Day 25 l'Escarene to Breil-sur-Roya 50 km 1300m of climb and lots of snow!

What hairpins (lacets) look like on the GPS

I slowly shed layers of clothing as I laboriously climbed up to the Col de Braus, 2 hours to do 10km. The scenery was awesome....majestic. It was trying to snow. Triumphant at the top, I put everything back on, and more, even donning my ski goggles for the first time, for what I knew would be a freezing 20 minute descent into Sospel

The hairpins from hell!

But worth it for the view - awesome!

 After thawing out  with a coffee and pannini in Sospel I set out to repeat it all again on the next col (Col de Brouis). The rain/sleet/snow cycle repeated itself as I climbed, only this time much heavier so that I was wearing full rain kit. Or, in other words, sauna kit.......I could feel my clothes sodden with sweat under the breathable (ha!) rain jacket. Towards the end I was driven on by the fact that I had to get over this col and down to a warmer level before the snow started to settle, or worse, started to freeze. It's been a long time since I cycled in snow and I was thankful for my winter tyres

I didn't hang about up here......if this freezes it will be a skating rink.

Soggy but triumphant!

Both tucked away for the night, me in hot shower, bike blocking hallway.

           I will say 2 words about the descent into Breil-sur- Roya......FREEZING.....SCARY. I didn't put  a change of clothes on at the top as they would have got soaked on the way down. The hydraulic brakes and ceramic rims are fantastic in the dry........in the wet.....about 90% less effective.

At sometime during the descent camping in a sodden tent lost it's appeal. I prised my hands off the brake levers at the first sign of life, a petrol station, and asked the way to the nearest hotel. The miserable woman owner pointed me to a hotel (which was closed) 2 km down the road. She looked at me if I was a lump of dog-shit and even got a mop out and started mopping around me as my collection of snow melted. I gulped my machine-delivered shot of coffee and headed off into town. At one point I was forced to consider that I might actually have to camp until a friendlier restaurant owner pointed me in the direction of La Bonne Auberge. I was the only resident. Bon!

Day 24 Sat 23rd Feb Cannes to l'Escarene 41km

I was writing up the blog in the hotel room this morning when the room phone rang......the madame of Hotel California wanted to know if I was staying another night. "No", I replied, "I'll be checking out in about 30 minutes". She sounded doubtful "It's pouring with rain". Indeed it was, cats and dogs, but clearly she didn't understand the British character. In the foyer I sweated patiently in full cold/wet weather clothing as she checked out her advertising strategy, quizzing me about how cyclists search for accommodation. I think she was asking the wrong person.

The previous night I decided to take a more adventurous high altitude course to Milan, which is about 360 km away. After all, I had already ridden the coastal route, the Via Aurelia, on my way to Rome last April. So, I decided to do a short run today, camp below the snow line and then get through the first of the cols tomorrow. There's a couple at around 1000m and a biggie at 1,870m the Col de Tende after which it seems like a 200km downhill all the way to Milan.

Around lunch-time I thought the weather gods had finally decided to throw me a challenge. There was a stiff NE wind coming off the sea which was just 30m away on the left. The spume from the waves battering the rocks was blowing across the cycle path, mixing it with the rain. I looked up and saw the mountains behind Nice, the tops covered in dark rain cloud, the snow visible some 200m below cloudbase. I laughed to myself, thinking "Bring it on!"

The cycle path goes right through Nice,a distance of some 20km. There are regular ' bike stations' along the route. I thought these bikes must just rust away during the winter months but when I looked closer these were high-spec bikes with shaft drive, shimano hub generator for the lights, hub brakes......impressive!

The cycle path and hire bikes through Nice

In the afternoon the rain petered out and the wind moderated. I stop for the night just before l'Escarene having only reached 200m from sea level. A climbing day tomorrow.

Sheltered from the rain

Day 23 Fri Feb 22 Draguignan to Golfe Juan 77km Total 2,000km!

My day didn't start well. It was a a very steep climb out from my campsite to the main road, maybe 30% or more. Whatever, if you only used the front brake of the bike as a handbrake the bike just slid backwards downhill. It was easier to pedal in bottom gear than to push. I'd already stopped a couple of times for a breather on the way up. Getting going for the third time I wobbled and fell......that bike is so top heavy. No harm done luckily although I ripped a hole in the knee of my Gore rain pants (that hurt!)

The beast is down! No damage done - respect to Ortlieb panniers and Ergon racks.

Corniche de L'Estrellas. Very picturesque but a lot of up hill and down dale pedalling

Munching again. Notice the bike gets the umbrella - not me!

 Things improved after that. I finally found porridge oats in a Dia supermarket, I was starting to think they weren't part of the French diet. Then I clocked 2,000km, and mid-afternoon I joined the coast road at Freijus on the Corniche de L'Esterel. Ahead lies Cannes, Antibes, Nice and Monaco.

As the day wears on I start to become a little anxious about where I am going to spend the night, or rather, how much is it going to cost me. All the hotels are 4/5 star along this stretch and lets face it.......I'm starting to look like a hobo. I have an optimistic outlook which says, don't accept that, there will always be something better around the next corner (even if daylight is running out) and sure enough there was the the lone star Hotel California just waiting for me 7km beyond Cannes. Another night of heat, abundant hot water.....and hand-washing clothes, blog writing, battery charging.  : /

Day 22 Thurs 21 Feb Pertuis to Draguignan - 104 km

It was -2 C in the tent last night. I was fine with just my nose poking out of the sleeping bag. Packing away in the morning in the pre-dawn, it took me about 10 minutes to get the frozen tent pole joints apart. I had to heat each joint on my stove until the ice melted. If that stove packs up.......so do I! I'm running it on petrol hence the two red bottles you may spot hanging off the bike.

Unfreezing the tent pole joints - time consuming!

Keeping everything charged up on the go is another interesting task as I've only got 3 watts available from the hub generator. It can be done if you don't waste any charging time during the day. I can always steal some power from the notepad computer if necessary. The charging priorities are headlamp, gps, phone.

Mid-morning and still wrapped up well

Potable? All the signs say no but that's  H&S because it's not actually tested by the local authority (and never has been). If you ask a local they will tell you it is the tastiest water for miles around! I am sporting  the famous down jacket.

I travelled on relatively quiet roads today and enjoyed the rolling scenery. I know there is no chance of finding camping spots on the Riviera so I want to get as close to the Riviera  today and then try and get through the Riviera and into Italy in one day. So I press on and arrive at dusk as usual and manage to find a spot down a forestry track.

Day 21 Wed 20th Feb Avignon to Pertuis 75km

It was a late start after a very sleepless night. My dorm room which I am sharing with a Japanese guy is next to the central heating room. I don't know what was wrong with the system but there was a noise like a door slamming followed by a whoosh of steam that slowly died away and then repeated itself every 20 secs. At 1am I dug my inflatable mattress out of my pannier, grabbed my sleeping bag and went and lay down in a corridor on the floor above. Peace at last. No, not so. At 3am alarms started to go off in all the rooms along the corridor. and all these kids started to emerge. I have picked a corridor housing a school trip! I just played dead to the world on the floor thinking it would all be over in 30 minutes. No chance; they must have had an early breakfast arranged because it almost went quiet and then they all flooded back and started banging suitcases past me. I expect they thought I was a drunk. It finally went quiet at 5am. If my tent had hot running water I'd sleep in it every time.

So, I felt washed out today but thanks to a fresh tailwind and a clear blue sky I managed a respectable 75km ending up about 50km north of Marseille. I now have a GPS track that works and says I have about 250km to go through Cannes, Nice and Monaco to the Italian border. This will be the same coastal route that I took on my trip to Rome last year. I expect to hit some hills tomorrow so the plan is for an early night and an early start.

Typical lunch spot. Topped up with water from that fountain on the far side. The locals (if you can find any) are not very chatty.

Day 20 - Tue 19th Montpelier to Avignon 87km

Last night was a still, frosty half-moon night and the sky was clear and starry. My entrecote steak was just about to be flipped in the pan when I must have spotted by the landowner (it's that searchlight-like headlamp I have......I've stuck 5 layers of Steristrip bandage over it but it is still bright). He paid me a visit with his 4 x 4 and a very large dog which was slavering over my steak. I explained I was English (it always works!) and had arrived in the dark (both true) and he was OK about it......said fine as long as you leave as you find; which I always do. Good.....I could relax for the rest of the evening.

I feel I've been really lucky with the weather so far. The morning is spoilt by the traffic though, I'd hoped to find the 'B' roads quieter but the roads are really busy and the hard shoulder is intermittent and where it exists it is puncture-territory.......broken bottles, the remnants of accidents and a surprising number of wheel studs, nails and bolts. I wear my HI-VIZ jacket and helmet and if I'm holding up a HGV that wants to pass for more than half a minute I pull off onto the grass. It takes a lot of concentration to ride on that white line at the edge of the road as you are buffeted about. I vow to get a small scale map and follow some country lanes.

The 11th Century castle in Beaucaire - a pretty town

A well-earned but pricey hot chocolate in Beaucaire

The afternoon is better, I pick up the D32 out of Beaucaire (lovely town) which is traffic free and newly tarmac-ed......heaven! I bowl along watching the farmers spraying their apple trees, listening to Queen. 'It's a Kind of Magic' is my perfect 'get a move on' music, just the right cadence (bpm), 20km/hr in 11th gear......Freddie - what a talent!
PS All you boy racers - 20km/hr is 'getting a move on' for me : )

I finally get my photo of a TGV train, they're so fast by the time you've got your camera out - whoosh - they've gone. Hopeless for trainspotting. I only got this one because it was just leaving Avignon station.

OK...I admit it......I'm a train-spotter

At last! Sur le ponte d'Avignon...da de dada....da de dada. Not quite 'sur le pont', I wasn't in the mood to carry 'Big Bertha' up the steps! Now where's that hostel?

Day 19 - Mon 18th Beziers to Montpellier 104km

 

It's the Mediterranean - and it's bloody freezing!

A road-worker told me about this cycle route running along the coast north of Agde - I had it completely to myself. The holiday chalet sites were an eyesore

I pack up in the dark and am on the road before 7.30am. I want to leave myself an easy run to Avignon tomorrow where I'm planning to stay in a hostel. It's a slog against a cold easterly wind but I get the distance in.