Taper time: Var valley exploration

Two weeks to go to the big event and it's time to freshen up after all the hard work. Last week was the biggest yet at 478 km and 7,000 metres of climb. Encouragingly, the body didn't feel too bad afterwards. I took a couple of days off anyway, and plan on an easy 250 km this week and 150 next week. 

On one of the off days we took the bus to Cap Ferrat. The French seem to have public transport nailed. You can take the bus anywhere within 35 km of Nice for a flat fare of E1.50. The number 81 bus drops you off a short walk from Plage Passable, a pleasant little public beach on Cap Ferrat with a private beach club next door.

Last year we hired 'matelas' - beach lounges with sun umbrellas - and had lunch here. You can see this year that the place is nearly deserted, all the umbrellas are down and the matelas empty. The beach marks the start of a footpath that follows the precipitous shoreline around the peninsula. It must be one of the great short walks in the world, with magnificent views across the bay to Ville-Franche and the Corniche.

...obscured a bit by the occasional cruise ship...

On the far side of the peninsula is the village of Saint-Jean, with its collection of boutiques and harbour-side restaurants. We stopped by for a drink and lunch.

And if you look closely, you'll see that the restaurants here are deserted also. Where is everyone? It's the middle of the summer season in one of the tourist hot spots of the Riviera on a sunny lunchtime and no one is eating. Looks like everyone stayed at home - so what does that say about public confidence in the global economy?

On the way back we snoozed on the bus, like this couple...

The Var Valley

Next day it was time to get back on the bike again. I had been meaning to explore the Var for a while - it's the big river that drains the Maritime Alps and empties into the Med next to Nice airport. From the top of the Var there are some interesting rides across the grain of the country around the back of Nice, connecting into Paille and La Turbie, an area I am familiar with to the east of the city.

The first 10km are rather ordinary on a busy commercial road, but then you hit the Var cycle way. Some far sighted traffic engineer saw fit to construct 17 km of entirely separate, flat, smooth, uninterrupted cycle way along the edge of the Var and adjacent to the main highway.

Here it is from the northern terminus, a great venue for interval training and fitness tests (although I doubt that is what the designing engineer had front of mind when it was built). Unfortunately I ran out of time to complete the original plan and had to return by the same route, so the cross-country trip will have to wait for another occasion.

63 km and 250m climb.