Monaco, Andorra, France, Spain

Day 1: 7th September ’08

Distance: 8.87 miles
Total Distance: 8.87 miles
Route: Nice Airport » Antibes

Bike and rider arrived safely at Airport. A quick re-assembly of Scotty, and the pedalling begins! Lovely evening sunshine on the Cote D’Azur. Propped bike up against mesh-fence outside airport and managed to lose one of the bar-end plugs. Decided against scaling 10ft wall to get plug back. Ride along promenade to Antibes. Strong head-wind, but pleasant ride. Dinner & drinks with Lucy & Shep (Much obliged!). Sleep.

Day 2: 8th September ’08

Distance: 59.12 miles
Total Distance: 68.0 miles
Route: Antibes » Nice » Monaco » Antibes

A really lovely day, with great weather and fantastic roads; long, sweeping corners perched above the blue waters of the Med. The type of roads that you could imagine Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier driving around in an open-top classic sports car. Monaco architecture less to be desired, but the Formula 1 track was amazing. Incredibly iconic, and the narrowness of the roads has me in awe of the skills of the F1 drivers.

Day 3: 9th September ’08

Distance: 78.45 miles
Total Distance: 146.5 miles
Route: Antibes » Cannes » St Raphael » Grimaud » Le Luc

A quick look around Cannes was enough, and then a steep climb up into the start of the ‘Corniche D’Or’. One word: Awesome. Two words: Frikin Awesome. This was a special road indeed; the kind that you can only dream of as a commuting cyclist on the mean streets of London town. The road seemed to have been constructed by engineers who’s primary goal was to ensure amazing views every ½ mile, and to ensure the delight of motorists and cyclists alike.

However, one drawback was illustrated half-way along a tight section of the route; an old-timer had been knocked off his bike and traffic was tailing back in either direction. The guy’s head was bleeding quite a bit, but I was assured by his friends that all was OK. Carried on along the road and decided against the small detour up to ‘Saint Tropez’. Very hard climb up past ‘Grimaud’ in surprisingly hot (31+) late afternoon weather. Couldn’t find campsite anywhere, and ended up having to ride extra miles to ‘Le Luc’.

Cyclist’s worst nightmare realised: there is nowhere to buy food at the campsite. Nearest restaurant is 16 miles round-trip and light fading fast. Decide to stay put. Think about how little we are exposed to hardship in the West, and am upset about my own childish reaction to not being able to eat tonight. Eat 5 glucose tablets, brush teeth for ½ an hour then bed as soon as it goes dark.

Day 4: 10th September ’08

Distance: 79.48 miles
Total Distance: 226.1 miles
Route: Le Luc » St Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume » Aix-en-Provence » Salon-de-Provence

Getting started today was akin to running through a vat of treacle while on valium. Rode into nearest town and filled the tank up with all manner of supermarche ‘delicacies’. Surely an oatcake shop in rural France is not too much to ask – they put a man on the moon didn’t they?

Bit of a slog on fairly dull roads today, compared with the delights of the ‘Corniche’ yesterday. A few highlights coming into ‘Aix’, and ‘Salon-de-Provence is a pleasant enough place. Staying in a simple but charming hotel tonight (39 euro). Have a restaurant recommendation from hotel owner, and am looking forward to ‘pigging it up’ tonight!

Day 5: 11th September ’08

Distance: 89.58 miles
Total Distance: 315.7 miles
Route: Salon-de-Provence » Arles » Frontignan Plage

Flat as a kipper’s belly cycling through the ‘Carmargue’ today. Luckily, a strong tailwind for most of the day had me eating up the miles. Weather has turned, with quite a lot of rain in the afternoon. Stopped off for 20 minutes at a very pretty Chateau; laid bike down in the long-grass and managed to disturb a cloud of mosquitos. My second worst encounter with mossies ever (only marginally behind the longest night of my life spent tentless, next to a creek in Northern Australia in the rainy season). I have massive bites all over my legs and spent the afternoon cursing and moaning.

(E-mail extract of day 5:)

… there was a slightly surreal moment coming out on the road from the rather aptly named ‘Palavas’ town centre. I’m not one to set out on a trip without doing the necessary prep work, and so had checked via Google Earth prior to departure that the 6th Century ‘Maguelone’ abbey did indeed offer access to the ‘Canal du Rhone & Sete’ towpath, which would speed me on my way, and save about 20 miles on the days journey. After a 10 mile ride along some seriously bumpy track, reached the aforementioned abbey at the end of the peninsula – and was somewhat miffed to realise that Google Earth does not yet offer sufficent resolution to show how French farmers relish any given opportunity to barricade any public path that they choose to do so.

Options now included: ride the bumpy 10 miles back to Palavas, and then a further 20 miles around the peninsular (after an 80 mile day in the bag already), OR, speed past a rather conspicuous ‘propriete privee’ sign to the side of the Abbey’s gift-shop, past a slightly inbred looking gardener (who to be truthful offered only minimal protestation), through orchards resplendent with peacocks, both of the common-or-garden purple & green variety as well as all-white albino ones! Needless to say, by the time I had reached the 8ft (locked) gate house that tantalised me with it’s view through to the towpath – I wasn’t overly concerned about having to wrench bike, bags and body over the wall, and finally on my way. How I laughed on the route to Sete…

Day 6: 12th September ’08

Distance: 100.49 miles
Total Distance: 416.2 miles
Route: Frontignan Plage » Sete » St-Marie Plage

Wind, wind, wind, wind, wind, wind, wind and then… wind. Unfortunately, none of it was directed at my tail. Quite easily the most dispiriting, physically demanding, tourette-inducing day in the saddle I’ve ever had. It’s just no fun when you get a day on the bike like this. There’s no option other than to get your head down and just grit your teeth. It’s easy to anthropomorphize the wind when it’s like this; it can seem to deliberately taunt you, wind you up (pun intented) – and at one point had me screaming at the top of my lungs, “COME ON THEN you muddy funster…is THAT the best you got!??”. The mind plays tricks on days like this.

In the evening, I met up with Pete & Fi (who were holidaying in the area) which was a very welcome respite after the days exertions. They bought me dinner which was a lovely and much appreciated gesture. It was great to have the ease of conversation of friends after a few days alone on the road. However, I did struggle to not dribble while speaking and had serious trouble focusing after a mere one and a half pints of ale. Can’t believe that I managed a ‘ton’ on Scotty today – I only ever bought the bike as a (very) cheap commute in London, and didn’t expect it to cope well with the demands of touring. Well done Scotty!

Day 7: 13th September ’08

Distance: 62.06 miles
Total Distance: 478.3 miles
Route: St-Marie Plage » Perpignan » Mont Louis

Wind, wind, wind, wind, wind, wind, wind and then… climb, climb, climb, climb, climb; Ouch! A very tough climb (from sea level to 1600 metres) was made much, much worse by the exertions of pedalling through the wind just to reach the base of the climb! However, once on the climb proper the affects of the wind abaited, and I just got stuck into the granny gears and patiently rode up the mountain.

I love the mountains. Just love them. Hard work yes, but there is something incredibly empowering about climbing a mountain on a bike. Every metre is hard-fought, but every metre provides inspiration to continue as the views just get better and better. Saw several rainbows when looking back into the valley and Mediterranean beyond. ‘Mont Louis’ is an attractive mountain-top fort. Staying at a hotel tonight as reward for exertions.