Cycling from Arles, France to Aix-en-Provence, France

Monday morning the Mistral stayed relatively calm and, having gone as far south as possible, it was time to decide between the Alpes-Maritimes and the Pyrenees, east or west. Everyone seemed to think that the chances of snow were a lot less in the Alpes-Maritimes (Joachim said they had been riding in shorts and tee-shirts), so I headed out east on the D83 and D27 through St. Martin-de-Crau to Salon-de-Provence, then a nice ride with the first small hills on the D572 to St. Cannat, then the D18 and D17 into Aix-en-Provence.

Although the guide said the hostel was open all day, the door was locked when I arrived at 3, but I called from outside and got checked in, doing the first laundry before repas of excellent lentil salad, blanquette d'veau with rice and carrots, fromage and melange de fruits for dessert. The room was really crowded with one German who really stunk and 2 rude English who insisted on arranging their enormous packs at 1AM with the light on. I thought they were getting ready for an early train, but they were still there for breakfast.

Today I'm taking the day off to catch up on correspondence and have been successful in finding a French telephone adapter for RJ-11 and am now at a cyber-cafe to investigate the possibility of plugging in to get a faster connection than the 9,600bps that the GSM phone allows so I can try PCAnywhere with my laptop in Durango. Doesn't work with the phone. I've gotten many responses and it is really a gas to hear from you.

Cycling from Marseilles, France to Aix-en-Provence, France

Leaving the Marseilles in another direction began with a 24km climb, but it was very calm compared to entering by the Etang de Berre. A short descent into Aix and a chance to do laundry again. They remembered me there from my first visit and the chef, who was thrilled to see her picture on the camera, served up heaps of her blanqette de veau again.