TU4EVER

July 3rd, 2022 : First day of the adventure

Jura - Geneva - Col de la Madeleine - Lac de Grand’Maison - L’Alpe d’Huez - La Grave

📏 Distance : 148 km (+ 217 km to get to the starting point)
⛰️ Positive elevation : 4663 m (+ some bonus mountain passes to warm up)

On the eve of the journey, the car was loaded up with all our stuff. The last checkups were done, and the excitement started to grow.

We woke up at 4 in the morning, with one objective in mind : to be on time at the start of the raid, on top of the Col de la Madeleine in Savoie at 10, with a stopover in Geneva to see the sunrise on Lac Léman.

Then, we proceeded our journey to the starting point going through Annecy and its beautiful lake.

Each crew are arriving one after the other, and we all regroup for the start on this car park.

Kick-off ! All crews start from Col de la Madeleine for 7 days of unforgivable adventure.

We took the direction to the Vallée de la Maurienne, we crossed the Col de la Croix-de-Fer (2067 m) all the way to Col du Glandon (1924). We found cute villages, and at the top of the mountain pass, Léo found the spot ideal for a film photography.

We went next to the Lac de Grand’Maison; with its house-shaped mountain.

Unfortunately, with its quite hot temperatures and the long uphills, the car is heating up faster than it should. Nothing too alarming (yet…), but we open up the hood to cool down on the top of the mountain pass, before beginning to go down a nice downhill on a small winding road, to the Alpe d’Huez and Mizoën.

We finally got to the “Le Gravelote” camping, which is the first stop and the first night of our journey. A few drops of water on the morning complicated the tent fold-up. But the day 2 itinerary is going to be full of surprises.