Bourg St. Maurice in the dark, small hours. Subdued voices, shadowy activity, queer unloadings, goings and comings around a car parked in an out of the way corner. Splutter and hiss of a spirit stove, sending an early native scurrying away. Then the peep of day shows two cyclists slowly starting off, with an ’over the hills and far away’ feeling expressed in every movement. At least that is how we felt.