First Guests of 2012 – ride to La Berarde

Our first guests of the year arrived at the end of May, and no sooner had they unloaded the bikes they were off up Alpe D’Huez while there was still daylight!  The following day, we decided that the ride up to La Berarde would be a good one to start with – not too hard or too long, but with excellent views and a nice village at the end with a number of cafes/restaurants to have a relaxing drink or bite to eat with a view of the mountains.  We took a leisurely ride up, with a quick stop at Venosc, then headed on towards St Christophe en Oisans.  The road gets a little steeper here before coming out into a valley, and the ride along next to the river gives some great views of the mountains.  After that, there are a few switchbacks to navigate before St Christophe, then the roads eases up with a more relaxed gradient up to the end of the road (literally) in La Berarde. A coffee and some snacks later, we were descending back down to Bourg D’Oisans.  Being a keen bunch, the group decided to go up Alpe d’Huez again to finish off the day before heading back to our accommodation in Bourg D’Oisans.