October 14, 2024
To Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer
Our bikes are more than a little damp when we retrieve them from the atrium this morning. It must have rained some overnight, but it’s dry now and there’s no rain in the forecast for the day. It is grey this morning though, almost foggy. We wheel our bikes around the large shag rug in the middle of the hall, being careful to nor roll over its tail, and a few minutes later we’re coasting down toward the Place de la Republic one last time, cross the Rhone, and we’re out.
It’s an easy ride this morning - a virtually flat 24 miles to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer. and it really is flat, especially the second half of the ride when we come to the rice belt and then to the natural park of the Camargue.
At least it’s flat for me. Rachael is having a much harder time of it this morning though, laboring over a series of short but excruciatingly steep gutter spikes that I somehow missed. At one point she stops and calls me back to take a photo of her Garmin because if she’s going to go to all this work she wants evidence for the bragging rights.
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2 months ago
This isn’t the most inspiring ride, to be honest - at least the first 17 miles of it when we’re on the D670, the primary road. The sky is a neutral, featureless grey, the terrain’s plain, and even though we’re often within a baseball toss of the Rhone we never see it because of the trees and berm blocking the view. And even though it’s safe enough as our two lane road has a good shoulder nearly the whole way, it’s not the most relaxing as there’s a fair amount of traffic on our shoulder.
So we just ride, counting on the GoPro to remind us of the experience and stopping only once - to take a shot of a thatched roof structure fashioned from the ubiquitous giant reeds, an example of the traditional structures of the old Camargue.
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For the entire 17 miles on this road I’ve been counting down the miles until we finally come to our turnoff onto the D85A, a much quieter and more relaxing road than we’ve just left behind. Immediately we lose both the shoulder and the need for it as all the cars and trucks stick with the faster, shorter main route. The remaining few miles to Saintes-Maries are very pleasant. The views improve, the sky lightens, and soon we’re delighted when we come to a turnoff by the edge of a lagoon and see a pair of flamingos surprisingly close to the road.
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We stop for a good look, but then Rachael and her ride realize they’re close to the barn now and make a dash for lunch. Just after she leaves I call after her to say I’ll be along soon, but I don’t think she heard me. I’m stopping again because just as I I’m about to get back on the bike I take a last look at the lagoon and see something I’d missed in our focus on the flamingos - a different small group of birds, including gulls and a few small waders. Waders are always worth a closer look because there are so many different ones - sandpipers, shanks, dowitchers, plovers - and if you don’t stop you might miss something unusual.
And that’s the case here, as I realize after I unload the photos later and do the research. It’s a curlew sandpiper, a new bird for the year and a lifer. It’s not the best look at one, but we’re only a few miles from town so I might come back out this way before we leave three days from now.
And then not long after catching up with Rachael where she stopped to wait for me we both stop for again for a look off to the other side where the shallows are filled with maybe a hundred birds, all avocets exercising their characteristic scything motion as they sweep the surface for crustaceans and insects.
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2 months ago
But that’s it. Now we really are on the hunt for lunch, and pull in at the first open restaurant we come to with an appealing menu on display. An hour or so later we bike the last few blocks to the Abrivado, our waterfront restaurant/hotel we’ve booked for the coming three nights. We decided to splurge a bit on this one and get their largest room, a corner unit overlooking the waterfront and the sea beyond. Its got a large bed, a table, a coffee pot, and not one but two comfortable chairs.
Later in the afternoon I’ll go out for short walk long the waterfront and the large lagoon that backs the town, looking for birds. Nothing new, but I find enough to keep my interest - turnstones, a redstart, swifts, a few herons and egrets, more avocets, and my best look yet at a willow warbler. The other thing I find though is the small biters, so it’s really good that I took this brief walk because otherwise we’d have probably have found ourselves out in the middle of the Ornithological Park tomorrow, miserable in the midst of a thousand flamingos because we hadn’t thought to bring insect repellant.
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Today's ride: 24 miles (39 km)
Total: 4,238 miles (6,820 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 13 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 5 |
They happen a few times a year, and the Sunday closest to Oct 22nd is one of them, I believe.
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