NIC WILLIAMS
NIC WILLIAMS
2011
I left Valergues near Montpellier, sadly leaving behind my second family. They’d been amazing hosts once again and had made me promise to come back next year, it’s got to be done really.
My aim was to head towards Italy along the Mediterranean coast wherever possible, avoiding motorway tolls. Around lunchtime I found myself passing, or so I thought, Marseille. Tom Tom had other ideas though and took me on a whistle stop tour of the city centre, or at least that’s how it felt. Marseille is somewhere I’ve wanted to visit purely because of the city being a major port and renowned for it’s fish especially bouillabaisse, their fish soup. On the other hand I’ve become very aware that the area is a crime hotspot, especially when it comes to campervans. As with every trip I do I always leave something important to return to, this time it was Marseille. I just passed through aiming for the coast.
Anne from work had given me the name and location of the campsite she goes to every summer for several weeks. Being highly recommended I headed there. My route brought me through some amazing hills before dropping me onto the coast a few miles before the town I was headed for. The area is stunning, small bays with tiny beaches, cliffs, islands and winding roads with a fabulous view at every turn. I can see what Anne and her mum come back every year. However as I turned into the road with their campsite it was clear it wasn’t going to be such a great place for me to stay, it was shut. It’s really weird travelling in September, most attractions are closed, campsites shut, restaurants service just a single table, why don’t we all holiday in September. The weather is fab, if anything more pleasant and bearable, the water warm and the kids all gone. La rentree as the French call it is just like flipping a switch, one day everyone is on holiday and having fun, the next everything is deserted or closed. Surely some marketing could sort this out?
I decided as it was early to push on towards Cannes and Nice, just another 60 miles up the coast. The first stretch was up a mountain pass, well that’s how it felt. I passed several cyclists thinking how mad they were to want to do this but also that at the end of November I would be tacking what I thought would be a similar climb on my cycling holiday in Kerala. Eventually I reached the top to find that this mountain was just 380m tall, very scary since my climb in India is 1600m, over 4 times the height. Now I’m worried about my cycling holiday.
After 2.5 hours I made it as far as Antibes, somewhere I visited as a teenager with my friend New Zealand Greg. I found the campsite and at least it was open. A very grumpy owner showed me to a pitch that involved reversing Vern between two tight trees, easy with the reversing sensors on, not so easy when they’re disabled because my bikes on the back. Still I made it in with no issues. After such a warm welcome it was hard to take to the site, even with it’s swimming pool. I made the decision overnight to head on to Lake Garda in the morning.
I fired up the TomTom and asked it to route me to Lake Garda, via Monaco, taking toll free roads. So far I’d only paid to rush down to Paris and to go across the Millau bridge. TomTom found the route and informed me it would be 9 hours 47 minutes, the route with tolls just 4 hours 45 mins. So much for morals, I’m not doubling the journey time to save a few quid.
A quick pitstop on the beach to dip my toes in the water. Vern and I headed through Cannes along the seafront, through the back streets on Nice and past the station when on two separate occasions I have slept on the pavement outside, the first with a travelling circus and the second with Greg next to two girls who were robbed in the night as we all slept. I wonder if teenage backpackers still sleep outside?
Vern and I went up the mountain roads with the sea on the right, huge hills on the left. We then dropped down into Monaco. I was there, on the harbour, well just back from it. I could see the swimming pool on the F1 circuit. Before I knew it though we climbed out of Monaco. I stopped on a hill to take a photo and was greeted by three very friendly English blokes from London, all young Muslims driving a BMW 5 series. They explained that they had 3 days off work so had driven down through France, through Marseille, along the coast and were now heading home via Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. All that in 3 days, I was doing the same trip in 4 weeks I told them. As they left one said to one of the others that it was his turn to drive and he wanted some sleep. They literally must have been driving non stop, taking it in turns while one or two of the others napped. Good for them, what an adventure. Probably close to 2500 miles in 3 days.
I hit the toll road and was in Italy in minutes, my 3rd country of the morning, not bad going. It became apparent why it would take 5 hours extra not taking the motorway as mountain and valleys were sped through or over. I must have done over 60km in tunnels and an equal amount on bridges. We’d never build a road like this in the UK in this day and age, no one could afford to drive on it. The M6 toll is bad enough and that would have been a doddle to build compared to this.
€35 later and I arrived at Lake Garda and the campsite I had picked from my ACSI book. It was lovely. Huge swimming pool, jacuzzi, shop, restaurant, bar, internet, the only down side being it wasn’t on the lake.
On my first day I took off on my bike intending to do a long ride and some geocaches. I climbed into the first town, climbed out of it, got very hot, then climbed some more before I had to get off and push, it was so steep. I made it to the cache which was of course at the top of the highest hill. I’d climbed just 200m, this isn’t looking good for my India trip. The views were great though and gave a real perspective to just how huge Lake Garda is. I’m much better at going down hill. I thought I’d go and check out where the supermarkets were, the campsite had told me roughly. Another huge hill. It was only 50m elevation. Only 32 of these to do in a day in India, I’m in so much trouble. Again I demonstrated just how proficient I am downhill.
So I spent 5 nights in total at Lake Garda, swimming in the pool, swimming in the lake, reading but generally doing as little as possible. I really should have gone and see the towns, the mountains, the beaches... Next time! Something to come back for.
So that was it, the end of another cracking week. Time to move on to Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and then home. I’m into my last week of this trip. The nights are really drawing in, Autumn is here and I need to do a lot of cycling practice when I get home.
Week 30 - Cote D’Azure, Monaco and Lake Garda
27/09/2011
Time to slot in a little bit of Italy but not enough time to get to Croatia. No worries though, Vern popped by Monaco and St Tropez to hang out with the in crowd before taking in the Italian lakes.