Road Climber: Nice to Alpe d'Huez (N2A) Tour- Day 1 (10 July 2017)

The start of the big adventure.

We left our hotel in Nice and rode up to the " I love Nice" sign to have a group photo taken. We navigated out of Nice into the hinterland of the Cote d'Azur. The first 10 kms was painfully slow as we took the protected cycle path for 10kms along the Promenade des Anglais to St Laurent du Var. It was very busy with walkers, cyclists and joggers. We were being passed by skaters. Once we left the bike path we started climbing with our first stop for morning tea at a village called Gattiers. After morning tea we continued climbing to a charming old French village called Le Broc for lunch. This village was everything I expected with the narrow streets and old buildings. They even had a group of men sitting outside the cafe "solving world problems" the whole time we were there.

After leaving Le Broc we continued to climb steadily past Bouyon. The landscape is arid and rocky, apparently typical of the region and a far cry from the Mediterranean. We reached the highest altitude for the day at the 53km mark (1,040m). After a short descent we passed the hilltop village of Coursegoles that has an 11th century castle, ruins and a restaurant. We then passed over the first Col of the trip, the Col de Vence from which there were views of the Mediterranean. From here we had 10kms of sweeping descent into Vence a well preserved medieval town with restaurants, shops, boutiques, galleries and bars situated in its pedestrianised streets. I'm told that Vence and the nearby St Paul de Vence are home to many artists, painters and sculptors and have been associated with brush weilding heavyweights such as Matisse, Renoir, Cocteau and Prevert.

I had to stop at Vence to obtain energy tablets to put into my water. I made the mistake of thinking that Gatorade or its equivalent would be everywhere. I'm yet to see one bottle. It was hard even trying to find a supermarket in Nice.

From Vence it was a gentle 5km ride to Tourettes Sur Loup, the 'city of violets'. This is another 11th century hilltop medieval village. It's absolutely magnificent! We were staying at a camping ground 3kms from Tourettes Sur Loup. After setting up our tents, showering and washing our riding gear it was back to Tourettes Sur Loup for a group dinner. There was a market night happening when we arrived back in town. The restaurants were extremely busy and there was an overall great atmosphere. People seemed very happy and were just enjoying life. I took the opportunity to stroll through the narrow laneways - the shops were still open and I had a delicious 3 scoop ice cream.

While today was a relatively easy day, it was most enjoyable and a great introdution to riding in France. I continue to be blown away by the friendliness and helpfulness of the French people.

STATISTICS
Distance 81.9kms.
Vertical metres climbed: 1,805.