Tag Archives: col

Day 40 – La Couronne to Cassis

64km of 2753km so far…

Sunrise by the camping

Sunrise by the camping

I woke up earlier than normal as the night before I had collapsed straight after my dinner. Today’s day was all about Marseille. I didn’t want to spend the night there, just to have a quick look, so I am glad I wasn’t that far away. Even though, it took me three hours to get into the city, because of the hills that I had to go up and all the highways I had to avoid.

A nice but louder way of traveling

A nice but louder way of traveling

I knew Marseille is a big port but only when I first saw it after exiting a small tunnel, I truly appreciated its scale. In order to get to the center, I had to go through its massive port, under highways and loads of construction sites. It was a little hard and didn’t really enjoy cycling there. At the center it was extremely busy, with loads of tourists and had a massive traffic jam. I kind of wanted to leave straight away, but in the end I did stay for a few hours, to eat some lunch and wonder around a little bit.

First view of Marseille

First view of Marseille

Looks like a human made beach

Looks like a human made beach

One of the street in the city

One of the street in the city

The old port

The old port

A market

A market

As I was about to leave, I noticed my front brand new tire was flat, even if it claims to be bulletproof. I repaired it quickly and started cycling again to the south. On the way out of the city, I stopped briefly to see one of Le Corbusier‘s building that is build there. I am sure there should be an apartment open to visitors, but it was getting late in the day to look for it.

Le Corbusier Meuble Court

Le Corbusier Meuble Court

and the famous Modulor

and the famous Modulor

Marseille from the near by hill as I was leaving

Marseille from the near by hill as I was leaving

Right after I exited the city, I started climbing the nearby hill to pass to the other side. My destination was Cassis, for which I heard it is a nice fishermen village with a camping. I found it, put my tent and after my dinner I went for a walk in its center and its nice port.

For all those that think that cycle touring is dangerous, hard and way too much effort, I met two German girls in the center that are on their bikes for the last month, cycling all around France, going up and down the mountains and sleeping in the wild. Rosy and Antonia are 19 and 20 years old and they still have another three weeks to go. I wish I had started touring at that age.

Day 39 – Saint Giles to La Couronne

125km of 2689km so far…

As I was leaving Saint Giles from the south side, I realized there was a factory behind the nice village. That was just a small sample of what I was about see during the day.

The first and only car accident I've seen so far.

The first and only car accident I've seen so far.

Heading south-east, I took a smaller road which looked a little more interesting on the map. Indeed it was a good choice, as for about a couple of hours I was cycling next to the natural reserve of Vaccares. It hosts many different type if birds, fishes as well as many other animals. Because of the numerous ponds around the area, I had to cycle with the mouth closed. Every now and then I would go through a cloud of bugs and about a dozen of them would be stuck on my cloths. Other than that, I really enjoyed that part of the ride, as the road was very quite and the surroundings very beautiful.

Reading and observing

Reading and observing

Bulls and a few birds around them

Bulls and a few birds around them

The big lake

The big lake

More birds

More birds

I had a 60cm sandwich for lunch in Salin De Giraud, where I didn’t find anything interesting to photograph, apart from the welcoming sign which said that it is a sister town with the Greek island Kalymnos.

No I am not in Greece yet.

No I am not in Greece yet.

And suddenly I run out of road

And suddenly I run out of road

After lunch, the scenery changed dramaticly. The natural reserve was replaced by big factories, refineries and ship yards. That’s what I was seeing around me for the next 4 hours, but at least there were not any big tracks and lorries overtaking me.

Windmills

Windmills

factories

factories

ships and cars

ships and cars

scrapyard

scrapyard

I got to Port de Bouc at around 4pm and as the city had a camp site, I was thinking whether to stay or move on. As I was going around the city looking for an ice cream, I realized I was still within an industrial zone. The tourist office was closed and even if I was uncertain if the next towns had camp sites, I decided to risk it and get out of this cancerous place.

The view of the scenery as I was leaving Port de Bouc

The view of the scenery as I was leaving Port de Bouc

Looking the three towns on the map, the first one was the smallest and the most isolated on the west. As I had to go up and down many hills to get there and I was getting a little tired, I decided to skip the first one and go straight to the two bigger ones that are merged together. When I got there a guy in a shop told me there is indeed a camping, but unfortunately when I got there they told me it was only for caravans and the tent camping was in the first town I skipped. Very dissapointed, I had to do the last 10km again, before I could pitch my tent and cook something to eat.

yet another col

yet another col

I shared my dinner with my neibours

I shared my dinner with my neibours