Day 8, Col de Grand St Bernard 1292KM

After a blissful sleep in what is called a 'bed' on Friday evening, I spent saturday beside Lac Leman and then found a campsite beyond the eastern side. For a week I have been sleeping in my tent with no camping mat, as there is no room on my panniers. You get used to it, but it is far from comfortable and sleep is never unbroken.

Here's a video I took while cycling alongside Lac Leman on the saturday:



Beautiful scenery.
So, day 8 began late, as per usual. I didn't realise how far I had to go until I reached the foot of the 27KM climb up to the top of the Grand St Bernard. Here's how they do it in the Tour de France:



The climbing wasn't too steep for the first 18KM, until the motorway tunnel which goes through the mountain. Cyclists and walkers take a road that skirts around the tunnel, and then you emerge on the steepest part of the climb. The temperature dropped considerably- every 1000 metres in altitude the temperature drops 6 or 7 degrees, but the weather was still pleasant at this stage. After the tunnel I had to start walking as it became just too steep. I passed a couple from Hungary called Gabriele and Ramsay, who had cycled from Hungary to France and were now on their way back (insane!). They had twice as much stuff as me, too. I think it's fair to say they set the bar much, much higher than me.

Reaching the summit



Brother Alex had insisted that I film the descent into Italy. However the weather was so bad and the road so treacherous that I couldn't film any part of it. The general idea with mountain climbing is that the ascent is the masochistic challenge; the descent is the reward. However, for me, the descent was the worst part. Freezing cold, continually raining, I had my hands on the brakes the whole way down, for about 20KM until I reached Aosta in Italy. The brake pads had almost worn out, leaving a thick grey sludge all over the brake system. The pain in my wrists was intense from the pressure I had to exert on the brakes. It was horrible, truly horrible. My wheels were aqua-planing the whole way down, and the torrent of rain had created streams across the road, strewn with grit and stones.

Gabrielle and Ramsay turned up at the same campsite as me an hour and a half later, in complete darkness...