Monday 3rd August 2026

Believe it or not, the final day in the tour mini bus.

Another humid evening, turned into a cool and refreshing morning. We rose at half six, had showers and were ready for the day.

Jools would try one of the local free bus services, and we would head over the Col to further expore the site just over the crest of the pass.

But first, breakfast. As usual there is the scramble for the coffee machine, but with our caffine hit, we were ready for the day.

Val d'Isère is at about 1700m, and the top of the Col is 2,770m. It is some climb to get up there.

So into the buses, and off we go, going up and up, round hairpin bends, and between views down to the town, sometimes hundreds of metres below.

Being a weekday, it wasn’t so busy. Certainly not so many cyclists making the climb. We crested the summit, and went down about 500m, parked at the side of the road, and once out, began botanising the lower slopes of the mountain.

We were looking for the alpine orchids, but also saxifrages and other rare plants. And butterflies.

Thing is, altitude was taking its toll on us, we were easily out of breath, and ached all over. We did OK in the morning, but after lunch, we were not motivated to do much more.

I snapped two species of mountain Ringlets, and saw Small tortoiseshells and Painted Lady at the very top of the pass.

Some climbed the upper slopes, and looked like miniatures from our lower vantage points.

We had lunch at the summit, I took pictures of cyclists posing beside the summit sign, then wandered off exploring on my own. Jon had mentioned how the Brassy ringlet’s upper wing surfaces appeared burnished when light hit at a certain angle, and I was lucky enough to capture that.

The Silky ringlet is a very rare species, but common in the higer Alpine passes. I snapped one of those too.

On our way back down to the hotel, we stopped off at two more sites, but with the threat of active weather inbound.

My knee told me I had done enough, so sat in the van and listened to a pod, then just before we got back to the hotel, we stopped beside the road to look at to Gentian species, both rare, one I had not seen before.

As we crossed the road, the rain began. Big fat drops, soaking us in seconds. And then the bog soaked through our shoes. I stayed long enough to get a shot of the Willow gentian, nearly two feet high, but the bog and rain forced me back to the van and shelter.

And that was that. The tour over. Time to pack, and at seven go for the last debrief and then dinner.

We had squeezed a lot into six days, and on Tuesday they begin the journey back to Lyon, while we continue south for next week’s eclipse.