South of France
Camargue to Cannes …
March | 2022
We had a lovely weekend with Mick, Astrid and their daughter Freya; visiting the weekly market in L'Isle Jourdain, went walking around lakes, chilling and having lovely discussions/talks about biking trips (sorry Astrid and Freya if we bored you with these talks ...) Of course, James made the most out of the massive workshop of Mick’s to fix small issues on his bike (see maintenance last blog). Mick gave Steffi a pair of mittens for her handlebar - that was like Christmas!! Schimmelchen might be in future the first bike in the Algarve with mittens! :-)
Monday morning was packing day, even though we would have loved to stay longer ... but looking at the current news about the war in Ukraine we might have to take out bikes back end of our Europe Tour, so Mick and family get ready for our visits ;-)
Today we drove mainly the D999 around Toulouse towards the coast north of Montpellier. We passed some nice villages, but it was not too spectacular scenery-wise. Thanks to iOverlander we stayed overnight at a little official wild camping spot in St. Maurice-Navacelles. As soon as the sun was gone, it was getting fresh, so we had a little campfire going. It was again pretty cold during the night, as some spots on the bike were with frost in the morning.
After everything was packed up, we started via D130 and D9, which were lovely twisty back roads, with nice scenery. In Arboras we stopped for a quick expensive bad and cafe and then continued on backroads to Montpellier and Péroles. Halfway James heard same time some noise below his bike as Steffi heard it (through the intercom. It didn't take him long to find out what the problem was. A loose screw on the brake calliper. Easy fix for James!
From there we went along the coast to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer right into the Camargue. We saw lots of flamingos, but unfortunately only a handful of wild horses in distance; no pictures, unfortunately :-( It was also a cold wind blowing over, so it was even difficult to find a lovely picnic spot. Well, in the end, we picnicked right in the centre of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer ;-) and even there it was still breezy.
After a warm cafe, we headed inland for a wild camping spot. This time it was a lovely place below the castle / old village of Les-Baux-de-Provence. We were perfectly sheltered from pine trees this time, however, campfire it was again this evening; and the hot water bottle for Steffi.
The next morning it was sunny so we could dry the flysheet of our tent. After all, packed away we went up to see the little old village of Les-Baux-de-Provence. Well, James staying with the bikes and Steffi having a little look around. There was a lot of construction/maintenance work going on, which made taking pictures difficult, but she managed to get takeaway cafes, so James got pampered for staying behind.
Today was a lot of boring roads with lots of traffic around Aix-en-Provence. We finally had lunch right in the centre of Saint-Maximin-la-Saint-Baume, right next to the Boulodrom. This place got pretty busy with locals having their afternoon playing Boule.
On the way to the sea, Steffi's Garmin started not to show anything on the map. First, we thought it had again its moments, but we worked out, that the maps on the Garmin are not further than this spot. This is something that needs to be looked into whenever we finally got a hotel with wifi.
In La Lavandou we finally got to the Mediterranean Sea, where we got a cafe on the Marginal; next to a Boulodrome... Tonight was really wild "urban" camping, right next to the main road, on a parking lot of Plage D'Aiguebelle. Steffi got into a little conversation with a french couple parking their car. They travelled some years ago within Europe for 4 months on their motorbike. Unfortunately, they spoke limited English and Steffi limited french, but hey-ho, there was at least from both sides the try of a conversation.
As it was impossible to make a small campfire, we were pretty early in our sleeping bag, listening about the 4th time the same podcast; we always fall asleep over it ;-)
The next morning we packed again in the sunshine, but as soon as we sat on the bikes it started to get cloudy. We followed the D93 to Saint Tropez, a lovely backroad. It takes you through lush forests of Oak and Pine trees with lots of twisties. After a cafe at the entrance of Saint Tropez, we drove down to the centre, to the marina for some pictures.
After our little touristic excursion, we carried on the coastal road D559. It was really nice, at some places lovely views over beaches or some nice villas. Especially the part towards Saint Raphaël and beyond. Unfortunately there we started to get really bad weather. We tried to find a wind-sheltered and dry place for lunch. That was difficult, but finally, we tucked ourselves and the bikes under an empty (currently closed) mini-mercado. Well spotted the place, as it was tipping down, and we were hungry. During lunch, we decided to stay in a hotel close by. Thanks to booking.com we found an affordable place in Mandelieu-la Napoule, where we could dry our clothes - AND have a shower :-)! And there our room had a view from the toilet!
Tomorrow it will be Cannes - Croisette, here we come! All in not-so-good weather. The Côte d’Azur is more a Côte d'Branco or Côte d'Wet ...!
Places | Cities:
Albi, Alban, St. Affrique, St. Maurice-Navacelles, Arboras, Camargue (Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer), Arles, Paradou, Les Baux-de-Provence, Aix-en-Provence, Saint Maximin-la-Saint-Baume, La Lavandou, Saint Tropez, Saint Maxime, Fréjus, Saint Raphaël, Mandelieu-La Napoule.
Driven km | Trip:
From home: 2170 km
Maintenance | Breakdown:
Loose brake calliper on Yamaha SuperTenere - fixed on the spot.
Health issues:
. / .
Special thanks to:
The app iOverlander for finding the good wild camping spots