50 miles ridden – 4570 feet climbed – temperature 32C.

Looking back on today it’s difficult to decide what was the biggest challenge – 23 miles of climbing up, over, across and out of Gorges du Verdon or coping with Asterix Fawlty, our miserable host at La Bonnie Auberge. Maybe stuff was lost in translation but his demeanour upset a few riders on arrival and we were locked out of the common areas of the hotel until 7:30 when breakfast started. He then wouldn’t unlock the bike store until he had everyone’s room key. Sales prevention at its best.

All thoughts of him left us as we started our climb. It was a stunning day and the views improved as we climbed. Lac du Sainte Croix looked amazing from every angle – on the shore next to it and then from the top of the climb.

From the top we turned towards the Gorges du Verdon – the second largest gorge in the world after the Grand Canyon. Although it was hot we had a reasonable amount of tree cover and the gradient was reasonable aside from about 3 Km after the village of Auguines when it kicked up to 11/12%.

For large sections the road clung to the side of the cliff edge and I was very lucky that I was on the cliff side, not the edge. It was a long way down.

We had been told to expect a few coaches but there weren’t many. What we did encounter was a lot of predominantly German and Dutch motorcycles. They were friendly enough but didn’t seem to grasp that any old wuss can climb these roads on a motorbike – REAL men and women are on bicycles…….

Lunch was at 25 miles, just after a challenging (for me) bridge linking the sides of the gorge.

The temperature probably peaked around the end of our climb as we started a long, fairly gentle downhill to Castellane. Meadows, cliff edges, isolated houses (I put an offer in on this one) constantly filled our horizons.

The final few miles were along the valley floor which I found even more stunning as I didn’t have to look over the edge of the earth.

The most stunning sight as Castellane came into view was the Roc du Notre-Dame which sits 184m above the town. Apparently Dominos will not deliver there.

Tomorrow is our final day’s ride into Nice. It promises to be a great day.