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Back onto the trails again for a trebly bittersweet day. Leaving the delights of Monaco will be hard, but by now you will be, like every elite athlete, addicted to exercise and it will feel good to be hiking again. The fact that there are still 18 stages to do is daunting, but the anticipatory satisfaction of having done what you set out to do will build from day to day. The H2H is almost done! And, sadly, the H2H is almost done.

But not quite yet. 375km lie between you and St.-Rémy, and although some of the stages (such as this one) are long, they are nevertheless lower and gentler than what you have already done. You will not find the rest of the way overly difficult.

This first day takes you away from the coast, through the arrière-pays Niçois to the picturesque, perched medieval village of Aspremont. You'll be on and off roads all day, while passing through several large villages, and at times the surroundings are almost suburban... but don't worry, you'll be back in wilder country by the afternoon of the next stage.

Route
Except at the beginning, today's hike follows the same route as the GR51. Retrace your steps from the previous stage back up through la Turbie (478m) and over the A8 Autoroute to where you join the GR51. Head north at first, then consistently east through the hamlets of Spraès (450m) and Lou Care (395m), the sister villages of Drap (88m) and Cantaron (90m) on either side of the Paillon River, and the old/new village of Tourrette-Levens before finally arriving at Aspremont.

Alternatives: there are taxis in Drap and Tourrette-Levens that you could take to shorten the day (for taxi contact information, see here).
Map: IGN-3742OT Nice / Menton.

Journal
The House to House blog... stage 75.

Photos
<A couple of representative photos from this stage will be added here after the hike>
In the meantime, click here to go to all of the H2H photos on Flickr.

GPS Track
<To be added during or after hike>

Room and Board Options
Lunch: you can probably have lunch in Drap or Cantaron after about 4.5h, or you could just picnic.
Dinner and overnight: there are only two places to stay in Aspremont -- the Hostellerie d'Aspremont (+33-(0)4.93.08.00.05, 7 rooms), and the Hotel le Saint Jean (+33(0)4.93.08.00.66, 9 rooms). If both are full, you could stay in Tourrette-Levens at the Hotel Auberge Chez Lucien (+33(0)4.93.91.52.51, 6 rooms), or further along in Colomars at the Auberge du Rédier (+33-(0)4.92.15.19.00, 26 rooms), but in either case I recommend taking a taxi from and (at the beginning of the next stage) to Aspremont, in order to avoid making either this stage or the next unpleasantly long.

Getting There and Back
Monaco: there is a railway station here (for train schedule information, see the SNCF).
Aspremont: Ligne d'Azur buses (line 76) go several times a day from Aspremont to Nice, where there is a railway station and a major airport (for bus schedule information, see here). Alternatively you can look here for a taxi to take you the 10 or 15 km to Nice.
ViaMichelin Road Map and Driving Directions: centered on Monaco, centered on Aspremont.

Background Information and Links
Many and various...

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