Day 20 - Roussillon to La Ciotat, The Mediterranean

Wednesday, September 23

Roussillon to La Ciotat (131 Km)

This is the last riding day. Finishing our trek south, through the Luberon, was really great. Up through the town of Bonnieux, and down the south side of the small mountain range to the Durance River (hey, I got one!), was also a real pleasure.

Sunrise in the Luberon. Absolutely georgeous.

Next, we rode around the northwest and west side of Aix-en-Provence, which was not too bad. Then the trouble began. We probably spent a total of an hour (in fragments), lost south of Aix.

Pont Julien Bridge

Talk about old! We rode by a bridge that was built in A.D. 25, by the 2nd Roman Legion, and was still being used by farmers until about ten years ago.

The coastal mountain rande south of Aix-en Provence. We did a lot of climbing this last day.

Cross

Crosses are everywhere along the country roads in France. From the most simple, to the very elaborate, every variety can be seen. Most in the north are memorials to soldiers in WWI. After a couple of days, Jim S. said that he could pay for the trip if he had a nickel for every cross he had seen. By the time we reached the last day, though, we figured he could buy a lavender farm with the money. I'm sure we saw close to five hundred crosses.

This is a typical place for lunch. These two ladies had the morning shift and waited on us. They were leaving with their baggettes while we ate. They sell bread, pastries, often pizzas (French style), and sandwiches. I'll bet we each ate 50 jambon and fromage sandwiches, most of which we made at breakfast, and ate while riding.

A small gorge near the coast. To our right is a main road and freeway.

Aix-en-Provence gets very congested, and there are a lot of tight roads squeezed in between the mountains of the coastal range. Typically there will be e a freeway, a main two-lane road, and a small road, all going through the same gorge. Really tricky. It also got very hot, until we got very close to the Mediterranean sea.

Nevertheless it was a wonderful ride, as we knew were accomplishing our goal of RIDING ACROSS FRANCE.

La Ciotat

Well, we made it. Tired but satisfied, we are in La Ciotat, a coastal town that used to be famous for ship building, but is now mostly small marinas with a lot of tourists. I must say, though, that is was not very crowded during our visit.

It wouldn’t proper to neglect to give my wife, Sandy, a big big thanks for driving the support vehicle, and being there to help. If you think navigating these roads and tiny streets on a bike is hard, try doing it in a car. Of course the van had a standard transmission, as that is about all they rent in France. A very tough job well done.

THANKS, SANDY.