We focused on the area north east of Nice in Les Alpes Maritimes. After dealing with incredibly lazy and rude women in the rental car place at the airport, we managed to get hold of our Peugeot and set off. The first destination for the first few days was Tende.
We stayed at a funny bed and breakfast place with funny animals. The owner had a very old and stinky dog that could hardly walk. We also had our own pet in our room:
We trapped the spider in a camping pot and it was making lots of noise when it was trying to settle down. It was HUGE! I usually don't mind spiders, but I never felt too fond of this one. We released it into the garden in the morning. If you kill a spider, it will cause 7 days of rain according to Swedish folklore.Tende is located in the area of Mercantour National Park which is famous for its rock engravings from the Bronze age. This one was often seen in Tende:
We never had the time to check out rocks since we were busy enjoying the biking. One day we booked in a Via Ferrata trip with a guide. I have done some pretty basic climbing with fixed ladders along Hoga Kusten in Sweden, but nothing like this. Tende had a pretty intimidating route directly above the city itself.
This route consisted of a few interesting features: several flying fox- sections (like the one below) and a few monkey bridges when we were holding onto a wire while shuffling the feet along another wire below (sounds simple..now do it a few hundred meters up in the air).
Charlie is looking positive..or is that a nervous smile I can see?
At one point we could choose between the chicken route over the hang bridge or take the flying fox down. For us there was only one choice. The flying fox was pretty scary since we accelerated so fast and my gloves became almost too hot when I tried to break. We both survived and could check out the others in the group freaking out after us.
What a romantic honey moon! :-)
France (and Italy) were FULL of tiny cars, scooters and motor cycles that the locals drove without any fear to die. Most frogs drove super fast in the middle of the road and only veered to the side in the last second. I stated pretty quickly that I won't be doing any driving during out holiday there.
Trails in this part of France were amazingly well marked. We had few issues with following the maps and finding our own way around the hills. We got basic information about the area from the Tourist Office and they kindly helped us to track down a bike shop with break pads since I ran out. Everyone spoke French and even in the Tourist Office they never swapped to English when they heard that we were struggling to string a sensible sentence together in their language. 
Yes, the maps were great and the marking usually spot on. We only had a one day when we got a bit lost (but only for a little while). When re realised that we had probably climbed too high with the bikes, it was too late to turn around and we continued to a shabby little farm. It was guarded by a few large barking dogs which made us feel a bit weary. The dogs looked friendly when we came closer and we were also approached by the farmer/shepherd. A hairy man with dirty and worn out clothes stood in front of us. Charlie used his best French to ask where we were and how to get down. To our cheer surprise the man started speaking English to us!! He was the last person we would expect to know English.
We never had the time to check out rocks since we were busy enjoying the biking. One day we booked in a Via Ferrata trip with a guide. I have done some pretty basic climbing with fixed ladders along Hoga Kusten in Sweden, but nothing like this. Tende had a pretty intimidating route directly above the city itself.
This route consisted of a few interesting features: several flying fox- sections (like the one below) and a few monkey bridges when we were holding onto a wire while shuffling the feet along another wire below (sounds simple..now do it a few hundred meters up in the air).
Charlie is looking positive..or is that a nervous smile I can see?
At one point we could choose between the chicken route over the hang bridge or take the flying fox down. For us there was only one choice. The flying fox was pretty scary since we accelerated so fast and my gloves became almost too hot when I tried to break. We both survived and could check out the others in the group freaking out after us.
What a romantic honey moon! :-)
France (and Italy) were FULL of tiny cars, scooters and motor cycles that the locals drove without any fear to die. Most frogs drove super fast in the middle of the road and only veered to the side in the last second. I stated pretty quickly that I won't be doing any driving during out holiday there.
Trails in this part of France were amazingly well marked. We had few issues with following the maps and finding our own way around the hills. We got basic information about the area from the Tourist Office and they kindly helped us to track down a bike shop with break pads since I ran out. Everyone spoke French and even in the Tourist Office they never swapped to English when they heard that we were struggling to string a sensible sentence together in their language. 
Yes, the maps were great and the marking usually spot on. We only had a one day when we got a bit lost (but only for a little while). When re realised that we had probably climbed too high with the bikes, it was too late to turn around and we continued to a shabby little farm. It was guarded by a few large barking dogs which made us feel a bit weary. The dogs looked friendly when we came closer and we were also approached by the farmer/shepherd. A hairy man with dirty and worn out clothes stood in front of us. Charlie used his best French to ask where we were and how to get down. To our cheer surprise the man started speaking English to us!! He was the last person we would expect to know English. I guess "Assumption is the mother of all FUs"
We found some great trails and gorgeous views! It is a stunning area and we definitely want to go back there.
After a few days of biking we figured out what we liked. We aimed to bike up some mountain village road to get quick access to the hills. Sometimes it involved some hike-a-bike to get to walking trails that didn't seem to be too well used. Less foot traffic means skinnier trails, means more fun.
Our favourite village was Berghe Inferior, which didn't have any shops or restaurant. There was a small bed and breakfast place ( a gite) when we also had dinner with five French people. Charlie and I mostly just sat there and smiled at the table. We understood almost all of what was said, but were never quick enough to add anything to the discussion.
After a week in France we had a few days in Italy to finish off our honey moon before returning to reality in New Zealand again. 
The cafe is more like a bar where people pop in for a quick shot. The majority of visitors had an espresso and Charlie didn't feel alone (like he does in NZ). With a few short blacks per day, I didn't need to say much during our stay in Italy. CB was so high on coffee that he never shut up.
Riding in Finale Ligure was very different to in France. Firstly there were no maps. The Italians don't really do maps. You simply had to find out about trails by hobnobbing with the locals. We spent a fair bit of time in a couple of bike shops to become "real mates" with the right guys so that they would tell us the secrets about the best trails. 
We did the famous "Nato base" track which started at the top of this old American military base where wind farms are now enriching the area.
I liked the trails with rocks:
After riding up the same road to the top of the hill to acces a number of trails, I got to know Mr Donkey rather well. He was extremeley load the first time we passed, but later he was well behaved and just curious. I think he also wanted to own a bike.
Of course the trip wasn't all about biking. It was also about eating stupendous amounts of tastu food. I think Charlie had a pizza almost every night in both France and Italy. I stocked up on pasta instead. One night we ended up going for two dinners since we wanted to both restaurant that had been recommended to us. It seemed a good idea at the time. I had pasta coming out of my ears and I was about to vomit. I guess I don't go to Italy every day.
Looking back on our trip, I especially liked the area around Tende where it wasn't as touristy. Finale was just a bit too cramped with Italians on holiday. We made it swimming in the Med a few times, usually late at night after a whole day of biking. During the day the beach was FULL of people, lying like sardines next to each other. Only narrow strips of the beach were allocated to people like us who weren't prepared to pay to access the sand and have your own sun chair. It gave us some perspective on NZ where people complain if there are more than maybe one or two other families on the same beach.
I had such a cool time and I so wished we could have stayed longer. We will certainly go back there again.
We found some great trails and gorgeous views! It is a stunning area and we definitely want to go back there.
After a few days of biking we figured out what we liked. We aimed to bike up some mountain village road to get quick access to the hills. Sometimes it involved some hike-a-bike to get to walking trails that didn't seem to be too well used. Less foot traffic means skinnier trails, means more fun.Our favourite village was Berghe Inferior, which didn't have any shops or restaurant. There was a small bed and breakfast place ( a gite) when we also had dinner with five French people. Charlie and I mostly just sat there and smiled at the table. We understood almost all of what was said, but were never quick enough to add anything to the discussion.
After a week in France we had a few days in Italy to finish off our honey moon before returning to reality in New Zealand again. We stayed in Finale Ligure, located a few hours drive along the coast east of Nice on the Italian Riviera. Charlie discovered his favourite hang-out almost immediately.
The cafe is more like a bar where people pop in for a quick shot. The majority of visitors had an espresso and Charlie didn't feel alone (like he does in NZ). With a few short blacks per day, I didn't need to say much during our stay in Italy. CB was so high on coffee that he never shut up.
Riding in Finale Ligure was very different to in France. Firstly there were no maps. The Italians don't really do maps. You simply had to find out about trails by hobnobbing with the locals. We spent a fair bit of time in a couple of bike shops to become "real mates" with the right guys so that they would tell us the secrets about the best trails. Charlie had some sporadic contact with a Swedish girl who is married to an Italian guy and they run a bike guiding and shuttling company. Unfortunately, this was a time when they were running their shoe store operations during peak tourist season and when it is supposedly too hot for biking. They gave us some good hints of where to go but we couldn't go biking with them.
Secondly, the Italian trails around Finale are more purpose built for biking. The hills were also smaller than around Tende and we got down to the bottom (the beach) so quickly.
The beech forest was really open and it was a wicked environment to ride in.
We did the famous "Nato base" track which started at the top of this old American military base where wind farms are now enriching the area.
I liked the trails with rocks:
After riding up the same road to the top of the hill to acces a number of trails, I got to know Mr Donkey rather well. He was extremeley load the first time we passed, but later he was well behaved and just curious. I think he also wanted to own a bike.
Of course the trip wasn't all about biking. It was also about eating stupendous amounts of tastu food. I think Charlie had a pizza almost every night in both France and Italy. I stocked up on pasta instead. One night we ended up going for two dinners since we wanted to both restaurant that had been recommended to us. It seemed a good idea at the time. I had pasta coming out of my ears and I was about to vomit. I guess I don't go to Italy every day.We were pretty full of pasta, pizza, beer and wine when we started chatting to a friendly bunch of Italian tourists, who were even more pissed than us. When they heard we were on our honey moon, they insisted to take a photo and promised to email it to us.
A few weeks later, this photo was sent to us. How nice of them.
Looking back on our trip, I especially liked the area around Tende where it wasn't as touristy. Finale was just a bit too cramped with Italians on holiday. We made it swimming in the Med a few times, usually late at night after a whole day of biking. During the day the beach was FULL of people, lying like sardines next to each other. Only narrow strips of the beach were allocated to people like us who weren't prepared to pay to access the sand and have your own sun chair. It gave us some perspective on NZ where people complain if there are more than maybe one or two other families on the same beach. I had such a cool time and I so wished we could have stayed longer. We will certainly go back there again.
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