Alpe d’Huez & Col de Sarenne

I'd had Alpe d'Huez circled on the map for years, and rolling out of Bourg d'Oisans on a cool morning I finally got to find out what the fuss is about. The valley floor along the Romanche is deceptively flat — a few kilometres past the campsites, a quick glance up at the Écrins walls, and then the road just tips up. No warning, no ramp-in. Bend 21 appears and you're already out of the saddle.

The lower hairpins through La Garde-en-Oisans are the ones that hurt. Double-digit ramps in the trees, no view, just the numbered signs counting down and the names of old Tour winners at every switchback. It's ridiculous fun — reading off Coppi, Zoetemelk, Hinault while your heart rate climbs with the altimeter. Higher up the gradient eases and the valley opens behind you: Bourg shrinks to a grid of rooftops, and the stacked lacets you've already ridden lie below like a diagram.

Through Huez village the road calms, and by the time you roll under the Tour finish banner at Alpe d'Huez itself, legs half-cooked, there's a whole parade of bakeries and cafés waiting. I grabbed an espresso and a pain aux raisins near the church of Saint-Ferréol, refilled bottles, and then pointed the bike east — because this is where most people turn around, and they shouldn't.

The road out to Col de Sarenne is a different planet. Narrow, cracked, no barriers, sheep on the tarmac. You climb gently through high pasture with the Grandes Rousses to your left and the jagged Oisans skyline opening up ahead. The summit sign at 1999 m is scruffy and covered in stickers. From up there the Massif des Écrins and La Meije fill the southern horizon, glaciers and all. It feels remote in a way Alpe d'Huez never does.

The descent is where you pay attention. Loose gravel in the corners, broken tarmac, sharp drops through Clavans-le-Haut toward the Romanche gorge. Lac du Chambon appears below, proper turquoise, and then you're down in Mizoën and onto the old road back along the valley. A proper day out.