On the route from northern Europe to the Mediterranean the Alps have for millenia created a major obstacle to communications, travel, trade, and military expeditions as well as the pilgrimage road to Rome.
The Great St Bernard Pass has been the most important alpine crossing in the last two thousand years. The Romans probably built the first permanent structure on the top of the pass – a temple dedicated to Jupiter. Julius Caesar led his legions over this pass to conquer Gaul in 58 BC. Napoleon followed suit in the opposite direction in 1800, driving an army of 40,000 men into northern Italy, commemorated in a famous painting by Jacques-Louis David.
The Via Francigena has been using this pass for centuries. St Bernard of Menton founded a hospice here in 1049 to offer hospitality to pilgrims and travellers and to rescue them in foul weather. A hospice has been in continuous operation since. The hospice that I stayed in was constructed in 1560; the stone lintel above the kitchen door has the date carved into it. It has been enlarged and renovated since then and now includes a chapel and a crypt. The building has a somewhat strict monastic atmosphere, as it is still run by Augustinian monks, but the tradition of hospitality remains strong.
The papacy has recognised the difficulty of climbing this pass: several popes have offered pilgrims who come this way indulgences. In the year 1300, a Jubilee year, the Pope offered a full indulgence to all pilgrims coming over the Great St Bernard Pass – pardon of all sins for a lifetime. Where was I to apply!
The col is 2,473m high: this is the highest I have ever ridden on a bike and 1,000m higher than the Trucker has ever climbed. The ascent is not just high, the road is also long. From Martigny at the foot of the Swiss side of the Alps to the summit is 44 km. The compensation is that the gradient is not severe until the last seven kilometres when the road ramps up steeply to between 10 and 12%. Further, this is the highway linking Switzerland and Italy, so traffic is intense, especially with heavy freight trucks, until the highway disappears into a long tunnel seven kilometres below the summit.
Since arriving in Switzerland I had been keeping an eye on the weather forecast, which was warning of thunderstorms. I managed to make faster than expected progress to Martigny, where I discovered a small local railway up into the foothills to Orsières at about 700m, thus bypassing the traffic on the lower slopes. I rode on to Liddes, halfway up the mountain at 1,346m, where I stayed in a charming guesthouse which looks after pilgrims very well. The evening was warm and still, perfect for eating outside on the terrace, surrounded by high mountains and forests.
I was thus able to make the ascent to the col early on a peaceful Sunday morning. The day dawned clear, windless and warm in the valley. I rode the remaining 1,127m to the summit by 11 am, where the temperature was a pleasant 15°. This gave me time to visit the local museum, the kennels of the famous St Bernard dogs which have been used for snow rescues since about 1700, and an ossuary.
The thunderstorms did eventuate during the night: thunder rolled about the high mountain tops and my room was lit by lightning flashes. The rain poured down at breakfast time. And then, quite suddenly, the clouds rolled away, the sun shone, and the road was dry by mid-morning.
I am by nature cautious on descents so, as this one was steep, I took my time and arrived safely in Aosta 80 minutes after leaving the col.
The Great St Bernard Pass is, in more than one sense, the high point of the Via Francigena.
