Torino Nice Rally - Day 6
Photo by Tim Wilkey
Day 6 started with a lot of yawning. It turned out our dream camp spot at the old fort was very far from a dream. Around 11pm we were disturbed by 4 4x4s, with all their lights on, slowly lurching down the hill towards us. It was pretty terrifying, but soon they turned away and it became more annoying than anything else. After an age of engine revving they parked up…and started wondering around talking at the top of their voices. Oh and it was a full moon, which is always like trying to sleep with the light on. Our moods didn’t stay salty for long because we were headed for the Via del Sale or the Salt Road.
The Salt Road is an epic trail that winds at an altitude of over 2000 meters above sea level. It’s a dream come true.
The Salt Road was a complete joy, 30km of dream gravel and amazing views. We didn’t realise it at the time, but this was us saying goodbye to the mountains. It is the last point on the Torino Nice Rally route that you feel completely enveloped by The Alps. The descent from the Salt Road is via Pas du Tanarel.
Photo by Tim Wilkey
As we stood at the top, surrounded by people on full suspension bikes, Tim suggested we should let them go first. It made sense, we had fully loaded hardtails…but at the same time I couldn’t help but feel a challenge had been put down in front of me. After we’d given them some room I shot off with one goal, overtake every single one of them.
The rocks got bigger, and looser, and I was in my element.
One by one I picked them off, skimming over the boulders and taking any gap that appeared. After pushing on a bit further, enjoying having the trail to myself, I stopped to regroup with Tim and say hi to my new pals as they whizzed passed. My waves weren’t reciprocated, but I didn’t mind. 😆
As we got lower, and lower, the landscape around us changed. As the trees got denser, the mountains became smaller and more sparse. The trail started to wind through trees and the forests were more like ones we’d ridden in Wales a few months before. Tim and I stopped for our first lunch of the day, and realised this was the beginning of the end of our epic trip. It wasn’t a sad moment, our legs had earned a break and the sea in Nice was so enticing.
Photo by Tim Wilkey
When we got to the bottom (after navigating a traffic jam of sheep) we were in Breil-sur-Roya where the air conditioned, fully-stocked supermarket was a welcome oasis. We knew we had another climb for the day, and this was the first point we decided we decided to opt for a shorter option. For the Torino Nice Rally you have route options and you can pick and mix them together. Until now, we’d chosen the longest, hardest, most off-road version every time. With just one more day of riding, then straight into a full week at work for me, we decided to take one of the more direct options to get back to Nice.
We pressed on over Col de Brouis and thought we had finished for the day in Sospel. It was the last town we had planned to stop in before Nice, and hoped to find a camp spot. After refuelling on a range of bruschetta and refilling our pockets and bags with Haribo, bread and cheese, we set out to find a sleep spot. Turns out, that wasn’t going to happen.
As we started up Col de Braus, it was soon clear that the only place we would be sleeping was at the top. It’s known as the last real bivvy spot before Nice, and ideal finish spot…just not one we’d banked on making. As we climbed, the sun began to set and our legs found new energy as they sky went pink and purple around us. We thought it would take an age, but before we knew it, we had reached our final sleep spot and the top of our last climb of the trip.
DAY 6 STATISICS
116 km travelled
2,394 m elevation
14.6 km av speed
7:56 moving time
1 final bivvy spot
1 bonus climb