Waiting

Our trip originally planned to Sospel turned into a trip around the Chartreuse.

Helpful hints for later in Aubertein, we change course without prior notice!

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Sunday, April 18: St. Egrève_La Buissière

So Sunday, April 18 to 16h after the work of Jean-Roch, we take off from Champy, loaded down like mules for a first stage of 55 km. We are expected to Buissière for the evening at Christelle and Thierry and their 3 girls. Obviously, the distance is huge, the greenway that runs along the Isère in plain Grésivaudan is a good training for the Carretera Austral and we are not moving fast. We decide to finish on the national road, with its ups and downs, and the night falls ... super dangerous because of course we have not provided equipment for driving at night ... but we are moving because we know that pizza cooked over a wood fire await us ... Christelle will pick up Thomas, who has taken a good bowl on the side, and we will escort the last 2 or 3 km to enlighten us with his headlights.

Finally arrived, the pizzas are delicious, and our hosts we avoid to up tents. In the morning, Noémie, the oldest girls had prepared a breakfast on the sunny terrace, and Jean-Roch Noémie: Your coffee is perfect!

What a welcome we have already forgotten the hard day yesterday! Thank you very much for the whole family Carron.

Monday, April 19: La Buissière_St Jean de Chevelu

Another big day planned for this Monday, April 19: La Buissière - St. Jean de Chevelu, about 50 kilometers. Fortunately, the bike path to Lake Bourget is very nice, very secure, including the crossing of Chambery. Hey friends of Avenue d'Aix les Bains we have not warned of our visit ...

It is then that everything thickens. To get to the other side of the massif to the left of the lake, we had to climb the Col du Chat: roughly 500 meters in height difference of 8 km. We end up pushing it, except Julie, 20 minutes ahead of the end of the convoy! The descent to the village, but just as steep in the other direction, a problem to Thomas, who has too little hands and paralyzing. We load the bike and the boy as we can and we find a bottom field before nightfall. The tents are arranged in a blink of an eye (we're already trained in the house ;-)), preparing pasta in our bushcooker (it works a lot) in two batches because we have a small saucepan and eaters.

Tuesday, April 20: St Jean de Cheveulu_Lépin le lac

The sun is there, it warms as it did 5 or 6 ° C overnight in tents. We check in passing that the quilts are consistent with what is written on the label (comfort to 0 ° C), it is ok.

Small day for special occasions ;-) to Lake Aiguebelette, easy (37 km on the clock) ... but the past two days were well under our resources! After 5 km on the national road we go with a small cross roads, with cows, dandelion flowers, smells and campaign without the trucks. Breakfast beverage in the bar "step" that we find our way symbolically. Then we easily find a campground open to Lépin-the-Lake. The comfort of the hot shower is welcome, we enjoy the late afternoon to go to the lake beach, where children will be dipping their clothes in water at 15 ° C ...

Wednesday, April 21: Lépin-le-lac_St Egreve

Finally after a good restful night (we start getting used to the mat), we start under the sun (hence our tanning bicycle) for last 50 odd miles from our turn.

Two bumps forecasts, the first does not finish up before going down on ladders. Good stress on the national reach and cross the bridge St Lawrence, with the trucks and of young people with the A drive! We prefer to reach farms and cow before attacking the second bump, the rise of the neck which eventually Placette was very cool, fast, and often encouraged by cyclists who deposited us on the spot (obviously they don ' were not loaded). Is the drive where the smell of the house that gave us wings?

The descent was not very steep very easy for small hands to Thomas, but we did it by making breaks.

And finally, the long straight Voreppe St Egrève in traffic. Little scare with the cart backwards because of Maëlle a sidewalk passing by ... nothing serious. Three breaks were talking with people encountered before reaching home, tired but happy.

We left the next morning Sospel, this time by car, for a small party goodbye to family and friends. Thank you to everyone who came and Fred and Carla for their ideas for dishes of the Americas.

Conclusion of the breakaway

Conclusion of escape: those four days were intensive, a lot of km traveled (almost 200), well above our forecast daily but there had been four days, not one more. The kids really rode hard, even Thomas held the distance, sometimes pushing into my ribs hardest. Chocolate has been wonderful, just two tiles to restore the energy needed to finish a pass, and of course a good plate of pasta or other starch in the evening. We found the buddy refueling, it will perhaps not the case in all countries ...

At the hardware level, nothing to say, we are pleased with our choice, for now, to confirm to use.

As Maëlle, well protected in his cart, she spent her time playing with her doll and a few animals, sleeping ... and sing, even if it's more weight (3.5 kg), we chose to take his draisienne for her to tire a bit at each stop!

Upon our return, we weighed the equipment carried or pulled:

Julie 13 kg, could have a little more in his saddlebags, Mallorie 13 kg is enough for her at the moment especially in the ribs, Thomas 1.5 kg on the rear luggage rack and it is quite sufficient, Marie-Claude 43 kg including the trailer and Jean-Roch 53 kg including Maëlle in his cart.

We are left not much material to add, but above all to keep a little margin to absorb water in arid areas.

In short, there's more that!