Route Napoleon
In 1815 Napolean escaped from his first exile, in Elba
and made his way back to France
to re-establish the Empire.

He landed at Cannes and made a dash to Paris
by way of Gap and Grenoble.  France rallied
around him, but he was defeated,
once-and-for-all at Waterloo.

    
                           This cat  —  look closely  —  guards
                           the north end of La Route,   just
                           south of Grenoble
       

 

 

 

 

 

 

New boots for Ramorgue.  A bit of maintenance in the park at Grenoble before setting off.    

 

 

 

 

 

 
On the way out of Grenoble, the velodrome.



We did.. let me see now....       zero laps around the track.
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    Going up the Rampe de Laffrey in the rain. Below, the town of Vizille.

Nine km @ 12%.
     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Morning, July 4, Laffrey.
It's raining.

Statue of Napolean just south of Laffrey, where he was intercepted by the troops of the imposed king.  A little oration brought them around to the Emperor's side and they all marched off to Paris.  The king fled. 

La Prairie de la Rencontre
= The Field of Meeting		  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Saut en Elastique   =
              Bungy-jumping		  

 

 

 

 

  A tiny wayside church  

 

 

   

Looking back at the road, Lasalle-en-Beaumont.

The road you see is about 2.5 kilometres of switchbacks behind me.

 

 

 

     
     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
View from the window of my room in Corps ( night two of La Route )

L'Hotel du Tilleul  [ tilleul = lime tree ]
  
       

 

 

 

 




Vintage cars at Corps, doing the Route Napolean

2007 Volvo station wagon carrying spares for
a 1912 Rolls Royce and a 1923 Ford.

  
 
       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Terrible news on the morning of July 5:

Pooter is dead !!   Suspected cause: drowning.

He'd been all fogged up for about a week. Very difficult to read. But now, no numbers.

Oh, no. Now I'll have nobody to talk to !!n
Poo

  
       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is handy.  In some regions the
altitude is written on the milestones.

799 metres is for babies !! 		   
       
Now, think back to the little "Road Signs"
lesson I gave you, people.

What do you think this means?
 

 

 

 

 

     
July 5, between Corps and Gap.                   Notice that he trees are bending to the south...    a glorious tailwind for bwilsonduncan !!!      

 

 

 

     
       

 

 
Along the way, there are signposts where
les Grandes Randonées (the national hiking network)
cross the highway.

They also have altitudes marked on them.
 
  Another milestone:  1170 metres.

Don't think too hard about that roadsign though . Some of my theories may be wrong.		  
"Oh no !!!", again
     Six km from Gap, Vélo gets a flat.

fixed in 20min.

 

Col Bayard, just before Gap.  1246 metres...  that's a big one.

"Utilisez Votre Frein Moteur" = "Use your motor brakes"

I was glad to be going down this one, not up.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next

Index