| Day # | 26 | State of Legs | :-) |
| Distance (miles) | Distance (km) | Ascent (feet) | Ascent (metres) | Punctures | |
| Today | 64 miles | km | 3691 feet | metres | 0 |
| Trip Totals | 1269 miles | km | 54119 feet | metres | 0 |
| Today's Route |
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| Route So Far |
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Travelogue
I realise I've described a few of the days on this trip as "tough". Well, today was tough as well! It took over 9 hours to cycle a mere 60 miles in absolutely sweltering heat. I have no idea what the temperature was but I do know I was constantly concerned with finding my next supply of water. And of ice for my stupid, over-heating phone.
But let's start from the beginning.
Yesterday's campsite was OK and I actually got some sleep. Exhaustion probably helped :-)
The first part of the ride was flat, following the coast west through Antibes itself, then onwards to Cannes. In Antibes, I stopped for coffee and a pain-au-chocolat. I saw a Eurovelo EV8 sign as well, one of a very small number I saw today. Like the others, it seemed to have been placed at random as a label rather than as an aid to finding your way on the route. More on that later!
In Cannes, I took a few photos including the obligatory tourist shot, posed in front of the red carpet at the film festival venue.
From Cannes, the next town down at the end of the bay was Mandelieu-La Napoule. I turned north here, away from the coast and had assumed I'd immediately find myself on quiet roads, heading into the countryside. I was so wrong. The roads were pretty horrible for a good while, with lots of traffic. Based on a near "misunderstanding" with a French driver, I fear I don't quite understand how roundabouts work in France either! I vaguely recollect that two systems are or maybe were in use; one like the UK where traffic waits its turn to enter the roundabout and another where traffic on the roundabout has to give way to traffic joining it. Nothing bad happened of course and there often being a silver lining, the French driver has had his English language vocabulary somewhat broadened and with some specialised terms at that! :-)
After a while the roads did improve and soon EV8 was all set to leave the roads completely and take me through a large forested park. But this was not to be!
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| EV8 this way... wait, what does the sign on that locked gate say?! |
I asked a guy who was over the road if he could tell me what the sign meant as a literal translation just seemed to say you were not allowed to walk past the gate. He and his friend/wife/whatever were of the opinion the sign meant no access was allowed at all. This is what I'd assumed too. It was a temporary and recently implemented measure relating to wildfires.
Oh dear. I looked at the map and the unexpected road block looked like it would have serious consequences for me. For my legs anyway. I couldn't see an easy way past the issue and onto EV8 at first. Zooming in on Organic Maps revealed a tangle of very minor roads that went all over the place and after a bit more investigation and some help from Organic Maps' route planning capability, I found a way across. The route had lots of those hairpin bend things all over it. And this generally only means one thing! Big climbs. Or big descents. Or both. You'll never guess which it was.
Now, this was the second enforced detour of the trip. And like the last time, the detour proved to be pretty rewarding! I climbed and climbed up minor roads, dripping with sweat but enjoying the views and it has to be said, the smell of the forest around me.
I was slurping down water at quite a rate and was soon running low. Luckily I didn't have to wait long before I was in the village of Tanneron. It's a tiny village, but it has a bar! And outside the bar there were already a number of road cyclists sat there. One was English and another, Irish it turned out.
I ordered a cold Coke, asked for my bottles to be filled with fresh, cold water and for a bag of ice cubes. All sorted, I continued on my way.
The road continued to climb. I swear there were no downhill bits today. I don't care what Strava says.
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| There's certainly a constant uphill trend from mile #30! |
At some point, I joined a major road with lots of traffic but expected to be routed off it shortly. But I'd missed a turn. Ooops. I could have turned back. But as you may have deduced from earlier posts, I prefer to plough on! So, I did. And the road was a bit grim, it has to be said. But....
Look what I found at a petrol station. A pizza vending machine! Never seen one of these before!
Now, I really wasn't hungry. But I had to give this thing a try. The display was in French only but I thought I'd cope. And I did. Kind of. I selected a Margherita Pizza. The menu asked me if I wanted it hot or cold. It was blisteringly hot and I really didn't want hot pizza. Yes, I really hadn't thought this through! But cold pizza? That sounded rather appealing. In my mind, I was imagining the slice of pizza that wasn't eaten and so was put in the fridge for the next day and of course, it's delicious. Yes, I'll have my pizza cold then please Mr Machine!
After a minute, a pizza box was dispensed. I opened it and..... it turns out "cold" meant "uncooked"! You'd probably already figured that, hadn't you?! Well, I was probably a little dedydrated and certainly very hot so give me a break!
Anyway, uncooked it might have been but I ate half of it. It was just grated cheese on bread with tomato and herb sauce. What's not to like? :-)
Back on quieter roads, at the top of a hill (obviously), I checked the map and I'd missed another turn about 200 metres earlier. Weird. I hadn't noticed a 90 degree left turn. But this turn was supposed to end my detour and get me back on EV8.
So, this time I did go back and look for the turn I should have taken. But I couldn't find it. What the...? With the map zoomed in as much as possible I eventually looked beyond the road, and down in a dip and there was a kind of small bridge leading off a small trail and onto what looked suspiciously like the Eurovelo EV8 route! And it was because there was a sign.... at the end of this trail..... about 5 metres from the proper road. Very tricky to find!
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But I found it and onwards I went.
After more climbing and more sweating, my route led me over an amazing bridge. It was high up and afforded great views of the forest either side. Lovely.
I was now at serious risk of running out of water. The Mule's third bottle had gone into recycling at the last campsite. Big mistake. The refills I'd got for myself in Tanneron were all but gone. And without admitting it to myself, I'd been rationing water for a while. I'd have a small mouthful of water and feel better but within minutes my mouth would be dry as a bone again. There was a breeze which was having a desiccating effect. I even started thinking about the melted water from the ice cubes in the bag cooling my phone!
But... as you may have guessed, I did in fact make it with half a mouthful of water left, to a village called Claviers. And there was a bar! I bought two cans of lemon tea from the fridge, had my bottles refilled and a new bagful of ice cubes supplied. I drank the two cans in about two minutes. And all was well with the world again! And I knew I wasn't that far away from my destination.
The campsite is near a village called Callas. I was expecting to pick up supplies in Callas as I passed through but the only shop was closed and would not open for 90 minutes.
I carried on to the campsite. It has a restaurant. I have an almost complete packet of biscuits in my bag. I would survive :-)
It's a decent campsite and has a swimming pool which I had a very refreshing dip in.
The only strange thing about the place is that every now and again, from not that far from my tent, the weirdest, loudest, indescribable noise erupts! It gave me a bit of a shock the first time I heard, I don't mind admitting! What the (*&^ was that?!
Anyway. No mystery, But yes, a very weird sound. It was a donkey they have in a small field braying. I believe that is the technical term :-)
OK, I'm apparently scared of donkeys. Go on, tease. I don't care. Now that I know what the *&^% that noise is, I can handle it!
Tomorrow, after Italian mountains, Monaco-bypassing climbs and today's incredibly arduous and sweaty climbing, I'm cycling about 10 miles only to an AirBnB apartment I've booked for three nights. Time to recharge the batteries. And wash my clothes. They really need a proper wash!
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