In Bourg-Saint-Maurice

June 7, 2025

waiting out the rain

We woke to the sound of heavy rain on the roof—once again, we are on the top floor of a small hotel. We delayed our breakfast until 8:30 as our host had suggested last night, since he had two groups of motorcyclists who also wanted breakfast at 8 (the earliest option) and the little dining room would be busy. He already knew that our plan for the day was an out-and-back ride to Col du Petit Saint-Bernard and that we didn’t need an early start.

As it turned out, we didn’t start at all. The idea of cycling up a really big hill in the off-and-on (and occasionally heavy) rain just to turn around and come back down without even any views didn’t appeal to either of us. So we hung out in our thankfully spacious room and congratulated ourselves with being warm and dry inside whenever the rain intensity increased.

Window view. It’s bright out but the rain is really coming down.

By 11:30, though, there was one of the intermittent periods with no precipitation so we decided to get outside and stretch out legs a bit. Surprise! The Saturday market was on, with stalls at both ends of La Grande Rue. I bought some apricots, from the Drôme, and we carried on to the Coopérative Laitière de Haute Tarentaise which, like the one in Beaufort that we didn’t visit, has a free exhibition about the production of Beaufort cheese. It was very well done but all in French only. Even so, we both enjoyed it, even if it hadn’t been raining again while we were inside. A few pics:

Whole Beaufort cheeses are large disks, always concave around the circumference. This is due to the wooden moulds and is deliberate: in the old days when Beaufort cheeses were made in the high summer pastures, the concave rim made tying them to donkeys to bring down to market more secure.

Winter tourism has actually helped agriculture by giving éléveurs employment during the period when their animals are in barns.

More info on the cooperative’s website: https://www.fromagebeaufort.fr/

We stopped for a light lunch at a crêperie on La Grande Rue and it was raining again when we left, so back to our hotel which wasn’t far. Just beside our hotel is something that looks like a former laverie or public clothes-washing facility. It’s covered, and today was crowded with cold wet cyclists from a supported tour. We were glad not to be on our bikes!

Another few hours reading (me) and napping/watching a movie (Al) and it was time to go and eat again. We went to the same restaurant as last night but this time we each got our own salad and shared a dish of pasta carbonara. We didn’t get rained on either way; in fact, it seems to be clearing. Big hoped for tomorrow!

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	7
Comment on this entry	Comment	2

Steve Miller/GrampiesProbably a good decision to give an out and back ride a miss today. If you need to move forward riding in the rain might be unavoidable, but it sure doesn't make much sense if all you are achieving is a ride back to where you started in nasty weather.
Reply to this comment
1 week ago

Scott AndersonI love the detail about the shape of the cheeses tailored for portage by donkey.
Reply to this comment
6 days ago