After a hearty continental breakfast in a restaurant full of some kind of French senior citizens’ coach outing, we hit the road again at 08:20. The weather was much improved – cloudy but at least there was no rain, and we got back on route towards our destination, intended to be somewhere around Nice. Heading off, we passed through from the the Champagne area into the Rhone-Alps region and then into the South of France, marked by the transition in the types of trees growing and the style of buildings.
By mid afternoon, we were very much in the south and the weather was much improved. The French autoroutes system served us well and we were 32 miles outside Nice when the black clouds loomed again. I had checked the weather forecast in the morning and heavy thuderstorms were predicted for the Cote d’Azur, so we sought out the nearest campsite from our trusty Garmin Zumo 550 satnavs, and headed straight there – a campsite in the picturesque village of Les Adrets de l’Estérel l’Eglise. Unfortunately, we were just too late, and as we were just about to set up our tents, the heavens opened… big time. The camping area we had been shown was on a raised bank in the trees – quite a nice spot, but by the time the storm had passed, the ground was soaking wet, and the tents were soaked through and muddy. Fortunately, as the ground was so warm, it didn’t take too long for the ground to dry off fairly significantly, and, as I had literally held my tent above me off the ground to keep my bike clothing dry, I faired reasonably well, even if my tent didn’t.
Having set everything up, Chris headed down to the small campsite restaurant for a drink. I joined him a bit later, once the remaining bits of rain had passed, and we both had a pizza for our evening meal and a couple of beers.
Distance: 472 miles
Route: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=http:%2F%2Fwww.johnchivers.com%2Fkml%2F2010-09-09.kml&sll=47.958701,4.693685&sspn=10.685695,19.753418&ie=UTF8&z=7
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