Not actually that much in the way of walking for this one! I have had a few more heavy days where I have racked up the miles but mostly this has been down to either myself making mistakes or the French (said with a little bit of venom). Not all the French obviously, just the ones responsible for path closures. This section of the walk has been spent walking around the northern edge of the Camargue, a huge section of estuary, farmland and canals just off the Mediterranean. It is where several rivers, including the Rhône, meet the ocean and that means there is a lot of water in the area. I chose to mostly avoid this area around a week ago but, as I was nearby, I was keen to get to see a little bit of it. I had a short day of about twelve miles planned and decided I would add a little extra in by going into the nature reserve. I found a good looking path on my map and followed some people into an area of marshland covered in reeds. The wildlife was amazing! I saw so many different birds, the highlight being a Great Egret. It is beautiful. And big! Slightly bigger than a flamingo (comparing it to other local birds) but extremely elegant and a brilliant white.
I was transfixed by this animal and so happy to see it. I also saw a Coypu which is an animal in between a rat and a capybara and about the size of a small dog. There were loads of them here and I even managed to get a fairly decent (for a phone) video of one chilling out on the path.
There were also just countless other creatures on the land, in the water and in the air. I honestly can't think that I have ever been in an area so densely populated with living things, even the small part of the Amazon I went in when I was young. I got several miles through this area when I came across some workers having lunch who informed me that the area was actually private. They did concede that the sign was covered by a hedge but, instead of walking a few hundred metres to a bridge I was aiming for, I got sent back the way I had come. The day was very hot so I was rather annoyed at this but I did get to see a lot of wildlife that I wouldn't otherwise have seen so it is well worth it. Also, very handily I was pre-prepared with my innocent foreigner expressions, 'C'est prive? Ici' (it's private? Here?) all done in high pitched voice to make me seem surprised and not guilty. I have to admit that I did have a few suspicions that it might be so I had prepared a few lines!
The following day I thought I was going to have a lovely walk along the river. I set off, with a kind of intensely hot sun due to the complete lack of shelter on a path that followed the edge of a huge area of farmland with very little else there. Not only was the river blocked by trees the whole way but, halfway around (the footpath was a big semi-circle type shape) the footpath was closed. I thought about just doing it anyway but I could see some workers up ahead and decided against it, mostly because of the previous day. My only option was to follow this incredibly boring farm track which ran dead straight for about two miles through ploughed fields onto a quiet road which I then had to follow for about six miles. There was probably one tree along the whole of this section to shelter under. Not much fun. The only good bits about this was seeing mountains appearing up ahead, some of the foothills and small ranges before the Alps. I kind of got a weird sense of achievement from this as this is the third mountain range I have walked near which shows just how far I have come. The road was so quiet that I simply put my headphones in and sang as loudly as I could for about an hour and a half until I reached the lovely town of Arles.
The Idiocies of Mark
Your favourite section has returned and, in my defence, this one is once again only partly my fault and mostly me just ending up in a rather daft situation. When I arrived in Arles, I planned to take a rest day to give me a chance to explore the town as it is steeped in history and has allsorts of stuff to do. I ended up extending my stay to try and give my tired feet some time to heal and decided to make the most of my time and visit the nearby Camargue, a lovely area that is absolutely teeming with wildlife and some of the best birdwatching I have ever experienced. I wouldn't say I am an avid birdwatcher but, every now and then, particularly when there are really interesting species around, I will become an honorary twitcher. The place where I am staying advertised that there is a bike that you can borrow so I asked for it so that I could cycle to a lake that is about 15 miles away. I was warned by my host that the bike probably wasn't suitable for the journey though they were more than happy for me to try if I wanted. I decided to completely ignore their (excellent) advice. I set off and quickly discovered how rubbish the bike was, especially for my first time cycling in France. It only had two gears, low and very low; about half a brake, the front brake didn't work at all and the rear one was fairly useless; the saddle was incredibly uncomfortable from about one minute in it the journey; and the back wheel wobbled uncontrollably and made me think it was going to fall off at any given moment. So naturally I continued with the trip.
About 5 miles in I was getting really fed up with the gears and only being able to do about 8 miles an hour so had a look at the bike. I didn't have the tools to fix it so I completely bodged a solution by jamming a stone behind the front gear shifty thing (derailleur - thanks Google).
This actually worked and meant I had two decent middle gears instead of two low ones. I cycled on at about 12 miles an hour feeling suitably smug with myself. Until someone on a proper road bike went whizzing by at about 30 miles an hour. Then another. Then two more. Then about twenty more. Then some cars with bikes attached in many places. Then a load more bikes. Then a group of about 50 bikes surrounded me and it was absolute carnage. Then a load more cars. And then there were some people supporting them. Yes. I, on the worst bike ever made by mankind had ended up on a a race route. I even managed to get a cheer from a few of them as I pulled up to a village where they had evidently just finished. They were there panting on there bikes worth many thousands of euros each and I turn up on a pink, rusty bike that rattled incredibly loudly and squeaked every time you rotated the pedal. Why always me?
I had a bit of a laugh with a few of them, tried in terrible French to explain that I had borrowed the bike when eventually someone showed up who spoke excellent English. He loved my bodge job on the gear and even lent me a tool so that I could fix the rear brake a little more (the front one was just completely dead, actually missing on of the pads entirely). I had a lovely though rowdy farewell and cycled off, creaking along to the lake. Thankfully the return journey was nowhere near as eventful.
Arles itself is a lovely large town - not something you often hear me saying as I usually prefer the smaller towns and villages. It has a cool amphitheatre in the middle and these narrow streets with overhanging old buildings, many of which are slightly quirky. Quite a few even have little stories that go with them and it feels like the sort of place that has a lot of secrets. It's hard to say why but Arles just feels safe. I am fine in most places and normally happy to walk around almost anywhere in the dark but here I just don't have any concerns. There is a thriving sports area which is constantly busy and, walking home in the dark last night I was slightly nervous about a group of youths (I really am getting old) hanging out by a bus stop. As I walked by they said a friendly bonjour, followed by 'hellos' when it was clearl that I was English. This then ended up in a chat about football. I really should stop being so judgemental!
I also had a funny moment in a Pizza shop when I was getting frustrated by my lack of French. I am trying to listen in as much as possible but here I was getting nothing! I was wondering if it was just the fact that they have a thick accent around Marseille but it turns out I was wrong. I heard a particularly friendly greeting which I recognised and was able to translate (peace be upon you) only to work out that it was actually Arabic, not French, hence why I was struggling so much!
Really looking forward to the next stretch as I am back off to the hills and possibly even some mountains. I'll have to be careful with that as quite a few of them still have snow on top, even the little ones, and I definitely don't have the gear to deal with that. Might also get another chance to try some more bivvying!