Thursday, 13 June 2019
Sebastian Macmillan concludes his report of a cycling trip across France from the English Channel to the Mediterranean.
Day 12: Sault to Moustier Ste Marie
Wednesday 29 May. Today there was some climbing at the beginning followed by a long descent. After that it was undulating. This is Provence, there are fields of lavender in extraordinarily straight rows, other crops including barley with poppies, and endless woods of what look like stunted oak trees.
Moustiers Ste Marie is an extraordinary place. A river cascades down through the centre of the village from a gap between two south-west-facing high cliffs. One of the cliffs has a church on top, and a path to it starts on the other cliff, with a bridge over the cascading water. A metal star has been suspended between the two cliffs and catches the sun in the late afternoon. There are several bridges across the river at various levels and the village itself is a maze of narrow streets all tucked below the cliffs. Popular with tourists there are quite a lot of boutiques, restaurants and cafes, plus several hotels. The original church had round arches but has been extended and the 'newer' part includes heavy flying buttresses and gothic arches.
113km, 1550m of climbing.
An ice cream stop in Riez
Moustiers Ste Marie looking up towards the chapel from the path that leads to it
A view over the rooftops from the same spot
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Day 13: Moustiers-Ste-Marie to Castellane
Thursday 30 May. From Moustiers there were some undulations before we dropped down to a huge lake in the gorges of Verdon. The lake is turquoise but, where the river flows into it, more grey with sediment from the gorge. After crossing the bridge over the river there was a long slow climb in the gorge, gaining about 500m and taking more than an hour.
Our first tea stop was after just 20km. It didn't seem much different from Ventoux although of course it was shorter. One of the viewing points offered spectacular views right across the gorge where we could see the equivalent of our climb on the other side. It was followed by a very long descent in the gorge. Heidi was cautious descending, not least as there are sheer drops at the side of the road, albeit with a barrier and, much as I'd have liked to release the brakes, I stayed with her. The descent went on for miles, eventually arriving at a concrete bridge that, despite the descent was incredibly high above the deep ravine. From here we climbed away from it up to our lunch stop.
There was more climbing after lunch but it was followed by an extraordinary descent down sweeping curves on the side of the gorge, with more sheer drops and a rather anxious companion. I stayed between her and the edge, brakes on.
The overnight was at Castellane. Canada 2 and a few others include me ate a wonderful dinner at O Delice, a small restaurant run by a mother cooking and her daughter serving. I delighted in the opportunity to have a short thank-you conversation with the mother in schoolboy French. Walking back to the hotel, we looked up to a floodlit chapel high on a rocky outcrop, another ethereal experience.
80km and 1465m.
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Looking across the Gorges de Verdon
A view back to the lake we passed earlier
The bridge across the gorge
Day 14: Castellane to Nice
Friday 31 May. Our last day. Another morning that started with serious climbing for about an hour. This brought us up to a plateau at about 1000m that we stayed on for much of the day. There were woods and we passed a farm where they breed bison.
Just before lunch there was a spectacular descent with sheer drops and short tunnels through the rocks. Lunch was in the shady garden of a small restaurant. The temperature has reached the mid 20s and it's too hot to sit in the sun.
After lunch there was a sharp descent but unfortunately I was held up by traffic. The last part of the afternoon was spent in the suburbs of Nice.
Eventually we arrived at the sea. We all stopped at the Coco Bar for a celebratory drink, and then went across to the beach. Gradually everyone (almost) went in for a dip in the Mediterranean. Some kept their full cycling kit on, others (including me) stripped down a bit. We got dressed again and then rode about 12km along quite a busy cycle path above the beach past the airport to the centre of Nice and our hotel.
A rowdy evening followed in a restaurant, after which we all stood around congratulating each other. Some went partying but Michael and I and most of Canada 2 went back to the hotel for a good nights sleep. Our total riding was almost exactly
1,400km including 20,000m of climbing.
Views on the descent towards Nice near Vence
Cascade de Courmes
Celebrating reaching the Mediterranean at Nice
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Day 15: Sightseeing in Nice
Saturday 1st June. Spent the day sightseeing in Nice and very conveniently caught an evening flight from Nice to Stansted. Peak Tours took the bikes back to UK.
A note about bikes and clothing
I took my Giant SCR-C3 full carbon bike. It has a triple chainset and as my lowest gear I had 30 x 32. It's slightly noisy in bottom gear, the Shimano 10 speed rear mech doesn't have quite a long enough body for this combination, and I think the upper jockey wheel touches the 32 sprocket even with the B-screw fully tightened. I intended to put on a 'wolftooth' hanger extender, but the one I bought online didn't quite fit my Giant hanger and I left it too late to source an alternative. Despite some noise, it works fine.
Apart from the steel tandem, Steve and Tim on aluminium hybrids and Peter T on a titanium frame, I think everyone else was riding carbon. Three had hired Cannondales from Peak Tours. Other makes included Giant, Specialized (including at least one S-Works), Pinarello, Cervelo, Focus, Kona, and Wilier. I think most were on 700x25 tyres. Peter T was on 38mm. There were only a couple of punctures, including mine on the first day, remarkable for nearly 25,000 miles of riding across the group.
The weather was never very cold but I was pleased with my waterproof and windproof top, and I also found arm warmers and leg warmers useful as they can be easily put on and taken off. The only thing I took and didn't use was a padded seat cover.
I used my Garmin Edge 800, with each day's route provided by Peak Tours. I took a cheap powerbank to recharge it at lunchtime if the battery looked low. On previous tours (Pyreness Traverse, 2013 and LeJoG, 2015) I ended up failing to record some days, but this time it all worked fine.
How Peak Tours support works
Peak Tours did all the hotel / B&B bookings. They organise and provide lunches. Typically these were sandwiches, quiches, salads and so on, nutritious, delicious and there was plenty to eat. Occasionally they gave us lunch in a roadside or village café, all pre-booked. Mostly we made our own arrangements for evening meals, and went out in groups to local restaurants. Where this wasn't possible (for example on Sundays where all the restaurants in small villages are closed) they arranged a meal for all of us in a restaurant that opened specially for us.
There were two vans supporting us and three guides – Isabelle, Alberto, and Dylan. One van took the luggage from hotel to hotel – including putting it in your room before you arrive, which is a really nice touch. The other van met us mid-morning and mid-afternoon with refreshments including hot water and milk for making tea, plus fizzy and still drinks, fresh fruit, nuts, cakes, biscuits, jelly-babies, and so on. It also carries your day bag – a small rucksack in which you can put a waterproof etc so you can easily change your clothing according to the weather and whether you are climbing or descending. The vans sort of leapfrog each other. One or other van, or sometimes both, met us at lunchtime and, as well as offering us a picnic lunch from folding tables, it had folding chairs that we could all sit on.
Two of the guides took it in turns to ride the route unobtrusively at the back making sure no-one was in trouble or left behind. One of the guides was a trained bike mechanic, and one van contained a bike-stand, a good toolkit, stirrup pumps, lubricants and some spares. They also know about local bike shops en route and, for example, were able to help source and replace a pair of wheels for the tandem that did this trip as part of the group. It's an outstanding level of support.
People
It may be just luck but the 26 riders were really friendly and good people. We had nine Canadians who had flown over specially (brothers Larry and Mike, Gaynor, more brothers Kevin and Neil, JoAnne, Karen, Sandra and Heidi). The rest were from Britain: Mark & Sarah, Dominic and daughter Claire, Brian and Nicki on a Claud Butler tandem, David, Mick, Ken, Angus, Peter T and Peter C, Steve and Tim on hybrids, Welsh Tim, Michael and myself.
Sebastian Macmillan