Day 8: Saint-Etienne-de-Tinee → Valdeblore

After several arduous days, Stage 8 was a gentle respite – a shorter day designed for recovery and transition. I rolled out of Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée in the morning light, following the Tinée River downstream. The road cut through a gorge, with limestone walls rising steeply on either side. It felt liberating to descend for a while, hardly turning the pedals as my bike coasted along the winding river valley. Tiny villages clung to the mountainsides – Isola, with its red-tiled roofs, passed in a blur. The bikepacking French Alps experience isn’t all about punishing climbs; at times like this I could relish the simpler act of cruising through magnificent scenery.

At the town of Saint-Sauveur-sur-Tinée, I left the valley floor and headed up a side road towards Valdeblore. The climb was modest compared to recent monsters: around 600 m of elevation gain spread over a dozen kilometers. Still, my legs protested at first, reminding me of the previous days’ efforts. The road to Valdeblore ascended in a series of switchbacks, offering increasingly expansive views of the Tinée Valley below. Wildflowers dotted the roadside, and occasionally a car would pass, giving a friendly honk or a wave of encouragement. The scene was idyllic – sunny blue skies, the sound of cicadas starting to buzz (a sure sign I’d reached a more Mediterranean climate), and the scent of warm pine needles in the air.