The heat was back (and still is) after a few cooler days, and we took advantage of the nice weather going on another bicycle tour on Saturday (14.9.). Since we have fully explored the two nearby valleys — Grésivaudan and Isère — we looked for other options within a short train ride away. Here in France one can take a bicycle on to the Ter trains for free, and people actually use this option quite a bit both for leisurely rides but particularly for commuting. This past Saturday the train to Gap comprised of two cars with 2 hooks for bicycles in each, but there were more than 20 bikes onboard.

We descended at Clelles-Mens station after an hour and ten minutes of very slow train ride on a steep railway. We found ourselves at the altitude of about 830 meters in Clelles. We passed several small villages like Le-Monestier-du-Percy, St-Maurice-en-Trièves, and Mens enroute. The road kept going up and down, climbing every possible hill. Instead of climbing to Col de Mens (1111m), we took a “shortcut” and climbed to Col du Banchet (880m), and had our lunch break a little after on another minor mountain pass. Even if these passes were not as  high as Col de Mens, I think we ended up climbing up more and on steeper slopes.

From Mens back to Clelles we had a nice long downhill and a long gentle uphill. We still had about 40 minutes before the train departure. The friendly staff at the station allowed us to fill our water bottles at their “staff only” kitchen. We still had time to pass. We had noticed  a snack bar just  few hundred meters from the station, so  we got a brilliant idea … and returned to Hôtel Restaurant Le Traîneau, and their poolside bar for beers.

* On the website the tour was numbered as 3, but on the road it was marked as No 2.