July 17th - Day 8
We got a late start today - 11:40 am. We left our condo to drive to Parc National du Mercantour. Google maps showed that it was about 1.5 hours from Cannes. I was excited about going hiking in the mountains. I expected Mercantour to be like going to a US national park or like Slagbaai Nationa Park in Bonaire - with an entrance, visitor center, and trails to hike. Our drive was very pretty. Lots of twisty road, tunnels, and beautiful views. The roads we were driving on had signs showing they were part of the route for the Tour de France bicycle race. I cannot imagine trying to pedal up those hills.
After driving for a bit, we stopped at a bakery for lunch. The food was very good.
So many yummy looking things to chose from.
We all shared what we had ordered.
When we got back on the road, the GPS was being finicky. It showed that we were still more than an hour away from the Mercantour. Quite a ways from the little town where we ate lunch, we drove by a car parked on the side of the road. About a mile later, we saw a woman hitchhiking. We were out in the middle of nowhere. We decided to stop and help her out. Her name was something like Sandrielle. My husband can speak French, it was actually his first language. He is French Canadian. Boogs and I cannot speak French. While my husband was talking with Sandrielle, she asked where we were headed. We told her "Park National du Mercantour." She looked at us a bit funny and explained that Mecantour was an area, not a specific location to go to. She said she wanted to be dropped off at any nearby town. We asked about a good place to hike. She told us about La Colmiane, a place where a friend of hers lived. So we agreed to drive there and drop her off and then check for a place to hike. It was about a 25 minute drive to La Colmiane. Once there, Sandrielle asked to be dropped off near the ski slopes. We offered to take her to a specific address, but she said she was fine.
La Colmiane is a resort located in the town of Valdeblore in the Maritime Alps in the Provence Alpes Cote d'Azur. We parked and then went to the visitor's center to ask about hikes. We only wanted to hike for about 2.5 hours. We were told that we could walk the road along the ski slope and go to the top to see some great views.
We decided to walk down to the town center before heading out on our hike. Then, we saw this sign. The Zipline at the resort is the longest zipline in France. They also had summer tobogganing. We decided to zipline and toboggan instead of hike. It was a great decision.
We walked halfway up the ski hill and then took the chairlift the rest of the way up to the top to reach the zipline. Wow! The views of the Mercantour Mountain Range were spectacular. Boogs was pretty nervous on the way up the chairlift.
It started to drizzle a little bit while we were getting into the zipline gear. We were still able to go in the rain.
My husband went first. I think it made me more nervous to wait and watch my husband and Boogs go before me. During the descent, you reach speeds of 75 mph (120 km/h). Look at the mountain peak off in the distance in this picture. It almost looks like a fake backdrop. The scenery was absolutley stunning on the ride downhill.
You ride this zipline laying down like Superman. You put your feet against the black bar the worker is holding in the above picture. You have to keep your legs straight and keep pressure against that bar for the entire ride.
Boogs was next. He was nervous but ready to try it.
There were parts where you felt like you were going to crash right into the trees.
Halfway through the ride, you stop at a platform, unclip, walk down the stairs of the platform, walk over to another platform, and the clip back in to complete the rest of the ride.
The line crossed over two small lakes.
The rain started to pick up a bit while we were on the ride. The raindrops stung my face a little but did not dampen the thrill of this ride. I had a blast!
Boogs looked a little sick when he finished the zipline. He said he liked it but was very nervous on the line.
It really started raining. The summer toboggan is closed when it rains. So we went to one of the outdoor cafes to wait out the rain. We had drinks while we waited.
The rain finally stopped so we headed back to the chairlift once more. Boogs was not at all worried about the chairlift on our second time up.
On the way up, we checked out the track we would soon be racing down.
If you look at the center red post in the picture below and then look straight above it on the top of the ski hill, you can see where we were going to start the toboggan ride.
We were lucky that the area was not crowded on the day we visited. France, and most of Europe, was under an "extreme high temperature" alert. It was hard for us to believe that a high of 77 degrees Fahrenheit was extreme weather. Back in Texas we had days upon days of 100 degree F temperatures.
My husband went down the ride first. Boogs went second and I went last.
I rode my brake quite a bit down the course. My guys made fun of me for taking soooooo long to get to the end. I videoed my ride down, it took me over three minutes. Apparently, they both made it down in almost half that time. The ride was 1670 meters (a little over a mile) in length with a 400 meter (1312 feet) drop, 22 turns, and a max speed of 42km/h (26 mph). I never reached the max speed.
We left La Colmiane after the toboggan ride to head back to Cannes. We took a different route back and really enjoyed the scenery.
I find it fascinating to see how roads and tunnels are carved through rock. We went through a lot of tunnels on our way back down to Cannes.
There were lots of pretty towns along the way.
It turned out to be a great day of adventure. I am so glad we took a chance and picked up a hitchhiker.
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