We left Chamonix and drove over to watch Stage 17 of the Tour. We had picked out a spot to drive to, inbetween the last two mountain climbs of the day. Unfortunately, we got there too late, and the police had already blocked off the roads. So, we had to park the car, and walk up about 7 km to the town of Le Reposoir, which is inbetween the Col de Romme and the Col de la Colombiere.
The town of Le Reposoir was a parking lot. Up the Tour route went up and beyond this hill.
We walked up another 2.5 or 3 km above the town.
This is the 20 km to go banner. We stopped here and waited for the pre-race caravan to go by.
Nigel, across the road, watching the caravan go by. The different sponsors each had vehicles in the caravan, and threw out hats, candy, shirts, knick-knacks, etc.
After the caravan went by, we kept walking up the mountain. This is the banner showing that it was 5 km to go before the top of the final climb of the stage, the Col de la Colombiere.
I used my camera to mostly take video this day, but here's a photo Nigel took - I think this was the last group of the day coming up the hill. It was great to see the first several groups come up and to figure out how the race was going that day.Then we had to walk the 9 or 10 km back down to the car. It was a long day of walking, but well worth it.
