Just to prove the south of France does get its share of rain in the summer, I was awoken at 1am this morning by the most amazing thunderstorm.
It started out to sea and then came inland. It had the most impressive lightning display and sheer quantity of rainfall that I’ve seen inland, in a long time.
There is a short video taken from my balcony, below.
This was my final day before I passed Marseille and arrived at the waters of the Mediterranean Sea in Cassis. Still very hot, but I only had 32 miles / 51 km to cycle. Very hard to avoid the motorway but it is possible although you have to climb for this privilege. Still the relatively short distance meant that I had plenty of time to stop for lunch. See here, see short video below.
You are finally rewarded when just before Cassis there is a very fast downhill descent into the Town’s outskirts and of course there is the very steep hill down to the water’s edge itself.
The weather today was almost unbearably hot and very humid and sure enough there was rain just before I got into Cassis. Also passed another of the many very sad ‘shrines’ to young men who have died on their motorcycles on the roads of France. They are, almost invariably young men, under 25 who are killed either by motorists or perhaps simply by losing control whilst going too fast.
Here I am at the waters edge:
The rest of the photos I took are available here.
Another hard day of cycling in the heat, despite cycling on 50 miles / 80 km. I came across a tour bus from Scotland, that was obviously either completely lost or had some kind of super-powered propulsion system that allowed it to pick up tourists in the south of France and take them to the highland battlefields within a day.
As I left Avignon, I took a short video of the city walls and where I stayed.
I also found some money and wildlife, both by the side of the road. The approach to Aix-en-Provence is up a series of hills…
…and then there’s a fast descent which brings you right out in the centre of town. I managed to geotag my pictures so you can see the route I took on my photos page here.
Aix-en-Provence is an amazing city of art, culture. It has a really young feel to the place with lots of students and is a very safe place to come home from if you are out until the early hours of the morning. It is also a city of water with over 250 fountains.
Another 55 miles / 90 km travelled today. Not a lot but it is very, very hot and I stopped at the various places I cycled through, plus I took a lot of photos. I cycled through the Drome, the Ardeche, over the Rhone via a bridge closed for repairs, and through Orange before finally coming to Avignon.
Avignon is another very atmospheric place. The ancient streets have the same feel for me as places like Vezelay and Venice. the sense of people having live lives and of the ghosts of past life is almost palpable. The Palais du Papes is even today an symbol of absolute power. I cannot even begin to imagine how awe-inspiring it must have been to the medieval traveller or pilgrim who would have already been in even greater awe of the papal power it represented then we might imagine today, before being confronted with the sheer dominance of the scale of the Palace’s construction.
Another 77 miles / 125 km. This was easily my best day so far. Very fast and scary descent for 20 kilometers going down from the 1161m at the summit of Col de La Republique to La Versanne proper and Annonay.
Once you have descended, you essentially follow the Rhone all the way to Montelimar. The scenery is very southern now, no longer lots of sunflowers, now it is vines and fruit trees. Very very hot and temperature at least 30 degrees. Arms beginning to peel today, note to self: must find sunscreen.
The pictures I took are here. I also managed a video of the N7 below.
Only 40 miles / 60 km today but it did involve cycling through St. Etienne, trying to avoid motorways, getting lost and a very hard (for me anyhow) climb up the Col de La Republique 1161m or 3809 feet on a very hot day! It is also where you pass the monument to Paul de Vivie. Below is a video of what it looks like when you get to the summit.
Met a very helpful cycle shop owner with an amazing cycle shop, located very sustainably, in a disused former railway station. got my water bottles refilled and tyres pumped back up to 80psi. Here’s a link to the shop, which I can recommend, it is right after a fast downhill run before you arrive in St. Etienne. I also took a photo of the shop and it is with the rest of today’s pictures here.
‘Just’ 65 miles / 105 km today but felt as I was getting somewhere as for the first time I saw the roads signs indicating the through routes to the South! Specifically on the D352 to Marcigny which is signposted ‘BIS VALENCE / MONTPELLIER’.
There was no major difficulty until I reached the outskirts of Roanne where it become very hard to avoid the motorway. The route I eventually found can be seen from the photos I took, which I managed to geotag properly today.
However this was not before climbing for a good 50 minutes before meeting an elderly farmer, fixing his fence. He very kindly refilled my water bottles and then told me that the way I was going was impassable for my cycle and that I should go all the way back down the hill and take the ‘old route’ to St. Etienne! Below is a video of I took about 15 minutes into my climb!
Eventually arrived in Feurs and stayed at a typically French hotel which was very cycle friendly. Surprisingly pleasant dinner in their garden next to the railway tracks on Feurs Station. Welcomed into dinner by a charming hostess and served by a formally dressed waiter! Just a shame I was unable to reciprocate, having only jeans and a tee-shirt in my panniers. A further sign I was getting seriously south was the fact that at 9pm was dining outside and it was still very balmy.
A long day of rather monotonous cycling, went the wrong way when leaving Vezelay. An unfortunate mistake as this involves going down hill for a good ten minutes. Once the thrill of going fast downhill for a long time has worn off, it is very upsetting to discover you’ve gone the wrong way.
You have two alternatives, neither are very palatable. Either a long hard climb or make the best of where you have gone and try and get back on track. I chose the latter option. Travelled 88 miles / 140 km and only arrived late in the evening.
Paray-le-Monial is also on the pilgrims’ route and was packed with religious folks with the faithful in tow. Saw several large nuns with what appeared to be homemade backpacks, and also witnessed a teenage boy getting a very loud and public dressing down from a man in a collar for taking pictures in a church!
Paray-le-Monial is not nearly as ethereally atmospheric and beautiful as Vezelay but still with all the charm and gravitas that derives from having been a site of pilgrimage for well over a thousand years.
The few pictures I took are all of Paray-le-Monial and available here.
