Tour of Mont Blanc (4808 m.)

Mont Blanc from Chamonix

Valley of the Durance

A fine start but not the ride round Mont Blanc that I was hoping for. Dawn in Saint-Gervais with a clear forecast after many storms in this region. It’d been a good ride up from Marseille, light traffic on the road to the Col de la Croix Haute (1176 m.) between Grenoble and Provence. Mont Blanc was clouded at the end of the day but the hotel was comfortable. I haven’t ridden this far from Marseille for ages: riding among the high mountains and glaciers was my great treat for the summers of the 1980s. So it was fantastic just riding here again and on the best running sportsbike I’ve ever owned...

An early petit dèj enjoying the view from the hotel. I’d planned a ride with plenty of time for photo stops. But it all came to a crashing end when a car reversed in to me on to the main road, having bought his bread at his local boulangerie.
The bike is scratched down one side but the riding suit saved me from worse injuries than a very sore shoulder. Thanks Dainese. But yet again a collision that is not my fault and, as usual, the biker comes off worse.
Back to Marseille by car watching the sunset with sadness and disappointed not to ride more in the best weather in the mountains for some time.

Mont Blanc from Megève.. I first took a photo like this in 1982. My bike then was an XJ750 Yamaha. Note the tent.