Best trail to finish - Col Albert & Tête de Rissace

After refueling, we followed the recommendation of Bernhard and Lisa and set off by car for our final tour of France. Unloading the bikes, stowing pizza and sweets from the bakery in our backpacks, we started off on a 10 km stretch of asphalt road uphill into the valley. The asphalt was only half as boring, as we were accompanied by enough natural and man-made scenery on both sides. From small stone mushrooms to hearts and running walls, we saw it all.

After the asphalt, the terrain changed to gravel and later to hiking trails. Initially still rideable, we had to dismount and push due to the steepness. Bernhard had already warned us a bit that there were a few sections where we had to push.

After the pushing sections, we could pedal again, reached a well-visited small lake, Stefanie had a slight fall uphill (the bruise afterwards was really huge) and then rode along an extensive meadow path towards the pass. The biking went well for a while, but the steepness started to hurt our legs and we had to push or carry the bikes where it was too narrow. Encouraged by French hikers saying 'Bon Courage', we reached Col Albert. After a few sips of magnesium water, we shouldered the bikes once again and left all the hikers behind at the Col. We still had 300 meters of pushing and carrying ahead of us. Bernhard's warning about pushing and carrying was a bit of an understatement. But once we reached the top, it was definitely worth it. The view was phenomenal, we also had pizza and cake, and after a break and a few proof photos, we were about to experience the most beautiful downhill of our vacation.

First flowy, then very rocky, many switchbacks, and a beautiful backdrop - everything a mountain biker desires. After the rocky sections, it turned into super flow - it was so beautiful that we totally forgot about taking photos in the lower part of the trail.

After a short honorary ascent, we also tackled the last VTT downhill trail of the day. But after a few hundred meters, our smiles disappeared. An insecure group of elderly pedestrians was winding its way down the trail and we had to wait. Mini wanted to go on, we couldn't wait for 3 hours to get down. So we caught up with the group, received some complaints that the trail was only for pedestrians (research afterwards revealed that it was nonsense - only an old grumpy pensioner...), and zoomed down to the valley.

The last meters we pedaled on asphalt with a lot of headwind back to the car and realized that it was an awesome tour, probably the most beautiful one of our vacation. Highly recommended for everyone who is in the area!