Day 62: Le Sambuc to Les Saintes Maries

October 11, 2024

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We had envisioned Le Sambuc as a remote outpost, and I guess really it was. It just did not feel as romantic as a "remote outpost" ought to be.

Well, it looks quite remote...and I guess the people in the bus are leaving town!

We did spot this bird on the hotel grounds...

We chose to ride on the track beside the road, to avoid he speeding drivers, who were still out there.

As soon as possible, we turned onto this quieter road.

The sun was still low, and following us.

The choice of the quiet road was a good one. As we half expected, this put us into the territory of the real Camargue horses. We have been able to discern several categories in the life circumstances of these horses. While it is very unlikely that there are any truly wild ones about, there are some that roam vast swaths of territory. I guess we would now call these the wild ones. Then there are those that you see in smaller fields or near farm corrals. We take these to be working horses, whose job is to cooperate with the "Guardians" in managing the black bulls. And finally there are sad (to us) horses packed into corrals run by the pony ride type people. Even these, though they do look sad, usually have that spark or way of carrying themselves, that betrays that they are not true horses but in fact unicorns in disguise.

So yes, we ran into a small herd of real Camargue horses. They were separated from us by a large ditch, making this not quite the event that happened to us some years ago (and that we will never forget). That time we were on a bike trail and a wild herd was on the same trail. We were apprehensive at first, but we pedalled into the middle of them. They had no intention of hurting us, we found.

The horses we met up with:

And time for us to go, though shadows are still long.

We had printed out a booklet at home about all the bike circuits possible in this area. But we forgot it was in our pack!

We did notice, here in the earlyish morning, that as soon as we stopped for a second (really, just a second) we were swarmed with mosquitoes. Fortunately we had planned for this from home, and had 30% DEET wipes on board.

Now in the very far distance we (Dodie, eh) spotted our first flamingos. They were too far for the camera to really bring them in.

These flamingos were probably in the Salin de Badon. We found the gate to this locked, with a notice about getting access from the info centre de Capiliere, 7 km north (where we had come from). Ok, plough on.

The Digue a la mer is our main destination today.

We think this road toward the digue is new.

We are closer to the sea now, at the beginnings of the digue

Cars can travel out on the digue for a km or so. See how they have wrecked the surface!

A roadside panel talks about the flamingoes. It says they only turn pink after 5 years.

These are our first flamingos. They are too busy eating shrimp so as to turn pink to look up at us.

An unexpected wonderful thing was the colour of the hummocky surrounding plants. This turned out to be a "thing" - the subject of an upcoming info panel.

The road is better where the cars can not reach.

We are "here" - not quite on the digue yet.

This sluice gate controls the access of sea water to the lands behind the digue. An info panel tells what it is all about.

For people cycling on rented bikes out of Saintes Maries, the light house at the end of the digue is a good target. It's about 14 km out from town.

Not Mediterranean blue maybe, but Camargue blue.

I am amazed that these guys made it out this far - about 8 km from town!

This story about the dunes and the beach is fine, but we are not seeing any of the advertised stuff just now.

We are however seeing lots of dunes and beach now!

And much of that is in our way, on the trail!

The number of cyclists out of Saintes Maries is increasing.

Our closest flamingos yet:

Are these guys sleeping? They look like a pile of turkeys at the farm!

Ok, so we made it to Saintes Maries. We are really at the seaside now. The evidence is not only in the beaches and dunes and waves, but in the seaside style houses, with the orange tile roofs and blue shutters:

One of our first moves was to find a grocery, to replenish our dwindled food stocks. Left outside, I took the opportunity of replacing my front brake pads. They were quite wrecked - see the comparison with a new one. On the other hand, they have gone 3200 km, so not bad.

The town has a bull ring, with lots of bull related statues near it:

This cyclist was lying with his helmet on his chest. I noticed that it fell to the ground and the cyclist did not stir, so I went to check on him. He was OK, but said he had just cycled from the lighthouse against the wind (as we had!) and was exhausted. He did also seem to have an ebike!

The church -Sanctuary Our lady of the Sea - is a big thing here, and the source of the town name. The tale is that around 45 a.d. Mary Salome and Mary Jacoby arrived here by boat. Also aboard was Sara, Salome's servant. Mary Salome was a follower of Jesus who appears briefly in the canonical gospels and in apocryphal writings. She is named by Mark as present at the crucifixion and as one of the Myrrhbearers, the women who found Jesus's empty tomb. Mary Jacobe is also known as Mary of Clopas, I think. According to the Gospel of John, Mary of Clopas was one of the women present at the crucifixion of Jesus and bringing supplies for his funeral. One or other of these may also be Jesus' aunt.... According to the church pamphlet, the boat also held Mary Magdalene, her sister Martha, her brother Lazarus, and others.

Sara is much venerated, with a statue in the crypt, that is brought out to the sea in processions three times a year. We are getting ready to miss the next one, which will be on Saturday, October 19.

Representation of the boat in the church

Jesus in another boat - these folks are big on boats.

Panels on the walls describe the Marys tale and describe the pilgrimages that occur here. In 1448 the remains of the Marys were excavated and placed in a chest. This chest is the subject of veneration today.

Where will we be October 19? Oh, oh, in Spain.

Back out on the streets, we are looking at all the restaurants, and postcard shops:

Oh golly, the Guardianne is stew. 26 euros!

Card shops have great Camargue images

Now leaving town for our hotel on the outskirts, we pass the Camargue cross. It includes the cross of Faith, the anchor of Hope, and the heart of Charity.

Now at the city's edge we encounter the other, sadder, life of the Camargue horses - in the pony rides.

Here in this pony ride we also see what we would take to be a "guardian" also out of his proper place, which would be on a "manade" (ranch).

The other riders have helmets, but the leader has a probably traditional hat.

Our hotel, just out of town, is wonderful. Our room is at ground floor and our bikes are just outside the door. There is a large pond full of ducks, and a big "etang" across the street.

And look, above our bed!

Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 3,190 km (1,981 miles)

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