The Col de la Madonna is a popular climb near Nice popular with both pro and amateur cyclists. So on our last day, we had to climb it. We started out along the coast road, with great views of why it is called the Côte d'Azur! Then we climbed up for even better views as we caught glimpses of Monaco. At some point we turned inland and began the ascent of the Madone. We closed in on another cyclist, wearing a jersey from an Irish pro team and GCN shorts. John started chatting with him and at some point said, "Might you know Conor Dunne?" The gentleman replied, "I might be his father." The two chatted the entire way up the climb, making it seem effortless. We got a few photos at the top and then headed off in opposite directions.
We rolled into another of those classic French villages where we enjoyed another great lunch before heading back to town. We finished off the day at Café du Cycliste.
What a great trip this was. We had a little bit of everything with every type of weather and lots of twists and turns and climbs and descents.
We came back early because the weather looked dire. And indeed the radar didn't look good, but it actually started to clear up after breakfast an we figured if we didn't climb up to 9 thousand feet, we should be ok, so we decided to check out one of the local climbs up to Mount Chauve. I must say I was pretty relieved that I'd done so much climbing over the summer to train for this holiday. This was yet another Mt W worthy training climb.
The view from our hotel. Luckily the windows were soundproof. Those bells were loud!
We saw so many EVs on this trip. Must have been some very targeted subliminal advertising. We ended up leasing a Kia EV shortly after we returned home!
We continued back over La Colmiane, Col Saint-Martin. This is where I had waited while John retrieved his left behind shorts earlier in the trip. We enjoyed another coffee and snacks here before starting a long descent (mostly) toward Nice. We found a lovely village near Leven where we enjoy a great lunch just before it started to rain. Then it was back into Nice, where I'd booked a hotel just across from a cathedral with bells thank chime multiple times every hour. Amazingly once we closed the windows, we heard NOTHING.
We woke to brilliant blue skies, but the forecast suggested this might be just for a day and we would have serious rain again. After our experience on the Bonette, we knew it would be best to avoid rain at elevation. John had been going back and forth between not feeling good and feeling ok. We looked at the map and forecast, as well as our daily averages on paved roads, and decided to pull the plug on getting over to the gravel route. Our plan had been to cross the border at Isola 2000, so I suggested we at least head up to the border, and then aim for Nice. We opted for a little backtracking over a climb from a few days prior with a stop in a village, Valdeblore, we had flown through on a descent. John reserved a hotel there and we set off for Isola. The road from Isola to Isola 2000 is a pretty wide main road, but started off brutally steep. Knowing we were doing an out and back on this road, I suggested we find a place to leave our bags. We spotted a good spot that we would be able to find on the return, and left gear there. Then we continued up.
I rolled on, figuring John was taking lots of photos, given the glorious conditions. I arrived at the lower part of the ski village, where it is clearly off season. There were cars and people, so I had some hope of finding an open café. I climbed quite a bit more, before seeing a restaurant. They only served full meals, so I couldn't just get a coffee and croissant. John and I texted back and forth. He was feeling bad and had stopped at a bus shelter. He said to go to the top and then come back down to find him at the shelter, where he'd be taking a nap. So I finished off the climb, put a foot in Italy, bundled up and began the descent.
After a rest, John was feeling better, but that's all relative. We stopped for lunch in Isola down in the valley and then pressed on, since we had a reservation further up the road.
Sometimes I don't show the best judgement and this was one of those times. After a fitful night of non-sleep, due to the noise made by the plastic matress covers, I looked at the forecast and was fooled into believing it was better. I got up and walked across the street in hopes of grabbing some snacks, but that shop wasn't open yet. It wasn't raining and in fact, I could see blue sky.
I figured the noise would keep me awake again a second night, so suggested we pack up and go in search of breakfast and try to make a call about moving on. We found breakfast in town and also picked up some sandwiches for later. Checked the forecast again, which suggested cloudiness, and decided to risk heading up to 9,000 feet. Because what could go wrong!
I neglected to check the map carefully, and silly me, assumed there would be a café or something at the top of the pass. It started out cloudy, but as soon as we started on the climb, sprinkles hit our glasses. I started seeing signs for a restaurant that suggested it was at 2000 meters (elevation). So I held out hope that we could stop for a warm meal there and maybe a place to stay. Sadly, as folks have been telling us throughout the trip, this is the off season. It was closed, but did have a covered seating area, where we bundled up and enjoyed our sandwiches. At that point, a smart person would have suggested heading back down the way we had come, but no smart people spoke up, so we pressed on. Soon afterwards, I heard thunder, but then a group of motorcycles passed us, and a few cars. I was still hopeful that there had to be something at the top. After all this was a well known pass, and the highest through road in France. It turns out, they built an extra little loop off the pass to achieve this honor, but did NOT build a hotel or café, or even bother to put up a sign.
John was a little ways back when I reached the turn to the extra loop. The wind was howling. I looked in vain for shelter, but none was to be found. I had seen him a few hairpins below, and figured it might be a little while. I pulled over and put on more clothing and sent a text that I was heading down the far side. We had a good phone signal, if nothing else!
Fortunately not too long afterwards, I spotted a few buildings. It was an abandoned military camp, but provided a bit more shelter to add every bit of clothing I had. John caught up here. The thunder was behind us, but the rain was coming down heavily and the GPS was reporting temperatures a few degrees over freezing.
We continued down and were quite surprised to encounter a couple of cyclists in shorts and short sleeves headed up. The first one seemed lightly loaded, like us with a large seabag. The second had panniers, so maybe they had a tent. But they had a long way to go, late in the day if they were aiming for civilization. We still had a long way to go, as well. It turned out to be about 16 miles to the next village, and it took a bit of searching once we arrived to find an open hotel with a vacancy! This was a day that is seared into my memory! We survived and learned to pay attention to the original forecast, especially when big elevation changes are involved!
Farewell to our not so restful stay
Shortly after starting the actual climb, the rains came down in earnest
Good weather returns, so we planned to climb the remainder of Col d'Allos, then descend into Barcelonnette and drop gear at our lodging, then do an out and back on Col de la Cayolle. I had found a campground with various huts and such on airbnb and thought it looked pretty cool. The forecast for the following day looked dire, so we were thinking we might have an honest to goodness rest day in Barcelonnette.
Our adorable lodging. Shame about the bed.
We had done about half of the first climb already, so it didn't seem to bad. As has become standard, we had rally cars! We also saw lots of cyclists. There is is a popular loop from Barcelonnette that takes in Col d'Allos, Col des Champs and Col de la Cayolle. Some of the folks we saw were just out for as short out and back of one pass, but others may have been doing the full loop. It is these three passes, plus the Bonnette that had us so far west of the Torino Nice route. It has been a worthy detour.
The views were amazing on both the climb and descent of the Cayolle and so different that it really didn't seem like an out and back, except for the lighter weight of the unladen bicycles. Sadly John was starting the feel under the weather. It can be really tricky for me to know if he's behind because he's taking a million photos or something is up. And he is so understated about feeling bad, that I just don't know. Plus he's so strong that even when he's sick, he rides like a demon!
When we got back to town and officially checked in, I asked if we could stay two nights, since the forecast was so grim for the next day. I should have waited til morning to extend. The unit we stayed in was adorable, but the bed was wrapped in a stiff plastic that made horrible noise if I moved at all. Actually I think even just breathing caused the load crinkly noise. But more on that in tomorrow's post.
Forecast called for rain, so we decided to play things by ear today. Our BnB host had recommended that we go through the Gorges de Daluis. It was in the opposite direction, but we decided to take a little detour. With rain in the forecast, views wouldn't be great. But I've got it marked as a return destination. Then we headed back toward Col des Champs. We got to the base of the climb before the rain started in earnest, but the rest of our ride was pretty wet. We found a lunch spot in Colmars before continuing on to Allos. We found a nice little hotel in the ski village just before the climb and decided to call it a day.
The day started with a climb, naturally. John loves climbing so much that he decided to do it twice. At some point, he remembered leaving his shorts drying on the balcony of the hotel the night before. Not willing to do a two week trip with a single pair of shorts, he turned back in hopes of retrieving them. I said I'd wait at the top of the first pass. I found a lovely cafe where I could bide my time.
Our second big climb of the day was The Col de Couillole. I mentioned that John ad a few climbs he wanted to fit in before we headed east to the gravel part of our trip. It is a popular climb. We saw almost as many cyclists as rally cars on this particular day. We noticed one group with a sag wagon providing lunch or snacks at the top. As I lugged my loaded bike up the climbs, I began to fantasize about a supported trip in the future.
We passed through a couple of ski villages. We kept hearing that this was the off season, so we had pre-booked a place to stay for the night. The advantage of that is you have a place to stay. The disadvantage is you might have to pass by other attractive spots. Valberg was one of those. But the descent that followed was worth the price of admission. And better down in dry conditions after warming up on the climb.
We rolled down in Guillames and then out the far side of town to find our BnB. Luckily for John, the host agreed to provide dinner!
The day started out warm and sunny. We soon came across what would be the theme for this trip: rally cars. What makes this area great for cycling, also makes it great for driving high performance rally cars. You will see it repeatedly in the video, lots of tight hairpin turns! I think we saw more fancy rally cars than any other type of vehicle. What was more impressive to me was the care the drivers showed whenever we were close.
It was lovely and sunny at the start of the day and while not as hot as the previous day, I was not expecting the cold shower that greeted us at the summit of the Turini. We enjoyed coffee there, before bundling up for the long descent. We rolled into the town where John had booked a hotel for the night, but then got to climb a bit to reach the accomodation on the far side of town. Luckily it had a restaurant, so we didn't have to head back into town in the rain for dinner.
