CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Le Cannet it runs 844 km to Lucéram; allow about 15 h 45 of riding. It goes by way of Vence, Scenic stretch near Roquebillière and near Roquebillière. The climbs: near Mandelieu-la-Napoule and Cap-d'Ail. It tops out at about 1,700 m. It crosses France, Italy and Monaco - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 74 km this is Route des Grandes Alpes, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Le Cannet climbs the hills directly behind Cannes, and from its upper streets you look down over the rooftops of the city to the bay, the Lérins islands and the red Esterel mountains to the west. The old village at its heart, with narrow lanes, painted walls and small squares, still has a Provençal charm that the busy streets below have largely lost.
Read the complete Fuel stop in Le Cannet write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Alpine Maritime Weekend is where the day begins. Next is High point near Mandelieu-la-Napoule.
Mandelieu-la-Napoule sits at the western end of the bay of Cannes, where the river Siagne meets the sea, and behind it rise two very different massifs. To the south-west, the Esterel is a jagged range of red volcanic rock, plunging into the sea along one of the most dramatic stretches of coast in France. To the north, the Tanneron is a softer range of hills famous for its mimosa, which blooms in brilliant yellow in late winter.
Read the complete Food stop near Mandelieu-la-Napoule write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Alpine Maritime Weekend checkpoint 8.
Vence is where the Riviera stops pretending to be the seaside and starts to become the mountains. The old town sits on a rocky spur about ten kilometres inland from the coast, still largely enclosed by its medieval walls, and behind it the land rises in steps of limestone, the baous, towards the high plateaus of the Préalpes. Finishing a ride here means ending among fountains, narrow lanes and terraces in the shade.
Read the complete Vence write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 646 km. Next is Scenic stretch near Roquebillière.
Roquebillière sits in the valley of the Vésubie, one of the deep valleys that cut into the Alpes-Maritimes north of Nice. The river rushes down from the high peaks near the Italian border, and the valley is steep, wooded and dramatic, with villages perched on the slopes and mountains rising on every side.
Read the complete Scenic stretch near Roquebillière write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Scenic stretch near Roquebillière, early in the day. Next is Photo stop near Roquebillière.
Roquebillière has had to rebuild itself more than once. In 1926, a landslide swept down onto the old village, killing many of its inhabitants, and much of the population moved to a new site on the other side of the river. Then, in October 2020, Storm Alex unleashed catastrophic floods down the Vésubie valley, destroying roads, bridges and houses, and leaving scars that are still visible today. The resilience of the valley's people is remarkable, and the road has been rebuilt with new bridges and protections.
Read the complete Photo stop near Roquebillière write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Photo stop near Roquebillière sits at 172 km, early in the day. Next is Nice / Côte d’Azur return.
Palms, pastel houses and a bay that faces due south: Ospedaletti is the Riviera dei Fiori at its most relaxed, a small Ligurian town tucked between Sanremo and Bordighera with its feet in the sea and terraced hills behind it. The old coast railway has been moved inland into a tunnel, and its former line along the shore is now a cycle and walking path, so the seafront is quieter than you might expect on such a crowded coast.
Read the complete Ospedaletti write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Nice / Côte d’Azur return comes up about 333 km into the recorded legs. Next is Alpine Maritime Weekend food stop.
Cap-d'Ail is the last French town before Monaco, and you can feel the principality pressing against it. The Basse Corniche winds in from Èze and Beaulieu between villas and pines, the rocks drop to clear water below, and then, almost without warning, you are among the towers of Fontvieille. Cap-d'Ail itself is quieter than its neighbour: a scatter of Belle Époque villas, gardens and newer apartments on the slopes above a small cape with coves and a little beach.
Read the complete Cap-d'Ail write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
A break here. Next is Back to Alpine Maritime.
Cannes means film to most of the world, but the working town is a different thing.
Read the complete Alpine Maritime write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Back to Alpine Maritime. That is the ride. Next is Gorges du Verdon Grand Loop.
Next is Scenic stretch near Menton.
Menton is the last town in France before Italy, the finish of the Route des Grandes Alpes, and after seven hundred kilometres of mountains it feels like being tipped into a warm bath. The old town tumbles down a hill to the harbour in tones of ochre, apricot and cream, topped by the baroque Basilica of Saint Michael with its glowing facade. The climate is the mildest on the French Riviera, sheltered by the mountains behind, and the local lemons are famous, celebrated each February in the Fête du Citron, when huge sculptures made of fruit and flowers fill the gardens and people parade through the streets.
Read the complete Menton write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Scenic stretch near Menton comes up about 544 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gorges du Verdon Grand Loop high point.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cap-d'Ail write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Gorges du Verdon Grand Loop high point is the summit of this stretch. Next is Gorges du Verdon Grand Loop photo pull-off.
Old ramparts rise straight from the sea at Antibes, and behind them a tight knot of lanes, markets and ochre houses climbs toward a castle on the shore. The town sits between Nice and Cannes on the bay of the same name, facing the snowy line of the Alps on clear winter days, with the long wooded peninsula of Cap d'Antibes to the south and the jazz town of Juan-les-Pins on its western flank.
Read the complete Antibes write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Gorges du Verdon Grand Loop photo pull-off, late in the day. Next is Gorges du Verdon Grand Loop checkpoint 8.
Until 1860, the river at Saint-Laurent-du-Var marked an international frontier. On the west bank lay France; on the east bank lay the County of Nice, part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and travellers along the coast had to cross the wide, shifting bed of the Var to pass from one to the other. For centuries there was no proper bridge, and the village made its living from the men who carried travellers across on their backs or guided them through the shallows. When Nice became French, the border vanished, but the river is still the dividing line between the town and the city.
Read the complete Near Saint Laurent Du Var write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Gorges du Verdon Grand Loop checkpoint 8 closes the day. Next is Food stop near Mandelieu-la-Napoule.
Mandelieu-la-Napoule sits at the western end of the bay of Cannes, where the river Siagne meets the sea, and behind it rise two very different massifs. To the south-west, the Esterel is a jagged range of red volcanic rock, plunging into the sea along one of the most dramatic stretches of coast in France. To the north, the Tanneron is a softer range of hills famous for its mimosa, which blooms in brilliant yellow in late winter.
Read the complete Food stop near Mandelieu-la-Napoule write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Food stop near Mandelieu-la-Napoule is where this day stops to eat.
The upper Var valley around Puget-Théniers is a strange and beautiful corridor: a wide bed of grey gravel with the river braiding through it, steep wooded slopes on either side, and above them the bare limestone of the Pre-Alps catching the light. The N202 runs through it from Nice towards Digne, and for riders coming back from the Verdon it is the long, satisfying homeward leg, quick and open with the river beside you.
Read the complete Near Puget-Théniers, on the way back write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 771 km into the recorded legs you reach Nice / Côte d’Azur return. Next is Back to Gorges.
North of Nice, the valley of the Paillon cuts up into the mountains, and Lucéram, Berre-les-Alpes and L'Escarène are small, stone-built villages along its length. The landscape is a little wilder than the coast, with olive terraces on the lower slopes giving way to pine forest and bare limestone higher up, and the air carries a scent of thyme and warm rock. The Paillon is a seasonal river, often almost dry in summer and surprisingly fierce after autumn storms.
Read the complete Gorges write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back to Gorges closes the day.
Fuel stop in Le Cannet → High point near Mandelieu-la-Napoule is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Mandelieu-la-Napoule → Vence is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch near Roquebillière → Photo stop near Roquebillière is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Photo stop near Roquebillière → Ospedaletti is 117 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Back to Alpine Maritime → Fuel stop near Lucéram is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuel stop near Lucéram → Scenic stretch near Menton is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch near Menton → Cap-d'Ail is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Food stop near Mandelieu-la-Napoule → Near Puget-Théniers, on the way back is 108 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.