Wow and ow

Day: 4
Route: Quart (nr Aosta) - Bourg Saint Pierre
Distance: 34 miles
Height: 6500t ascent (no that's not a typo)
Time in saddle: 4hrs 33mins

Today was always going to be tough. To get back to England from the north of lake Como we'd need to cross the Alps somewhere and we'd chosen the Col du Grand St Bernard as it was recommended for cyclists.
The Col du Grand St Bernard lies between the two highest peaks of the Alps, Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa. At 2473m it is Switzerland's third highest road pass (the Italian:Swis border is just a few hundred metres from the summit).
There was a mere 34 miles scheduled between the place we stayed last night and tonight's stop, unfortunately, 26 of them were vertical miles.
We started the proper ascent about 09.30, (the first bit of the day before that being pretty flat) and, well, just kept cycling upwards....ALL DAY.
The valley was lush and green with snow capped mountains poking out at the top. The sort of place that makes you burst spontaneously into song 'the hills are alive, with the sound of muuuuuuuusic...', well at least for the first few hours when we still had the energy for such things.
The ride got even better when the traffic veered off into a tunnel and the old road wound quietly up the hillside.
In parts you could see the road disappearing up the valley side in front at improbable angles, but when we reached them, the pain in our legs was much the same as it had been, indicating a steady gradient:

Some stops for muesli bars and an annoyingly long/expensive/un-filling lunch punctuated the ride. Hours had passed, the sun was hot and our legs were tired, and we kept lapsing into silence, punctuated only by the grinding of our chains and the annoying clicking of our pedals (must fix that). This really was an epic climb, but because we're both really stubborn and über competitive, there was no chance either of us were stopping.
Near the top some motor bikers on their way down shouted encouragement 'allez allez!' which spurred us on. There were a few other cyclists, but where we differed was the thickness of our wheels and the weight of our luggage! We spent much of the 4 hours in the granny gear just grinding up the hill.
We got to the lake virtually at the top in glorious sunshine, although up here the air temperature was a little chillier:

We treated ourselves to a very well deserved cafe cortada (espresso & cognac!), before peddling the last few metres past the stuffed St Bernard's dogs, and the now defunct Swiss customs and border, to the pass proper after just over 4 hours painful cycling:

The freewheel part way down the other side, at a rapid rate of knots, was the best descent we've ever done. And by stopping at a (slightly random) hotel at c.1500m altitude we've saved a lot of the fun until tomorrow morning...can't wait!

So it is with sore legs, but smiles on our faces that we sit here planning the next stages of our cycle in a little more detail, ensuring there are sufficient vineyards en route to reward us for the most hardcore day of cycling we have ever, and probably will ever, do.