9am and it is 14.5C - a full 1.5deg warmer than yesterday at this time!
So we are off . .. and find a nice quiet road heading south called Route de la Sone .. and it leads us down to the Isere river west bank and it turns out to be very quiet .. as we watch some rowers take advantage of the morning calm.
After a few twists through St. Nazaire de Royans, we find ourselves east of the river and on the beautiful D125! We are passed by a group of cyclists ..then stop and a older gentlemen (our age?) stops and talks to us .. he is heading up to the col de Tourniol (1145m) and when we tell him we are on our way to the col de Cavelli, he says it is a beautiful route .. but a bit hilly for paniers!
After a nice lunch in Combovin, we start the ascent .. a consistent 6% grade which finally peaks at 750m with a GPM painted on the road (Italian for King of the Mountain) as the road opens up in to a huge valley with farmland. They obviously have cycling races up here as we passed messages painted on the road encouraging us up and advising us when to attack the hill!
Another 100m of climbing around a notch in the mountain and we arrive at the official col high point at 850m. It turns out the col is named after Jerome Cavalli who was a acrobatic flyer who died young in 1943.
The descent was fabulous through open fields and around a few cliffs finally descending into this small town with a nice hotel.
62km 1050m of climbing.
Tomorrow looks like a longer day .. but we might stop in St Ferreol Trent Pas and save a bit for the last day in to Sault were we have an apt rented for 5 days.
