Studying the map and visiting a few websites revealed a potentially interesting little place just west of Vence and north of Saint Paul de Vence. All extended incoherent babbling harangues aside, les Tourrettes sur Loup would be our next adventure destination.
We packed our lunch and hit the road around 11h00. The route was becoming somewhat familiar. We'd already visited les hauts de Cagnes and Saint Paul de Vence and the path to les Tourrettes re-covered some of this territory.
Vence is another village perche' that comes recommended, but on entering that village along our way all we could see were modern residences and to experience our first honest to gawd traffic jam. And here we thought we were in the middle of nowhere. Ugh.
It was market day and some of the vendors were closing down their stalls and moving on. But we didn't know this until we'd finally beetled our way up to the intersection where we would meet our goat path to les Tourrettes.
We have the impression that a lot of people live in the hills up behind Cagnes sur Mer. Even in the dead of winter and in the middle of a rather strong pandemic there are people in motion. Houses and swimming pools dot the area in surprising density. If one were trying to get away from the Great Unwashed, this wouldn't be the place to do it.
Still, our visit to les Tourrettes was very pleasant and there were few people in the village perche' itself. This seemed a consistent theme. People might be out and about in their vehicles going hither and thither, but all of our visits to these hilltop towns have been quiet and nearly devoid of other human life.
We bought what turned out to be a wonderful loaf of bread from a les Tourrettes boulangerie and hit the road back to Nice. With the 18h00 curfew there tends to be a bit of traffic starting around 16h00.
There'd been no one around when we turned onto the goat path toward Vence, so we were surprised to hear a *honk* and to see in the rearview mirrors a late-middle-age woman giving an exasperated gesture (throwing her hands up in the air).
She was Clearly Annoyed. We were blocking her rapid progress. The speed was clearly marked as limited to 50km/hr. We were doing, um, yes, 50km/hr. Not good enough, I guess.
Fortunately for all concerned there was a short straight just around the next corner. We could hear the big VW 4x4 V8 spool up as she blasted by and disappeared around the next (somewhat sharp) bend.
Wherein we learn that the locals know their roads better than the French authorities who are responsible for public health and safety as well as signage.
It is certain this will not be the last time we Clearly Annoy the locals.
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