Under the platane trees en route to Salon-de-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône)
Under the platane trees en route to Salon-de-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône)
(Click on the thumbnail photos to view a larger version.)
Day 1: We took the overnight flight on Air Transat direct from
Montréal to Toulouse, arriving at 11:15 AM. The clamp that
held Carol's computer to the bike was snapped off when we got the
bikes, only the second time we've had any damage to our bikes in 34
transatlantic flights. It was, however, in retrospect, a harbinger of
things to come. I bought a new computer for her when we cycled into
Toulouse and installed it at the station while we waited for the
train to take us to Lézignan-Corbières. We had planned
to cycle this stretch and take the train a few days later into
Marseille but an impending French rail strike made us adjust our
plans. We had the usual frantic scramble trying to find which rail
car was the one on which to load the bikes but we managed.
(We always choose trains that allow us to take our
bikes free as 'accompanied baggage' - 'bagage à main'.
Shipping them unaccompanied does not guarantee that they'll be there
when you arrive - and it's costly! To find these trains, check my web
page on 'bikes
on trains'.) We cycled the 17 km
from Lézignan to Oupia, a small village in the midst of the
Minervois wine district, stopping along the way for supper in
Olonzac. We came to Oupia to visit Tim & Susan Wallis who left
Canada in 1999 & bought an old house with attached outbuilding,
planning to transform the latter into a gîte
(a place you can rent for a week or a month or a
season) We saw both house and gîte-to-be in 1999,
shortly after Tim & Susan had arrived. The stone outbuilding
had a dirt floor. It had at one time been used as sleeping quarters
for seasonal grape pickers and later had housed some livestock but
had been abandoned for many years. We couldn't imagine how it could
be made livable. But we saw it again a year later with the
transformation almost complete and this year we saw the
finished product. "Lou Recantou", as Susan & Tim have called
the gîte, is a beautiful, private, self-sufficient,
3-bedroom, 2-bath facility with a modern well-equipped kitchen &
dining area and an attractive enclosed patio with a small pool. And
the dirt floor is now elegant ceramic tile. Sue & Tim have bikes
available for use by their guests and her map of the area is marked
with a spider's web of tested routes - short or long, easy or
challenging. Their location in the Minervois, midway between the flat
plain of the Canal du Midi and the hilly southern edge of the Massif
Central, allows that diversity. And they are less than an hour's
drive from Carcassonne and from the Mediterranean
beaches. (You can get more
info on the gîte from their web site at
http://www.lourecantou.com/
or by contacting Susan at s.wallis@wanadoo.fr
) We chatted late into the evening after our arrival.
(today's cycling distance: 31 km; today's high
temperature: 28°C/82°F)
Day 2: We had a lovely breakfast in the newly available
courtyard through the newly created door from the kitchen of the
house. (Now that the gîte was finished,
the talented Tim had turned his attention to the house, which, as I
recall from our first visit there, needed his attention. Much
progress has been made.) We all headed out for a nice hilly
Sunday cycle. We stopped for lunch at a good restaurant in Bize-Minervois. (Sue knows all the best spots.)
On our way back on a hill on a small country lane, Carol, for
the very first time on her new bike, shifted into the largest cog on
the rear cassette. Unfortunately, the chain skipped over this cog and
jammed itself between cassette and spokes (probably
because the derailleur had been squeezed during transit on the plane.
I'll check for that problem from now on.) Not surprisingly,
the bike stopped immediately but, luckily, Carol didn't fall. However
the plate which holds the derailleur to the frame bent and twisted
and the derailleur was jammed into the spokes. Once we assessed the
situation, Tim & Sue sped off to their place to get their car
while Carol & I waited. Tim
returned and he, Carol & the bike left in the car and I followed
behind. Tim & I worked on the bent piece with vise and wrench and
straightened it enough to give her enough gears in a pinch but Plan
'A' was to get it to a bike shop a.s.a.p. for a more complete repair.
We had a splendid late dinner that Sue prepared and again chatted too
late into the evening. (39 km;
28°C/82°F)
Day
3: Typically for France, the bike shop in Lézignan was
closed on Monday so our plan was to take the train at 1 PM from
Lézignan to Montpellier (since the rail strike
didn't start until 8 PM that day). Tim
& Susan drove Carol and her injured bike to the station and I
followed on my bike. Once in Montpellier we would get the bike fixed.
In Montpellier we dropped our sacoches at our hotel and set
out to find a bike shop. (Surprisingly, 'pannier' is
not a French word. The French word for pannier or saddlebag is
sacoche.) After two 'wild goose chases' I finally got
some real information and found a mid-town shop. Typically for
France, the bike shop in Montpellier was closed on Monday and would
open early the next day. While the main square and the esplanade
are attractive, our meanderings in search of a réparateur
de vélo had shown us that Montpellier suffered the same
ills as most large French cities: litter, graffiti, dog droppings,
beggars, etc. (A note about beggars: In the big
cities we often see women begging, sitting on the sidewalk with their
hand out and with a small child, from 2 to 5 years old, asleep at
their feet. No matter the time of day, the child is asleep. Perhaps
I'm getting too cynical as I get older, but I'm convinced the child
has been drugged.) Nice dinner though at restaurant
"l'Assiette" near the square. (22 km;
28°C/82°F)
Day 4: We got to the bike shop at 8:30 but
unfortunately the guy didn't get there until 9:30. He promised it
would be ready by noon. We came back at 11:30 and it was done. He had
straightened the plate as well as could be done and he replaced the 4
damaged spokes: 30 euros. So we were on our way by noon. It was an
easy ride with only a couple of climbs. I had hoped to make it all
the way to Arles but at 5 PM we arrived at St. Gilles and decided to
call it a day there. We had a great meal at our hotel - Hotel le
Cours - tellines persillades!
(Tellines are very small gray mollusks cooked
with olive oil, lots of parsley and LOTS of garlic. We love
them!) There's a huge 12th
century Benedictine church there and some other old dwellings on
the medieval back streets. Interesting old town! This would be our
last day under 32°C/90°F . (63 km;
25°C/77°F)
Day
5: We took a quiet country lane into Arles rather than the busy
route nationale, always a good idea. We had breakfast in
Arles. Arles, to me, is the most Provençal of cities. Some of
the sites painted there by Van Gogh are little changed in the hundred
odd years since he died. Arles boasts a Roman arena and theatre, both
still active, as well as dependably blue skies. Carol sneaked off for
a look at a brocante (sort of half way between
an antique market and a yard sale) which was set up across
from the tourist office. Once I had her back 'on task', we headed
east out of Arles on a quiet country road lined with bright orange
coquelicots (poppies) and fragrant,
brilliant yellow genêt d'Espagne
(Spanish broom - the 'planta genesta' that gave the
Plantagenets (Henry II, Richard the Lionheart,
John Lackland, etc.) their name).
Travelling in June we are seeing a lot more flowers in bloom than we
do in the summer months. There were peach and nectarine orchards on
both sides of the road that farther on gave way to olive groves and
finally to dry, scrubby garrigue as we neared the Alpilles, a
chain of small mountains. We stopped in the pretty old town of
Eyguières and then followed the tree lined road into
Salon-de-Provence. The old walled section of the town
('intra muros' - inside the walls) includes
the chateau, the beautiful 12th c. church of
St.Michel and the house of the famous prognosticator Nostradamus.
(79 km; 32°C/90°F)
Day
6: Most of the roads out of Salon are either routes nationales
or limited access autoroutes. We found a way out to the
east that avoided these heavy traffic routes and we were soon on our
way south on a quiet road, climbing steeply over a range of small
mountains and descending quickly to the flat plain by the sea, north
of Marseille. Since the rail strike was now on we couldn't get into
this large city by train so we headed to the airport and took the
navette (shuttle bus) from the
airport in to the rail station, not far from the port - anything to
avoid 25 km of busy city traffic! We tried to get a look at some of
the attractions of this ancient city but we were hobbled by our
loaded bikes and by the busy pedestrian and motor traffic. There are
things to see here but in our very few hours while awaiting the
departure of our "cruise ship" we couldn't do it justice.
(I've been telling my wife since we started planning
this trip that we'd be taking not one but TWO Mediterranean cruises:
one overnight from Marseille to Ajaccio (pronounced AH JAX EE OH) and
another overnight from Ajaccio to Marseille. How many of her friends
get to go on TWO cruises on the 'Med' on the same trip? NONE!! So
there'll be no talk of FERRIES. We'll be on the Mediterranean, we'll
have our own cabin and we'll be cruising. It has all the ingredients
of a cruise - and she'll have TWO of them!!)
We boarded the 'Paglia Orba' at about 6 PM but didn't set sail
until almost 8. We dined elegantly late in our 'suite' on Roquefort
cheese (without a doubt, the world's best cheese -
and, unfortunately, with a price to match its status),
baguette, fruit and yogurt. (52 km;
34°C/93°F)