Coffee, croissant, home-made raspberry jam from Brighton (thanks: Terry) and yoghurt in the sunshine on my balcony in Marseille, a promising start to a day’s riding.
Out of Marseille around the Étang de Berre, the lagoon which surrounds Marseille-Provence airport at Marignane. It’s fresh water so palm trees can flourish even on the beach. Riding through vineyards but following very roughly the trace of the Canal de Provence, I arrived at the valley of the Durance via small mountains and pine forests that are the cousins of the Alpilles further west. A tourist stop at a Roman temple, now almost in the shadow of the TGV railway viaduct over the Durance and in the grounds of a Côteaux-d’Aix vineyard, Château Bas. Now lunchtime and the Mistral was getting gusty so after a leek and olive flan and a fruit drink outside a boulangerie it was time to head back to Marseille.
Another trip around Étang de Berre - January 2012