Le Chapitre is a small name on a map of the southern Alps, in the Hautes-Alpes department, in the green trough of the Champsaur where the Drac river gathers itself before heading to Grenoble. Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur and La Roche-des-Arnauds are the nearest villages, each under two thousand people, and Gap, the departmental capital with forty-odd thousand, is about ten kilometres away.
This is the stretch where the Route Napoléon comes in. In March 1815 Bonaparte landed on the Riviera after escaping from Elba and marched north to Paris over these hills, and the road he followed is signposted all the way, the N85, climbing past Gap and over the Col Bayard, at about 1,250 metres, before dropping towards Grenoble. For a rider that means an excellent, wide, well-engineered road with long, readable curves, a modest gradient, and enough views of the Dévoluy cliffs to keep your eyes busy. The Champsaur side is quieter, with smaller departmental roads wandering up to hamlets where hay is still turned by hand.
Weather in the Hautes-Alpes is dry by Alpine standards, with something like three hundred days of sun in popular memory, but thunderstorms build quickly on summer afternoons and the high roads can be icy in March and November. Early morning is lovely, with mist in the valley and clear peaks above. Bees and walnut trees, lavender at lower altitude and larch at higher, make the air smell different from one bend to the next.
For practical needs, the usual rule applies: a hamlet like this has no station, so fill up in Gap or in Saint-Bonnet, where you will also find a bakery and a bar for a coffee. Gap has a big supermarket and plenty of restaurants, and its market is lively on Saturday mornings. The local cheese, bleu du Vercors-Sassenage and tomme, goes very well with the walnut bread. Carry water on warm days, because the villages are well spaced and fountains, though common, are not always drinkable.