We were sad to leave our friends this morning but very happy to be back on the bikes and headed towards out on our next ride.
The next few weeks we will be Cote d’Azur, thé French Riviera, followed by the Italian Riviera. We rode mostly inland today towards the coast, avoiding Marseille.
At the top of our final hill, we found a dirt trail on the side of the road and followed it down about 500m to find a stunning view of the coast. We sat in the brush and made lunch from tuna and cheese we bought a few days ago and a baguette that Steve carried in his backpack from the previous town. Not a single car or person disturbed us while we enjoyed this amazing picnic, just a few ants, bees, and one helicopter zooming by far overhead.
We stopped in the port town of Toulon to enjoy a drink on the ocean front and write a few post cards. We are both thrilled to be back on the coast and looking forward to the mostly-coastal riding we have planned coming up.
Originally we were going to camp a few km east of Toulon, but we’d made good time, so we decided to go another 20km to the Giens Peninsula, where we found a perfect campground with an ocean view, secluded beaches, and a back packer special rate. The bike path from Toulon was spectacular! We rode most of the way completely separate from traffic, and the rest of the way along the beach with beautiful views of the ocean and many kite surfers.
We are glad that we’ve cut back on our daily distance, and today was very relaxed. We are happy to keep the focus on our exploration instead of the riding from now on.
You’re making me wish we’d continued on our original route to Milan. Cote d’Azur looks like it will be great!
It is really a special place. The bike paths have been amazing so far, but it is much more busy and touristy and expensive, so it’s quite a different experience from Portugal and Spain. There’s always a next tour, right? 🙂