(New Years Eve)

Fairly cold overnight (had to keep head undercovers) but no snow.  Fred had an attempt at replacing the auxillary alternator belt – unfortunately the spare that we had was too short so we will have to source a replacement here.  We left the layby at 10ish and headed over the Col des Fans (754m) without incident and on through Valence without losing the way.  We travelled through the Provence countryside towards athe hills and mountains of the Hautes Alpes, all the while searching for somewhere that might sell the correct sized fan belt (une courroie d’altinateur).  As it was New Years Eve, most places were shut.

We stopped to buy bread and diesel at Die before heading up the valleys between the mountains and over the Col de Cabre (1180m – no fresh snow).  We descended into the town of Gap.  There was a Formula 1 Hotel in Gap, but unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) it was full so we resigned ourselves to camping out and went to the supermarket to buy steak and champagne for our New Years celebrations.  As we were leaving, we spotted a Landrover Dealer that was open and popped in on the off chance that they might have a suitable fanbelt (even it wasn’t a standard Landrover fitting).  As luck would have it they had just the thing so we bought 2 (Part No: ETC9002 in case we need another one!). 

We left Gap in good spirits and continued to make our way through the mountains, past half empty melt water lakes to Briancon – a town high up in the mountains near to the Italian border.  It was dark when we arrived, so we found a hotel for the night (temperature was –7 and there wasn’t anywhere to just park up) and decided to leave the steak for another day.  We found a great little restaurant and partook of a champagne fondue, as it was New Years Eve. 

We followed the leisurely meal up by meandering up the hill in the direction of a fireworks display.  Unfortunately, by the time we arrived they were finished, although we had enjoyed those seen from lower down the hill.  We found ourselves in the old, fortified part of the town with stunning views of the city lights and a lit skie slope that headed into the centre of the new town below.  We saw in the New Year with our bottle of champagne back in our hotel room.  Very cosy.  We also stayed up to see in the New Year in Britain and drank to that as well.