20 years ago today – Day 67

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May 9 – quick tour of Marseille, Avignon to Ruoms, 3014 km

Philippe drives quickly along the winding roads to the coast, hoping to reach Marseille before the morning rush hour is in full bloom. The sun is starting to appear in the east, kissing the hilltops around while the road is still in shadow. I am sitting in the back seat of his land cruiser beside Mike while Michel, in the front seat, discusses his list of chores to do in the city with Philippe. The breakfast I gulped rapidly back at the mas is hopefully digesting. I had my bags down to the car by 6am but just barely. I had left everything in a mess last night and it took longer than expected to pack this morning.

Michel and Philippe drop us off at the train station where we cache our bags for a couple hours. There are hugs and goodbyes all around, and before they leave us they tell us the way to the harbour and how best to get to the Notre Dame Cathedral on top of the hill.

After purchasing our tickets, we only have an hour and a half to departure time. We head for the harbour first, which is closer. The morning sun sparkles on the water and makes gives a golden light to the buildings. I reach for my camera and realize I have forgotten it at the Mas de Cotignac on the dining room table. I try not to stress about this too much as Mike and I climb through the city streets, now clogged with rush hour traffic, to reach the cathedral.

The views of the city from the top of the hill are magnificent, and the cathedral is majestic, but we have no time to go inside or to linger. We march back down the hill to the train station, collect our bags and climb aboard the waiting train.

The ride to Avignon is just over an hour long. On the way, I decide I telephone Michel and Philippe and ask them to ship my camera to Poste Restante in Lyons, where I will collect it in a week. Hopefully, the French post office is more efficient that the train service. Of course, my other great concern is the matter of our bikes. I am worried that they are lost for good and I am not sure what we will do if they are not there when we arrive in Avignon.

Fortunately, they are waiting for us. The baggage clerks act as though there has never been a problem and, as typical Canadians, we collect them politely and thank the SNCF staff. We load on our bags and we buy a few groceries before setting off on the road again, our first cycling since I fell at the border a week ago.


We cross the Rhone and follow a scenic route north, upstream along the west bank. We cross back to the east side 15 km later to visit the city of Orange, set away from the river on the east side of the valley. We visit the Arch de Triomphe and the huge Roman amphitheater. Other than these attractions, the town itself is quite drab. It is about at this point and, without a clear destination for the day, we set off for Pont-Saint-Espirit, where the Ardeche River flows from the Massif Central in the north-west to meet the Rhone.

We cross the Rhone for the last time today, and enter les Gorges de l’Ardeches. The Ardeche River has carved through a high limestone plateau to create the gorge over time. The Michelin Guide gives it the highest rating of any attraction in the area, and it does prove to be worthy of the rating. But there is a steep price for the beauty, a steep hill, that is, that climbs an impressive 500m above the serpentine canyon. It is exhausting but also exhilarating. The cave-pitted cliffs are spectacular.

The river itself is popular with kayakers from all over Europe. We see many clusters of them traveling downstream from Vallons to Pont-Saint-Espirit, their kayaks like tiny grains of coloured rice dotting the surface of the river far below us. There is a considerable amount of traffic on the road too, but it crawls along slowly from viewpoint to viewpoint. There is a paved shoulder, but we are on the side of the road by the mountain and must keep crossing the road to see the view.

At the end of the gorge, the road drops down to the town of Vallons, causing us to lose most of the height we have gained. Rain clouds are chasing us now but only a few sprinkles catch us. In Vallons, every inn is either full or too expensive because of the large number of recreational tourists, so in spite of the rain and the growing darkness, we continue on to the village of Ruoms. There is only one inn in Ruoms but fortunately it has an available room.

The rain has caught us now so we are very grateful to have a dry place to sleep. Even though the beds are lumpy, it is cheap – 115 francs. We also find a cheap restaurant, running between the inn and the restaurant through thundershowers. Back at the inn, I call Cotignac and Michel agrees to mail my camera to Lyons the next day.

We crossed the 3,000 km mark on our trip today.


PHOTO 1: Marseilles shortly after dawn
PHOTO 2: Fort Saint Andre near Avignon
PHOTO 3: l'Arch de Triomphe, Orange
PHOTO 4: Roman amplitheatre, Orange
PHOTO 5: le Gorge de l'Ardeches
PHOTO 6: le Gorge de l'Ardeches 2
PHOTO 7: Vallons
PHOTO 8: Ruoms