Home " Gazette " Readings " The Parpaillon saga " Page 8

The Parpaillon saga

Parpaillon... âges - Robert Luce CC n° 2926 CTG La Calmette (Gard) - magazine n° 21, 1993

Thursday 13 August... The sun rises from the valley floor and beams down on us as Chantemerle wakes up. A gargantuan breakfast. We need to stock up because we've got a tough day ahead of us. Alain consulted the Michelin map for the umpteenth time, and we set off to discover the Grand Parpaillon: what condition would the road be in, and would the gradients be as steep as those predicted by the Altigraph atlas? All these questions only made him more anxious. Because, I understand, he will have to hoist his 85 kilos to the top of this giant.

Despite this, the weather was looking very good for our expedition and we quickly forgot our worries. Especially as two days earlier, we'd «eaten» the Izoard and in the process reached the summit of the Col Agnel at 2744 m, without too many problems. 2400 metres of ascent wasn't bad for a first outing.

We've decided not to ride through the Durance valley. The car will be more comfortable!... In Eygliers, we make the final preparations on the road bikes and pack as little as possible in our rucksacks: a sandwich, a piece of fruit, a rice cake and a windbreaker in case it gets chilly... It's time to set off. The main road is already very busy in the early morning. Fortunately, we only had to take it for four kilometres, heading for Siguret on the N94B. Vehicles were few and far between, but what a surprise to come across a considerable number of cyclists, whose pace was quite different from ours. It's true that in two days' time, the Embrun triathlon will be taking place on the roads of the Briançonnais region, but we don't have the same objectives - to each his own! At Saint-André-d'Embrun, we filled our water bottles and set off on the D39, which took us to La Chalp without much difficulty.

It's 12 o'clock, so we take the opportunity to grab a bite to eat on the terrace of an inn. The chill, due to a sky veiled by cirro-cumulus, means we have to put on our windcheaters.

We soon got back on track, and as we left La Chalp the winding road began to climb the first ramps of the Parpaillon range. The tarmac is still there, but a kilometre further on we quickly become disillusioned, with pebbles replacing the tarmac... Not a word is exchanged, the slope is not too steep, but we have to look for the best trajectory, which is not very easy. A couple of kilometres further up, the earth becomes more solid and makes our progress less dangerous; a few cars pass us, dusting us off... then the road calms down again through the mountain pastures. The sun warms us up again.

After a few sharp bends, we reach a promontory with a magnificent view over the Crévoux valley. Scattered herds of cows can be heard ringing their bells. The camera is out. It's time to memorise these moments of happiness...

This time we were in our element, forgetting about the state of the road and making the most of the view of the peaks against the azure sky. Three kilometres from the summit, we stop at the stream to refresh ourselves and nibble a few biscuits. We climbed at a leisurely pace despite the steeper gradient. Finally, as we rounded a bend, we saw the tunnel; a few more pedal strokes and we reached our goal; our T-shirts were soaked with sweat. A couple of locals arrive by car to discover this majestic road, we exchange a few words, the lady immortalises us in front of the tunnel, despite a trembling of the hands that lets us guess her advanced age. They let us go ahead into the tunnel, preferring to wait before entering this black hole...

We groped our way along, and in the distance, a mousehole glimmered... Fortunately, there weren't too many puddles. We emerged at the other end in extraordinary clarity, what a sight at 2650 metres! On the horizon, the peaks of La Bonette and the Mercantour National Park loom large. At a new refreshment point, we strike up a conversation with some walkers in their cars, who tell us that we're in for a 9 km descent over rocky terrain. Our decision was made with virtually no discussion.

One look was all it took to convince us to continue our journey to discover the other side, towards La Condamine via Sainte-Anne and then the Col de Vars.

Hard! Hard! All the way to the Grand Parpaillon hut, the announcement made earlier proved to be true. There were so many rocks and so much trepidation that our hands were numb. On the terrace of the inn, the guests watch in surprise as we arrive... «from above» with our road bikes. With a cool drink to quench our thirst, we set off again, the gravel turning to white earth that immaculately polished our bikes. A quick dip in La Condamine, and at last the tarmac is back.

La vallée de l’Ubaye nous accueille avec ses escarpements fortifiés. Saint-Paul, nous empruntons la route du col de Vars et après huit kilomètres d’efforts soutenus nous franchissons le sommet. Photo souvenir… Le plus dur est fait, il ne reste que 22 km de descente pour boucler notre périple. L’arrivée à Eygliers se fait sur la jante de ma roue arrière ! Une crevaison sur le bitume après avoir arpenté 25 km de chemins semés d’embûches, il faut le faire.

The odometer reads 101 km and the average speed is 11.3 km/h... We were really cycling for pleasure. We're looking forward to a repeat... in this part of the range, as the climb up to the Chapelle Sainte-Anne is worthy of a remake. We'll make a date for the future, especially as on the Embrun side, the Saluces forest road and return via the Col de Vars seem to be ideal for mountain biking.