I wake up at my cowboy camp on the crest of a ridge 1,200m above the Mediterranean Sea, the end goal of all my hardships of the last few months. The beautiful aqua blue hues of the water slowly make themselves known as the sun breaks through the horizon, with the full moon, having done a full 180° in the night, on the Western azimuth now, as if the sun and moon were connected by an invisible rod and were twirling in tandem rotational symmetry through the Earth’s skies.
Here are some rare videos to document this exceptional sunrise, a real marvel to wake up to
I practically run down the last 5km of trail, although it is steep and laden with slick, sandy gravel. I come to the urban environment of Menton and follow a series of staircases and roads down, finally coming to the Mediterranean at a large marina. I turn right and go a bit farther down the boardwalk, finding a perfect little beach at which to complete the final, necessary, freeing ritual of the GR5, to walk into the Sea, a new person for all the trials and tribulations that the trail has laid down before me.
I hang around the town of Menton for a few hours, eating tons of ice cream and sorbet and other comfort foods.
Then, I hop on a train for 30 minutes that takes me to the famous Cote d’Azur town of Nice! My friend’s family were nice enough to pick me up and give me a lovely place to land right in town.
My newfound friend and I would spend the next two days experiencing all the great cultural characters of the area, from the food, the beach parties, a sauna (very good for your skin surprisingly), some Cape walking, a sunset hike up to the top of a 1,500 foot mountain, some music making, and a lot of good conversation.
Finally, I had to leave Nice, hopping on the night bus to arrive in Paris at 7:30am, before the train to London at 4 that day.
That’s it! No more adventures to write for you and I, to enjoy for ages to come.
A sad day, maybe, but I am forever changed by this spectacular trip through the Alpes and the Pyrénées, in ways that I will need some time to fully realize.
Yet I know that it will take some time before I truly come down from the mental/physical/spiritual high of climbing all those mountains, every day, for 3 full months. And these memories will never leave my mind, for as long as I draw breath on this Earth.
Good night.