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January 6 Friday Bicycle touring France from Cannes La Bocca to Nice France Last night we said goodbye and thank you to Roger and Suzanne. We tried to extend our stay since Roger and Suzanne still had four days left on their excursion package, but when Roger enquired at the desk he was told the hotel had paid Thomas Cook Travel Agent back for those days. If we had done it sooner we may have had them. Oh well, just prolonging the inevitable of getting back out there into the cold. The taxi picked Roger and Suzanne up at 7:10 AM for another $100 ride to the Nice airport. Sharon and I take baths and eat breakfast before leaving at 10. Guess what? For the first time in days it's raining. My crank was making a clicking noise and Sharon wants to get it checked out. I go along to appease her. Interestingly the rest has ceased the clicking -- or more likely because Sharon cleaned everything. Anyway we head back toward St Raphael on Route 98, figuring we're going to the town with the bike shop. We check the map. Oops. The town turns out to be up in the mountains. If it is raining here, it will be snowing up there. We can see snow in the mountains behind us. As we climb one hill icicles adorn the rock wall beside us. Should we get an apartment for two to four weeks? It costs $1000 per month -- this is the low season -- it is $1000 per week in the summer. We phone Helen in Les Arcs to ask her how to go about it. She says we should be south now. We decide to go to Corsica, then over to Sardegna. They are south and if we don't do it now, we probably won't go there. We head back to La Bocca and take a scenic route to Nice. The ferry leaves at 8 PM, so we have plenty of time. Antibes is a wonderful old port city with narrow narrow streets. We arrive in Nice at 5:30 PM and find the ferry port. There are no sailing until Monday at 8 PM! Terrific. There is much weeping and gnashing of teeth. The travel agent had told us they go everyday. It is dark. The terminal closes. I go to town to scout out a cheap hotel. 185 francs is the best I can do for each of the three nights we will be here. I convince Sharon that we will just set up the tent by the ferry office tonight behind the potted plants. At least it's flat. We are awakened several times during the night -- by motorists, motorcyclists, fisherman, people walking dogs, a lady running past in high heels. It's cold, too. |
