9/11. Sosphel to Menton - the END

Once again blogspot says I've reached a photo limit so text only - sorry

We slept till 8 and I was the most comfortable bed I've been on all summer. We put together our gear and had a nice breakfast on the terrace in the cool morning air.
We headed out and up on the last day of the trip without ceremony. There was a 7 hour walk ahead and that was our focus. Gravel road led to trail and we charged right up without any sense of fatigue or soreness from the previous day. We were "conditioned" by a daily dose of this. The GR is in good cool shade to the first pass and really to the second. But as we came closer to the coast damp coastal fog blew inland that wasn't cooling- rather a mugginess set in which made the going harder. There were old stone terraces everywhere and many stone ruins. The advocates of this route describe the dramatic views of the coast on the last day but we were cheated of these by the fog. We reached the last Col du Berceau having climbed 3840 ft for the day and headed downhill in the fog. This section is slippery gravel and potential trouble - poles helped me a lot. This level outa Plan du Lion where we had glimpses of road below. Now going down again, we found the trail more forgiving albeit steep. Finally hazy views of the harbor as we dropped below the coastal clouds. The air warmed and smelled of ocean, the vegetation changed and we had only negotiate the final descent on slippery trail ( I slipped once and Tammy almost went down a scary embankment) then streets alternating with narrow cobbled walkways between upscale hillside villas. An old path. Finally at the bottom we reached the harbor. 4990 ft of down in a day leaves the feet sore. We were done with our adventure. It was quite a ways to our hotel and we walked of course- it was flat / easy. We took a few stares from the upscale tourists / locals here on the riviera. The town was beautiful and the legendary ambiance everything that it said to be. A wonderful place to be!
If asked how I feel at the end of this experience, I guess bewildered is the best single word. I haven't a destination to walk too and I think being a simple tourist in Turkey will not only be wonderful but useful as a way to reflect. There is much to say perhaps and perhaps I'll save this for a final post.