Le Mal Infernet

My good colleague D.B. (whose real name I shall not reveal, so as to protect his identity) has been telling me about this mysterious, amazing place, as long as I have known it. A canyon deeper than the Grand Canyon. Landscapes so beautiful it steals the breath away. A place so magical, that once you have seen it, your life will never be the same again. This place is the Mal Infernet. Hmm, the name sounds a bit scary (a bit of research reveals the canyon is so named since the locals used to throw corpses of people who had dies of the pest in the canyon. Nice...).

Anyway, it was a gorgeus day for a cycle ride, as we set out on our mountain bikes (myself, Philippe and D.B.). The Mal Infernet it located in the Massif d'Esterel, which is one of the prettiest places in the region (or THE prettiest, as D.B. would put it). The views during the rides were, as expected, beautiful, with the ochre-coloured rock contrasting with the green trees and the blue skies.

And the canyon, then ? Is it as great as the rumours would have one believe ? Well, I'll say this, I'm not sure whether the Mal Infernet is as impressive as a Grand Canyon (I've never been there in person, so I guess I'll have to go to judge for myself), but it's surely one of the prettiest places in the region. The landscape is almost lunar here, with rocks in all sorts of weird (and sometimes scary) shapes looming over the canyon. One can almost imagine the name of the place comes from the mysterious rock formations, rather than from the pest-riddled bodies that were chucked down here.

Apparently, the place is even nicer in spring/summer time, when the water running at the bottom of the canyon is higher. Be that as it may, I was well pleased with this autumnal visit as well! After the canyon, the landscaped got back to the normal ones one would expect in Esterel - which is to say very impressive still. One of the section of the ride also followed the seashore, which was pretty nice.

So all in all, a fantastic bike ride! Merci D.B ;-)