Col de la Faucille

More mountains

After the Cote des Rousses, I had the appetite for more climbing.

Not too far away at the town of Gex was the 6/10, 11.6Km Col de la Faucille.

The roads in the centre of Gex were busy. Several construction sites and roadworks together with the traffic made the segment start not so straightforward to locate.

Seeing the start and reaching it were two different things, but a few well-chosen, bunny hops and apologies, (“Sorry, English” seemed to work) the Brompton was on the up.

The first half of the climb weaved its way through streets of houses and allowed some stunning views over the town of Gex before the forest crept into take over.

The climb mostly kept to a steady 6% with a few dips and bumps but it was a pleasant climb apart from the inevitable motorbikes and sports cars.

My line !

Like the Stelvio, I took the idea that if I was well in front of a hairpin, I would take my line on my side of the road.

My resistance to not wanting to drop into the depth of a hairpin bend, however, did not go too well with some of the would-be fast car drivers.

My French is not great, but I was pretty sure they weren’t cheering me on but I could be wrong ;-).

Finally, the summit and the essential Col de la Faucille sign.

I captured 2 gendarmes, single handedly

While I looked around for vast views the curious eyes of the Gendarmes came my way.

Their inquisitive eye however was for the Brompton and not me, which was a relief. (No irate speeding motorist had reported me, phew).

They had never heard or seen a Brompton before and witnessing it fold and, knowing that I had ridden up the Col, intrigued them even more.

As a relatively experienced photographer, I knew that if you can think of a daring and different shot, then it’s often a case of having the bottle to get it.

Laying on the Les Rousses sign was one example, and I didn’t want to regret at least not trying to capture the Gendarmes.

We attempted some sort of conversation, then I went in for the selfies, which they sportingly agreed to.

Thank you to the Gendarmes who had never seen a Brompton before.