To Nice

November 28, 2022

So it’s Monday, and we’re out of here and biking back to Nice for the duration. It’s time even if I hadn’t gotten sick, because the good weather has moved on and we’re looking at a wet one today. Not a good look really If you’re a recovering sickie, but fortunately we don’t need much of a gap. By the most direct route it’s only 14 miles to Nice - seven miles downhill to the sea, and then seven flat miles along it. Not physically taxing at all, if we can just get in dry.

Fortunately we get the gap we’ve been watching and hoping for over the last three days that we’ve been monitoring the situation. Rain is not supposed to arrive until about one, so if we leave at 11 (checkout time here) we should arrive at our hotel in Nice dry and they’ll let us bring our bikes in and stay warm and dry in the hotel lobby until our room is available.

And so I comes to pass. The ride is as easy and uneventful as could be hoped for, and we’re just feeling a few stray drops precipitate as we bike down the waterfront promenade. I take a few shots just for the record as we leave Vence but after that we stay on goal and bike straight through. Fortunately it’s for just moments like this that it’s helpful to have a videographer on the crew to help preserve those precious moments you don’t have time to stop for.

Hotel Victoire, our home in Vence for the last five nights. Our room is on the second floor, far right.

Fortunately we didn’t get far before stopping because Rachael realized she’d forgotten to turn on her Varia rear radar light. That gave me a minute to hop off the bike and take a few shots up the alleys leading into the old town.

So don’t say we didn’t show you any of Vence. That’s it for now though.

Video sound track: The End of the Road, by Kim Waters

End of the road! Not a surprise of course, but it still feels hard to believe as it sinks in that this really is it. Even in the lingering fog of this cold I’m passing through it’s hard to not feel emotional and have very mixed feelings about finally being here.

We don’t have any mixed feelings about being here dry in this hotel though and finding that our room is ready for occupation. First though, they’d like us to please take custody of this luggage they’ve been holding for us for the last few days?

They arrived! Actually we knew they’d be here because the hotel confirmed they’d been received and we’re waiting for us to collect them.

So, to finally bring closure to the Saga of the Lost Suitcases. Months ago, we settled on the plan of buying replacements for them at a luggage shop here. We’d done the research and validated that they carried what we needed, and at the time had them in stock; but if they weren’t when the time came, they could be ordered in one day. Our plan then was to stop at this luggage store and order them when we passed through Nice on the way to Menton, and pick them up when we returned. They’re not the same suitcases we had, because Samsonite has discontinued them; but they’re an equivalent Samsonite with essentially the same dimensions.

So about a week ago it was time to check in to see if they were in stock. Nope, and they’ve been discontinued since the last time we checked. Samsonite produces a different product line for Europe than they do in America, interestingly enough; and the closest equivalent available here looked questionable. I decided I should check in with the Bike Friday people to see what they recommend, and they named one not available in Europe because it’s not Green enough - Samsonite Europe has gone to producing Eco suitcases, made from recycled water bottles and yogurt containers. Bike Friday knew of this line and had tested them but decided not to use them because they didn’t seem robust enough to haul along down the highway behind your bicycle. If we did get them though they said I needed the Eco 81, the only one large enough for the bikes. It’s also unfortunately large enough that it blasts past airline standard baggage limitations and would be shipped (expensively) as oversized baggage.

Well, crap. That throws us into a funk. Why buy suitcases that we’ll only want to use once for this flight home because after that it would be cheaper going forward to just buy the size we needed but can’t get here? We started flipping through the list of second rate plans we’d rejected - finding boxes, shipping them by BikeFlight, stashing them somewhere in Europe and picking them up later - when Rachael brought up a factoid I’d totally forgotten about over the last half year: Suzanne and Janos have the right suitcases, from the days when they were Bike Friday tourists themselves. They haven’t been used in a decade or more, and fortunately for us they haven’t been tossed out in a cleaning purge. They’re just sitting in their garage, taking up space in case somebody needs them someday.

All the stars are in alignment. Suzanne is at home instead off at some tai chi convention somewhere, they still haven’t thrown them out in the meantime since this idea came up back in Burgundy, and they’d be happy to ship them down to our hotel in Nice.

Oh my gosh. What luck! What friends! Thanks ever so much Suzanne and Janos! We owe you more than a few meals the next time we meet up, which will hopefully be soon!

Heart

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Michael HutchingHave very much enjoyed your Provence pedalling - especially the inland routes and your wonderful photos. We just kept to the coast but would like to try EV8. The good weather seems to have lasted well though. Well done and bonne route! Michael Hutching.
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1 year ago

Ride stats today: 14 miles, 300’; for the tour: 2,131 miles, 118,400’

Today's ride: 14 miles (23 km)
Total: 2,131 miles (3,430 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	15
Comment on this entry	Comment	9

Suzanne GibsonSo happy we could provide just the right size suitcases!
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1 year ago

Eva WaltersWhat a wonderful solution to your suitcase problem! It's great that Rachael remembered that Suzanne had offered to send you their official Bike Friday suitcases.
We still find it shocking that UPS didn't replace the suitcases and ship them to your hotel. Not a good recommendation.
Hope you feel recovered, Scott, and our best wishes for a smooth return flight.
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1 year ago

Graham FinchI guess you're about ready to return home. It's been quite an adventure. Having fish and chips in the UK must seem like a long time ago already.
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1 year ago

Scott AndersonTo Graham FinchFish and chips? Sete and Hyeres seem like long ago, but the UK could be in the last century. It’s amazing how travel distorts time, isn’t it?

Thanks for following along, Graham! I’ve appreciated your input.
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1 year ago

Steve Miller/GrampiesI was very happy to read about the Suzanne/Janos solution. It's so great when people can help each other out.

By the way, the photos of the villages around Vence were outstanding, all of them!
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1 year ago

Carolyn van HoeveWhat an amazing tour it's been and what a wonderful time it's been catching up with it every day. I will sorely miss it. Hopefully it won't be too long before the beginning of the next one. Was this tour too long, not long enough? Did you continue to set off every morning with a shot of excitement or did that wear off somewhat. Hope you've recovered for the long haul back Scott. And good news about the suitcase. So many stars have aligned on this trip! The two of you are amazing!
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1 year ago

Scott AndersonTo Steve Miller/GrampiesIt was a great relief when they arrived, alright. We’d discussed this in the past but then set it aside when we thought we had our solution. It seemed easier than imposing on them to ship them down.

And thanks for the comment about the villages. They were amazing - so distinctive from each other and from different perspectives. I really leave here wanting to return and explore the other villages tucked into this country, and to spend time walking through them. We should just come back and spend a month in the region.
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1 year ago

Scott AndersonTo Carolyn van HoeveThanks so much for following along again, Carolyn. It’s been an exceptional experience for both of us, one that worked out far better than we could reasonably have hoped for. A few days of sickness and a few minor mechanicals are a small price for these nine wonderful months.

There will be a recap coming once we get back and caught up, but I think the short answer is that it bordered on being too long for being constantly on the move. It’s not like we’re all that anxious to go back to rainy Portland or our unhappy country right now, but we’re ready to stay put somewhere for awhile. If we could we’d probably head off to someplace like Valencia and get an apartment for a month but Schengen has other plans for us.

And yes, barring unwelcome surprises there will be another tour. We’re not talking yet, but we’ve already bought our flight for next spring. I’m not sure yet if I’ll keep a journal of our activities between now and then, but stranger things have happened.
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1 year ago

Lucy MartinFive stars to Suzanne and Janos 🧳 🧳
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1 year ago