On to the Loire Valley

August 21, 2009 Train from Cassis to Aix-en-Provence via Marseilles
Yesterday was a total beach day. The beach was just like the one in Rhodes, Greece that I was at three years ago. Instead of sand, there are round pebbles. Our feet have toughened up pretty well, so it was no problem dealing with it. The water was surprisingly cold. It was actually very refreshing. There was a nice shower between the beach and the town of Cassis, so we could get the salty brine off of us.
We walked back to the campground, which was a two click climb up a steep hill, and got back around 6:30. After showers and a couple beers at the campground pub, we started thinking about what we should do for dinner. The pub was not putting on a meal like they did the previous night, and we really did not feel like walking back to Cassis, and then back up the two click hill. We noticed people with pizza boxes, so we figured there had to be a pizza place in the other direction. So, about 8:30PM we started walking that way, following the scent of garlic and pizza crust. We had gone about half a click and did not see any promising signs. Then I spotted what looked like an RV on the side of the road with a bunch of cars around it. Jordan could read the sign on the side and it said PIZZA! We walked up to the RV and it was a mobile pizza shop. The oven was right behind the cab of the RV. It was a husband and wife team. They spoke no English, but we we able to communicate to them that we wanted two pizzas, a SUPREME and a ROYAL, whatever the heck they were! She said something that made me think it would be a while. Then she held up all 10 fingers. I figured 10 minutes was no big deal, so I said "Oui' Oui, madamoselle (sp?)". We waiting about half an hour when Jordan said, " Do you think she meant 10 o'clock?" Damn! She was right again. I said we did not have many choices at this point. Jordan walked back to camp and I waited until the pies were done, around 9:45. They were worth the wait... Delicious!
We just transferred trains in Marseilles. I am glad we did not ride into this city. It really does not look that attractive, and I have heard that there are seedy areas. I have already called a campground near Aix that has a pool.
August 22, 2009
When we got off the train in Aix, we decided to purchase tickets for Angers right away. The spots for bikes often fill up quickly, so we did not want to be left stranded. Our tickets got us there by way of the TGV to Lyon. The TGV is the bullet train, but it has a special station that was about a 20 click bike ride from Aix. The ticket guy said it was a pretty hilly ride. Since our train left at 8:30, we decided to look for a place to stay close to the TGV station. We found a little hotel (Auberge?) just a couple clicks from the train station. Before riding to it, we decided to have lunch in Aix. It is really a neat town that I have been to before with Barb. Additionally, Heather Campanelli, who I used to work with, spent some time studying here. She loved it here.
Lunch was fantastic... Jordan got a big salad and I got a rump steak, which we then went halvesie on, followed by gelato. I would have liked to have spent some more time strolling around Aix, but it was still hot as hell. We hopped on our bikes about 4PM and rode to the Auberge. It ended up being a fairly easy ride, which surprised Jordan since the ticket guy had warned us about a lot of up and down. It kind of reminded me of when we biked across the USA. In the Tetons we ran into a group of guys going from East to West. They told us that the Appalachian mountains were much tougher than the Rockies. A few weeks later when we got to the Appalachians, we could not believe how easy they were. We flew up them. The point is that whatever terrain you hit first on a long bike ride seems like the toughest, because you are not "road-hardened" yet. I still remember the Oregon Coast and the Cascades being the toughest. They really were not tougher than the Rockies. We just encountered them first.
The Auberge was rated two stars, but it was much better than that. It had 12 rooms, and I think they only had a few vacancies. The dinner we had there was fantastic, with all sorts of little niceties... foi gras sample, sorbet, and a little mini dessert after the main dessert, which was poached nectarine with ice cream and whipped cream. Oh, the main course was dorado (sp?) with rissoto.
We got up early today and rode to the TGV station. If you have never ridden the TGV, it is an interesting experience. I think the train travels around 200 MPH, but I am not sure. The only time you get the feeling that you are moving fast is when you go into a turn. To keep the train on the track, the turns are banked fairly steeply. You can really feel the centrifugal force when you go into one of them. We got to Lyon in about two hours. Our layover was supposed to be 5 hours, which really started to weigh on my mind. I went up to the ticket office and started asking about different options. I considered going to Nantes, but that would have taken even longer. Then I looked at going to Tours. We decided to take a train there which left at 12:39PM. We should get there by about 5:15. There is a campsite abvout 6 clicks from the train station, right on the Loire River, which is exactly where we want to go. I am a little sorry that we are not going to bike the section from Angers to Tours, but I did not want to waste half the day in the Lyon train station. We will continue biking past Orleans if we have time, or we will just go to Munich from there.