TRUNK ROAD

We are still in bed when we detect the light thud of our tape being left on the step.
This morning is sunny and the surrounding mountains are enormous and craggy.  Sunshine means we can do our anticipated drive over the Col du Mont Cenis.  If yesterday’s mist had returned there would be no point.
From Susa the road starts to climb steeply and soon becomes very twisty but it’s a good two lane road with double Armco barriers.  Through the autumn trees there are glimpses of the rugged, tan crags and jagged peaks.  Other times we look down into [from our viewpoint] bottomless ravines.  There are tight hairpins where the road almost fills the windscreen, so steep are the climbs.

Then the road straightens a bit and we see the big blue sign ‘Francia’.  We are out of Italy and back in France.
We pull in near a hydro-power station where there is a stretch of green water held by a dam.  The temperature has dropped from 10c in Susa to 4c here and a strong, gusty wind rocks the van.  Ahead of us white markers zig zag down a distant hillside looking like tinsel on a Christmas tree.  The markers define the road and soon we are on a staircase of hairpin bends climbing ever higher towards the summit.

Sometimes we have the added hazard of cattle grazing at the roadside and later the bends have no barriers at all.  On the ascent we see the stone barrage then a sliver of  blue that grows thicker until we are high enough at 6900ft to look down onto the lake’s surface.  We pull into the viewpoint next to a pyramid stone church and look at a scene from wonderland.  The sapphire blue water is flecked with white wave caps from the wind.  The mountains are tan to red with patches of green and the ridge is a white line of snow.  Over the wind comes the distant clang of the cowbells.

The terrace at the viewpoint has a row of sculptures depicting travellers through the col; modern ones are walkers, cyclists and motorbikes; older ones are cattleherds, goatherds and elephants.  Elephants?  Yes, the Col du Cenis is generally accepted by historians as the route used by Hannibal on his famous journey to attack Rome.

From the church the road starts its descent, gently at first along the bank of the lake and then more and more steeply and twisty, lower gears all the way down.  First passing more ravines with views to more mountains, then down below the tree line through thicker woodland, still with cattle grazing on little patches of grass on the inside of hairpin bends.

A few times we pass under the wires of ski lifts.
Eventually we reach the first significant habitation since Susa, Lapslebourg Mont Cenis, a typical out-of-season alpine resort with wood chalet hotels and stationary ski-lifts.
We stop for lunch and fuel at Termignon then drive alongside the river for a few miles but it’s still a considerable descent with the water nearly matching us for speed.  From a few lay by stops we view another ravine and a hillside with the massive fortress of Avriux terraced up its slope.  We discover it was one of five forts built by Turin barons to protect the Piedmont region from French attack.  Since they are now in France we assume they were unsuccessful.

The journey levels in Modane, a sprawling industrial town at the end of Frejus tunnel.  Roadworks force us onto the autoroute and through the Orelle tunnel 3.6km long but toll charges are waived for this section and then we rejoin the D1006 along the valley floor.  It’s an uninspiring 20 miles with lots of industrial installations, railway yards and urbanisation but our last few miles improve aesthetically before we reach our stop at Bourgneuf.
The camperstop is behind the town looking across flat fields and young woodland to the Massif de Bauges, the same hills we looked at travelling south to Annecy.  Another fort sits near the base of the escarpment, the face of which resembles the foot of an elephant.



https://www.dangerousroads.org/europe/france/228-mont-cenis-france.html