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 We dive into the large tube, which has its throat wide open and brightly
illuminated. And then the positive surprise. The tunnel is consistently very brightly lit, wide, completely redesigned, very well labeled and the
air is pleasantly cool. However, what is even much more important, the tube is not polluted by exhaust gas. Relaxed I ride my way and do not
realize that I slowly, but steadily tailgate to the truck in front of me.
When I was still approx. 150ft behind the moving truck in front of me, a
yellow warning light suddenly was switched on in this section of the tunnel and a blinking sign told me that my distance to the vehicle in
front of me must be too short. So I let myself fall back about 400ft and the light show is over and I cruise relaxed the remaining miles until the
tube spits me out on the Italian side. We have reached the Aosta Valley and the beautiful little town right after the tunnel is called Cormayeur.
The gate of the check out post at the end of the tunnel closes behind us
and we keep right, leaving the wide highway entering a country road
where we weave through several small villages in the Aosta valley, pass through Courmayeur and shortly after this little town, reach Pre Saint
Didier. But be careful. The SS25 down to Pre Saint Didier is for the Italian Carabinieri easy prey for speed measurements with laser. Slightly
sloping, in light curves, well built, the road invites to exceed the allowed 70km/h. Even there is yet no enforcement agreement with Italy, they
will receive your address and driver identification and then it may happen that you get a friendly and very expensive donation request. They are
so boldfaced, that they measure twice at intervals of 1,000m and you will receive two tickets from that road sections.
We reach the small sleepy village of Pre Saint Didier, which is the entrance to the Petite St Bernard Pass. We make a right turn in the village
and at the lower section of the pass the road immediately thrills us with a number of serpentines, avalanche shelters and a few galleries. The
ski resort of La Thuile welcomes us half the way up. A little attractive winter resort, which we simply pass through to enter into the pass road to the pass summit.
Relatively narrow, in several sections difficult to overlook, we follow the road through light pine wood and then up through alpine meadows with
numerous turns and curves. We pass a small pasture with an inviting little restaurant, two inns and a number of empty buildings, whereby the
view to the surrounding mountains is always wide open and incredible. The route across the Petit St. Bernard is used by many Italian and
French bikers, and is therefore very heavily frequented on weekends. We rode across the pass just at the time as a Harley Davidson Bikers
meeting was held in the Aosta Valley. Since those guys with their bikes have problems to take the very tight curves, they came down the hill usually in the middle of the road. So watch out.
 When you have then reached the pass summit, the infrastructure
seems to be split in two sections, since the pass was formerly the border post between Italy and France. The Italian side looks degenerated with ruins and everything is shut down and closed, except
a souvenir shop and one little bar just in front of the border line. But on the French side, a few hundred yards behind the old border line you’ll
find a hospice beside a well visible war monument, with a nice little French restaurant and a souvenir shop. It is open during the season and
offers a wide variety of food and drinks. We take a short break, shoot the usual photos, hunt for the souvenirs and escape then quickly the whoopee.
Just after the Hospice the pass road runs along the left side of the valley
and looses only marginally in height. The view reaches far wide across the valley and the traveler recognizes quite far down in the valley ground
the city Bourg Saint Maurice and will reach after about 3km the ski resort La Rosiere.
Here we are still at 1,850m altitude but we already feel the heat coming up from the bottom of the valley. Some first clouds show up in the sky
and let us hope for a little shade. No tree, no bush, almost infinite vision in all directions leave a powerful impression of these mountains.
If you don’t know the shortcut over to the Col d’Iseran, you will miss it and ride all the way down into the valley. Two serpentines and three
curves behind the little village of La Rosiere our Magellan Crossover navigation system asks us to take a left into a relatively inconspicuous,
but paved road. No signs, no indication on the road, nothing. This is also the shortcut over to the Col d'Iseran without having the nasty descend
down into the valley. We welcome this since this turns out to be a scenic route and technically seen, also a cream piece. Through meadows
and through the smallest villages, the route takes us over to the pass road of the Col d'Iseran. It offers a number of opportunities in little French
bars to just have a bite to eat and to enjoy a café au lait. We're thrilled.
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