Europe 2006 - Nice and the Maritime Alps


After meeting up with Marit in Luzern, I caught a series of trains down to Nice on the Cote de Azure. At the station I was met by Philippe and two friends of his - Jerome and Tony. Phillipe is a local canyoning expert - and the author of a guidebook to the canyons of Corsica. We went up to Philippe's house on the mountains above Nice, where I met his wife Line and son Guillaume. In the afternoon we went climbing at a local crag - Levins - and we did some nice climbs until it started to rain.



Above - Tony on a climb



Above - Philippe on a climb (left) with Line belaying. Jerome on the climb that Tony led - with Tony belaying



Above - Guillaume (aged 9) climbing



Above - Tony belaying



Above - Line climbing



Above - Jerome climbing

The next day was to be a day of canyoning - and Philippe was going to show me the Clue de la Maglia ("Clue" is the local name for canyon). This is regarded as a beautiful and spectacular canyon. Unfortunately we had heavy rain and we thought it best not to do the canyon.



Above - The Clue de la Maglia is in the main valley



Above - the narrow mountain access road



Above - On the way back - Philippe showed me some of the local scenery - here is Monaco



Above - An old fort near Nice



Above - Nice

We then had lunch in the old city of Nice - and enjoyed a local speciality - Socca



Above - Philippe in the old city - with a plate of Socca



Above - The beach at Nice



Above - me, at Nice

Philippe then went back to his and Line's house via a very scenic valley that has a number of canyons running off it. the heavy rain had raised the water level of the canyons and the main river.



Above - the main river



Above - a canyon



Above - the main river



Above - canyon



Above - the main river - very spectacular!

I would like to thanks Philippe and Line for their very good hospitality. Thye were also a great help with information and advice (and so where jerome and Tony) for my next adventure in Corsica

Continue to Corsica and the GR20

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