

bike

fort

caves

campfire

where are the wolves!

and we had a dare to see who could walk furthest into the tunnel

13yrd old Laura won!

flowers on dolomite boulders

Next day we travelled down to Bardonecchia and onto Col del Sommeiller, at an elevation of 2,993 meters above the sea level,

info

http://www.dangerousroads.org/france/216-colle-del-sommelier-france.html

 

[AndyCook]

And so the Col du Sommelier trail

http://www.dangerousroads.org/france...er-france.html

pretty cold up here

a french truck

we got to within 1km of the col, and a altitude of just over 2800, before meeting blocked trail by snow. the trail stops at col anyway, so we would have to turn around anyway, but shame not to get the trucks to 3000m

Col du Sommelier

we had to drive around one snowfield on way up and down

and then we met the austria Group again

bit of flex

then it rained and hailed
as she rode down ..

and across the dam

So that was the end of the trails in the Landcrusiers, my wife and I then spent a day watching the tour de france at L'Alpe D'huez, a historic stage as they climbed the Alpe twice.
we drove over Col Du Glandon and parked at Oz Station and after aborting riding over to the alpe (too steep) we took the ski lifts!

a previous years messages

Col du Glandon

the hard way to L'Alpe D'huez, we soon aborted!

the easier way up

L'alpe D'huez

DH bike course to ride down

the end of stage podium and finish line

1km banner

movistar

having a beer

and another

watching the pre-race caravan

our viewing spot at 2km banner

norwegian supporters corner

team sky car

the peleton, took video mostly

George moved down to barrier for 2nd pass of the race

Mark Cavendish tired

Cavendish after race

and biking down to Oz station after race

bivoauc at an Aire after TDF near Grenoble

wine shopping at Meursault (Beaune)

making space in the truck for wine!

exploring Bruges before ferry home

and home

with some wine

so - thats it Folks - another great trip

only 8 weeks today, until we depart for Morocco

 

[grantw]

Great update! Looks like it was an awesome trip.

 

[Gav Peter]

Very nice Andy - thanks for sharing

 

[froggy Steve]

Nice one, I would so love to do something like that, but I have a problem in that my only time off is when everything will be snowed up
One day perhaps
Great trip, great report, thanks for sharing it with us
Steve

 

[Leopard]

Nice! Great photos! Looks like you guys had a blast! What a beautiful part of the world!

 

[adrianr]

fab write up and pics!!

 

[clivehorridge]

Fantastic write-up and likewise the wonderful photos. Great bikes too and inspiring that you ride them up as well as downhill! Last time I climbed 1,000 m I wanted to die! Well done on all counts!


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

 

[AndyCook]

video clip
Offroading under a mountain at 2000m..Fort Jafferau trail, tunnel Monte Seguret, Italy

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Is it one way? Didn't look like there was a passing place till a long way in? Steph would freak out going through there, she doesn't like the big road tunnels, I'd have to tell it was only 50 meters long

 

[SpinDrift]

Brilliant video. I used to explore old wartime tunnels when I was a kid but this is on a different level. I am sure you were hoping you wouldn't meet on coming traffic!!

Fantastic report. Looks like you had a great trip.

video clip
Offroading under a mountain at 2000m..Fort Jafferau trail, tunnel Monte Seguret, Italy

 

[AndyCook]

no the tunnel is 2-way - there is almost a passing place
whilst i drove up trail to enterance i was looking across valley to see if i could see any vehicles approaching from west

Also I had full-beam on and 8 spot lights

its 850m long
and goes under this:



there were signs in Italian near the tunnel, may have said it was closed due to rubble inside but i cannot read Italian
and a group of motorbikers we met before the tunnel had come through and said it was OK

also I had driven the tunnel last year, so knew what to expect

The Tunnel goes into the mountain in a U-shape under the huge cave/landslide

 

[AndyCook]

Again this year, we couldnt drive this tunnel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Col_du_Parpaillon

since it didnt open until July 15th
and is often still filled with ice and snow

 

[froggy Steve]

cool, if not a little scary
Steve

 

[clivehorridge]

I can't believe nobody said 'there's light at the end of the tunnel' toward the end of that great vid!

Enjoyed this!


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

 

[AndyCook]

The Frejus road tunnel we drove the day after this wartime tunnel (Bardonecchia > Modane) was pretty long too - seemed as long as the mont blanc tunnel

but at least the Frejus tunnel had 2-lanes of traffic, tarmac, no standing water or dripping water, no rubble or boulders and mud and it was well lit

Frejust tunnel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fréjus_Road_Tunnel

aha Frejus is 13km long, the Mt Blanc is 11.6km long

we drove a tunnel in Norway thas was longer
in fact 24.5km
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lærdal_Tunnel

that seemed to go on for ever - almost hypnotic after driving that!

 

[roy90]

superb write up on your trip andy, loved the photo's, i'm jotting down some notes here as im heading over to the alp region next week and have 4 weeks to explore so will hope to drive some of the col's and tunnels! Thanks for sharing!

 

[fast but dim]

Superb write up! Thanks.