DAY 3
The legacy of Rally Monte Carlo
We started the third day of our tour of the Alpes-Maritimes by loading the TR40s in an instant and repeating the route from Roubion to Saint-Sauveur-sur-Tinée, but this time we took the M2205 heading south and not north. Today it is not about accumulating great peaks, but to discover a lower part of the Alpes-Maritimes through which most of the stages of the Rally Monte Carlo run. Barely 5 km and we must turn left through a very tight hairpin (very poor visibility!) that gives access to the M2565. We are in the section called La Colmiane, and from here on, whoever gets dizzy should not continue… Everything but the straight bike.
In these conditions we are very grateful to have installed the TR40, which weigh very little and affect much less to driving than a set of loaded hard cases, great for trips with a point of adventure or very happy driving. We crossed La Bolline, Valdebore, Saint-Dalmas, to finish in Saint-Martin-Vesubie. Roquebillière, Vesubie and finally the Bollène-Vesubie. From this town the road becomes the M70 and becomes even more twisty, a succession of hairpins and hairpin bends that seems to have no end. Until you finally reach a crossroads, at elevation 1,607, with a magical atmosphere. You are at the top of the emblematic Col de Turini. If you like rallies, this is a place you are obliged to visit one day.
Depending on the time you should stop for a coffee, lunch or simply to breathe the racing atmosphere. There are several establishments on the plain at the top, called Camp d’Argent, but we recommend that you enter Les Trois Vallées and let yourself be fascinated by all the history of the world of rallies that is in the thousands of historical photos on its walls, it is a museum.
Best curves of your life?
I don’t know about the best ones, but these will be unforgettable, for sure. We descend on the D21, Route de l’Authion, the section known as Peira-Cava, which becomes Route du Col de l’Orme as you accumulate an impressive succession of hairpins to Luceram. We continue on the D2566 to L’Escarene and from there we go to complete the road to Sospel on the D2204. And here is where we find some curves that you have seen a thousand times in the summary videos of the Monte Carlo: its endless cantilevered hairpins that gain height or descend rapidly, a real spectacle.
From Sospel we head south, along a beautiful road, the same D2566 that we had left before, but further ahead and towards Castillon, until we reach the A8 at Menton, already on the coast.
DAY 4
Planning the return day
This last stage is a real pleasure for the senses, as it begins by crossing the twisty roads of the beautiful Mercantour National Park, and then completes a succession of sections and kilometers that are as demanding as they are fun.
We still have the way back. If we rest in Menton itself, we can return directly by freeway the next morning, of course. But ideally, since we are on the Côte d’Azur, we should take the opportunity to visit Monaco, Nice, Cannes or Marseille, for example.
What should we pack?
The Terra TR40 allows us to compress a lot of clothes inside, and the inner bags make them extremely practical as they do not require complete disassembly every night. Ideally, tools, spare gloves, thermal clothing and waterproofs (remember that in the mountains the weather is very changeable) are on one side, and the clothes “on foot” and phone chargers and cameras, for example, are in another bag, all organized in a very easy way.
Remember to always carry the essential tools: puncture kit, keys with the most common steps of our bike, a few flanges, duct tape, chain spray, and some bicomponent adhesive that can repair a metal crack. We always move around countries with good assistance services, but being self-sufficient on a lonely alpine road can save us from having to wait for assistance for a few hours, or having to spend the night where we had not planned. Everything will fit more than enough in our Terra TR40!
Text and photos: Luis Morales
