St Malo to Nice

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We had set the alarm for a bit later, than usual, but were awake anyway. We had a very leisurely breakfast and there was plenty of choice. We then used the hotel computer to print off our boarding passes for the flight home. European key boards are very different to ours so this is not as straight forward as you might think. We had already managed to check in. We had a short walk outside for a bit of fresh air before going back to our room and sorting washing, doing puzzles etc.

Late morning we walked across to the airport again as it was Terminal 2 we wanted not Terminal 1 where we had been last night. This was a good half hours walk. It would be much easier on Saturday if we knew exactly where we were going. We then bought a sandwich and a coffee each for lunch as it was half past one and we thought it might be cheaper than eating in the centre of Nice. Then we caught a tram into Nice and walked into the old part of the town. As with all European cities there were some fabulous very tall buildings, many of which were a pinkish colour. It was very busy and touristy as expected. We had a walk along the promenade and there were quite a lot of people on the beach even though it was quite cloudy and not as warm as it had been. There is no sand on the beach, it is covered in pebbles. Constantly there were planes in and out of the airport which we could just about see round the other side of the bay. We had an ice cream and I bought the last fridge magnet and thimble of the tour. Then it was back to the tram and the hotel for a rest before going out to dine.

We dined in the Campomile hotel again but on different menu choices. We reminisced about the trip, which were good hotels, good meals, good riding days, scenery etc. There was only one hotel we definitely would not go back to. We agreed the best night's stays were in the B&Bs and the Logis hotels had all been very good. We were also impressed with the current hotel, an Ibis budget but very good value for money.



One of the main problems of the trip had been finding food in an evening. We have had this before on the odd occasion but never as much as this time. It had taken the edge of some days.



As we had expected it mainly to be hot we have both worn cycling shorts the whole trip and I have worn sandals with bare feet. Paul has some new cleated sandal/ shoes that he has worn trainer socks and got away with because of the shoe design. There have only been a few times when my legs and feet were cool but fortunately this never lasted long. It has been cooler some evenings because the altitudes we have stopped at. We have then tried to eat inside. All in all pretty remarkable for September/October.



Most of all we have made many memories that will stay with us forever and I think this will remain our longest trip at 1037 miles. This beats Nimes at 1005 miles. This has also been by far the most challenging in terms of hills climbed with one Category One climb and half a dozen cols. Not bad for two pensioners.

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