April 29, 2018
Day 34: Saintes Maries de la Mer to Sete
A wild day!
We reconnected this morning with how much we like this seaside town. It began with a look out the window, which featured the typical French seaside white stucco bungalows with tile roof and blue shutters. And in te distance, of course, the sea.
Observant readers may notice the (actually, torn) screen through which the photo was taken. That's because the Camargue is famous for mosquitoes. We have only once run into them a little bit, but everyone in Arles this time warned us about them. Consequently we are now the owners of a big and heavy spray bottle of Deet repellent, from a pharmacy in Arles. The pharmacist said citronella would have no chance against Camargue mosquitos, which she said were currently on the rampage. Well, we are pretty good at spotting wildlife, and we missed seeing them!)
One thing out that window that does not appear in the photo was a strong, very strong!, wind. More, much more, about that later!
After the mandatory look at the now deserted pedestrian street, we went to our favourite quirky church (other than the one at Lourdes). That is Eglise des Saintes Maries. The church and the town are named for Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary Salome, and Mary Jocobea.
Mary Salome was the mother of John and James . Mary Jacobea was the mother of the other James and of Jude. All three were in there for the first Easter, being the first witnesses of the empty tomb.
The church also features a crypt with a black statue of "Sara", claimed in some circles to be the daughter of Jesus and Mary Magdalen.
Sarah, whether or not the daughter of Jesus, has won independent fame as the patron saint of gipsies. At the end of May every year they descend on the town in large numbers. They carry Sara out to the sea. As far as I can make out, they also carry the boat pictured below. If we thought the town was a zoo now, it must be totally insane in May!
A plaque on the front church wall also mentions that the place was fortified to defend against the Saracens. What they were defending was their holy relics. I assume this refers to the finger bones, which you can also see in one of the photos. I did not figure out whose fingers these were.
We paused on the way out of town to pick up some more postcards. The symbols of the Camargue - the horses, bulls, flamingos, salt, etc. are so strong that it is easy to create postcards for here. The cards in turn reinforce the image. But there is nothing phony in any of it. It is all here!
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We made our way out of town, and here the wind came into play for the first time. It was at our backs and was just great. There is always wind here, but maybe not always in such a favourable direction, or so strong. The wind gave us extra speed and Dodie said that was good, because I was stopping to greet every horse. Along the route we chose, there were a lot of Camargue horses. It was not like the time we encountered a herd of wild ones standing in our bike path, and not like when the Gardiens brought dozens right through town, but in any form that you meet these beautiful animals it is a thrill.
Our first major stop would be at the walled town of Aigues Mortes, but before we could reach it we needed to join a larger road. That road brought the benefit of roadside stands offering local products. Their signs provide a good list:
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Aigues Mortes is a rare example, like Carcassonne, of a medieval town with a wholly intact surrounding wall. Inside, of course, are scads of tourists. Though a bit of rain was just starting, neither their enthusiasm nor ours was dampened, as we sat in the town square and ate a salad from the grocery we had found. A group of three musicians, dressed in period medieval clothes, came and played what must also be authentic instrument types - pipes, drum, and a clarinet type wind instrument. If anyone has more accurate names to put to these, let us know.
From Aigues Mortes our route led to Le Grau du Roi. This is a town with a nice canal like harbour, lined with interesting buildings. But getting there now became very dicey. The wind, always high this day, turned into a gale. And the spitting rain now became a deluge. We were cycling with a lagoon on one side and a canal on the other. In short, surrounded by water, at least on two sides. And now the huge raindrops were being driven at us from the side. Our world (not to mention shoes) filled with water, and the wind blew us around the path. We were drenched and pummelled.
I hid my camera from the storm inside my jacket. Because of that, no doubt, flocks of flamingos began to appear in the lagoon, many of them right beside the path - way closer than any of those yesterday. But to pull the camera would mean its certain death in the rain.
When we got to Le Grau, there was no chance to look at, much less photograph anything. With heads bent against the raging storm we passed through town and out along a beach area, where if anything the wind was stronger. La Grand Motte was the same story, except there they have big roads and of course no signage. We struggled through traffic in an otherwise desolate and storm swept place. Beyond La Grand Motte, more beach frontage, with the raging open sea adjacent.
The next place, not shown on the map, is Palava les Flots. Here we had to make a decision. We could continue on a route we had taken before, but never without some trauma. This passes by the Cathedral de Maguelone onto a strange thing, which is the canal Rhone to Sete which runs straight through a lagoon. Presumably the canal is deeper than the lagoon, but the key is that it has an above water tow path. A narrow, very narrow, spit of land separates all this from the open Mediterranean. On an earlier trip we made the error of following a trail on the spit of land. This petered out into just sand, stranding us there for the night. Another time we succeeded in passing by the cathedral and crossing a passerelle there onto the side of the canal with the usable path.
The alternative to all this is a 30-40 km detour to the north, around the Etang de l'Or, Etang des Moures, etc.. That was our incentive to make our way out from Palava, again beside the crashing waves, to the cathedral. The "friends of the cathedral" have a cafe/gift shop there, and we went in hoping to find something like hot soup. Though they had three staff there, they had nothing - really, nothing to offer. We bought some potato chips from their food and book display and gobbled them up. Pelting rain can really rob you of heat and energy, for which you need food - any food.
It's 1 km from the cafe to the canal. Before setting out, we went back in to check with the staff about the route. They reported that the passerelle was closed , due to the weather. For us that meant backtracking all the way to where we could begin the detour! But you know, maybe it was for the better. We definitely would have gone out on that path in the water, slightly separated from the sea, in the gale. We are just that crazy.
As it was, we cycled 30-40 extra kms in the wind and rain, all for the privilege of arriving at the "gates" of Sete. A gate would actually have been a good thing, because that is either open or closed. But Sete is guarded by a web of all but impassable high speed roads, interspersed with flaky disappearing bike paths backed by erratic signage. We wandered around another 5 km, looking for a way in.
To add insult to injury, even more flamingos hung out around us, daring me to try pulling out the camera in the rain. And when we got in close to Sete - streets with photogenic buildings and palm trees, harbour with industrial and pleasure boats - all unphotographed!
It was 8 p.m. before we finally pulled up to the ultra budget hotel we had chosen - the Hotel Au Valery. No hot bath here, and the shower (if not in use) is down the hall. We had cycled 110 km - almost a double day, and a wild one!
Today's ride: 110 km (68 miles)
Total: 2,224 km (1,381 miles)
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BTW, taking the canal route might have been a problem. I took it from Sete on Friday (to Montpellier) and there was a stretch of about 1.5k that was very rugged and very muddy. I had to walk very carefully through 60-70% of that section. Yuck. I’m guessing a whole lot more would’ve been a whole lot worse with the rain we had on Sunday.
But I had no problem getting out in Pavalas, so I’m not sure what the passerale issue was...I’m not even sure what it is, and may have gotten off the path without seeing or using it.
Anyway have a great trip and hopefully we’ll cross paths again someplace down the bike touring road...
Jonathan
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