Glyders from Capel Currig & an eclipse.

Siabod cafe: I really fancied a breakfast and nice coffee. So I headed down Watling Street (a gravelly track) and found Joe Brown’s shop had a water tap. Anyway, the coffee was good. Then off to the beginning of the Glyders. The climb was long & steady. After an hour or so, the tip of Tryfan peeped up.

Long ridge ascent:

Change of descent path: I asked a passing hiker whether she’d seen water the other side of Glyder Fach. She recommended a descent this side of Tryfan because the descent the other side of Fach is horrible. She’s right so I took her advice.

A spring: there’s a good spring just west of Tryfan on the descent where I got a couple of litres and that saved the day for me. Yesterday was very tough.for the last 1½ hours, no springs.

Eclipse: the first notch was visible at 18.05 then it developed surprisingly quickly.

I took this photo to try recording the light on the landscape during the eclipse.

32° to 41°C, full sun negligible wind. Zero cloud.

St. Paul de Vence. I missed the turning to the best route. The initial stage had heavy traffic but nothing compared with the last part. There was a steady 5% climb and then turn at the garage to approach the village from the north.

Pont De Loup: a small village below Gourde that appeared on my route just at the time I was out of water. I asked a young local woman about water and she pointed towards a fountain in teh wall so I got my fill. She suggested that water was safe, but frankly, I was so thirsty, I took the risk.
Next I rolled into the village and stopped for an Ice Tea. Then returned to the fountain where the road turns for Bramafan. This is another steady 5% climb which I comfortably chugged along. There are a few tunnels up here, one of which had no lights. Traffic was so light that it didn’t matter. Just before one of the tunnel entrances, I looked up to an amazing sight. A real Mare’s tail of a waterfall.

Gourde this was a relief after St Paul. There were tourists but not excessively. A nice German woman in the tourist info explained about the spring water fountains. Those fountains are regularly tested for safety. So my risk was justified.

Grasse: this stage should have been a chance to raise the average pace from the long climb to Grourde. But here I found rush hour traffic and effectively rode with brakes on most of the time. Another problem was a result of inadequate planning – my map wasn’t that good.

Cannes: horrible heavy traffic. Drivers were reasonable but it was the sheer number of vehicles plus weaving mopeds. Progress was slow, bumper to bumper.