A Legendary Cycling Tour Through Southern France
Munich, It rains all the time. Whoa. Sun and
blue sky and a helmet, glasses, and a bicycle. Rain all weekend in Munich. So, I took the
first flight I could find to a sunny place and southern France should be a guarantee for
that. I arrived at the airport and my flips got broken. So I’m walking with these very comfortable
bicycle shoes. The flight is also delayed half an hour. The main hope that I have is that the
bicycle comes in one piece because the in last flights it got broken quite a few times and
also that I can check-in in the hotel because I tried to call but nobody answered. And
let’s go to the boarding now. Flight was already late. It was delayed and then delay
once again. Now, I don’t know if you can read, it’s schedule for 22:45 and we’ll get there
past midnight. Exactly half past midnight and we landed in the airport of Nice and I hope
that my bicycle comes in one piece over here. Now heading to the hotel finally almost 1 in
the night. Only the best for these 5 hours of sleep that awaits me. Hallelujah. We are ready
to go. 8:00. I wanted to be a bit earlier but it’s okay. In my hotel they did not have a
deposit for luggage incredibly. So I found something at the hotel nearby Campanile and we
are really ready to go. Goal for the weekend is clearly the mountains, but as I was here
I could not at least have a look at the sea. It’s just half an hour since I left the airport
of Nice and I’m already in the middle of nature. and this behind me is the
village of Greolieres. Look. Come on! Look at the place.
Look at this. Look at the road. I think this is pretty much as good as cycling gets. I’m not sure how much better
you can enjoy a day on two wheels. And now there is about a 50k descent
to the Gorges du Verdon. Should be pretty fast. There is headwind. Oh,
a group of cyclist. Hi. Hello. Hello. It’s around noon and I did about
65k and I’m on the way from Nice to the Gorges du Verdon. I took a small break
here in this, in the shop with a sandwiches, something to drink. The day is absolutely
perfect. I’m so happy I came instead of staying in the rainy southern Germany.
On the way to the Gorges du Verdon. I’m on this road since probably 15 kilometers now
20, without a single car, bicycle, motor bike. It’s about 1:00 p.m. and I started this
morning at 8:00 in Nice in the middle of the busy Cote d’Azur. And now I feel that I am
lost in the middle of nowhere because there is uh not a car or cyclist or a village since
about 10 km. A fellow cyclist. I had lunch at kilometer 65 of my ride. Now it is 87
and this is the first person I crossed since lunch. and also no network for the phone.
So, let’s pray God that nothing breaks down. And now we are at the Gorges du Verdon.
And I think there are some pretty steep climbs. I don’t remember. It
was a long time since I came. Here is the start of the Gorges du Verdon.
Once I think when I came here I did the other side of the road. There is
one road that is on the left side and one on the right side of the river. The
road is going in that direction there. I think it’s going to go up the mountain and
then all along the the edge of the cliffs. So this one behind me is the famous Le Point Sublime, a famous viewing
point of the Gorges du Verdon. Yes, this is the route of the Cretes and
it’s really really magnificent. I start feeling the legs. I was not so used
to do long rides with lots of climbs. I’ve done already 3,300 m of elevation
gain and about 120 km. So, not that much actually but with the heat… but I think I
recover as soon as I have something to eat. So, this is the Route de Cretes,
which is the road that goes on the ridge of the Verdon Canyon.
It’s really steep. It’s over 10%. The descent is way more exposed. So look
at this. You can touch it, touch it. I arrived in this village which
is called La Palud sur Verdon and I ran completely out of sugar. It
didn’t happen since a long time that I I was completely out of energy also because
the stertch was tough and there was absolutely nothing to drink on the way and I did not take
anything with me and now it’s almost 6:00, to be seen what we do. So I don’t know maybe I can
do still 40-50k and then I need to find somewhere to sleep. It’s Sunday, it’s Saturday evening,
August… Let’s see if I can find something. I spend the night in Castellane. I want
to do a bit more because it’s going to be about 160k for the day. I wanted to do around
200. Maybe I would not have made it anyway, but there was also no hotel in the
direction that I want to take. Few more kilometers to Castellane,
but you have to see this. Made it to Castellane. This is the hotel for
tonight. Beautiful small village also here. Very busy. I think I was lucky to find a room
here. And this is the very pretty center of Castellane. I had dinner here. Now dessert.
And good night and see you tomorrow. Day 2, 7:00 in the morning. I wanted to leave a little
bit earlier, but there was nowhere else to do breakfast and it opens at 7:00. This is
the hotel where I stayed the night. So, I’m going to do a small tour here in
Castellane before the breakfast opens at 7:00. The day started, sunshine. Castellane is about
15k behind us. I plan to do about 180k today with maybe a bit less than 4,000 m elevation gain.
But I can… depending on how quickly I move, I may shorten it because I have a
plane to take at 9:30 in the evening. First climb and “Col” of the
day, Col de Toutes Aures, 1124 m, easy one. Now it goes down. Then there is
a kind of a Gorge like a canyon and then it goes up again to the highest “col” of the of
the whole tour. It should be about 1,600 m. coming down from uh this “Col”
that I showed before and the view is absolutely incredible. We just
passed a small village called Rouen. Another absolutely amazing road coming down from
there. After this for me legendary descent down to about 500 m above sea level, I’m going to turn
left on this valley to Guillaumes and then up to Valberg which I think is about 1,600 or 700 m. So
yeah, there is a bit more than 1000 m climb now. And on the Pont de la Marie, the bridge of Mary,
on this incredible Gorges de Daluis. I could not even imagine that in Europe there are places
like this. They seem to me like these US national parks, in Utah, Nevada, and so on.
Made it to Guillaumes about 65k for the day and 750 m I think of altitude where we are and
now we start the climb up to Valberg which is I think is a proper climb up to 1,700 m. short
break here at the boulangerie of the village 1,200 m of altitude. So somewhere around the half
mark of the climb. And luckily before coming up, I asked to a cyclist which one of the
two ways that from Guillaumes go up to Valberg should I take, and they recommended
this one which is a absolutely perfect road where there was not a car until now. So I
just pass this village which is Peone and um yeah maybe a recommendation not necessarily on
the second on the 3rd of August at noon doing this climb. Today it’s about 35°. I don’t mind the
temperature, but maybe it’s not for everybody. Got to Valberg, which is a bit of
a cultural shock because I think everybody else came from the
other road. full with people, 1684 m height. This is the highest point of
this the weekend. Now it goes down to Breuil. Climbing up the third coal of the day. It’s
not too long. I think it’s 4-500 meter altitude gain. The landscape changed again completely. I
feel that every valley has its own microclimate. Col de Couillole, third pass of the day,
1677 m. The two there took over very very easily on the way up, but they take a break.
Maybe they cannot catch me on the way down. Now I’m on this very long descent. I
think it’s like 30 – 40 km just downhill all the way to Nice. And this is Roubion. Another
magnificent village purched up there on the hill. This is Roubion on the way down to Nice. It is the moment of choice. It’s 4 p.m. The flight
is at 9:30. I can roll down this road all the way to Nice in 34 km. Or I can go up that road
there, this one here, and it’s going to be 62 km with about 1,000 m of climb. I’ve already
done 125 km and 3,000 m of altitude gain. I think I’m going to regret the choice that
I just made. Brilliant choice. I decided to do the the long climb. It’s going to be
tight with the flight. Yes. Otherwise, I would have done that road. It
looks nice actually. But yes, otherwise I would have got to the airport around
maybe 6:00 or 5:30. And then what do I do for for the remaining two hours to the flight? Let’s
see. I can already see that my legs will stop stop turning. I will have full crisis and then
we’ll see if and how we make it to the airport. The road down there, if you see with the
cars, is the one where I made the choice to come up and so far it’s the right choice
because it is pretty amazing also this road This village is called La Tour and
it is about halfway up the climb. So from the main road which was about at 200
m of altitude, the road went up to La Tour to 650 m then down very very steep to 370 m and now
going up to Uteille which is at about 900- 950 and then that’s it. I think it’s the
last climb, fifth climb of the day. I feel it’s pretty crazy. In 4 and 1/2 hours,
I have, less than that, I have a flight taking off from Nice. And I got to this completely lost
and isolated road that is going up and down much more than I expected. I’m really curious to see if
I make it. also because if anything breaks down, I’m lost because there is no signal, no cars,
nobody. Let’s hope. Absolutely brutal. So, it was way more up and down than Google Maps was
showing. And now I think it’s the last, I hope, climb. And it’s 300 m of altitude gain within
less than 3 km. So, more than 10% slope. And then it should be all downhill. No idea where this
road ends. I feel so lost in the middle of France. Seems crazy to think that I have a flight in a few
hours and in 12 hours I’ll be working the office. Yes. Made it to the top. Wah. That was tough. And
now it is about 5:50. flight at 8 – 9:30. I’m not sure how far it is from here. And this Utelle,
brief stop there and then all the way down. So, 6:00 p.m. Nothing open. So, my good bar
that I had with me, Google gives me 47 km to the airport and it’s 6:00. The flight is
at 9:30, but I need to pick up the bag. So, I have to be there by 8. That should
be doable if there is no issue of sort. 7:45 and 2k from the airport. So easy peasy.
I even got a a message that my flight is again delayed about 1 hour but in the same message
it was also written that the check in time and bag drop off time is unchanged. We made
it 8:00 and I recovered the bag and now the airport is on the other side. Half an hour to
do to check in the bicycle. 8 and 10 minutes bicycle dismantling. 8:20 bicycle packed. No,
no, no picture. And check in completed at 8:26. Exactly 4 minutes before it closed. Here I am at
the boarding gate waiting for my flight which is delayed 1 hour. Summary of the weekend. It was
absolutely extraordinary. I came several times to southern France. But these canyons and these
landscapes uh I didn’t imagine it was something like this in France nor Europe. The second
day is finished at 196km I think and 4,500 m. If you want to see the route, you can look on the
description the GPS links and I can recommend it 100%. It’s not an easy ride. There’s a lot of
climbing. Uh so maybe not ideal for families, but you have no troubles with the road bike.
I think it’s one of the most extraordinary rides that I have done. So I hope you
enjoied the video and see you next time.
I wasn’t supposed to be here. But with heavy rain heading for Munich and the Alps, I booked a last-minute Friday night flight to Nice — chasing the sun and a bit of adventure. What I ended up finding was far beyond anything I had imagined.
This video is not a highlight reel — it’s the full story of a spontaneous weekend that turned into one of the most breathtaking rides I’ve ever done. Just me, my bike, and the road ahead. Over two days, I covered 350 kilometers and climbed 8,500 meters through wild canyons, quiet villages, and remote mountain passes — with hardly another soul in sight.
The landscape shifted constantly: red rock gorges, sweeping pine-covered slopes, ridgelines so quiet you could hear your own breath. The air was crisp, the roads smooth, and every turn brought something new. I filmed as I rode and talked through what I saw, felt, and thought — the solitude, the joy, the fatigue, and the sheer beauty of it all.
📌 GPS tracks if you want to ride it yourself:
Day 1: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/19930265639
Day 2: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/19940001624
#cyclingprovence #verdon #soloride #cyclingfrance #epicweekend #spontaneousadventure #gravelroads #frenchrivieraride #coldecouillole #gorgesdedaluis #gorgesduverdon #cyclingescape #bikepacking #roadcycling #garminroutes