Penguins Bike

Day 17 - Tour de France - Marseille, France to Ventimiglia, Italy

Sarah

July 7, 2026 - biked 50 km (31 mi), train'd 224 km (139 mi) - biked 870 km (541 mi) total

To keep on schedule, today was another half-train-skip day. We had a delightful breakfast with Clara, then biked up a big hill to the train station with a view in Marseille, and hopped on a train to Nice. Our goal for the rest of the day will be to bike out of France to Italy.

This next section, with 1700 ft elevation gain you’d hope the views are worth it. At the midway point we felt betrayed by the route. How can this be sanctioned as the EuroVelo for cyclists like us? I barely passed someone who walked up the hill. The highest grade was 18%.

Apparently you can’t leave by bike France without literally biking the Tour de France. We didn't realize it until the top but the EuroVelo was actually following part of the 2020 Tour de France mountain stage 2!

David always waits for me to catch up and one such point, I huffed, “I’m about ready to chuck all my bags down the hill.” “But not the one with the cookies!” he quickly double checked.

We ate everything remaining, including cheese purchased seven days ago that we hadn’t refrigerated. We feasted just out of Nice, surrounded by mansions with one of the best views in the world and a surprise horse!

At the very top, not only were we rewarded with yacht-scattered ocean views but we got to see deeper into the Alps. Eek!

After several more stops, we finally made our descent. This is the time where I wait for David. David was feeling a little conflicted about taking this really grueling route instead of taking an easier, but more traffic, sea route through Monaco. Monaco seems like such an interesting place, but then we kept seeing more mega-yachts, more helicopters landing on mega-yachts, and noticed there were no cycle paths through the city and he thinks the grueling hills were the better decision.

On a leveling out after a 25mph descent, I just happened to stop in front of probably the fanciest hotels with the richest views. One of the door keepers did the universal sign for drink and I nodded quickly. He gave me water in its rarest form—cold!

Even though we were soon done with the descent, we still had 100m of elevation and some km and boarder crossing to cover before reaching our campsite.

We are in Italy!

I get clumsy when I’m depleted and I refused to blow up my mattress pad before eating dinner. Thankfully, David had a battery powered pump that saved that little bit of energy.

We showered, because we try to at least blend in with general society when off-bike, before stuffing our faces, this time with our first brush with Italian food.

Breakfast utility. Must have?
All boarded up to Nice.
It was hot when we got out the train.
Nice shot and Nice shot.
The climb begins.
Granny gear activated.
We go there. Which was more up.
Literally that high.
Half way up.
We need lunch.
David stuffing his face with chocolate croissants. A horse secretly watches from below.
I gave the horse a bit of cookie.
We finished all our leftovers in one frenzy.
David crushing it.
Count the yachts.
Some castles here are fake. Unclear if this is one of those.
Even the junked out cars are Bentleys.
Most picturesque pickleball court in the world.
All those hills make sense now. TdF 2020, Stage 2.
View into the Alps from the top!
Monaco from above. Looks rich.
Cold water guys.
Monaco is pretty.
I could quarantine here.
Instagramable. Or at least everyone else was instagramming these steps.
Almost there.
The Italian border.
Italy was mostly tunnels at first.
Ventimiglia is an old Roman town built on a hilltop. It shows.
Camp first, then shower, then eat.
Do you need any bird name ideas? Or perhaps children?
Turns out "megayacht supplies" is a business category.
First pizza without it sliced for me.
Seafood gnocchi.