Holiday in France 15 - the Casse Deserte and Col d'Izoard

We returned through the Col du Lautaret and then rejoined the Route des Grandes Alpes and the good old D902 and made our way south through Briançon, a town heavily fortified by Vauban in the 19th century as its sits close to the French/Italian border. We passed through Serre Chevalier where we took our first 'foreign' holiday with the kids and a tent over 20 years ago and continued to Cervieres and the foot of the Col d'Izoard.
The road from here climbs steeply up to the top of the col (2,361m) and as you ascend you enter a most extraordinary world. The ground is bare and outcrops of gnarled pinnacles of weathered rock rise into the sky. The vegetation is sparse with twisted trees and small clumps of dry grass. It was this landscape I saw 20 years ago that encouraged me to revisit in 2014 and in hindsight we should have stayed overnight to get some dawn and sunrise photographs as the long shadows of those rocks would have been superb.
However, after lunch on the descent of the col we carried on down to the base and the commune of Arvieux where Alan again took to his bike and did the return journey up to the top and down again. On the descent there is a monument to two heros of the Tour de France, Fausto Coppi and Louison Bobet which had bunches of flowers placed before it.
The first picture was taken at the start of the ascent looking back towards Briançon and the last of Alan at the end of his ride.

























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