Day 38 - Villenue sur Lorbet 83 kms -"And then there was One" !

Well this was it, after 5 weeks cycling the length and breadth of France we were finally going to pack up and head to Nice.

After so much climbing in recent days the boys had a pleaful look when asking Rick what the days profile was going to look like. When Rick said "it's mainly flat with just a little climbing" the immediate unsympathetic reply was "you said that yesterday and look what we got"!

It was an icy start (2 C) at our higher altitude of 1, 000 metres but the sun was soon out as usual. Despite Henley complaining about loss of feeling in just about every part of his body except his "mush" we were all set to give it a go !

The day started with a slow long climb across isolated countryside past La Bastide and it didn't seem too long before we crossed Route Napoleon one of the well known (for cars) road routes into Nice but too narrow in parts to be recommended for cycling.

Our last big climb ! 

Continuing we entered Seranon where we decided to stop at a supermarket / delicatessen and purchase some lunch supplies. While we waited patiently a French woman in front of us decided to buy about 10 slices of nearly every meat and cheese on display in the shop causing the usually unflappable Rick to just about blow a fuse!

Finally served after the shop owner engaged in more frustrating social interaction, Google Maps took us on a rough almost 4WD forest trail out of Seranon. With the trail getting decidely worse Rick called a halt suggesting a short cut through farm land to the road which we could see about a 1/2 km away.

Rick and Google Maps !

While Kev and secured the flank from a distance, Rick and Noel ventured cross country trying to work out how to climb out on to the nearby road . The minor problem was that the approach to the road was entitrely surrounded by houses !

Coming to the open backyard of a property Noel taking point duty repeatedly yelled out "is there anyone home" only getting an answer from a pack of wild looking dogs from the property next door. As they came flying towards Noel i bravely said to H from our distant location "i don't care how bad this trail is if those dogs get over the fence i'm out of here"! 

With the dogs stopped by the fence Rick re-emerged from his hiding place and with Noel negotiated the open backyard beckoning us to both come over. It was some weird sight as the 4 of us clambered with bikes and panniers through someones rocky back yard to get to the road !

Interestingly I notciced upon exiting that the occupations of those listed as staying at the house were a Chiropractor and a Physcotherapist both handy occupations i thought should we bump in to them as we stole our way on to the road !  

Let's get back on road !

Exiting the property !

Back on road we cycled into the town of Andon and took lunch still 40 odd kms away from Nice. Like most villages Andon was dead but it did have a soccer pitch that looked like it had hosted a recent match against two teams of bullocks given the state of the ground !


We had a brief respite here and after lunch took a 5+ km descent from our 1200 metre height. Once the descent finished we almost immediately began climbing back to 1100 metres on a road that provided for spectacular scenery of gorges and surrounding hills.

Eventually we reached at an unmarked peak with great views of our road winding down the hill in the direction of Gordon a medieval village perched on a cliff top looking down to Nice.

Our 10km descent to Gordon was rocket fuelled adrenalin stuff hurtling down a narrow 2 lane road with minimal barrier protection and a big drop on our side ! The weight of our bikes & panniers contributed to our alarming speed with poor road surface conditions, cross winds and cars trying to get past us adding to our worries !

In no time at all we reached Gordon wheeling our bikes into this lovely if slightly touristy medieval village. Here the views down to Nice were outstanding (albeit hazy) and not for the faint of heart with precipitous drops around the walled village.

Amazing views of Nice in the distance from Gordon !

Here we had our most expensive coffee on tour (much to our treasurers disgust) overlooking the million dollar view knowing that a) our trip was soon about to end and b) we'd soon have to do battle with Nice's 350.000 population and traffic !

We had one problem on kick starting our descent after leaving Gordon and that was that Rick and Noel seemed to be at a loss trying to work out which of the 2 available directions we should take.

Back and forward they rode through Gordon's main roundabout while H and I looked on with a sadistic form of amusement awaiting our instructions.

Finally Rick switched his navigation aide to car mode instead of bicycle mode and took the route suggested setting us off on another descent although thankfully this one not as steep as road into Gordon.

Heading down we got tantalising glimpses of the suburbs of Nice before finally emerging on the outskirts meeting up with H who'd descended in front because of his insatiable appetite for danger !

Now the fun (not) part started. There were roads and roundabouts going everywhere as Noel and Rick tried to establish which of the many available routes we should be taking. After a few false starts where we had to u turn in traffic, trying hard not to get run over and or lose track of each other we finally settled on another major downhill route to Villinue sur Lorbet just 8kms from Nice Airport and very much a part of Greater Nice.

If our descent to Gordon was a bit hairy then this was terrifying / exhilarating as we descended over 20 kms with minimal need of pedalling. While the exhilarating part was the descent the terrifying part was that we were constantly on busy (often) single lane roads trying to avoid a) potholes b) each other c) traffic that wanted to overtake d) Speed bumps e) and Red traffic lights where Rick had shown a great want to cycle through at speed ! 

Our descent went on and and on. One suburb to another,  one main road to another.  Just when you thought you were there you'd burst out on to a road through a section of national park ! 

Over one of the speed bumps I heard bit of a twang which I assumed was from my broken front wheel spoke which I'd noticed that morning !

Finally when I thought that traffic could not get any busier and that we must surely be about to cycle into the Mediterranean Rick guided us to our B&B hotel just shy of mainstream Nice.

I think we were all pretty damned relieved to get off our bikes after such a long and dodgy descent. Our France end to end journey was all but over.

Waiting to check in I noticed a noise coming from my pannier rack. Close inspection showed that I had snapped one of the pannier rack mounting arms (the screw was still in place) and badly warped the other one which was the only thing that prevented my rack from dropping on my wheel and acting like a brake, definitely not recommended on a high speed road in busy traffic ! Thankfully the general consensus was that we could patch it up to help me limp over the line tomorrow !

After a much needed short rest we had to again endure the busy traffic this time walking to the nearest open restaurant about 600 metres back up the main road where we lucked on to a local family restaurant that served a basic but nice 3 course meal for just 12 Euros !

Our rooms at our hotel were a strange version of a studio. One double bed down below and one pair of twin beds up an incredibly steep set of stairs (almost in a loft) something that was again going to require Henley to be inventive when wanting to use the toilet in the  middle of the night !

With only the parade into Nice to go we wondered whether the French Prime Minister would be there to greet us ! 

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