Nice:

Col d'Eze, La Turbie & Col de la Madone (65km?)

Starting out from Nice, via the harbour, I approached the col d'Eze by the same road used in the famed Paris-Nice time trial. From this point, the legendary Sean Kelly, 7-times winner of this early season stage race, had powered to the summit in 19 minutes and 45 seconds back in 1986. His course record stands to this day. Unless, of course, I could knock a few seconds off and enter the history books...

Unfortunately, the Grand Corniche was closed, so the traffic on this, the Moyenne Corniche, was heavier than usual. What's more, the col d'Eze starts off steep, and it was all I could do to avoid choking on the fumes of passing dirty lorries and speeding motorbikes. Just after the Observatoire de Nice, though, the gradient eases, and so too did the traffic. Indeed, I was beginning to wonder what all the fuss was about. OK, there'd been 3 or 4 kms of hard slog, but now I was flicking back up the gears, and flying along.

In fact, there was one more nasty stretch, where I had to crawl back to near-bottom gear, after which it was easy going on an open road which looked down spectacularly onto the crystal clear Mediterranean. At least, I guessed it was crystal clear. Bit too much mist to tell.

The last kilometre or two was dissapointingly easy pedalling, even climaxing in a short decent to the painted Fiat line, which had marked the end of the time trial stage the last time Paris-Nice made its way up here. A quick check of the stopwatch proved that I'd succesfully managed to double Kelly's record. Haah, take that Sean. It takes real talent to climb the col d'Eze in 45 minutes.

On top of the col d'Eze

Stunning views of Nicois hills

After stopping to take some 'I climbed the col d'Eze' photos, I carried on above Eze village, and on the main road towards La Turbie. The hills on my right dropped steeply down to the sea, with some fine sun-reflecting-off-the-water views.

Eze and the Mediterranean viewed through the mist

La Turbie is famed for its Trophée des Alpes, a monument built in 6 BC to the power of Rome and the glory of Augustus. Even at a truncated 35m high, the Trophy still dominates the town today - but I was more interested in another feature of La Turbie: its fountain of drinkable water. I'm reliably informed that, especially in the summer, the fountain forms a meeting point for cyclists in the region. Today, there were 2 or 3 others filling their bottles, and looking far more professional than I could ever hope to on my hired mountain bike.

La Turbie and a big col, about to be climbed

At La Turbie, I turned off the main road, onto a winding, and much steeper minor route, which soon had me out of the saddle and sweating under the unfeasibly warm November sun of the Cote d'Azur.

Reckoning there was a fair amount of climbing still to be done in the day, I eased up and settled down to a steady rhythm - until I was overtaken by a local boy on his way to the shops. OK, the locals must be born climbers, but I was not taking this. Up a gear, and pushing harder on the pedals, I soon levelled back up to this cheeky whipper snapper; just as he turned off to his house, giving me a nonchalant 'I do this every day' kind of glance.

From here, the gradient eased considerably, and I was now practically the only vehicule on the road. The mist has cleared noticeably, unveiling stunning views of the area's famed hill-top villages (villages perchés). It's a shame, though, that the landscape is blotted by unseemly quarry sites. I spotted two on this short stretch of road alone.

The final climb up to the col de la Madone involved turning up a steep and apparently little-used track, which passed through several tunnels carved out of the rock face.

A tunnel

As I gained altitude, visibility extended out to the Alps looming beyond the Nicois hills. This was extremely pleasant cycling, with an almost eerie silence, despite the presence of villages in the surrounding mountainside.

At the top, I paused to admire the view, before donning my cagoule for the wind-swept descent to Nice via the same route.

Col de la Madone, highest point of the ride

ROUTE

My route was nicked form this geezer's website.

NICE - Grande Corniche (D2564)
Col des Quatre Chemins (340 m)
Col d'Eze (512 m)
La Turbie (480 m)
Col de Guerre (555 m)
Col de St Pancrace (711 m)
Col de la Madone (927 m)

Total climbing: 1000m