Day 3 - Grenoble to Bourg d'Oisans
The last of our transit days into the Alps intersected with the route of the Tour de France. Initially we were aiming to get to the intermediate sprint point to stop and watch the riders go by. We stopped at Vizille for provisions and by the time we got to Séchilienne, the road had already been closed. There was nothing for it but to settle down to a roadside picnic, wait for the sound and noise of the Caravan, watch the riders go past in a flash of colour and get going again once the road was opened again.
As you can see from the profile, the road climbs gently all the way from Grenoble with the gradient steadily increasing all the way to Rioupéroux. Once you are out of the suburbs of Grenoble, the route follows the river on what I'm guessing is normally a relatively quiet valley road. It's a shorter day with a pretty manageable amount of climb.
Route
Stay and Eat
We stayed at the Hotel la Cascade, across the river from the main part of the village, a few hundred metres from the base of the climb up to Alpe d'Huez. The floor was not even remotely level, the shower was slightly larger than a coffin but the food provided in the half board was great, the staff were very helpful and the whole place had a good vibe. We enjoyed our stay! It seems the hotel is now called B.O. Lodge (presumably an abbreviation of Bourg d'Oisans and not body odour) and based on the website, it has had a fairly significant makeover.
See and Do
Bourg d'Oisans is located in the heart of the 6 valleys. While a chest cold meant I was struggling to ascend the staircase to our room, the following rides from Cycling Oisans had been planned for our time in the area.
- Climb Alpe d'Huez (of course) which my beloved was able to achieve solo.
- The loop up to Villard Reymond
- See how far up the Col du Galibier we could get.
