Up Before the Larks !

Once again the alarm went off at 5-30 a.m., and I struggled to get up with the thought of a steep hill climb to come..however shortly before 7 a.m., I was off, back North along the coast road, towards my objective for today…the Col de Sainte Lucie, at 381 mts high, I wasn’t sure how steep the road was, although I had done some of it already…

I shot along the road towards Santa Severa, trying to get my leaden legs moving, and taking in the views across the inky seas, which just had a slight swell on it.. after about 15 minutes I reached my turn off, which was the road towards Luri, immediately as I turned into the road, it became a lot more pleasant, as I had turned out of the early morning sunshine, into a nicely shaded road, with the sun only occasionally beating down on my back..very pleasant, and a reasonably quiet road

After around 45 minutes I reached Luri, to have a sit outside the church, whilst I took a rest and drink –suddenly the church bells pealing out for some time – was it a welcome ?, or maybe a call to school – who knows, didn’t seem to have any effect, as nothing was moving apart from the men strimming the border grasses…

The road up to now had been quite pleasant, although climbing all the time, relatively smooth asphalt, and a good gradient…now the worm turned, and suddenly I was climbing at a fast rate, more than 10mts a minute..and as you guess the shade having gone !, I struggled to get back into my rhythm, but once into it, I realised I would soon be reaching my objective, without too much strain on me.. ,with someone having helpfully painted on the road ‘2kms’ 1 kms’ , so I had a good idea,although those last 50 mts were the hardest, but soon I came up to the signpost ‘Col de Ste Lucie,384 mts’ and the chapel of Ste Lucie at the side of the road..

Distant views over the coastline, and onto the west coast again – I wasn’t going to drop down there, as I wasn’t sure I’d be able to climb back up again (perhaps another day ?) After a nice drink, and more pictures it was time to switch the Muvi video camera on, mount my steed, and race back down the road to Luri, and Santa Severi – again with quiet roads, sweeping bends (and fast legs ) I zoomed along, only seeing a couple of cyclists struggling their way up the hill.. I swept back onto the coast road, thinking I was a lot nearer home, and the last hill of the day… which I did several times, before eventually reaching Pietracorbara  towing one grateful cyclist behind me (who I eventually made overtake me, and give me  a ‘tow’ for a short time)

So, I was back before 1030, another 40kmsride , and 465 mts climb ,dumped myself in the shower, rinsed my cycling gear, and stretched out to read, have Breakfast again, and lunch, and read and snooze in the heat of the day..

I had a swim later, not particularly doing much, listening to some ‘Yodelling’ music from some nearby Swiss, and watching some ants trying to shift some corn I’d dropped..what an exciting life !

Tomorrow ?, although tempted for some more riding I think I’ll get the 7 a.m. bus into Bastia for some sightseeing…Bonne Nuit !