The lake was still a bit nippy but the free showers were excellent. Campsite prices have definitely gone up in the last few years. Municipals used to cost peanuts but we're paying about €18 a night this year, for two plus bike. Catherine had read about camping prices going up in Europe. Visitor numbers are down and they need to make their money so prices went up. Apparently this is especially true in France.
Route Nap is amazing. It's the weekend so all the coppers we saw were fully expected and only in the posted speed limits. There were two lots of them but nothing south of Corps and other motorists gave us plenty of warning. Not that we ever knowingly speed in posted limits. There are signs in most villages that display your speed as you approach them. Get it wrong and it displays a sad face. Get it right and you get a smile. We always aim for a smile and cheer when we get one. If they had these things on all biking roads back home I'd never be tempted to speed again!
The road after Corps is excellent, especially the road down the mountain into Gap. There's a huge sweeping left hander right before Gap where you can get cranked over.
After Gap and down to Digne-les-Bains, I recall the N85 getting a bit dull so we headed east on the N94 to Savines-le-Lac. The last 10k before Savines are lovely and like most roads road here, very scenic.
We rode over the long low bridge spanning the river into Savines-le-Lac. I love this bridge. It always reminds me of the overseas highway in MI3 where Philip Seymour Hoffmans mates come to extract him. My unimpressed pillion hasn't seen MI3 and said Hull's got the Humber Bridge to which no other bridge can ever compare.
Running on fumes we pulled in to top ourselves up with a menu du jour. There are two restaurants overlooking the lake immediately after the bridge, both pretty busy and both bike friendly. We chose the second - Le Relais Fleuri. It was slightly more expensive but nicer and, as it turned out, far more popular with locals and bikers. They even have complimentary visor cleaner and screenwash by the entrance steps where you park your bike. They kindly gave us a table next to another unused table, which we could use for all our biking clobber.
The €18 menu sounded perfect. Catherine struggled to choose between the goats cheese salad starter and the terrine. I had a similar dilemma with the waitresses. I'd usually go for the brunette but the blonde looked like a slightly rough Caroline Flack, which really did it for me.
The food was equally impressive and the portions huge. We were just about full after the starter but the food kept coming. Veal for Catherine, Bass for me. Both were cooked to perfection. Catherine had salted caramel ice cream for dessert. A new one on me, but it's really popular over here and she's addicted to the stuff. Tab, with beers and plenty of coffee, came to a very reasonable €48. Our waiter filled up our water bottle with fresh cold water, then we rode around the lake and on to Barcelonnette.
Noticed there's a campsites just after the restaurant in Savines-le-Lac, on the D954 to Barcelonnette. It's a short walk to the town and right next to the lake.
Catherine saw a sign for a marmot sanctuary in Barcelonnette and said we have to visit it on our return journey. We also passed a zoo that had a bit scary marmot on the sign. One day, mark my word, marmots will become the new meerkats of popular culture.
The climb out of Barcelonnette on the D908 to Col d'Allos is narrow and sketchy, especially when it's full of cyclists. The descent to the south is much nicer though and from Allos to Colmars it opens up nicely. Where the D908 and D955 fork, we took the 955 all the way to Castellane. It's an awesome road and very scenic, all the way over the EDF hydro electric dam and into Castellane.
We stocked up on food and fuel in Castellane then headed out of town, back on the Route Napoléon. I've camped in Castellane before and it's busy and cramped. A few miles out of town we found a great campsite called RCN les Collines de Castellane. It's run by a young Dutch chap called Ari. It's huge and spotlessly clean with great facilities. The pitches are massive. Ari gave us the figures and the pitches here are something ridiculous like four times bigger than those in town. He rides around during the night on a golf buggy making sure everything is ok. He found us at one of the picnic tables about midnight, drinking wine and eating (yet more) cheese so stopped for a chat.
I picked up the wine, and some sausage, from a little store down the road that serves local produce. Both were produced in the area and were excellent. Catherine noticed that I'd chosen a wine called 'pervert'. It was actually pierrevert, but top marks for observation.
156 miles
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