Road cycling: Esterel-Cannes-Col du Testanier-Frejus-Esterel
Distance: 70k
Hard to imagine a more glamorous, scenic or varied short cycling loop than this. I left the caravan later than I would normally leave for a run, but still before 7.30am, and headed down to Agay before heading east along the Corniche d'Or. I've driven down here on many occasions, and cycled part of it on Tuesday, but to do the entire ride in morning sunshine was still memorable. Hundreds of other cyclists were doing the same thing, with the superb red walls of the Esterel peaks rising to the left and the low sunlight glittering off the sea to the right. The Corniche is surprisingly hilly at times, as the road negotiates the tight calanques beyond Antheor. All the fun ends as you enter the suburbs of Cannes after La Napoule, however. I had no map, and had a bit of a nightmare locating the N7 to Frejus through the Esterel massif. After several detours, I got the right road after consulting a bus stop map, and it gave a 15k climb up to the Col de Testanier. This was excellent, a miniature version of my Alpine ascents with perhaps 1000ft of climbing, and led through St Jean to shaded woodland and an easing of the angle to the Col de Testanier. It's probably a more consistent climb from the Frejus side: that side certainly gave a brilliant descent, very fast, before leaving me with the tricky task of negotiating the Frejus suburbs past St Raphael and Valescure to the campsite. We all had a family bike ride around the Perthus loop yesterday, which was equally good fun.
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