111km of 2960km so far…

Today’s destination was Frejus by the sea, but I decided not to continue on the coastal road to avoid the hills. I made my way north east of Toulon up one single hill and for the rest of the day it was mostly pleasant downhills.
All nice and pleasant until my rear tire went flat again. It was on the exact same spot with two days ago, where the inner tube touches the 5th spoke’s hole on the rim. I couldn’t see anything wrong with it, or something sharp that might have caused it. I covered that spot with loads of tape and the patch it self will hopefully prevent this from happening again. I then put some music to my mp3 player to restore my mood and continued cycling.

The entrance at Cuers

With this incident and that kebab in Cuers that took 20 minutes to appear on my table, I lost a couple of hours of my day and I was worried I won’t make it to my destination. But wasn’t much of a problem, as each little village on the way had a camping site.
Today’s route wasn’t that interesting, mostly because the road I chose run in parallel with the motorway and the scenery didn’t change much. All the villages I visited though had some really nice streets with colourful houses and very narrow alleys.

The little train

Noting new, just vines

That's not a tree. Look closer and you will see some antennas

Le Muy

At around 6pm I was in Frejus, late enough for the tourist office, but not for the town hall to ask for the map of the city and directions for one of the many camp sites. The city has also very nice streets and I noticed many Roman ruins on the way. The camp site it self is alright for 2 stars, but for 22 euros during the off season, it is the most expensive one I’ve been so far. Thanks to my excellent bargaining skills, I dropped the price to 15. I bet tomorrow in Nice, they will be even more expensive, so I may as well go to the hostel.

Frejus

The main church

Surely this colour combinatoin didn't came out randomly

Roman remains

Just after dinner in the tent

66km of 2819km so far…

Overlooking Cassis

Cassis is  surrounded by hills and that’s why the camping was full of rock climbers. In the morning I had to go down to the center and buy a few things, so right after I had to climb a very steep road. Then looking for the road I needed to take to the next town, I got confused and tried two different roads for a couple of kilometers, both uphill and both wrong. Then I realized the road was down the village, close to its center. So there I was, first thing in the morning going up and down the mountains for no reason.
Even from the day before I was feeling a little tired and was thinking about taking the day off. Cassis was too small though to spend a whole day, so I decided to take the day off in Toulon which has a few more things to see and wasn’t that far away anyway.

One of the bays I went through

At midday I stoped at Bandol and bought some pate and a few other goods for a picnic style lunch at its port by the luxurious yacht. Since Toulon wasn’t more than 20km away and it was still early, I decided to take my time, have a drink at a cafe with wifi, until it gets a little cooler.

The small port of Bandol

As I was leaving, I noticed my back tyre needed some air. I pump it up, but a few kilometers down the road it went completely flat. I took it out and found the hole, which this time was on the inside. The protective tape was a little misplaced and I believe one of the spokes puncture it. It worries me a little though, as it’s the back wheel that was grinded on the tarmac the other day. Anyway, I fixed it and I moved on.
Once again, I got a little confused with how to locate the road I wanted. There were two roads to get to Toulon, each going around the different side of a hill. One of the passing drivers helped me to find it and suggested to take the upper one as it is faster. When I got to Toulon though I realized that the camp site is not actually inside the town but at the nearby town at the west. I ended up doing an extra 10km to find Seyne on the other side of the hill and close to where I was talking with that driver. That’s one of the reasons I am still in France, even if I’ve just reached my initial estimation of kilometers. But who said I am in a hurry?