I left the horrible campsite of Camping Aviglianalacs at 8am sharp. It was time to go back to France. I had enjoyed most of my time in Italy, but the campsites were few and far between and really expensive, compared to France! Plus, I missed French bread... Yes Italian food is nice but they really should take a lesson from the French on how to make bread!
It took almost 2 hours of driving but my first stop was the wonderful village of Briançon in the Hautes-Alpes department. My second stop after finding a parking spot there was to a boulangerie to get a lovely flaky pain au chocolat. Ahh it was good to be back!
It was my first time in Briançon, so I spent the morning looking around. It was a lovely old fortified town. I say "town" because it wasn't very big, but it is classified by the French as being a city, and is apparently the highest city in France at 1,326m above sea level.
I bought a sandwich before leaving Briançon, then jumped back in the camper. I didn't really have much of an aim for the day, I was just happy being back in France, but I aimed for the mountain ranges to the North, where the Col du Galibier was.
For anyone reading who follows the Tour de France, this is quite a well-known mountain pass, as it often features as the highest point of the Tour at 2,642m.
The road to get there was pretty amazing, fascinated as I am by these huge, crazy mountains! I stopped on the side of the road several times to take photos and marvel at them, all the while being overtaken by motorcycles and cyclists! My first proper stop along the way, however, was at Lautaret, where I stopped for lunch. I parked the camper then went for a walk, stopping to eat on a pile of huge rocks, with a pretty decent view!
Once I was done with my food and break from driving, I was back to it.
Seriously, it was one of the most amazing roads, photogenic landscapes all around. It was also a little dangerous - you had to constantly keep your eyes peeled for cyclists, especially around corners. This was THEIR road, not a road for cars. I stopped several times to take photos, it was just so amazing.
I reached a flattened part of the road where there is a tunnel built into the mountain and had to make a snap decision: continue further uphill or go through the tunnel. I went with the second option only because the road was very narrow, and it really was the domain of cyclists, who I didn't want to put into danger by also driving the road. So I stopped at the traffic light then head on through the tunnel....
Just a fun fact, the traffic lights on Col du Galibier are among the highest in Europe. So there you go.
I popped out on the other side of the tunnel then drove down, down, down the mountain. There were a lot of photographers on the side of the road, taking photos of the cyclists that they could then buy later and pretend they were riding the Tour de France or something...
It had been quite a long day of driving so I thought I would go to a campsite early and have a relaxing afternoon. I picked one in Albertville, a name I had never heard of but I since learned that it hosted the 1992 Winter Olympics. The campsite was really quite big but reasonably priced - hurrah! I got there about 4pm, booked in, picked a spot (it took three goes to find one I was happy with haha), and settled down for a quiet evening.
Campsite: Camping les Adoubes
Rating: 7/10. Really large campsite but the pitches could have a bit more privacy and been tended a bit better - some were just dirt/mud. If you drive towards the back, there seems to be another sanitary block - this is not in use, which I only found out once I'd parked. A bit of road noise throughout the night though. Decent price and the sanitary block in use was tidy and clean.