Finally on the road

DAY 1
We have finally left the UK now and i am trying to type this on a comedy French keyboard. We arrived in Nice on a hot and humid Monday afternoon. All of our luggage was there and Easyjet had only managed to bend the axel on my rear wheel. I really expected everything to have been smashed in transit so a bent axel was a good result. After beating the crap out of it for 20 minutes i managed to get it all together so we set off cycling around the 2 terminals in Nice airport for an hour before we found the exit.

Monday afternoon rush hour traffic not good, heading down the coast towards Antibes then turned off to a small town called Biot, found a camp site and settled down. Grand total of 20 kms covered on day 1, at this rate we will reach the alps by Christmas. A few beers at the bar and off to bed.




DAY 2
Early start today (about 10am) we continued to q place called Grasse, everything was fine until we reached the last climb which was about 15% steep, i was almost crying. Apparently Grasse is famous for perfume making but it was already the afternoon and i had football to watch so we skipped the tourist sites and found somewhere to camp which had a tv and bar and pool and watched the game. Mei was so excited, she really loves football. Actually, she had a bad belly today and was a bit ill, i think she blames the six egg omelette i made on the camp stove. About 35km today...still pretty pathetic.

DAY 3
This keyboard is doing my head in now! Hot, sunny, sounds like a rest day. Sat by the pool, got burnt, drank beer, watched more football. Greatest day ever (there would be a question mark here if i could find the f*****g thing) Great day.

DAY 4
Up hill for 4 straight hours, not joking. Up, up, up. Might start needing EPO and blood doping like a real cyclist soon. Eventually reached a col of about 1261 metres before an evil storm cane in and scared us. We descended a bit into a tiny place called Sèranon and stayed there the night while the storm raged. Huge day, legs are destroyed, 45 kms, getting better.

DAY 5
Left camp at 8am, plan is to reach Comps-sur-artuby for an evil French coffee and then ride through the Gorges du Verdon. Amazingly this plan was achieved, the canyon was awesome, great fast riding until the last steep climb at the end. The final descent was a bit tough for my brakes trying to stop all of the weight of the load i was carrying, they were red hot by the end and making scary noises. We passed 2 girls cycling through the gorge, when we passed them on a hill we smiled and sped up to make it look like we were cruising, somehow this cycle touring has become competitive. Decided to continue from the gorges past some lake and into Moustiers-ste-Marie, lovely town surrounded by rocky cliffs, Another rest day tomorrow i think. New record, 78kms today, that's more respectable.