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France
DAY 110
Sanary-sur-Mer
to Les Tamaris (near La Couronne)
We
are camped at a gorgeous spot on the Mediterranean in the Le Mas campground and
the sun is shining! How good can it get! Today the wind blew at gale force and
blew at least one cyclist, Sharon, right off her bike. Others got off and walked
to avoid that experience. There was a warning sign to motorists about the
violent wind for that stretch of the road. Apparently it is normal there, but
unfortunately today there was a very strong headwind for the entire ride. The
hills were many and steep, one descent was a 30% grade!
The
course took us right through Marseille, which is a very big city, skyscrapers
and everything, and it sits at the edge of the sea, with hundreds of yachts and
sailboats almost on the streets. It really is spectacular. The climbing took us
up to the pine forests where the hillsides were terraced and the pine trees were
planted in neat rows. The views from the tops of the climbs were spectacular.
The Mediterranean is three different shades of green and blue, depending on
depth I suppose. It was a great day again for the wind surfers who flew across
the water with their colorful sails.
But
I wasn’t flying or even cycling, but sagging again. I felt worse when I awoke
this morning than I had the day before. Luckily I felt so crummy that I didn’t
even want to cycle. I don’t know about tomorrow. The countryside is beautiful
and the DRG says ‘some excellent bird watching’. I much prefer that kind of
day to the traffic and rotaries we’ve had lately, but maybe it just means
remote and there won’t be any special birds at all. I will see how I feel in
the morning.
Guess
what is for dinner! Spaghetti! We have had pasta every night in France, but that
is probably because it is relatively inexpensive, not because it is a French
specialty. The wind continued to blow at gale force which was good because
everyone’s laundry dried in no time. We went to sleep with the sounds of the
waves breaking on the beach and the wind raging through the trees.
Au
Revior! Alice
DAY 111
La
Couronne to La Grande Motte
Wow!
All this sunshine is getting boring! Just kidding. This was a super day for a
ride, no hills, little wind, and sunshine. This was the day bird watching was
promised and sure enough we drove many miles through marshland where there were
interesting birds to watch, including flamingoes. I had to watch the birds while
whizzing by in a sag van however, but this will be my last day to sag. I am
feeling better, not well, but better. If that continues until morning I will
ride tomorrow. Yeah!
We
don’t know how it is decided which riders sag in which vans. Yesterday I rode
in a van with the three massage volunteers, Kim, who was driving, Rochelle and
Randy. Their mission for the day was to help any riders in need enroute, and to
get to the day’s campsite early, in time to set up for massages and to do
whatever else might be asked of them like setting up showers. These 3 volunteers
spend 7 or 8 hours on the road and then when they get to camp they have to help
with the setup and do massages for 2 hours. That’s a lot to ask of volunteers.
Today
I started the day in Jeff’s van and finished in Michael’s. Both Jeff and
Michael are volunteers and excel at driving the sag vans but if they also have
other responsibilities I haven’t seen them at it. I think we saggers
transferred out of Jeff’s van to Michael’s because it was Jeff’s turn to
stay late on the road assisting riders. Sometimes it is well after dark and even
after midnight before every rider is accounted for and safely into camp. Some of
the volunteers have to stay on the road no matter how late it gets and they may
well miss having dinner because of it. All of the volunteers deserve great
credit for what they do, and they do it with a smile too.
Today’s
route was flat and included vineyards, orchards, marshes, and saltpans. The
Petite Camargue region is proud of its agricultural traditions (I read), which
include raising beautiful white horses of which I saw many today, and bulls with
big horns. I read that there is a contest in which a man dressed in white,
called a razeteur in French, pits his strength against that of a bull. I was
pleased to read that in this French version of a bullfight the bull is not
injured or killed. Men riding white horses who herd the bulls to the arena and
back to pasture are called bull guardians or gardian in French. (Our campground
is “Camping Lou Gardians”.) We went past one very interesting looking
medieval city I’d like to visit (and could have if I had been on my bike),
Aignes Mortes. The entire city wall appears to be intact, quite a marvelous and
imposing sight. But all I got was tantalizing glimpse through the city’s gate.
Oh, the things one has to give up when sagging!
Au
Revoir, Alice
DAY
112
La
Grande Motte to Carcassonne
This
was another gorgeous day for a bike ride. We knew it was to be a long ride, 175
km., but we were still surprised when we picked up the DRG’s in the morning, 7
pages of directions, a new record!
I didn’t care how many pages there were, it was just great to be on my bike
again. I made an effort to get started early and tried to ride at a good pace,
stopping only when uncertain of the directions. Part of the time I tagged along
at the end, the tail end, of a group and that was helpful in some of the really
remote areas. It was a remarkable route. We rode along beaches enjoying the sea
breezes with their fishy scent, through orchards and vineyards where cheerful
birds were singing, this way and that in villages with their picturesque
squares, over cobblestone bridges, along the canals where we could watch the
boats drifting serenely with people and dogs on board or in passage through
locks. It was without a doubt the most interesting route yet, worth doing again,
but in two days not one. TK&A had to have done an amazing amount of research
to have found all those tiny lanes and byways.
Even
though I stopped only twice for snacks of peanuts, apples, and cookies, not
stopping for even a single photo, I still did not finish the ride, but only just
over half, quitting at Checkpoint at 100 kms. or so. I am just too slow. It was
an easy ride but I was averaging only about 20 kph, I had already ridden more
than 5 hours and would almost certainly need another 5 to finish. Other riders
there who were quitting convinced me I would be foolish to continue because I
would have to be sagged eventually anyway and I would be very late into camp. I
knew they were right and I was already tired so I gave in. Probably the hardest
thing about this trip for me is realizing and accepting my own limitations. My
body is not as ambitious as my mind! “Better to have tried and failed than to
not have tried at all.” (Who said that?) Many people found other ways to get
to Carcassonne, put off by the many miles, and I feel sorry for them because
they missed the best ride of Odyssey 2000 to date.
Our
campground is Camping de la Cite, a perfect tenting campground with grass for
thousands of tents and hedges providing wind breaks and privacy. It is within
walking distance of both the old city and the modern Carcassonne. I picked the
perfect spot for my tent, under a big cottonwood tree and next to a hedge with
white daisies in the grass, but the fluffy cotton blows into my tent when I
unzip the door. Tomorrow is a layover day. I am feeling much better and having
fun.
Au Revoir, Alice
France
Marseille
Odyssey Riders
