2019 Europe Bike Trip

We got up early, left the camp at Castellane at 07:30, headed for Nice. Of course, the Garmin took us on a roundabout route, leaving Route Napoleon and riding directly east on the D2 into the rising sun on winding roads wet from overnight rain. We made it without falling off or going blind, and returned the 3 bikes intact to “Bike Trip”, the rental company on Rue Rivoli. We did 5706km, averaging only 190km per day. The Triumphs performed superbly.

Then a 20€ taxi ride around the labyrinthine one-way streets of Nice to travel 2km to our hotel at 11 Rue Paradis, same street as the hotel Anne and I stayed in last year. Our hotel had no lift and we lugged our 23kg suitcases up 5 flights of stairs. This seemed weirdly familiar, until I picked up the wiffee from last year’s hotel, the Dortoir, and realised it was 2 floors above! It’s worth the stairs though, the location is perfect, on a quiet street just off Rue Massena, where countless restaurants are.

Billy’s shopping spree in Nice, a new suitcase to get home with. No trouble picking this one on the luggage carousel.

Necessitated by the collapse of his almost-new suitcase. We left that, open, leaning against a litter bin.

Then we needed a beer. Off to place Massena, 300m away. After one beer we decided to move the case to a dumpster in Place Massena, but it had already disappeared.

For the next couple of beers we walked 200m to the beach.