Where: St Claude
Distance: 910 km

Today the sun beat relentlessly down on us as we slowly climbed our way over mountain after mountain. Just when we seemed to have beaten it we would be taken at break neck speed deep into the valley only to be given the task of getting out again.

Jura Moutain range France

Jura Moutain range France

In the mid afternoon we reached a stunning lake which was crowded with French holiday makers. We decided to strip off and cool down for an hour to rest our bodies for the final ascent that day into the town of St Claude. St Claude is famous for one thing and that is a large smoking pipe.

Big pipe

Big pipe

Big pipe

Big pipe

Lake France

Lake France

Tomorrow morning we plan to make it over the famous Col de la Faucille. It is a high mountain pass in the French Jura. The Tour de France has traversed this category 3 climb 41 times, starting in 1911 and most recently in 2007. Having seen these super human riders only a few days earlier in Paris both Trent and I are a little apprehensive. Every time we speak with a local about this path they smile at us with a wicked smile and angle their hand and arm at an alarming angle.

It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves. Edmund Hillary