In which Sid and Doris cycle up over the pass, down to the official opening for the year, enjoy the brouhaha and endure a very long uphill excursion in the afternoon.
The Napoleon’s Bivouac hotel does not live on walkers and cyclists. The cafe, restaurant and shop are supported by coaches, which have come through the tunnel, stopping to enjoy the view, the legend and the lunch.
Just as we leave the road to the tunnel (through which we are not allowed) we meet a couple of cyclists who tell us this is the season’s opening day for the high route to the Hospice. This is all news to the duo who had simple assumed by June it would be clear. As Bob Dylan sang, ‘I can’t help it if I’m lucky’. There is still snow by the road.
We and the other cycling couple are allowed through a barrier where bikers and drivers are held back, awaiting the signal that the road through the Hospice and cafes is clear of snow and the mayor has cut a ribbon, cake, caper (add your preferred ritual here). After a while motorbikes and cars start to come past. S and D plug up at their own speeds, here is Doris at the top. Huzzay, huzzay.
The first cafe has the privilege of providing coffee and battery ergs. The Hospice Chapel is getting in the season’s supply of candles. You can stay at the Hospice where priests have a 100% discount. In the chapel there is much to give thanks for and already people are in and praying.
Over on the Italian side there is a band in local costumes with alpine instruments to welcome us.
There is a specially contrived traffic jam of motor bikes, touring drivers and hobby cars. We saw BMW 323 (E30), recent Jaguars, Astons and Ferraris, Fiat 500s (chapeau), and this elegant Porsche 1600 cabriolet with soft rear window. No issue today with air cooling.
And then it’s on with the windproof jackets and down to the Aosta valley, and on the basis that it is all averagely downhill Sid and Doris have set a longish afternoon to Pont St Martin. Have a look at the road snaking away, Whee, says Miftah Bat.
In Aosta town the lunch stop is in Place Emile Chanoux. This area of Italy was French speaking until the Fascist attempts in the 1930s to Italianise the country only formed in 1861 (with Rome and Venice added 1871). Happily for Sid they speak French here again. We lunch in Place Emile Chanoux who pressed for more autonomy for the Aosta region in a federal Europe and was killed for his trouble in 1944.
By 1944 the area was German occupied. This memorial is in French.
The wind is blowing up the valley and we pedal to go downhill beside the Aosta river on its way to the Po. We pause for ice cream. And later for cafe crema and battery top up. Just as well. At about 4 o’clock we find the valley road is blocked by a land slip. There has been no notice of this.
A cycliste coming out of the hills explains the route up and up through the woods and three villages to get back down beyond the blockage. Doris consults the mapping and finds no better route so Sid and Doris push their bikes up into the hills.
After a few minutes a Samaritan arrives with a faded red 1982 Fiat Ducato diesel flat bed and we load the bikes aboard. He is not going far along the way but we get some height and a great boost to the morale.
There is much pushing. The total pushed ascent has not been calculated. Here is the view from the top at 6 o’clock, so we’ve been at this for two hours to get to a new top. Hurrah, mmm.
The wind is still against us fighting down the valley. We arrive at the Pont St Martin hotel, where Madame has almost given up on Sid and Doris, at around 7.15. It wasn’t the Longest Day, but it seemed quite long. But we arrived, so thank you Doris for finding our way, St Bernard for opening today, the cafes for extra battery and cafe crema, St Martin, the lady cycliste who gave us the hill route and the Samaritan.
S and D do not stir from the hotel, sitting on the terrace looking up at the vine clad hills.
Great to catch up with your latest adventure which has many familiar memories. We cycled the VF to Aosta in 2022 and have cycled down the Aosta valley many times from our flat there. Interesting to hear there is a land slip again – we did a similar diversion a few years ago but the road was repaired last time we did it a few months ago . Happy cycling!
We did wonder that if we’d only done a little more homework in advance we could have found a valley route instead of the mountain excursion – but the Italians don’t seem to worry about signposting roadworks very much.