Last weekend me and Jan were down on the Cote D’Azur for a race in Dolceacque on the Sunday, just over into Italy, to make the most of the trip we took an extra day and planned a ride on the Saturday too. I had previously spied a trail on the maps which looked rather interesting – just above the town on Menton right on the coast the hills ride rather fast up above 1000m, there is a ridge that runs right on the border between Italy and France and just on the French side there is a trail which runs all the way from Sospel down to sea level in Menton. It rises over some 1000m peaks and follows some scenic looking ridge lines and I decided it would be good to do the last section of it.
The trail takes you out of Menton, up the road to the town of Castellar before heading onto some very steep double track before a hike-a-bike for a couple of hundred metres to reach the Pionte de Nicioret at 750m which provides some amazing views along into Italy and France before a super long technical trail right back down into Menton and the sea, this one is sure to test your arm strength and brakes!
We rocked up at about 2am after having travelled quite far, form Grenoble and Marseille respectively, we basically just found pitched up in the first place we could find which just happened to be right next to a pretty wild sea
In the morning we woke to a rough sea but the wind was dying down, the wild rain during the night had stopped and the sun was starting to come out
We had a little ride through Menton to check out the town and to grab some food before heading up the hill
We were rather surprised (and absolutely loving it) when we came across this goat just chilling in a tree on the way up the road!
The rain and clouds from the night before still hanging in the air, creating some spectacular views across the valleys
Jan had been travelling in his camper van for a few days and admitted he had not had a shower for a while so took the opportunity to clean himself up in this natural shower
After the long and steep road up the hills we hit some singletrack
Once at the top the views from the ridge into Italy were amazing, just behind the first ridge in the photo is where we would be racing the next day
‘Do I look camp if I do this?’ – Jan taking photos of Menton
The first bit of trail was super steep and technical, but once that was out the way it opened up a bit and into the sunshine, cue many many loose turns after this and many attemps at ‘Dudes of Hazzard’ style turns
By late afternoon the sky was completely blue, the sun shining and we were loving it!
This is Jan after surviving a particularly technical section of trail!
Jan giving me a ‘hands up for your birthday’!!!
Me managing the corner with only one foot dab, right after this things got well tech and it was a hike-a-bike down moment, we were knackered by this point form the intensity of the trail but there was still another huge section to come!
Oh and did I mention it was Jan’s birthday?! Not a bad way to spend your birthday!
