A SUMMER OF CYCLING IN THE ALPS

The following article was first published in the MMM (Motorhome Motorcaravan Monthly, the UK's premier motorhome magazine), in March 1997. It refers to our first summer of full-time travel, following early retirement.

For more details of these climbs, and later ones in the Alps, Pyrenees and Greek mainland, click here: 70 cyclists' climbs in Europe

'Full-timing' in Rosie, our 27ft Four Winds motorhome, Margaret and I were making our way, very slowly, across Europe towards a winter in Greece.

We reached the Alps at Briançon, in southeast France, after a warm spring cycling the gorges of the Ain (camping at Chambod), Ardéche (St Martin), Lot (Cahors), Tarn and Jonte (Le Rozier) and Verdon (La Palud). The limestone gorges were impressive, as were the Cathar Castles we explored in the Haut Languedoc, but the Alps took our breath away!

We settled at Camping des Cinq Vallées and prepared for our first Alpine ride - to the head of the nearby Vallée de la Clarée, above the snowline at 7,250ft. Luckily, Briançon claims to be the highest town in Europe at 4,300ft and this gave us a good start. It was also a good test for our fitness, since breathing is affected by oxygen- shortage above 7,000ft, by the remorseless gradient and by the hundred or more birthdays we have celebrated between us.

Growing confident, we next rode up to the 7,750ft Col d'Izoard. We were hooked! Instant pass and col junkies! With a motorhome for a mobile base camp and bicycles for transports of delight, by the end of the summer we had completed 38 Alpine rides, which involved climbing over 150,000ft.

In France, we followed in the wheels of the Tour de France - the Col de la Madeleine, Cormet de Roselend, Col d'Iseron, Col du Galibier, Alpe d'Huez - tight, narrow, twisting hairpins all.

In Switzerland, we made the classic Alpine crossings - the Great and Little St Bernards, St Gotthard, Simplon, Col de la Forclaz - as well as riding up the Matter Valley to the base of the Matterhorn above Zermatt.

In Italy, we rode the steep limestone of the Dolomites - the Passo di Garvia, Sella, Pordoi, Gardena - shoulder to shoulder with the Italian motorist.

In Austria, we climbed to the head of Alpine valleys - the Kaunertal, Zemmtal and Zillertal - and crossed the high passes of the Timmelsjoch and Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse.

Long, hot, dry mornings were spent straining to climb to the col, the watershed, sometimes to the edge of a new country; a drink, a rest, a sausage if we were on a German-speaking border; and then the hair-pinning, brake-block-burning, bum-freezing descent past snow fields and scurrying marmots before plunging into the sun- warmed valley and Rosie's welcoming shade. (Why Rosie? Well, it's the colour of her carpet, curtains and upholstery; it was Don Quixote's pet name for his steed, Rosinante; and it's also the tint of our spectacles.)

Everywhere Rosie steered us to beautiful campsites deep in Alpine valleys: everywhere except Italy! In France, the sites were inexpensive and quiet until late July. In Switzerland, they were simple and never full, even in the popular Rhóne Valley. In Austria, the high prices for the excellent sites kept the crowds away.

Everyone was in Italy: we had no hope of getting on a site in their Alps or Dolomites. Instead, we joined the Italian Camping Caristi in their alfresco gatherings in car parks around cable-car stations. At the Bormio Funivia, below the 9,100ft Stelvio Pass, we were moved on when a circus needed the site.

By early September, we were in eastern Austria and running out of Alps. Snow fell at 5,000ft as we cycled up to the Kaiser Franz Josefs Glacier from Camping Nationalpark Grossglockner in Heiligenblut (Holy Blood), and helicopters were dropping hay to cows stranded on Alpine pastures. It was time to do something else!

For driving we used the excellent Michelin Motoring Atlas of Europe; for cycling we relied on local Tourist Information Offices. The Caravan Club's Continental Sites Guide and Handbook (Volumes 1 and 2) lists sites, gives good advice and provides a very comprehensive list and maps of mountain roads and passes in the Alps and Dolomites, including their heights, maximum gradients and comments on suitability for caravans (but not bicycles).