Day 18 Nice, Monaco, and Italy

No dew and very few mosquitoes last night. We are near Marine land so the seals barked all night. They didn't bother my sleep but John was kept awake by them and what he described as a Russian disco? Interesting but I slept through that also. Before long we were in Nice which was very nice:-) The promenade was very wide and we had a bike lane for for many miles. Nice has wide streets, great old buildings, streetfuls of pedestrians walking miles of shop filled streets. A large and attractive city. We roll on though - actually we climbed and climbed. The Alps reach right out to the med so it was up and down all day. We stop for lunch at a small town and find a pastry shop for lunch - John is a happy camper. Monte Carlo is next and on entering town there was a sign to the Jardin exotic so I thought why not visit this exotic garden for a rest break. The road started up the mountain and kept going up. We finally struggled to the garden for some great photos overlooking the city. Down we rolled through town and headed for Italy. More climbing and soon it begins to drizzle. Shortly after crossing the border we spot a campground and ask for a covered spot. We end up on a concrete floored work shed which we are happy to have for 15 E. We walk to town for a spaghetti plat du jour. The rain becomes a deluge but by the time dinner is over the rain has stopped. Short miles but a great day. Total expenses 91 E - much higher than yesterdays 34.

Keep Rolling,
Pete

Day 17 Cannes

Last night John noticed my rear wheel was wobbly and at camp we noticed 4 spokes pulling out of the rim. We decided to look for a bike shop for a replacement wheel in the morning. We sleep in on day 17 and at 9 head back to Saint Rapael and we do find a bike shop. 75 Euro was a very reasonable price for a new wheel and we are again ready to roll but John sees a street market and needs a pastry fix. I see a merchant selling paella and even though we had just finished our first breakfast I can't help myself and order a nice portion. At 1 we finally are on our way to Cannes. The homes hang on the hillsides overlooking clear blue green waters. The road is narrow but the traffic is light. The up and down beautiful coastline is a tough ride for me as the paella sits very heavy. We soon arrive in Cannes and there is a party going on. The streets and sidewalks are crowded It is film festival week. Paparazzi and film signs are everywhere. The people watching is fun and it would have been fun to hang out but it is beyond our budget and we were as ripe as the cheese we had to throw out a few days ago. We finally made it out of town and our narrow highway was packed with speeding cars. At some point I hear John shout "are we dead yet". After yesterdays road excitement when john shouted the same thing I hardly noticed today's craziness. Yesterday our quiet 2 lane road coming into Aix en Provence became a virtual freeway and at one point we were doing 40 mph downhill and we see 2 lanes packed with traffic merging in from our right. Very exciting.

Keep Rolling,
Pete

Day 16 Aix en Provence

We rolled around Arles yesterday afternoon. A nice Roman coliseum and other antiquities made for some nice photo ops. The most excitement however was while John was riding down a path and I hear a bang and John shouts out DON'T FOLLOW ME. He inadvertently rolled down 3 steps to the street. Luckily he stayed upright and the frame was not damaged. He says he didn't notice the steps since he was watching traffic. I think it might have been the adjacent 1st century Roman theater or even more likely the lightly clad young lovelies strolling nearby. Though it was early in the day the temps were too hot to ride so we hit the close by campground. So far there has been a camping area with a short distance of every town. Typical cost is 15 Euro. Not counting train travel we are under our 50 Euro a day travel expenses. On the days we find an Aldi Market ( a cross between trader Joe's and a cash and carry) we are way under that. Typical brasserie meals seem to run 10-15. Last night we hit an Aldi for salads, strawberries, bananas, yogurt, salami, cheese, an avocado, bread, wine, and 2 beers (once empty they serve as our wine glasses). The bill was 18 and we had a nice dinner, this morning breakfast and we still have enough for lunch. This morning I separated early from my bed side companions big Agnes and the sweet smell of Daphne since the day was again expected to be very hot. Big Agnes is the brand of my air mattress and Daphne odura seems to be planted frequently in the area. This time without much difficulty we found our road through the rolling hills of Provence. Because of our 6:30 start we rolled our 50 miles to Aix en Provence by 1. It would have been earlier but John had to stop at two pastry shops along the way. That's actually very restrained of John since we passed through many small towns and each has at least 2 to 4 shops with amazing breads and pastries. Ok, we also stopped for for my grande cafe noir fix. Anyway we're in town at 1 and it's now too hot to ride so we take a couple hour train trip to the coast. Saint Raphael is between St Tropaz and Nice and it is an upscale area to say the least. Our campsite is virtually on the beach and the sun is up so I take quick swim before dinner.


Keep Rolling,
Pete

Day 14/15 on the Med.

We navigate out of our camp and roll down the canal and on busy roads to arrive at the epitomy of coastal towns. Nice beach homes, condos, amusment parks along the coast. We ride on unpaved tracks along lagoons all nice. We camp accross the street from the beach and have a restaurant dinner;

Here we sit on a concrete slab by the bathroom of our campground on the Med. Goat cheese and salami on baguette for breakfast. Last night when we went to sleep with a number of mosquitoes buzzing but not a real problem in our sleeping bags. This morning they had called in their friends and I found John had left and was packing up at the bathroom where there were less blood suckers. So far I have discovered two new things about John: he has a serious sweet tooth - always sample a pastrys when we stop for baguettes as well as always picking up a package of cookies at the market and he has a abnormal fear of mosquitos and other blood sucking insects.
We have goat cheese and salami on baguette as first breakfast outside the bathroom. We roll toward Grand Morte a large planned town of oddly geometric shapped resort condos. All white and exotic. John sees a bakery so we stop for second breakfast John has two pastrys and i have two pizza slices. We soon head for Arles. The road is two lanes and the cars zip by but for the first time there is a nice shoulder. John is feeling strong and he pulls me along at 18 to 20. We arrive in Arles in time for a late lunch. There is a very large Roman colloseum as well as other bits of antiquity to explore. It is so hot we make this another short day.

Keep Rolling,
Pete

Day 13 Carcassonne

This morning the light on the medieval walled city above our campground makes it even more impressive than last night. At 7am this normally people packed tourist town is quiet and the look and feel almost transports one back in time. We feel confident of our route out of town only to quickly need to consult compass, GPS and maps. We find the bike trail along the Midi canal and roll down this tree lined dirt track. Soon it ends and we fight the head winds on hiway D610. As always there is no shoulder but traffic is light. A detour leads us 4 miles in the wrong direction and onto a freeway. We backtrack and walk our bikes through the construction. Beziers is a large hill town the core of which interestingly was very middle eastern in appearance. Much traffic, narrow roads and again gps consultations got us to our campsite on the Midi canal in the small town of Villeneuve-Les-Beziers.

Keep Rolling,
Pete

Day 12 Tours and beyond

The clouds have been buildind each evening and thunder showers are predicted. We decide that three days of chateauxs along the Loire have given us a good feel of the region so we decide to head south toward Carcassonne by TGV. We have a two hour layover to switch trains in Bordeaux so we take a quick roll through town. I again hear Johns oft repeated refrain "Oh look at that - this could be my favorite town yet!" The cathedral was very immpressive. We did not get back to the station in time to hit the info station to find out about camping in Carcasonne where we arrive at 7:30. We have a nice lasagne dinner in the campground cafe. It is dark by the time we get camp set up.

Keep Rolling,
Pete

Day 11 wiggling to Chenonceux and Tours

The dawn again wakes us and we do a morning tour of Blois. Another nice city. We roll again toward another chateau. Todays goal is chateaux Chenanceaux. Rolling farmlands, great biking,map consultions finally bring us to another nice chateaux. A quick 20 km ride brings us to Tours with only one stop for wine tasting. We go 90 km to get 57 km from our last nights camp. It is pretty typical that we ride 30 % more than the actual distance between camps.

Keep Rolling,
Pete