A Journey South: Cruising through France

22.11.2012 Cassis, France

Tomorrow I will be going to Paris, and on Saturday I’m off to Madagascar. It is almost two years since I was there last, so I am of course very eager to be back.

The time between Cuba and Madagascar has not been wasted though. The days at my grandparents were nice, and here in France we have had plenty to do. I have been with Jeremy, who will also come to Madagascar with me, and have benefitted greatly from both his means of transportations, and his local knowledge. We are in Cassis, which is half an hour east from Marseille at the coast of the Mediterranean. The location means that it is still warm enough to ride bikes, so there has been a lot of that. If you remember when I met Jeremy about a year ago, you will know that he was doing a trip similar to mine, but on a Honda Afrika Twin (motorbike).

The longest expedition we had was a four day trip on the bikes into the Alps. The highest passes are closed for the winter, but we had plenty of nice roads at almost 2000 meters above sea level. Our route was east passing Nice, going through the world’s most densely populated country, Monaco, and to Menton. From there we went north to Sospel and into the mountains. We wanted to do the Cime de la Bonette (the highest pass in the Alps, if you take the old road), but it was closed, and as it was in the afternoon we decided not to try and sneak and run the risk of being stuck up there in the night. Instead we went through some gorges and canyons and all the way to the Mont Ventoux.

We also dropped by Avignon to see the funny half bridge and the popes palace. For those of you who have not studied history; Avignon was the seat of the “real pope” for 67 years, between 1309 and 1376, and later there were two popes for a short period (1978 to 1417). One in Rome and another one in Avignon, and both claimed to be the real one.

Regarding that I am still trying to live on the cheap, we decided to camp on our trip. This was not a problem, even though camping is more or less illegal in France. The trouble was the cold, both in the tent and on the bikes. The last morning there were three degrees under zero, and the comfort in my sleeping bag was limited. We had to drive very carefully, but on the plus side we had lots of blue skies and beautiful sights. The view from the Ventoux was enormous.

So now I am off to my little island, to meet Wombosi again, to meet my family, and I bring over 800 Euros of spare-parts for my Elefanta (motorbike in Madagascar).

An island off Cassis

If you wander why I don’t write anything about the French cultures and habits, it is because I am very disappointed. I thought that when I came to France I would meet many people with big noses who were unfriendly and talked French and ate snails and frogs every day and drank a lot of wine and all looked like Gerard Depardieu, but it seems that the only real difference from Germany to France is the language they speak, and here south, the milder climate. France is beautiful, and there are nice people here with normal noses. I am impressed by the nature, and by the amount of nature (there is more space than in Germany), and even though the towns are expensive, the nature is free and the roads are good. Jeremy put it like this (and this is a direct quote): “in France, you can enter a curve like a crazy-man”.