Your bike in front of a col sign

[Julia9054]

Not the best picture. Definitely the best scenery I have ever cycled through ever.

 

[briantrumpet]

A really annoying col - it's dead pretty, but it's hard to take a nice photo of the col sign.

 

[briantrumpet]

Ah, a first for me - two of my bikes in front of a col sign... I had a friend over for just a few days, and it didn't seem worth hiring one. At first he rode the Falcon, but since the friend is nearly half my age, I took pity on him, and I lugged it up this col.

I still beat him though, weight, mudguards and pannier rack notwithstanding 😁

 

[briantrumpet]

I'm sure I've done this one before, but don't think I've lined up the two separate signs... BTW, there should be a grave accent on the e of 'Carabès', and it's pronounced 'Carabess' - a lot of the local place names have retained the sounding of final esses, in places such as Charens and Mens, and in both of those, the -ens sound is more like a nasal "aangss", not '"on". Just in case you ever get lost here and need to ask for directions to either of those places...

 

[chriswoody]

OK, whilst the signs don't technically say Col on them, these are photos of two cols I rode over this summer.

Pass Chaschuana on the Swiss/Italian border at 2684 metres.


Pass da Costaines in the Swiss Alps at 2251m

 

[Sunny Portrush]

That looks epic - although I hear banjos in the second pic!

 

[chriswoody]

Thanks @Sunny Portrush , it was an enjoyable and challenging few days. I've written about the ride here if you fancy knowing more:

https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/bikepacking-with-the-marmots-in-the-swiss-alps.292987/

 

[briantrumpet]

Sorry, bad form as it's not just my bike (I didn't take one of the bike by itself, oops), but this modest col still amuses me... higher than the highest mountain in England, yet it only merits a bodge-job painted sign. I'll be rather sad if they do ever replace it with a posh shiny one. Oh, the other pleasing thing was it definitively said "Fermé" on both sides of the col, but being a cyclist and knowing the road well enough, I ignored it.

 

[Vertego]

Sorry, bad form as it's not just my bike (I didn't take one of the bike by itself, oops), but this modest col still amuses me... higher than the highest mountain in England, yet it only merits a bodge-job painted sign. I'll be rather sad if they do ever replace it with a posh shiny one. Oh, the other pleasing thing was it definitively said "Fermé" on both sides of the col, but being a cyclist and knowing the road well enough, I ignored it.

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Perhaps if they ever get round to replacing the sign (no guarantees that'll ever happen!), they will let you have the old sign, Brian, for posterity.

As for ignoring the 'Fermé' signs, us cyclists are good at that .

 

[briantrumpet]

Perhaps if they ever get round to replacing the sign (no guarantees that'll ever happen!), they will let you have the old sign, Brian, for posterity.

As for ignoring the 'Fermé' signs, us cyclists are good at that .

Ha, no, it belongs in a museum!!

Still my favourite sign ever was on a mainish road, between St Jean-en-Royans and Léoncel, which said (translated), "Road closed - even for cyclists".

 

[briantrumpet]

Remembered to take one sans moi yesterday. Just wish I'd kept count of how many times I've been up this little hill.

 

[Vertego]

Remembered to take one sans moi yesterday. Just wish I'd kept count of how many times I've been up this little hill.

View attachment 726902

It's a brilliant ride up there.

 

[briantrumpet]

It's a brilliant ride up there.

About 90 minutes to the top from my front door 😃

 

[briantrumpet]

My last col from my Easter stay:

 

[Vertego]

About 90 minutes to the top from my front door 😃

Sounds a lot quicker than I could do it