Apologies to my dedicated fans and readers for the several day delay in update! I have been whisked away into ecstasy here in Marseille as I catch up with my dear friend Kat who I hadn’t seen in nearly ten years. Plus, her wifi situation is not ideal for visitors and thus I haven’t had a lot of time with the ol’ internet.
The day I was set to leave Mérindol started out well enough with a delightful home prepared breakfast at the house in wine country. As I was finishing plying myself with croissant and fresh jam, the caretaker came out to the terrace and asked if I had just heard that noise (gesturing toward the sky). No, I hadn’t. Apparently a storm was a brewin’ in Provence and passing through the region – direction: Marseille.
I thought that if I left ASAP and just legged it I could miss the worst of it. This was not to be. Within the first half hour of my ride it had started to lash. And, because I wanted to make it to Marseille as quickly as possible I had opted for the most direct route – on the big highway which apparently was just a thoroughfare for massive semi-trucks. Soon I realized I definitely couldn’t handle that – especially in the rain – and opted for the smaller country roads, despite this meaning a longer journey. At this point I was getting considerably wet and my right foot was nearly saturated. Miraculously, the left was still in good shape. Either way, I decided it was high time for a coffee break to see if I could wait out the rain a bit.
When I left Lambesc half an hour later the rain had actually seemed to stop. Unfortunately, that was just localized to Lambesc. Continuing on I was hit hard with a downpour and the thunder was rolling in stronger and stronger. I couldn’t see any lightening at this point so wasn’t too terrified. I was also on roads between big trees so I didn’t feel too vulnerable. But that soon changed as I was riding in between fields and saw a faint flicker of light in the sky – this is when I really got a bit freaked and tried desperately to remember all I have ever learned about electrical conductivity. I cycled feverishly to the next town (which, lucky me, was up a 500% grade hill) and found the only restaurant in the town that was open for lunch.
I had an extended lunch and tried to dry my clothing and myself under the automatic hand dryer in the bathroom. I had the Pizza d’Italia and a café crème. It was nice to be inside. Unfortunately, after about an hour and half of loitering in the restaurant I had to hit the road again. I was only half way to Marseille at this point. But, at least it looked like it had stopped raining!
The next 10 to 15 km was a comical scene of me stopping to remove my rain jacket and then stopping five minutes later to put it back on – and so on and so forth. Finally, the rain gave up totally and the skies cleared. The only silver lining to all of this is that it was not as bloody hot as it has been the past few weeks.
The next horror of the day occurred when I was closing in on the outskirts of Marseille. I avoided the larger highways but this detour meant I was riding through some sketchy areas of town. I was dodging broken glass on the street regularly. As I was peddling as fast as I could and barely stopping at intersections for fear of being robbed I sincerely wondered why my friend lived here. Not to mention the traffic is absolute chaos. No one observes traffic signals. Cars, buses, scooters, bikes, semi-trucks, electric wheelchairs all just drive wherever they feel like, pedestrians be damned. I have to say Marseille is not a cycle friendly town.
But, eventually I made it to Corniche Kennedy where Kat lives and sighed a breath of relief. After quite a day I had made it in one piece. The rest of the evening was spent catching up over Rosé and getting a few drinks downtown later on.
In retrospect it may have been a day to get the train…
I have been staying in Marseille the past three nights and will leave tomorrow morning. I am taking the train to Zürich to stay with another good friend, Jackson, for a few days before I resume my riding! I am definitely nearly ready to be back on the bike. And after spending several days drinking, eating, and relaxing I think I will need to!
GOTD
Goat of the day.
An Idiot Broad Abroad 