#7Countries7Passes Day 10 - Col de Montgenevre

September 07, 2017

Turin by coffee time. Susa, at the foot of the Montgenevre pass, for a late lunch of olive bread, gelato and coffee. Then, the climbing began...

Straight out of Susa, I was hit by a 10 percent gradient, with the temperature rising to 35'C in some exposed areas. I was crawling.

Luckily, the sign that had read 40 kilometres to 'Francia' (the border is at the top of the pass), didn't indicate 40 kilometres of solid climbing; there were some respite areas and even downhills in that mileage.

Nethertheless, the Montgenevre is a monster. It took me a good 2.5 hours of climbing.

I eventually reached the summit, and the border into France, at about 17:00.

Descending down to Briançon in the setting sun, I grabbed some supplies from the supermarché, then continued on down the valley.

I called it a day a little earlier than normal, with 185km on the clock. I found a great wild camp spot though, and even had time for a very refreshing wash before dinner.

Good to be back in the mountains.