June 16th: Napolean Refuge Vars to Jausiers

 We started the morning at breakfast eating as though we hadn’t had dinner the night before, an indication that the touring load had depleted what bodily reserves we had. The climb up to the col was unremarkable. There, we met Xiaoqin and Bowen and went for a very short hike to get some nice views that wouldn’t be available from the road.

From there, the descent down to Jausiers left no impression on me other than the ski resorts which were mostly closed except for the occasional hotel. While higher than Jausiers, we did not stay there because those places demanded extra climbing and did not offer the services we wanted (Barcelonnette was the major town in the area, and we needed resupply). It dawned on me that I had never ridden Col de Vars before either, having skipped it for one reason or another my previous visits to the area, mostly in favor of Col du Parpaillon, a dirt traverse that’s no longer feasible without a lot of hike/a/bike as they’ve sealed up the summit tunnel, forcing a bike carry for any intrepid cyclist that wanted to do the route.

Arriving in Jausiers, we turned left as though going up the Col de la Bonnette, passing the display indicating that the tour had last visited there in 2024. After that monument Boen said, “Wow, are we staying there?” Our apartments were said to be next to the castle, and indeed we soon turned off the road and headed up to the apartment. Once there we saw that while the apartments were next to the castle, they weren’t actually part of the castle, which was strictly off limits.

Getting off the bike, we exchanged messages with the apartment managers and got instructions that we were not to checkin but we could use the swimming pool. Once again, there was that rigamarole about having to get linens, but at least we got access to the garage and the swimming pool worked and we could swim!

By the time we were allowed to move in, it was after lunch. Xiaoqin got out her bike to go for a ride, while Arturo, Mark, Bowen, Boen and I headed to Barcelonnette to grab lunch, get the car charged, and buy more cycling food. The fast charger was next to a supermarket, and indeed, by the time we bought food, ate them in the parking lot, and then bought breakfast for the next day, the car was 80% charged.

We then went to the bike shop to buy more cycling food. None of the usual American brands were available, and the substitutes were expensive. We experimented with various SIS energy chews and bars. Of those, the Beta Fuel gels were the best, but were extremely expensive. The bars were simply not as good as the American equivalents. Boen bought a new helmet, Mark bought a new electric pump after having seen mine in action. His new one had a gauge and an auto-shutoff at the correct pressure. I bought new spare batteries for the Garmin power meters, and would later discover to my sorrow that I’d actually stripped the hex socket on the power meter battery on the right side so I couldn’t even change the battery either. Garmin would replace both pedals (out of warranty) for $200 after I returned from the trip, but when the right side battery ran out my Garmin turned into a single sided power meter, which wasn’t the end of the world.

We returned to Barcelonnette’s downtown parking lot and proceeded to walk around downtown Barcelonnette after buying much needed shave ice to cool ourselves down from the heat. After showing Bowen where his mom and I stayed, we visited one of the central churches (a habit that Arturo has from his Catholic upbringing), and then went back to our apartment where we did laundry, relaxed, and I got in a second swim. Arturo made a reservation at La Sonnaille, a casual dining place with decent reviews. The fancy place wasn’t just more expensive, it had worse reviews and a later start time.

We walked down to the Ubaye river and crossed it, and it wasn’t a very long walk at all. The place turned out to be run by a middle-eastern immigrant, so the menu was eclectic and had lots of different items to choose from. The service was fast though the restaurant was very busy. We were also motivated to eat fast as other customers started smoking.

When all was done, we paid and walked out. Out in the fields, we saw a couple of crows harassing a cat! We walked back to the apartments and looked up when the last water was on Col de la Bonnette in case we needed water to be dropped off.

It turned out that the last water fountain was halfway up the pass at 12km, which meant we didn’t need any water bottle drop off. We also had to choose where to stay the next day. The choices were Isola village or St Etienne de Tinee. Isola Village was much lower, but the only lodging in St Etienne was Le Rabuons. The reviews were mediocre, but the price was cheap. Arturo noted that the half pension option looked particularly cheap. “Book it!” he said. And so I did.