It never warmed up above 10°C today, starting off in Avignon at a brisk 6°. But, we had massive tailwinds all the way to our destination near the Marseilles airport, where we are staying with friends for the weekend. Otherwise the ride was good, quiet country roads and wide shoulders most of the way. No touristy stops except for a cemetery where we heard some famous Frenchmen were buried. It was too cold for us to be in the mood for sightseeing though, so we pressed on and stopped at a cafe to warm up until our friends could meet us. It’s really good to see them again, as it’s been 4 years since they visited me last in San Diego.
To be honest, I’m so happy to be off the bike, and I don’t want to see it for a few days. We’ve decided that from here on, we will try to limit our riding to 80-100km/day and no more than 4 days in a row, so that we have time to see things and relax and not feel like we are doing nothing but riding.
After the weekend, we have four choices for how to continue towards Italy. If you have a recommendation, please give us a comment.
- Ride coastal roads on the Cote d’Azur. Pros: lots of beautiful scenery, lots of places to camp and stop, some bike paths and boardwalks, warmer weather, touristy so it will be easy to find anything we might need. Cons: might be very busy traffic, some roads will be not really suitable for cycling, very hilly along the rugged coast with lots of traffic in places, more expensive, lots of tourist traps.
- Ride through Luberon and Verdones regions. Pros: beautiful scenery, quiet and popular cycling routes, more laid back, less expensive. Cons: very mountainous so will be harder riding and take longer, somewhat cooler weather, fewer options for camping and lodging.
- Ride through the countryside between the coast and Verdones. Not sure this is really a very interesting area or what the traffic will be like. Don’t see a lot of info about it, but it’s a more direct route with less hills.
- Take the train to Antibes and continue riding from there. This would save us some time and get us away from the most developed parts of the coast, but it would mean probably taking our bikes apart to take them on the train, and we might miss out on some nice parts of France and reduce our time spent here.
Your photo looks like you have every bit of clothing on that you have with you.
Yes! Almost!!
I would say right now you need to relax and have someone else do the pedaling. The ride on the train will go through some lovely areas which you can sit and watch go by while having a loaf with cheese.
It will be nice, different. This is what your bikes would vote for as well!!
Enjoy!
What a great trip you’re having!
I would take the train. It’ll be an excellent ride and will buy you some time to really take in the next few legs of your tour! But there is a small part of me that wants to recommend number 2 ?
Congratulations guys you’re living the dream! Keep sending us these exciting stories!
Lots of love