Day 60: Enjoying our last day of climbing

Les Saisies – Saint Jean de Sixt 40.12km 🚴‍♀️ 2.39.44 ⏱15.1km/hr ⬆️ 740m (Suuz: 824) ⬇️ 1380m 🌡12-25C

We had a rough time falling asleep 💤 last night, we were probably too tired. Or just sad because de Col de Aravis is going to be our final mountain 🏔. We will probably never know. It was also difficult to get up since it was pretty cold. We were still at 1700m right on top of the Col des Saisies. Once we got up we went for breakfast. It wasn’t too bad this time since we brought our own cheese and cruesli to go with the bread 🥖and yoghurt 🐄. Also the hotel had a Nespresso machine, so Suuz went on a caffeine ☕️ trip. 

After we payed for our stay and the beer 🍺 (two small glasses not too great Mont Blanc beer, €11.80, absolutely ridiculous) we left. First the little downhill from our mountain hut down to the crossing to the final top of Col des Saisies, followed by a 2-3km uphill to the Col de Saisies sign. We already mentioned it yesterday but here again, Les Saisies is this horrible winter ❄️holiday village. It’s overpriced and overrated and unless you go there for skiing ⛷or boarding 🏂, and maybe also for those things, stay away from this tourist trap. It’s beautiful, it definitely is, lying there in between those great mountains 🏔, but it’s insanely expensive, there are no normal supermarkets, only ‘regional specialty’ stores (synonym for insanely overpriced cheese), there’s a bowling alley and a pony riding establishment. If you actually want to go pony 🐎 riding, Pony Park Slagharen comes highly recommended.

So once we reached the sign and took a picture, we put on a jacket and were ready to race downhill on the other side of Les Saisies. At least we thought we were going to do that, but after a short but nice downhill the road went up again. Apparently we had to do some more climbing before we really started the downhill. There were some long smooth stretches without sharp turns so it was great to speed a little.

When we were almost down we took some hair pin turns right before we descended into Flumet. From here our climb of the Col de Aravis would begin. It wasn’t very steep but with our hard work of the past few days our legs 🦵🏼were not great anymore. The first few kilometres only went up 2-3% with even a little downhill in between. The view was beautiful and stayed beautiful for the entire climb. We expected this one not to be as crowded because it’s a lesser known col, but to our surprise it was quite busy with cars and cyclists alike. Not to the level of annoying, except for the one or two maniacs from hell 🔥 cutting us off, but definitely more traffic than the last two days.

Just before the incline went up to 6-7% we stopped for a coffee ☕️ and pee 🚽break. Afterwards we only stopped to take pictures 📷 since we just couldn’t get enough of the beauty around us. The second part was for sure tougher than the first few kilometres but it never got really steep, such a difference with yesterday’s monster. The road cyclists on this mountain ⛰ were pretty nice as well, all wishing as ‘bon courage’.

Once we were up we cycled into the first restaurant we saw and had a chocolate chaud to celebrate 🎉 our last mountain ⛰. It’s really awesome we did all of this climbing, it also sucks it’s back to the flatlands from here on. After some chill time at the top we prepared ourselves for the downhill, read put on a shirt 👚 (too hot for a jacket), which was easily done. We stopped a few times to make pictures, and for Mas to get Suuz in sight again, but it was a good and smooth downhill. It ended in this very touristy mountain village La Clusaz, another town totally built up for the winter ❄️ season. And in summers for hiking 🥾, mountain biking, paragliding and more of that. 

We did some grocery shopping 🛒 over there since we did not know if there would be anything in the little town 3.5km away where we are staying at Campground du Cret 🏕. After we finished the last piece of downhill we took a left exit in Saint-Jean-de-Sixt and had to go up a few hundred meters to reach the campground. The reception was closed, but we set up our tent ⛺️ at a free spot and took a shower 🚿 after we phoned the lady to ask if it was okay to do so.

After we had settle down in we made a delicious 😋 lunch of🍴, noodles 🍝and baguette 🥖 with boursain, and chilled out in some beach chairs until it was time to make some more food. Since it’s our last day tomorrow we are eating our way through the food bag today like an oak wood procession caterpillar 🐛. So on the menu tonight is our safety meal, pasta 🍝with tomato 🍅sauce and canned tuna. We have carried this with us since Athens so we might be sick after, but you will hear about that tomorrow. Time for some sleep in our tiny tent ⛺️.