Day 35-Castellane to St Maxime, 64 miles

Well what I thought was going to be a real A to B day turned out to be a great ride. Another 1000+ meters of climbing but when you start in the mountains and finish at the sea there's always going to be more down than up and with nearly 2000 meters of descending all the climbing over the last few days was well rewarded.

I was also given a fantastic guided tour of the French hills and towns by local resident and very keen cyclist Howard who I met whilst riding today. A retired Englishman he and his wife now spend 6 months a year at their hill side villa in Claviers and count the Beckhams when they are in town as neighbours, whos place he pointed out (well the gate at least). After being invited for lunch I couldn't refuse and had a great 2 hours talking about bikes, their lives, living in France and much more. A lovely couple who I could have spent all afternoon chatting with but the coast at Saint-Maxime was calling so I left them drinking wine and eating cheese in the sunshine on their terrace overlooking their pool and the hillside village. I'm very much starting to see the attraction of this place!

From theirs it was 25 or so miles to St Maxime and my starting point for a few chilled days along the French Riviera. With not much more than about 20 miles to cover each day as I my make my way towards Monaco for next Thursday it's going to be more holiday than touring for a week!Read more