Le Cure Finale -Ouch La La

It’s the final day! One big 133km loop around the Cote d’Azur, bringing us back to our starting hotel for a sumptuous meal with new friends and a glowing sense of achievement. Humph. Well, that didn’t go to plan.

We had a different route planner for today, who shall remain nameless, but thought it was a good idea to start us off with a 20% climb out of town. I made it halfway up to a flatish cross road and had to stop. The faster fitter group went on ahead but when I saw that all but one of them had had to get off and push, I didn’t feel so bad while walking my bike up the next 300m. Phew! There were some incredibly sweary words said.

I’m not a huge fan of the Riviera, it’s overpriced, overcrowded with busy roads and regularly rude people, but boy is it beautiful. When you get out of the towns and into the hills, it’s magnificent.

Long sweeping roads hugging the hillsides, cafes with spectacular views and a crew of fellow curistas who were fast becoming close friends. Best of all, we were on the final leg and we were going to make it.

As well as the slightly brutal start, the other challenge was that the two main climbs of the day, Montee a Gourdon and Col du Vence were both before lunch. The first one was pretty simple but from the town of Vence up to the Col was pretty steep and pretty long. Our lunch was waiting for us at the peak of the Col where I was planning on sneaking a quick massage in too. I’d experienced sheer delight the day before by having my tired legs massaged, while face down eating a fully filled wrap. Never before has a face hole in a massage table been put to better use. Cycle tour heaven. With that in mind, I kept turning those pedals.

It wasn’t a busy route so we just had the occasional car pass us and then a fire engine. Uh oh. Then another fire engine, then another. I was a couple of km from the top when I came across one of our support vehicles by the side of the road. There was a wildfire at the peak and the road had closed.

The group was split. The fastest eight riders had made it to the Col and were heading down the other side to complete the route. Most of the vehicles, including my beloved masseuses and our lunch were on the other side. Not to go to waste, our lunch was distributed to the fire fighters. Tiff, for all her hard work shepherding her flock of now 65 people, was now separated from us and had no idea where everyone was, where they were going or how they were getting back. Neither did we.

The rest of us regrouped and headed down to Vence for lunch and to plan our exit strategy. Some people headed back the way we came, some went cross country on a bearing and a group of us headed down towards the coast.

Not the best idea in the middle of tourist season but it was easy to follow and one by one, all the groups finally made it back into town.

Bedraggled, exhausted and with not much time to get into glad rags for the final send off, but we’d made it.

Le Cure was incredible. It was exhilarating, exhausting, it nearly broke me. I’m looking forward to next time.

If you’re interested in taking part in Le Cure, visit their website https://lecure.org/ and help raise vital funds for breast cancer research at the Royal Marsden. We raised nearly £300,000 this year and I couldn’t be prouder