Day 14 – Castellane to Nice - 50 miles

OK - no surprises - so we do get there! 

I really like this group photo and it's given prime place.

So how was the last day?

Ian attentively listening to Nigel at the morning brief - "...a fast narrow descent down the stunning Gorges du Loup."

Adrian - "No afternoon brew stop"

Clare - "A two course lunch at  Greolieres

John - "The narrow Gorges du Loup will cut a line north to south towards our destination on the Cote d’Azur."
 

Andrew - "Traffic into Nice is busy, so extra awareness required."

I was concerned that our day would be an anti-climax following our “Gorges du Verdon-best-day’s-cycling-ever” experience. 

However, this was far from true. 

Our day was divided into three: 

• a long slow climb along the Route Napoleon, 
• the Gorges du Loup, and 
• then a final descent to the Mediterranean and Cote d’Azur.

We passed through medieval villages such as La Garde and Gréolières, the latter, our lunch stop, perched on a ridge of the Cheiron mountain.

The local economy includes farming, forestry and now tourism. 

At Pont de Loup, nestled in the gorge, there’s was sweet factory, Confiserie Florian, but no time to stop.

The last every brew stop, at least for this trip. 

Italy someone mentioned?

What's on the brew stop table. Always good to be curious and try stuff you would never eat

These look better than they taste.

These are super sour on the outside.

Healthy - a gave these ones a miss.

Always good.

Dried figs? Good if you've had a few too many baguettes and hard boiled eggs.

Semi-dried apricots were just right

Not on the brew stop table. However, these small lilac-coloured flowers were abundant along the tarmac edge.

A Tibetan Centre en route

The climb was slow and steady. 

We all wore our Channel to Med cycle jerseys. I've never been one for 'uniform' but I thought we looked very fine.

Canadian Mountie Moose enjoyed a rear facing seat throughout.

...as did Canadian Mountie Beaver

Red-coloured muscular cow

Paragliders descended from the cliff edge into our valley.

As described - a stunning descent.

The narrow Gorges du Loup cut a line north to south towards our destination on the Cote d’Azur. 

As we descended we whooshed through tunnels and villages, stopping briefly at the Cascade de Courmes with its long plume of water blowing in the wind.

Along the route were numerous pines, oak and olive trees as well as the usual Mediterranean scrub including aromatic bushes, wild flowers and grasses.

Although much narrower than Gorges du Verdon, the steepness, stained and streaky limestone walls and dense vegetation evoked a drama all of its own. 

Not so far...

As we descended, the ‘garigue’ gave way to housing...   

...increasingly dense suburbia and eventually, Cagnes sur Mer, roughly half way between Nice and Cannes. 

Renoir lived here for the final 12 years of his life. Not like it was I'm sure.

We leave our bikes...

...and Sue makes a  beeline for the sea.

Canadian team - Adrian, Charlotte and Don

Many photos!

Much milling about...

More photos...

Then a kilometre along the sea front to our destination...

...and into the Hotel Bahia. Our final stop...

...for a toast with bubbly.

And yet more photos with fine friends.

Yesss!

Map

Note gradual ascent for first 2 hours then downhill into Nice

Much less climbing today

A short day with a fast and enjoyable descent.

For those sad individuals looking at these data - note profile on this 30 minute segment of an early morning sprint hill climb - x10 one minute hill sprints interspersed with roughly another minute to recover to an HR of <115 (max HR 134).