August 20, 2019
Cannes
A very easy short day
Today’s ride was such a contrast to yesterday’s. Very easy but not as spectacularly beautiful.
The Promanade des Anglais is a fast exit to Nice Along the way were stations for Cycles Bleau, the public cycles that are available in the city and that are so well used. Already the stony beaches were beginning to fill up on yet another day of perfect weather and the runners, walkers, cyclists and scooter riders were out in force. At the far end is the airport - this is a busy international airport and a few years ago we flew home from there. After this the cycle way continues as does the building and the seaside settlements - in fact there is no break from them all the way to Antibes and indeed continuing to Cannes. What we were interested in was Cagnes sur Mer. This is now a predominately sea side community. However if you are able to look beyond these buildings you can see Haut Cagnes sur Mer. Our interest in it is this. On the day before the Nazis invaded Paris my Aunty Pat (after who I am named) was living in Montmartre with her partner an artist. Pat,with only NZ papers, was in great danger of being swept up and put in a concentration camp. At that time Cagnes sur Mer was a community associated with the Montmartre artists so Armand and Pat escaped by bikes and rode to Cagnes sur Mer. Pat’s letter to my grandmother makes fascinating reading. We think we are fairly adventurous riding our bikes but it is so easy. We dont have to sleep in fields or find sympathetic people along the way - there are no Nazis to show any interest in us. Cagnes sur Mer is a lovely sleepy little village set up a very steep hill. Several years ago when we were trying to recreate the pair’s journey we went there and actually found the house they taken haven in until the end of the war. The place we were staying in had old newspapers that described the village’s connection to the artists of Montmartre and what had happened there during WW2. In Pat’s letter she describes the ‘enemy’ being at Menton - after yesterdays experience we know at least they had climbing to do! But this time we didn’t go up to Haut Cagnes sur Mer but just pedalled along thinking of Pat.
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The cycleway continues all the way to Antibes but you are put on the side of the road following close to the railway and protected from the traffic only by a white line - it doesn’t feel dangerous though just boring and there were lots of cyclists. Ken’s bike stand has given way so in Antibes we had a mission - find an open bike shop. First we biked around the harbour to the old town. The harbour was full of the Superyatches of the rich and famous. I think I have read too many books and watched too many films of the evil doings aboard them that I half expect some dramatic action would occur and perhaps one would take over the world. The old town is narrow and was heaving with people - there was an enormous perminant looking market, we had a coffee. Then I used my head and my phone and put “bike shop near me “ into google and we cycled off to the usual helpful bike shop and got a stand. Up came a training cyclist he said he had seen us in Nice and wanted to know our story. He kind of adopted us feeling that excessive bike riding was the magic ingredient to long life! We were somewhat confused as to actually were we were so he insisted on waiting for us then escorting us through the mele of traffic in Antibes to the way out - I felt I was a racing cyclist riding in a peloton
Arriving in Cannes we found our Budget Ibis relatively easily. Check in wasn’t until 2pm so we dropped our stuff and went for a delicious lunch. The place we found was tiny and packed with locals, we both had spectacular salads then back to our cell like room.
Today's ride: 35 km (22 miles)
Total: 1,216 km (755 miles)
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