Glaciers, rivers and meadows in the Ecrins

Normally from Buiten de Kuil in Lage Vuursche, but this time from Puy-Saint-Vincent in the beautiful French Alps, this first 'Where The Streets Have No Name' Alpine edition! The day started after a good breakfast at Mountainhotel Saint Roch with an equally steep climb. With a compact but friendly group of gravel enthusiasts we worked our way up with cold legs towards the partly unpaved Col de la Pousterle. A solid but wonderful warming up, after which a rough gravel descent brought us back to a lower point. The second climb of the day took us back up through 11 unpaved kilometers around the same mountain top we were almost all the way up earlier. A long but beautiful climb later, we find ourselves at the top in a beautiful flowery Alpine meadow with an even more magnificent view. The group waited for each other and not much later we sit together at a delicious and extensive lunch in Refuge de la Pousterle. The unpaved descent that follows is one of the most beautiful you can imagine. An Alpine descent at its best, but then with a gravel bike on a deserted gravel road. Through the valley and along wildly flowing rivers we then make our way back towards the final final climb... a steep mountain bike climb in time... because, WTHSNN ;-) Part cycling, part walking we all find our way up, where finally at the Mountainhotel the organization is waiting for us with a delicious isotonic beer and matching burger. The Alpine landscape may be very different from Buiten de Kuil... but some things never change at WTSHNN! A solid pot of Jeux de Boules was played in lycra and the beer was still flowing ;-) WTSHNN Monkeys had a very successful first edition!

After coffee, the starting gun sounded and we rolled off the terrace with the prospect of a ride over the Alpine slopes of Puy Saint Vincent. 64 kilometers and over 1800 meters of altitude, most of which is unpaved on gravel paths, singletrack, up or down. These slopes are just a bit steeper and rougher. But if you want to get to beautiful places, you sometimes have to go deep… And we came to beautiful places. After a long paved climb to the Narreyroux valley at 1800 meters, the party really started. We passed the green slopes after which the blossoming mountain landscape opened up. Through the tall grass and the brightly colored flowers with countless butterflies we cross the Alpine meadows. We arrived at Col de la Pousterle, after which a long and beautiful gravel descent followed. “This descent makes the climb so worth it”, shouted Gijs as he skimmed down. But not only the descent is a reward, the views also make the next 10 kilometer climb a pleasure. In the distance we looked out on Briançon and Guillestre and the Glacier Blanc. This glacier is located on the flanks of the Barre des Ecrin, the highest peak of the Ecrins massif at 4102 meters. Arriving at the top I raced on my bike to the other side of the Col de Pousterle to prepare lunch with Dirk, my father-in-law and our volunteer of the day. An Alpine edition of WTSHNN is not complete without a lunch stop at a mountain hut, so we managed to arrange a refuge with an amazing view of the Fournel Valley. One by one the cyclists rolled in, visibly tired and also euphoric from the many altimeters and trails that lay behind them. On the table was a colorful chickpea salad, filled baguettes and a tarte tartin tarte à la maison from our An. This was followed by one of the absolute highlights, the descent from the Col de la Pousterle to the Fournel Valley. The views are spectacular. Each new hairpin bend offers new perspectives over the valley. At the bottom we followed the swirling Fournel River to Argentiere. We crossed the meadows in the valley via cart tracks and followed the riverbed of the Gyronde towards Vallouise. The heaviness of the ride and the possibilities of the shortcuts ensured that the group was considerably thinned out. Half of the group made grateful use of the alternative roads. So we arrived with five men at the fountain in Vallouise for a last refill or a dip to recharge ourselves for the unpaved final climb to Puy Saint Vincent. The tough climb was the last hurdle before we sink our teeth into a Saint Roch hamburger and take a refreshing sip of the Sand Diver beer from the Kromme Haring brewery in Utrecht. The fire pit was burning and the boules balls were thrown. Gathered on the terrace, we toast a memorable first WTSHNN in the Alps. The next edition is already planned, from July 8-10, 2022 in Puy Saint Vincent. For more information see https://www.truegrit.cc/where-the-streets-have-no-name/wtshnn-alpen/.

Our first edition of Where the Streets Have No Name in the Alps at the fantastic mountain hotel Saint Roch!