Marseilles to Arles - Day 101

Date: November 27th, 2009
Distance: 106km
Country: France
Song of the Day: Early Morning Rain - Gordon Lightfoot

I did get up late. I only got back and into bed at around 3:00 AM. So I slept in until just before 8:00. Four and a half ours of sleep. Yee-haw. I made it a point to get a big breakfast anyway. That didn't really help my time situation, though. Still, I got on the road by about 10:00.

It was raining as I left, which was a bit disappointing. It really wasn't coming down that hard though. Not much I could do anyway, so I just rode off into it.

Marseilles is a strange city. It has something of an old beauty to it, but at the same time it has a dirty industrial core. I got to see it all riding out of the city along the water. The old port filled with sailboats and the new port filled with steel cargo ships.

By the time I got out of the city it had stopped raining and I was heading up into the hills. The surrounding areas are very dry. White rock cliffs and scrub land mostly. After the hills it was pretty much a straight shot to Arles. I did get a nail through my back tire though. Why is it always the back tire? I had a couple of spare tubes, but I decided to try and patch the tire. This actually worked for once. With the tube repaired I was back on my way.

I had originally wanted to go all the way to Montpellier, but that was a longshot. With the late start I knew it wasn't going to happen. So just outside of Arles I was looking for somewhere to pitch my tent when I saw a sign for a campsite. I figured it would be closed, but I thought I would check it out anyway. When I got closer there was a light on. Sure enough it was open. With a nice place to pitch my tent, I had a little food and went to bed.

-Dravis