Today is the penultimate day and I have the last of the climbs, first up to the Col de Luens which is actually a false summit on my route; I am guessing these sub-summit passes were named in a time when the pass was a regular way through by foot or horse and though the new roads go to higher points no one thought to name them; its just another stretch of D4085 if you are in a motorised vehicle where you don't experience the gradients so physically.
Sometime later I stop for a coffee and biscuit break at a picnic spot and wonder where the downhills are as it has been flat or sneakily uphill despite the fact that I am rolling through soft pastures with cattle and pine forests hugging the mountain slopes. The highest altitude provided by the road signs was up to 1188m.
Then a bit more climbing to the second and higher pass with no name where I rest and enjoy the view. I take time to check on food stocks as I am in the Sunday-Monday fragile food security window. I also start communications with the French government over the naming of Cols with no name as there is money to be made by selling the right to chose the name of a Col. You may remember that I have dodged paying the nightly tourist tax on a few occasions and I give this Col naming initiative to the government as a salve for my concience. Provided there is a Col du Anthony over 1,000m somewhere I'm happy.
The last of the climbs doesn't mean the last of the descents and I have been rehearsing my downhill and am putting that into practice now that the roads are dry. On today's first downhill I was overtaken by a VW Transporter at the top and I kept up through the bends and clocked 52 km/hour on the final short flat. It is now downhill to Greolieres, then downhill to Nice. Funny how we suddenly become attached to the things (such as the climbs) that are taken away from us.
France has plenty of national parks and I am currently in the Parc naturel régional des Préalpes d'Azur. The 'Pre-Alps' bit is a clue that I am close to Nice which is close to the border with Italy and therefore the Alps proper. Talking of Italy the Giro d'Italia finished today. Primoz Roglic took the pink jersey (the maglia rosa) yesterday from Geraint Thomas who had held it for 8 days. Mark Cavendish won the final stage which is big news in itself and Primoz Roglic wins the 2023 Giro d'Italia.
When it finally came I enjoyed a fantastic final sweeping decent into Greolieres which included some real car advert scenery.
My destination of Greolieres is tucked into the hillside. I didn't take the most efficient route to my accommodation and so I know that some streets are only just wide enough for my bike. It is a maze. Though not planned my accommodation is a studio which has a washing machine so everything can get a nice clean for Nice.
In other news when the bicycle was introduced it empowered women by providing them with mobility and this quote from Ann Strong in 1895 has been turned into a top tube sticker which is the bike equivalent of a car bumper sticker.
Travelling 1,000 miles through France by bicycle has allowed me to see and feel the landscape from the relaxed and gentle Loire valley to the dramatic Gorges du Verdon. Tomorrow I descend down to the Mediterranean and complete the journey so I think I have earned the right to use that Earnest Hemmingway quote which goes "It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them."
Yes, simplest is best.
