RtG The Daily Dispatch - Carrera Riviera - WEB - Flipbook - Page 21
4 to 15 June 2023
Day 10 Courchevel to Tourrettes (455.8km)
14 June 2023
Photo: gerardbrown.co.uk
This morning we left a soggy Courchevel to
their Tour de France preparations and began the
penultimate day of the Carrera Riviera.
Gavin and Diana Henderson make a splash in the Frazer Nash-BMW
Every rally has one, and today, just over a week after the
anniversary of the real thing, we had our very own Longest
Day. A huge raid through the Alps towards the Riviera
itself. This was no mere transit day however, as there
were four Sections to deal with and steep and challenging
Alpine landscapes to enjoy. Unfortunately the Mustang of
Rob Collinge and Tony Brooks has some valve issues and
today the crew continues in a rental car.
From Courchevel we retraced last night’s route to
Albertville, before running down the Isère Valley to
the first Section over the Col de Champ-Laurent on the
Massif de Belledonne. Impressive clouds had dumped
impressive amounts of rain overnight but, as we inched
upwards, they cleared and left us with steaming roads
and, on the descent, layers of boiling stratocumulus - a
most imposing backdrop.
Then it was down to the valley floor for another easy
drift to the Time Control in Esso Bois Claret and to
the Section over the 1154m Col de l’Arzelier along the
eastern side of the Vercors Plateau. Here our sun soaked,
sylvan odyssey continued, with mile after mile of ancient
woodland, towards the 1222m Col des Deux and finally
lunch and a Time Control in Gresse en Vercors, in the
Restaurant, Le Chalet.
Things had definitely brightened up and there were
enough breaks in the cloud to show us the huge rock faces
of the Vercors. There was enough blue sky and sunshine,
for those in open cars at least, to merit another squirt
of sunscreen as we shot over the 1352m Col d Allimas
towards the Saint-Michel-les-Portes Section which was
Alpine paysage at its very best.
From here we climbed the 1175m Col de la Croix-Haute
where we dropped into the Department of the Drome and
joined the Route Napoléon in Sisteron. Perhaps, just as
the Emperor and his horse Marengo would have done on
their journey from Elba, we took the opportunity to rest
and refresh at the Time Control in the Brasserie du Lac in
Château-Arnoux-Saint-Auban
www.rallytheglobe.com