September 25, 2022
Day 25: Castellane to Nice
Slowly we made our way out of our cozy hotel and back on the road. I say slowly because we were waiting for the roads to dry a bit - it rained throughout the night - and for the car rally to set off. We’re sharing the first 2.5 km with them as we leave town.
After 2.5 kilometers and the ‘race’ cars setting off on their route, the road became quiet leading up to our climb of the day.
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It’s a col, but there’s still another 3 kilometers of climb to go. After that we will have a gentle incline until 40 kilometers into the ride. Somewhere along the route we will reach 1,188 meters before we descend to the Mediterranean.
Cycling along this high meadow was such an enjoyable time. The temperature was perfect in the sun. The scenery was eye-pleasing. The traffic was minimal, although we saw a lot of mushroom pickers out. The perfect Sunday ride!
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Now the fun begins. Great descents through amazing canyons. Thanks to our friends, Smith & Claude, we are familiar with these descending and winding roads.
Then we came to one of our favorite waterfalls.
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We refilled our water before finishing the descent and had a great conversation with a local rider. He was fascinated by the tandem and our trip. It was fun sharing our experiences.
We continued down and after another long stretch of quiet roads, we started to come upon civilization. We were blessed with bike routes as we entered the more populated areas, but still traffic wasn’t bad at all. Construction interfered with our Garmin route, but we saw where other bicycles had ridden and followed their tracks. These led us directly to the Med and the wonderful promenade.
It was sunny and breezy. When we looked behind us to the mountains, the skies were very dark. We decided it was best to not hang around too long, just in case those clouds came our way. When the thunder rumbled, we hit the road again - there’s only 10 kilometers left to go.
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2 years ago
Now we had to figure out how to get the bike down to the Med. We could only find stairs and it was a bit crowded as the UTMB Nice Ultra race had just finished shortly before our arrival. After some googling we discovered it was a 25k, 50k, 100k, and 100 mile trail run.
We found stairs and a wonderful guy helped Chuck lug the tandem down. Then we rolled it across the rocks …
But, now, how to get it back up on the promenade? We unloaded the bags, Chuck carried the tandem up, and I carried the bags. Easy!
We found an Irish Pub and had a celebratory Guinness.
And while we had our beer, the skies let loose. The rain came … and then left as quickly as it had come.
Since I had cancelled our hotel earlier this week, now it was time to find a place to sleep. We walked by a couple and decided against them before coming across the Albert 1er Hotel. Nice (and affordable) room and Chuck liked the beer menu next door - 29 micro brews on tap.
After settling in we found a great lasagna for dinner and finished the evening with a walk along the promenade.
Delightful day. And we’re feeling great!
Stats: 91.5 kilometers 867 meters elevation
But it isn’t over yet … we have one last climb tomorrow.
Today's ride: 91 km (57 miles)
Total: 1,935 km (1,202 miles)
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